Quotes from Louis L'Amour

Some folks want the lights of cities, the admiration of women, and the fame that comes with success. Me, I just want the trail unwinding ahead of me, the view from the top of the ridge, and the smell of a wood-smoke fire.

We will always have Reeses and Heseltines, and they will always seem big and brave to growing boys. They swagger and make loud noises in their own little circle, but they are only the coyotes that yap around the heels of the herd. 'Remember this, Shell, the coyotes aren't going anywhere, but the herd is, and so are the men who drive the herd.

A man ought to know enough to make a choice; and pa, he always advised me to look to both sides of a proposition.

There are men who prefer to keep trouble from a woman, but it seems to me that is neither reasonable nor wise. I've always respected the thinking of women, and also their ability to face up to trouble when it comes, and it shouldn't be allowed to come on them unexpected.

He realized what a fool he had been. There could be no tolerating of evil. One stamped it out or the evil grew worse.

I've a regard for law, although I do not always agree with it. Without law, man becomes a beast.

The clouds hung like dark, blowing tapestries in the gaps of the hills.

That was the trouble with California in the 1840's. The life was too easy, there was no necessity for struggle, and men must struggle or they deteriorate.

NO MAN KNOWS the hour of his ending, nor can he choose the place or the manner of his going. To each it is given to die proudly, to die well, and this is, indeed, the final measure of the man.

The more one learns the more he understands his ignorance. I am simply an ignorant man, trying to lessen his ignorance.

My stories may seem to be the stories of men, but a check of my books will show that I have probably written the stories of more strong women than any other writer....[examples include] Miss Nesselrode of The Lonesome Gods , Ruth Macken of Bendigo Shafter , Echo Sackett of Ride the River , Em Talon of Ride the Dark Trail are some....[and] one of my favorites is Miss Jessica Trescott of Matagorda . (The Sackett Companion)

It had been my father's way to remove obstructions, to repair washouts in old trails, to leave each trail better than he had found it. Tread lightly on the paths, he had told me. Others will come when you have gone. That was how I would remember my father. There was never a place he walked that was not the better for his having passed. For every tree he cut down he planted two.

They were four desperate men, made hard by life, cruel by nature, and driven to desperation by imprisonment.

All men wish to be captains, but few men wish to shoulder the burden of decision, and in coming here with these others, I had staked a claim that I must wall against misfortune.

Somebody comin', he said softly. Five or six, maybe. His words were spoken over an empty fire, for each of us vanished ghostlike into the surrounding darkness. I, fortunately, had the presence of mind to retain my coffee. With the Ferguson rifle in my right hand, I drank coffee from the cup in my left.

Treat the earth kindly, my friends, and it will give you comfort, security, and all a man may need. If you plant a flake of gold in the earth, will anything come of it? But plant a seed and it will repay you many times over.

I think the greatest gift anyone can give to another is the desire to know, to understand. Life is not for simply watching spectator sports, or for taking part in them; it is not for simply living from one working day to the next. Life is for delving, discovering, learning.

I learned then that many a victory is easier won with words than a sword—and the results are better.

The mind gathers its grain in all fields, storing it against a time of need, then suddenly it bursts into awareness, which men call inspiration or second sight or a gift.

Not that folks disliked me or that I ever went around being mean, but folks never did get close to me and it was most likely my fault. There was always something standoffish about me. I liked folks, but I liked the wild animals, the lonely trails, and the mountains better.

If you're going to have peace rather than violence, both sides have got to want it. One side alone can't make peace.

Only, the way I figure, no man has the right to be ignorant. In a country like this, ignorance is a crime. If a man is going to vote, if he's going to take part in his country and its government, then it's up to him to understand.

The desert preserves. What other lands destroy, the desert keeps. It accepts dead things, holds them close, and draws away the rot that would destroy; given time, it mummifies or crystalizes.

This is a story of an adventure in education, pursued not under the best of conditions.