Quotes from A.B. Guthrie Jr.

Nouns and verbs are the guts of the language. Beware of covering up with adjectives and adverbs.

God must like to get off by Himself sometimes and caper. Must get mighty tiresome, keepin' tally on folks and gettin' the sun up and tuckin' it in bed and bringin' the rain on and all, and all the time actin' stiff and proper. That surely was it, God must like to throw Himself around some and be silly if He felt like it.

Raw or not, the women did their part and more. They traveled head to head with men, showing no more fear and asking no favor. ...... They had a kind of toughness in them that you might not think, seeing them in a parlor. So on a trail, women came to speak and men to listen almost as if to other men. It was lucky for the pride of men that few traveled with their wives to Oregon. They'd never quite believe again a woman was to look at but not to listen to.

It was lucky for the pride of men that few traveled with their wives to Oregon. They'd never quite believe again a woman was to look at but not to listen to.

All the same he got a pinch of misery, thinking, just as he had sometimes in Kentucky when he'd be out in the woods, feeling good that he was alone, with everything to himself, and then he would spy someone and it would all be spoiled, as if the country wasn't his any more, or the woods or the quiet.