Quotes from Larry McMurtry

But, as with people, some plants were completely useless.

When Newt walked in the barn to get a rope, the Captain turned and handed him a holstered pistol and a gun belt. "Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it," he added, a little solemnly.

He turned the cylinder of the Colt and listened to the small, clear clicks it made. The grip was wood, the barrel cool and blue; the holster had kept a faint smell of saddle soap. He slipped the gun back in its holster, put the gun belt around his waist and felt the gun's solid weight against his hip. When he walked out into the lots to catch his horse, he felt grown and complete for the first time in his life.

he had learned in his years of tracking Indians that things which seemed impossible often weren't.

When he walked out into the lots to catch his horse, he felt grown and complete for the first time in his life.

he had learned in his years of tracking Indians that things which seemed impossible often weren't. They only became so if one thought about them too much so that fear took over. The thing to do was go.

He had his knife and gun belt on over his underwear, in case of sudden attack.

A sleeping man would miss the best of the evening, and the moonrise as well.

A man that sleeps all night wastes too much of life.

was necessary to ignore most of those Gus made or else you got bogged down in useless conversation.

It only went to show what he already knew, which was that there were more dangers in life than even the sharpest training could anticipate.

Most of the talk of human beings was silly talk, talk that was of less weight than a man's breath.

It's my fault for not shooting the son of a bitch while he was drinking. I didn't know who he was at the time, but I should have shot him on suspicion. And then I plumb forgot about it all day. I'm getting too foolish to live.

If you did a thing hoping a person wouldn't find out, that person always did.

Captain McCrae was wanting to know the answer to questions that had no answer.

It's funny, leaving a place, ain't it?" he said. "You never do know when you'll get back.

I don't believe in protein," I said. "I think it's a myth, like vitamins. I don't believe in nutrition, in fact. I think it's all a myth.

If you want to be part of a human community you have to suffer fools—patiently, if not gladly—and you must practice civility as best you can.

Perhaps, he thought, as he turned back, that was what Augustus wanted: just to be free for a few days, just to saddle his horse and ride.

Without risk there was no power, not for a grown man.

All his work, and it hadn't saved anyone, or slowed the moment of their going by a minute.

alone. "A military unit is a fine thing when it works," he said. "But it usually don't work. A solitary feat of arms is better, if the foe is worthy.

The years would pass like weeks, and loves would pass too, or else grow sour.

During the day he had not trusted enough, and had worn himself out with pointless scurryings.