Quotes from Larry McMurtry

Augustus remembered his own love for Clara Allen—it had pained him and pleased him at once.

His habit had been to go and meet whatever needed to be met, not to wait idly for what might approach.

I could hear them whispering how Granddad had gone to a better place. They could think so and go to hell; I didn't believe it. Not unless dirt is a better place than air.

I haven't planned, very much," July said honestly. "Seems like every time I make a plan something happens to change it.

All night Famous Shoes sat listening. He heard the plover cry several more times, and rejoiced. Men lied often, but the plover only lied when it had eggs to protect; if the plover's nest was near, then water, too, was near. In the morning they could drink.

Worm was old; he was a man of silence. He could speak prophecy and make spells, but mostly he was quiet and alert, a pleasure to travel with.

I get to expecting to hear him talk and he ain't here. My ears sort of get empty.

Men have gotten by without legs. Lots of 'em lost legs in the war. You don't like to do nothing but sit on the porch and drink whiskey anyway. It don't take legs to do that.

It was a great annoyance to Billy that because of a long shit and a short nap he had lost his horse. But that was the truth of it and there was nothing he could do but limp along.

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it," he added, a little solemnly.

But yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.

As the day died and the afterglow stretched upward in the soft, empty sky, the Hat Creek outfit, seven strong, crossed the river and rode southeast, toward the Hacienda Flores.

Your Comanche don't hunger much after señoritas. White women are easier to steal, and don't eat as much besides. The Kiowa are different. They fancy señoritas.

He was still the captain, but no one had seemed to notice that there was no troop and no war.

said quietly. "It's how much you're worth to yourself. It's what you really can feel that makes you nice.

Clara, who had a ferocious sweet tooth, used them in the cakes she was always making. She made so many cakes that everyone got tired of them except her. "I got to have sweets, at least," Clara said, eating a piece of cake before she went to bed, or again while she was cooking breakfast. "Sweets make up for a lot.

I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live.

Among a broken people an unbroken man can only rarely be tolerated—he becomes a too-painful reminder of what the people as a whole had once been.

It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's living. I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live. Augustus McCrae

There's nothing that sweetens the breath like a cedar toothpick, unless it's mint. And mint don't grow in these parts.

Mrs. Popper smiled, but neither of them spoke again, all the way to Olney.

Does he know he's your son?" "I suppose he does—I give him my horse," Call said, feeling that it was hell to have her, of all women, talk to him about the matter. "Your horse but not your name?" Clara said. "You haven't even given him your name?" "I put more value on the horse," Call said

If you only come face to face with your own mistakes once or twice in your life it's bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day— that way they ain't usually much worse than a dry shave.

If you get scalped, don't sit around yowling, either," Gus McCrae said. "People survive scalpings fine if they don't yowl.