Mcmurtry Quotes

I'd hate to read all these books ... that much reading could put your eyes out. ~ Larry McMurtry

I don't guess I've watched you punish yourself for thirty years to be totally wrong about you. ~ Larry McMurtry

could put no weight on the wounded ankle at ~ Larry McMurtry

They probably think the sun won't come up unless you're there to allow it. ~ Larry McMurtry

What would you know about anything, Jasper?" Augustus asked. "Age don't slow a man's whoring. It's lack of income that does that. No more prosperous than you look, I wouldn't think you'd know much about it. ~ Larry McMurtry

The best to do with a death was to move on from it. ~ Larry McMurtry

Death and worse happened on the plains. ~ Larry McMurtry

The air, soil and water cumulatively degrade; the climates and oceans destabilize; species become extinct at a spasm rate across continents; pollution cycles and volumes increase to endanger life-systems at all levels in cascade effects; a rising half of the world is destitute as inequality multiplies; the global food system produces more and more disabling and contaminated junk food without nutritional value; non-contagious diseases multiply to the world's biggest killer with only symptom cures; the vocational future of the next generation collapses across the world while their bank debts rise; the global financial system has ceased to function for productive investment in life-goods; collective-interest agencies of governments and unions are stripped while for-profit state subsidies multiply; police state laws and methods advance while belligerent wars for corporate resources increase; the media are corporate ad vehicles and the academy is increasingly reduced to corporate functions; public sectors and services are non-stop defunded and privatized as tax evasion and transnational corporate funding and service by governments rise at the same time at every level. ~ John McMurtry

The eastern sky was red as coals in a forge, lighting up the flats along the river. Dew had wet the million needles of the chaparral, and when the rim of the sun edged over the horizon the chaparral seemed to be spotted with diamonds. A bush in the little backyard was filled with the little rainbows as the sun touched the dew. ~ Larry McMurtry

A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough.
Augustus "Gus" McCrae ~ Larry McMurtry

Who you looking for
What is his name
you can prob'ly find him
at the football game
it's a small town
you know what I mean
it's a small town, son
and we all support the team ~ James McMurtry

He decided not to shoot the tall stranger, mainly because he admired his soft felt hat. ~ Larry McMurtry

It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times. ~ Larry McMurtry

We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night She'd tell me to make a wish I'd wish we both could fly. ~ James McMurtry

was not old enough to understand the need to go back to a place where things were simple. He had no happiness in his face, the young ranger; perhaps he had never had a place where things were simple, a place he could think about when he needed to remember happiness. Perhaps the young ranger had been unlucky - he might have no good place or good time to remember. ~ Larry McMurtry

passing insults back and forth, as if they were biscuits. ~ Larry McMurtry

I don't do well with changes in my routine. I read at least three newspapers a day, for example. I'm frustrated if for some reason I can't get ahold of all three. ~ Larry McMurtry

It's his dern laziness," Call said. "Jake just kind of drifts. Any wind can blow him. ~ Larry McMurtry

For a time Dish lost all sense of what life was about. He even lost the sense that he was a cowboy, the strongest sense he had to work with. He was just a fellow with a glass in his hand, whose life had suddenly turned to mud. The day before he had been a top hand, but what did that mean anymore? ~ Larry McMurtry

No matter how well he worked. It was a little discouraging: the harder he tried to please the Captain, the less the Captain seemed to be pleased. ~ Larry McMurtry

I'm a fastidious bookman and have never liked reading books with library markings or other messy defects. ~ Larry McMurtry

By the time the shade had reached the river, Augustus would have mellowed with the evening and be ready for some intelligent conversation, which usually involved talking to himself. ~ Larry McMurtry

He ought to let the past keep its glow and not try to mix it with what he had in the present. ~ Larry McMurtry

They say he missed that whore. ~ Larry McMurtry

I ain't kin to nobody in this world. I don't want to be. I won't be. ~ Larry McMurtry

In times of crisis human beings don't have it in them to be rational. ~ Larry McMurtry

Mystery is underrated, and understanding is overrated. ~ Larry McMurtry

You have to remember that I've been lonely for a long time. Loneliness is like ice. After you've been lonely long enough you don't realize you're cold, but you are... I don't know, maybe at the center of me there's some ice that never will melt, maybe it's just been there too long. But you mustn't worry. You didn't put it there. ~ Larry McMurtry

They respected only the strong men who could not be insulted without a price being paid in blood. ~ Larry McMurtry

Listening to Eric Taylor is better than reading a Larry McMurtry novel and easier on the eyes. ~ Ralston Bowles

No half measures, he muttered several times. It was his personal motto; he intended to have it latinised and put on a crest. ~ Larry McMurtry

I hate rude behavior in a man,' he explained in his quiet, unassuming drawl. 'I won't tolerate it.' He politely tipped his hat, and rode away. ~ Larry McMurtry

Backward is just not a natural direction for Americans to look - historical ignorance remains a national characteristic. ~ Larry McMurtry

it seemed he had to be talking every waking minute as a means of holding his own fears in balance. ~ Larry McMurtry

Dish said no more, and Augustus decided not to tease him. Occasionally the very youngness of the young moved him to charity- they had no sense of the swiftness of life, nor of its limits. The years would pass like weeks, and loves would pass too, or else grow sour. Young Dish, skilled cowhand that he was, might not live to see the whores of Ogallala, and the tender feelings he harbored for Lorena might be the sweetest he would ever have. ~ Larry McMurtry

But then July accepted it and never scolded back, so perhaps that was the way of the world: women scolded, and men kept quiet and stayed out of the way as much as possible. ~ Larry McMurtry

Everyone who came to see him asked questions that were either stupid or impertinent. Better to see no one than to see fools. ~ Larry McMurtry

From him to the stars, in all directions, there was only silence and emptiness. ~ Larry McMurtry

He didn't understand why women had such a need to question. He himself preferred just to let life happen, and act when opportunity arose. ~ Larry McMurtry

Well, boys," Long Bill said. "I guess here's where I quit rangering. It's rare sport, but it ain't quite safe. ~ Larry McMurtry

Life ain't for sissies, as Augustus might have said. ~ Larry McMurtry

The older the violin, the sweeter the music. ~ Larry McMurtry

Don't be trying to give back pain for pain ... You can't get even measures in business like this. ~ Larry McMurtry

It was a quiet day in Tombstone. ~ Larry McMurtry

Monkey John looked at the dead boy. "By God, life is cheap up here on the goddamned Canadian River."
"Cheap," Blue Duck answered. "And it might get cheaper. ~ Larry McMurtry

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. ~ Larry McMurtry

There isn't a thought in my head I care to be alone with for more than five minutes. ~ Larry McMurtry

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. ~ Larry McMurtry

It seemed to him there was never much time with women. Before you could look at one twice, you were into an argument, and they were telling you what was going to happen. ~ Larry McMurtry

There would be a trial, of course. But I had watched a few trials in Thalia, and I had seen people a lot dumber than Hud get away with a lot worse than what he did. ~ Larry McMurtry

I'm glad I've been wrong enough to keep in practice ... You can't avoid it, you've got to learn to handle it. 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. ~ Larry McMurtry

A man that ain't willin' to cheat for a poke don't want it bad enough. ~ Larry McMurtry

However, he didn't have a high opinion of the average man's ability as a fighter. The majority of men couldn't fight at all and even most outlaws were the merest amateurs when it came to battle. Few could shoot well, and even fewer had any mind for strategy. ~ Larry McMurtry

I don't know why you would even want to stay with me," I said.
T.R. looked stunned for a second and then whipped her elbow into my side as hard as she could
months later it was determined that the jab cracked a rib.
Oh, get fucked!" she said, jumping up. "No wonder you don't have no girlfriend if you don't have no more feelings than to say a horrible thing like that. All I want to do is love you. Ain't you even gonna let me? ~ Larry McMurtry

I'll pass on snow myself, when I have the option. ~ Larry McMurtry

I've seen your father bury many a man, but I never saw him take this kind of pains." Newt ~ Larry McMurtry

He had known several men who had lost limbs in battle; the men all claimed that they still felt things in the place where the limb had been. It was natural enough, then, that with Bill suddenly gone he and Gus would continue to have some of the feelings that went with friendship, even though the friend was gone. ~ Larry McMurtry

The woman had won. In the end, it seemed they always did. ~ Larry McMurtry

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. ~ Larry McMurtry

It was a weakness, but he could not bear to disappoint women, even if it was ultimately for their own good. ~ Larry McMurtry

We mostly quarreled. He wanted what I wouldn't give. I wanted what he didn't have. ~ Larry McMurtry

Getting up early and feeling awake was the one skill he had never truly perfected - he got up, of course, but it never felt natural. ~ Larry McMurtry

He had seen highly competent men stand as if paralyzed in a crisis, though once someone took command and told them what to do they might perform splendidly. ~ Larry McMurtry

I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live." Call ~ Larry McMurtry

Deets slapped his leg and laughed, the thought was so funny. When the rest of the outfit finally wondered down from the house they found the two of them grinning back and forth at one another.
"Look at 'em," Augustus said. "You'd think they just discovered teeth. ~ Larry McMurtry

But mash whiskey took some of the dry away and made Augustus feel nicely misty inside - foggy and cool as a morning in the Tennessee hills. He seldom got downright drunk, but he did enjoy feeling misty along about sundown, ~ Larry McMurtry

There was said to be measuring of penises at the Orchid, but was it true and if so what did that mean? ~ Larry McMurtry

His feet were swollen to twice their size, besides being cut here and there. Yet they were the only feet he had, and after dozing for an hour in the sun, he got up and hobbled on. ~ Larry McMurtry

He had hit with his closed fist and knocked her sprawling. It took talent to make Wyatt lose his temper, but Jessie knew just how to do it, and did it mainly just to have something happening. Pouring whiskey from bottle to glass was boring work. ~ Larry McMurtry

Why hell yes, Joe Bob! A cripple can always get himself a wooden leg, or a glass eye, or a metal hook for a hand, or any of that mess
but there ain't no known substitute for a big dick. I guess you is out of luck! ~ Larry McMurtry

But just let me tell you something, son, a woman's love is like the morning dew, it's just as apt to settle on a horse turd as it is on a rose. So you better just get over it. ~ Larry McMurtry

'Lonesome Dove' by Larry McMurtry and 'The Poisonwood Bible' by Barbara Kingsolver have stuck with me throughout my life, and I think that says a lot about an author's writing. ~ Tess Gerritsen

She may know what I am, though," Lorena said.
"Yes, she'll know you're a human being. You don't have to duck your head to nobody. Half the women in this country probably started out like you did, workin' in saloons. ~ Larry McMurtry

It's really quite simple. Mr. Isinglass robbed my father, destroyed my mother, exiled my brothers, and ruined me. If I catch him asleep I'll kill him. I do hope you like this pudding. I had to ride quite a way to find the plums. ~ Larry McMurtry

Back before Napster and Spotify, we toured to promote record sales.
Now we make records to promote tour dates. ~ James McMurtry

Call had never thought much about age. Charlie Goodnight liked to talk about it, but Call found the talk tedious. He was as old as he was, like everyone else; as long as he could still go when he needed to go, age didn't matter much. He was still able, within reason, to do what he had a mind to do. But he'd had a mind to kill the large doe, and he hadn't. Of course, he wasn't an exceptional shot. He had missed mule deer before, but the fact that he had missed this one just when he had, was troubling. They were just coming into the home country of the young bandit, a boy with a keen eye and a German rifle with a telescope sight. Getting a knuckle stuck in a trigger guard would not be wise, in a contest with Joey Garza. ~ Larry McMurtry

His purpose was to get done what needed to be done, and what needed to be done was simple, if not easy. ~ Larry McMurtry

It was something he had always done - moved apart, so he could be alone and think things or a little. ~ Larry McMurtry

True maturity is only reached when a man realizes he has become a father figure to his girlfriends' boyfriends - and he accepts it. ~ Larry McMurtry

Today the sight that discourages book people most is to walk into a public library and see computers where books used to be. In many cases not even the librarians want books to be there. What consumers want now is information, and information increasingly comes from computers.
That is a preference I can't grasp, much less share, though I'm well aware that computers have many valid uses. They save lives, and they make research in most cases a thing that's almost instantaneous.
They do many good things.
But they don't really do what books do, and why should they usurp the chief function of a public library, which is to provide readers access to books? Books can accommodate the proximity of computers but it doesn't seem to work the other way around. Computers now literally drive out books from the place that should, by definition, be books' own home: the library. ~ Larry McMurtry

It's like I told you last night son. The earth is mostly just a boneyard. But pretty in the sunlight, he added ~ Larry McMurtry

Woodrow don't mention nothing he can keep from mentioning. You couldn't call him a mentioner. ~ Larry McMurtry

Young things mainly belong to themselves. How they grow up depends on who gets attached to them. ~ Larry McMurtry

But, if one cuts more deeply, the lonesome dove is Newt, a lonely teenager who is the unacknowledged son of Captain Call and a kindly whore named Maggie, who is now dead. So the central theme of the novel is not the stocking of Montana but unacknowledged paternity. All of the Hat Creek Outfit, including particularly Augustus McCrae, want Call to accept the boy as his son. ~ Larry McMurtry

You don't look strong enough to trouble nobody around here ... We grow our own troubles
it would be a novelty to have some we ain't already used to. ~ Larry McMurtry

The thought crossed his mind that he ought to have married her and not gone rambling. If he had, he wouldn't be in such a fix. But he felt little fear; just an overpowering fatigue. Life had slipped out of line. It was unfair, it was too bad, but he couldn't find the energy to fight it any longer. ~ Larry McMurtry

The only bookstore I had was the paperback rack at the drugstore. ~ Larry McMurtry

Better by far never to have known the pleasure than to have the pain that followed. ~ Larry McMurtry

You know Deets is like me - he's not one to quit on a garment just because it's got a little age - spoken by Augustus McCrae ~ Larry McMurtry

I never met a soul in this world as normal as me. ~ Larry McMurtry

He didn't tell Newt all he knew. He didn't tell him that even when life seemed easy, it kept on getting harder. ~ Larry McMurtry

No, but I have passed the point in life where I expect to be satisfied," Augustus said. "At least I don't expect to be satisfied with much. When it comes right down to it, Woodrow, I guess my own cooking beats anything I've come across in this life. ~ Larry McMurtry

I'd like to see you think the roof back on that barn," Call said. ~ Larry McMurtry

Live through it," Call said. "That's all we can do. ~ Larry McMurtry

The family got nervous about blood poisoning and persuaded he and Call to saw it off. ~ Larry McMurtry

Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken fried steak. ~ Larry McMurtry

The seven of them rode for two hours into country that seemed to contain nothing except itself. ~ Larry McMurtry

One of the things that Ang brings to all of his projects is his deep sense of being a double exile, an outsider's outsider. ~ Larry McMurtry

though his day-to-day responsibilities had constantly shrunk over the last ten years, life did not seem easier. It just seemed smaller and a good deal more dull. Call ~ Larry McMurtry

When dawn spread its cool clear flush over the meadows and fields and thorny pastures to the north and east, Duane pulled an old lawn chair out of the cabin and sat down to watch, cradling a cup of coffee in his hands. It was chilly enough that he threw an old poncho over his lap. ~ Larry McMurtry