Larry McMurtry Quotes

Quotes about:

• If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

  Larry McMurtry

  Life, Waiting, Motorcycle

  Larry McMurtry (1989). “Some Can Whistle: A Novel”, Simon & Schuster

  37 Copy quote

• Uva uvum vivendo varia fit

  Larry McMurtry

  Fit

  35 Copy quote

• A woman's love is like the morning dew. It's just as likely to settle on a horse turd as a rose.

  Larry McMurtry

  Morning, Horse, Love Is

  "Leaving Cheyenne". Book by Larry McMurtry, 1963.

  31 Copy quote

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

  Larry McMurtry

  Texas, Degenerates, Eating

  Larry McMurtry (1983). “In a Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas”

  52 Copy quote

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

  Larry McMurtry

  Ignorance, Historical, Looks

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846--1890”, p.40, Simon and Schuster

  39 Copy quote

• Writing is a form of herding. I herd words into little paragraph-like clusters.

  Larry McMurtry

  Writing, Littles, Herds

  20 Copy quote

• People would be bored shitless if they had to love only the good in someone they care about.

  Larry McMurtry

  People, Bored, Would Be

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “The Late Child: A Novel”, p.54, Simon and Schuster

  36 Copy quote

• It's a fine world, though rich in hardships at times.

  Larry McMurtry

  Hardship, World, Rich

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.793, Simon and Schuster

  16 Copy quote

• You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analagous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and verb and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two.

  Larry McMurtry

  Country, Philosophy, Simple

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Some Can Whistle”, p.6, Simon and Schuster

  25 Copy quote

• Mystery is underrated, and understanding is overrated.

  Larry McMurtry

  Understanding, Mystery, Overrated

  6 Copy quote

• Yesterday's gone on down the river and you can't get it back.

  Larry McMurtry

  Rivers, Yesterday, Gone

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.463, Simon and Schuster

  22 Copy quote

• For the past several centuries the bonding power of the family dinner table has been one of the few constants, and now it's binding no more. The potency of the media is now stronger than that of the family. The wonder is that families still exist at all, since the forces of modern life mainly all pull people away from a family centered way of life.

  Larry McMurtry

  Past, Media, People

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections on Sixty and Beyond”, p.109, Simon and Schuster

  23 Copy quote

• Obviously, where art has it over life is in the matter of editing. Life can be seen to suffer from a drastic lack of editing. It stops too quick, or else it goes on too long. Worse, its pacing is erratic. Some chapters are little more than a few sentences in length, while others stretch into volumes. Life, for all its raw talent, has little sense of structure. It creates amazing textures, but it can't be counted on for snappy beginnings or good endings either. Indeed, in many cases no ending is provided at all.

  Larry McMurtry

  Life, Art, Editing

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Film Flam: Essays on Hollywood”, p.98, Simon and Schuster

  27 Copy quote

• Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.

  Larry McMurtry

  People, Intelligence, Trouble

  28 Copy quote

• 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

  Mistake, Practice, Dry

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.633, Simon and Schuster

  11 Copy quote

• A bookman’s love of books is a love of books, not merely of the information in them.

  Larry McMurtry

  Book, Information

  Larry McMurtry (2008). “Books: A Memoir”, p.38, Simon and Schuster

  9 Copy quote

• Nothing good ever comes without a price.

  Larry McMurtry

  10 Copy quote

• If you want one thing too much it’s likely to be a disappointment. The healthy way is to learn to like the everyday things, like soft beds and buttermilk—and feisty gentlemen.

  Larry McMurtry

  Disappointment, Everyday Things, Healthy

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.351, Simon and Schuster

  22 Copy quote

• The earth is mostly just a boneyard. But pretty in the sunlight.

  Larry McMurtry

  Earth, Sunlight

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.573, Simon and Schuster

  7 Copy quote

• If a warrior lacked wisdom, courage alone would not keep him alive for long.

  Larry McMurtry

  Warrior, Long, Alive

  6 Copy quote

• Part of the trick of being happy is a refusal to allow oneself to become too nostalgic for the heady triumphs of one's youth.

  Larry McMurtry

  Contentment, Triumph, Youth

  Larry McMurtry (2000). “Roads: Driving America's Great Highways”

  9 Copy quote

• The tradition I was born into was essentially nomadic, a herdsmen tradition, following animals across the earth. The bookshops are a form of ranching; instead of herding cattle, I herd books. Writing is a form of herding, too; I herd words into little paragraph-like clusters.

  Larry McMurtry

  Book, Writing, Animal

  9 Copy quote

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

  Larry McMurtry

  Times Of Crisis, Rational, Humans

  Larry McMurtry (2007). “Telegraph Days: A Novel”, p.89, Simon and Schuster

  5 Copy quote

• No illusion is more crucial than the illusion that great success and huge money buy you immunity from the common ills of mankind, such as cars that won't start.

  Larry McMurtry

  Money, Car, Self Improvement

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Some Can Whistle”, p.27, Simon and Schuster

  12 Copy quote

• I'm sure partial to the evening,' Augustus said. 'The evening and the morning. If we just didn't have to have the rest of the dern day I'd be a lot happier.

  Larry McMurtry

  Life, Morning, Evening

  Larry McMurtry (2010). “Lonesome Dove: A Novel”, p.186, Simon and Schuster

  6 Copy quote

Page 1 of 4

← Prev

1

2

3

4

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin