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'...
Ride with an outlaw, die with him, he added. I admit it's a harsh code. But you rode on the other side long enough to know how it works. I'm sorry you crossed the line, though. Jake's momentary optimi...
Once, when I was about ten, we were approaching the ranch after veering north to look at some pasturage when we saw a small barefoot boy racing along the hot road with terror in his face. My father ju...
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.
I'm tired of justice, ain't you?
I would prefer to be shot, myself, if I get that sick, Call said. Once there’s no avoiding death I see no point in lingering. Augustus smiled at the comment, and poured himself a little more whiskey....
I make my share of mistakes, but one I never make is to underestimate the power of things. People imbued from childhood with the myth of the primacy of feeling seldom like to admit they really want th...
He wondered if all men felt such disappointment when thinking of themselves. He didn’t know.
He was two or three steps away from her and for a moment they did not know how to get to one another.
He had not stayed, but when he had gone, he hadn’t fought, either. He had done nothing but ride twice over the same stretch of prairie, while death had come to both camps.
Give Call a grievance, however silly, and he would save it like money.
Do you know what it means to be heartbroken?...It means your heart isn't whole, so you can't really do anything wholeheartedly.
Basically Jake just dreamed his way through life and somehow got by with it.
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,...
The seven of them rode for two hours into country that seemed to contain nothing except itself.
The moment indifference took over, life began to subside. Few men rose out of it: most lost all impulse toward activity and ended by offering death at least a halfhearted welcome.
The family got nervous about blood poisoning and persuaded he and Call to saw it off.
Swinging off the bay. We rode all night,
Perhaps as he grew older he would learn to trust mysteries and not fear them.
No medicine man or wise man knew why one man died and another lived. Wise men themselves often died before fools, and cowards before men who were brave.