Son, this is a sad thing, Augustus said. Loss of life always is. But the life is lost for good. Don’t you go attempting vengeance. You’ve got more urgent business. If I ever run into Blue Duck I’ll ki...
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 ge...
In the vastness of the desert, each reduction of the group made them realize how small they were, how puny, in relation to the space they were traveling through.
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.
I see you’re in a hurry to get someplace. It’s a great mistake to hurry. Why? Joe asked, puzzled by almost everything the traveler said. Because the grave’s our destination, Mr. Sedgwick said. Those w...
He thought living in a place where there were eagles to watch might encourage some pretty good dreams.
He knew what he could certainly do, and what he might do if he was lucky, and what he couldn’t do barring a miracle.
He had known several men who blew their heads off, and he had pondered it much. It seemed to him it was probably because they could not take enough happiness just from the sky and the moon to carry th...
From him to the stars, in all directions, there was only silence and emptiness.
Everyone who came to see him asked questions that were either stupid or impertinent. Better to see no one than to see fools.
Certain mountains were that way, like the Bighorns. The air around them was so clear you could ride toward them for days without seeming to get any closer. And yet, if you kept riding, you would get t...
You probably drink too much. If you hand me that bottle, I'll reduce your temptations. --Augustus Gus McCrae
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...
You can’t avoid it, you’ve got to learn to handle it, Augustus 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 d...
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...
Watching them, Harmony felt too shaken to take a step. Eddie and Sheba were young; but she herself had become old. Even if she wasn’t particularly old if you just counted years, the fact was years wer...
The reason I'm so crazy is because nobody cares anything about me. I don't guess there's anybody I care much about, either. It's my own fault, though - I haven't had the guts to try and do anything ab...
The other men were easy to talk to, but they didn’t know anything. If one stopped to think about it, it was depressing how little most men learned in their lifetimes.
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.
One day Augustus asked Newt to ride along with him, much to Newt’s surprise. In the morning they saw a grizzly, but the bear was far upwind and didn’t scent them. It was a beautiful day—no clouds in t...