In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.
I would not have voted for the man, Doc admitted, but this— He lifted a fine-boned hand toward the street, where small groups of Cow Boys were now tearing down Allen on horseback, shooting at the sky...
I know this will sound glib, but don’t pretend you aren’t feeling what you feel. That’s how things slide into hell. Feelings are facts, she said, her voice a little hard, as she began to walk again. L...
I am where I want to be, they each thought. I am grateful to be here. In their own ways, they all gave themselves up to God’s will and trusted that whatever happened now was meant to be. At least for...
Horses are mirrors. They'll show you back whatever you show them. Watch a man with a horse, and you'll see what's inside his own self.
Honey, Bessie’s mamma used to say, politicians and judges and coppers are money-grubbing thieves. They’ll screw you, and rob you, and win elections for doing it, but there’s no way around them. Smile...
He had also discovered the outermost limit of faith and, in doing so, had located the exact boundary of despair. It was at that moment that he learned, truly, to fear God.
For five weeks, the Associated Press had provided the world with lurid coverage of the attack on Virgil Earp, which was labeled Cow Boy revenge for what was being called the Gunfight at the O.K. Corra...
Flaubert tells us that three things are required for happiness: stupidity, selfishness, and good health. I am, he told Morgan, an unhappy man
Every one of them has a story, and every story begins with a man who failed her. A husband who came home from the war, good for nothin' but drink. A father who didn't come home at all, or a stepfather...
Even if he hadn’t spent the past three years in the field and more than a decade before that studying for the priesthood, he would have felt a stranger among these students—the young men in brilliantl...
Doc seemed to gather himself to say something important, and spoke as firmly as he could, though his voice was somewhere between a whisper and a whine. Wyatt, I cannot make you another denture. No mor...
Cynicism and foul language are the only vices I'm presently capable of. Everything else takes energy or money. (64)
Anne shrieked with laughter, but George yelled, I don’t suppose we could get a little gravity around here? and D.W. hollered back, Nope. All we got is levity. And thus began the first morning of the J...
Alice was pretty enough and played piano well, but she was educated in excess of a lady’s requirements. She was also possessed of a quiet, stubborn strength of character that had discouraged beaux les...
Ah, Sofia, darlin'! On my best days, I believe in Him with all my heart.
After all, he thought, the one thing an agnostic knows for sure is: you never know.
After all, Ignatius of Loyola, a soldier who had killed and whored and made a thorough mess of his soul, said you could judge prayer worthwhile simply if you could act more decently, think more clearl...
A tale begins and where it ends, matters. Who tells the story and why, that makes all the difference.
Until you’ve been there, you can’t know what it’s like to hold yourself to promises you made in good faith a long time ago.