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

Americans don't want cowboys to be gay.
Larry McMurtry

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

If we know anything about man, it's that he's not pacific. The temptation to butcher anyone considered undesirable seems to be a common temptation, not always resisted.
Larry McMurtry

Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.
Larry McMurtry

Members of the Academy are mostly urban people. We are an urban nation. We are not a rural nation. It's not easy even to get a rural story made.
Larry McMurtry

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

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

Self-parody is the first portent of age.
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


You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analogous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination.
Larry McMurtry