A man that sleeps all night wastes too much of life.

— Larry McMurtry

A sleeping man would miss the best of the evening, and the moonrise as well.

— Larry McMurtry

At times, he felt that he had almost rather not be in love with her, for it brought him no peace. What was the use of it, if it was only going to be painful?

— Larry McMurtry

Buffalo Hump knew his son was brave, but that was not enough. If a warrior lacked wisdom, courage alone would not keep him alive for long.

— Larry McMurtry

But, if one cuts more deeply, the lonesome dove is Newt, a lonely teenager who is the unacknowledged son of Captain Call and a kindly whore named Maggie, who is now dead. So the central theme of the novel is not the stocking of Montana but unacknowledged paternity. All the Hat Creek Outfit, including particularly Augustus McCrae, want Call to accept the boy as his son.

— Larry McMurtry

But the English are different, and they don’t know how to be other than different.

— Larry McMurtry

Call and I have always liked to get where we started for, even if it don't make a damn bit of sense.

— Larry McMurtry

Could any woman live every day with that level of masculinity?

— Larry McMurtry

Don't be trying to give back pain for pain... You can't get even measures in business like this.

— Larry McMurtry

For most of the hours of the day—and most of the months of the year—the sun had the town trapped deep in dust, far out in the chaparral flats, a heaven for snakes and horned toads, roadrunners and stinging lizards, but a hell for pigs and Tennesseans.

— Larry McMurtry