Louis L'Amour Quotes

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.

The key to understanding any people is in its art: its writing, painting, sculpture.

If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.

Our world is made up of a myriad of microcosms, of tiny worlds, each with its own habitues, every one known to the others.

Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.

I would not sit waiting for some vague tomorrow, nor for something to happen. One could wait a lifetime, and find nothing at the end of the waiting. I would begin here, I would make something happen.

It is brutal. Only I never could see the sense in having folks look at your tombstone and say, 'He was a man who didn't believe in violence, He's a good man... and dead.

The Apache don't have a word for love," he said.
"Know what they both say at the marriage? The squaw-taking ceremony?"
"Tell me."
"Varlebena. It means forever. That's all they say.

Actually, all education is self-education. A teacher is only a guide, to point out the way, and no school, no matter how excellent, can give you education. What you receive is like the outlines in a child’s coloring book. You must fill in the colors yourself.

Yol Bolsun" (May there be a road) [Louis L'Amour}

The mind gathers its grain in all fields, storing it against a time of need, then suddenly it bursts into awareness, which men call inspiration or second sight or a gift.

To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.

Historical novels are, without question, the best way of teaching history, for they offer the human stories behind the events and leave the reader with a desire to know more.

There are many ways of fighting. Many a man or woman has waged a good war for truth, honor, and freedom, who did not shed blood in the process. Beware of those who would use violence, too often it is the violence they want and neither truth nor freedom.

Nobody should ever try to second-guess history; the facts are fantastic enough.

Much of the study of history is a matter of comparison, of relating what was happening in one area to what was happening elsewhere, and what had happened in the past. To view a period in isolation is to miss whatever message it has to offer.

It means little to anybody but us. We set store by kinfolk. We've our troubles from time to time, but when one of us is in danger, there'll be help from any who are around.

Because a man plays a king superbly well does not mean that he would make a good king.

Many a small man is considered good while he remains small, but let power come to him, and he becomes a raging fury.

Knowledge is like money: To be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.