25+ Best 'All The Pretty Horses' Quotes By Cormac McCarthy
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'All The Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy is a 301-page novel.
The fiction revolves around a 16-year-old boy named John Grady Cole. He heads out on a picturesque, often comical journey with two friends, to a land where aspirations are compensated in blood.
'All The Pretty Horses' starts with John Grady Cole's grandfather's memorial service in 1949. With his passing, John Grady's mom will sell their Texas property and move west. For John Grady, who enjoys the field and idealizes the cowboy's lifestyle, there is little left in Texas. John Grady, just sixteen, storms away from home with his pal Rawlins.
The novel is the first of a trilogy written by Cormac McCarthy named the 'Border Trilogy'. It was a bestselling book. 'All The Pretty Horses' was published in 1992. Later, in 2000, it was made into a movie.
It is not clear if it is inspired by a true story or not. However, it does show McCarthy's strange narrative style which can seem difficult for many modern readers. Yet, it has been considered as the "true American original" by Newsweek.
This list of quotes from 'All The Pretty Horses' includes quotes by important characters in 'All The Pretty Horses' and themes in 'All The Pretty Horses'. The 'All The Pretty Horses' book was made into an 'All The Pretty Horses' movie.
In addition to the various 'All The Pretty Horses' themes, there are several important quotes in 'All The Pretty Horses' which include those made by the lead character John.
If you like these quotes, check out Cormac McCarthy quotes and [Jack Kerouac quotes].
Most Important Quotes From 'All The Pretty Horses'
Find below some of the most important sayings from 'All The Pretty Horses' from the narrator as well as the different characters of the novel. Keep reading to get lost in the charm.
1. "Because the question for me was always whether that shape we see in our lives was there from the beginning or whether these random events are only called a pattern after the fact. Because otherwise we are nothing."
- Dueña Alfonsa.
2. "The closest bonds we will ever know are bonds of grief. The deepest community one of sorrow."
- Cormac McCarthy.
3. "In the end we all come to be cured of our sentiments."
- Dueña Alfonsa.
4. "We can make the truth here. Or we can lose it. but when you leave here it will be too late. Too late for truth. Then you will be in the hands of other parties. Who can say what the truth will be then? At that time?"
- The Captain.
5. "What he loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them."
- Narrator.
6. "Lastly he looked at the face so caved and drawn among the folds of funeral cloth, the yellowed moustache, the eyelids paper thin. That was not sleeping. That was not sleeping."
- Narrator.
7. "Way the world is. Somebody can wake up and sneeze somewhere in Arkansas or some damn place and before you’re done there’s wars and ruination and all hell. You dont know what’s goin to happen. I’d say He’s just about got to. I don’t believe we’d make it a day otherwise."
- Lacey Rawlins.
8. "In the end we all come to be cured of our sentiments. Those whom life does not cure death will."
- Narrator.
9. "Between the wish and the thing the world lies waiting."
- Narrator.
10. "Every dumb thing I ever done in my life there was a decision I made before that got me into it. It was never the dumb thing. It was always some choice I’d made before it."
- Lacey Rawlins.
11. "Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real."
- Narrator.
12. "Man: You don’t talk much, do you?
John: Not a whole lot.
Man: That’s a good trait to have."
- John and Man.
13. "The world is quite ruthless in selecting between the dream and the reality, even where we will not."
- Narrator.
14. "The wind was much abated and it was very cold and the sun sat blood red and elliptic under the reefs of bloodred cloud before him."
- Narrator.
John Grady Cole Quotes
No list is complete without sayings from the lead character which in this case is John Grady Cole. So what are you waiting for? Read on to find out what his best quotes are.
15. "What he loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them."
- John Grady Cole.
16. "The truth is what happened. It aint what come out of somebody's mouth."
- John Grady Cole.
17. "But some things aint reasonable. Be that as it may I’m the same man you crossed that river with. How I was is how I am and all I know to do is stick.
I never even promised you you wouldnt die down here. Never asked your word on it either. I dont believe in signing on just till it quits suitin you."
- John Grady Cole.
18. "Real horse, real rider, real land and sky and yet a dream withal."
- Narrator about John Grady Cole.
19. "I got no reason to be afraid of God. I've even got a bone or two to pick with Him."
-Narrator.
20. “He saw very clearly how all his life led only to this moment and all after led to nowhere at all. He felt something cold and soulless enter him like another being and he imagined that it smiled malignly and he had no reason to believe that it would ever leave.”
- Narrator about John Grady Cole.
21. "I guess the country lasts forever, people ain't but for a little while."
- John Grady Cole.
22. "He repeated what his father had once told him, that scared money cant win and a worried man cant love."
- Cormac McCarthy about John Grady Cole.
23. "Lacey once asked me if I thought God looks out for people. I guess he does. I say He's just about got to. I don't believe we'd make it a day, otherwise."
- John Grady Cole.
24. "He'd the notion that there would be something in the story itself to tell him about the way the world was or was becoming but there was not. There was nothing in it at all."
- Narrator about John Grady Cole.
25. "I can't back up and start over. But I dont see the point in slobberin over it. And I cant see where it would make me feel better to be able to point a finger at somebody else."
- John Grady Cole.
26. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm not like you."
- John Grady Cole.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for quotes from 'All The Pretty Horses' then why not take a look at ['The Hate U Give' quotes], or ['Call Of The Wild' quotes].
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Bachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management
Moumita DuttaBachelor of Arts specializing in Journalism and Mass Communication, Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management
A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.
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