Jack Schaefer > Quotes

“Listen, Bob. A gun is just a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool, a shovel- or an axe or a saddle or a stove or anything. Think of it always that way. A gun is as good- and as bad- as the man who carries it. Remember that.”
― Jack Schaefer

“What a man knows isn’t important. It’s what he is that counts”
― Jack Schaefer

“They did not look at each other. They did not say a word to each other... They knew that talk is meaningless when a common knowledge is already there. The silence bound them as no words ever could.”
― Jack Schaefer

“Ernie's past friendship. Your debt is to the living.”
― Jack Schaefer

“A gun is just a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool, a shovel - or an axe or a saddle or a stove or anything. Think of it always that way. A gun is as good - and as bad - as the man who carries it.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Listen, Bob. A gun is just a tool. No better and no worse than any other tool, a shovel—or an axe or a saddle or a stove or anything. Think of it always that way. A gun is as good—and as bad—as the man who carries it. Remember that.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“What a man knows isn't important. Its what he is that counts.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“There are some things you don't ask a man. Not if you respect him. He's entitled to stake his claim to what he considers private to himself alone.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Then the hand around the gun whitened and the fingers slowly opened and the gun fell to the ground. The hand sank to his side, stiff and awkward. He raised his head and the mouth was a bitter gash in his face. His eyes were fastened on the mountains climbing in the distance. “Shane! Shane! What’s the matter?” He did not hear me. He was back somewhere along the dark trail of the past. He took a deep breath, and I could see the effort run through him as he dragged himself into the present and a realization of a boy staring at him.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Even his name remained mysterious. Just Shane. Nothing else. We never knew whether that was his first name or last name or, indeed, any name that came from his family. “Call me Shane,” he said, and that was all he ever said. But I conjured up all manner of adventures for him, not tied to any particular time or place, seeing him as a slim and dark and dashing figure coolly passing through perils that would overcome a lesser man.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“With us he spoke freely enough. We were, in some subtle way, his folks. Though we had taken him in, you had the feeling that he had adopted us. But with others he was reserved; courteous and soft-spoken, yet withdrawn beyond a line of his own making.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Father, of course, was special all to himself. There could never be anyone quite to match him. I wanted to be like him, just as he was. But first I wanted, as he had done, to ride the range, to have my own string of ponies and take part in an all-brand round-up and in a big cattle drive and dash into strange towns with just such a rollicking crew and with a season’s pay jingling in my pockets.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“but he was a careful man who never let thoughts about the future interfere with present business.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Shane was looking down the road and on to the open plain and the horse was obeying the silent command of the reins. He was riding away and I knew that no word or thought could hold him. The big horse, patient and powerful, was already settling into the steady pace that had brought him into our valley, and the two, the man and the horse, were a single dark shape in the road as they passed beyond the reach of the light from the windows”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“I’m really a-howling!”
― Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh

“Shane, that soft-spoken man, let out a whoop you might have heard halfway to town and ran to father’s horse, putting his hands on the saddle and vaulting into it. He fairly lifted the horse into a gallop in one leap and that old cowpony of father’s lit out after those steers like this was fun. By the time father reached the corral gate, Shane had the runaways in a compact bunch and padding back at a trot. He dropped them through the gateway neat as pie.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“I would think of him most vividly in that single flashing instant when he whirled to shoot Fletcher on the balcony at Grafton’s saloon. I would see again the power and grace of coordinate force beautiful beyond comprehension. I would see the man and the weapon wedded in one indivisible deadliness. I would see the man and the tool, a good man and a good tool, doing what had to be done”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“A man can keep his self-respect without having to cram it down another man's throat.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“There's only one thing really wrong with you. You're young. That's the one thing time can always cure.”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane

“Anyone here who still intends to go to Hell, stand up and be counted among the damned.'
That's when Monte stands up. 'If what you been blattin' is true,' he says, 'then that's right where I'm a-going an' I'm a going there at a good clip.' An' Chet stands up alongside him an' Chet says. 'You ain't gone anywhere's yet, Monte, that I ain't been right with you, so I'll reckon I'll keep you comp'ny.' An' Powder stands up along the other side of him, an' Powder has his gun out, an' he's holding it kind of careless in one hand, an' he looks around an' he says, 'There's plenty more here heading in the same direction an' if they ain't got the nerve to stand up an' say so, they'll be getting there a lot sooner'n they been expecting.”
― Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh

“Father braced himself to hold the stump still. He turned his head to look at her. “Horses!” he shouted. All the pent silence of the two of them that long afternoon through was being shattered in the one wonderful shout. “Horses! Great jumping Jehosaphat! No! We started this with manpower and, by Godfrey, we’ll finish it with manpower!”
― Jack Schaefer, Shane