Max Brand > Quotes

“First, the weather got hotter every day, and the hay press broke down every day. Second, the boss fell in love with Marian Wray, and the hay press broke down every day. Third, inside of forty-eight hours everybody on that crew hated everybody else, and the hay press broke down every day. Fourth, and most important of all, the hay press broke down every day.”
― Max Brand, The Oath of Office: A Western Trio

“Words," said the host, at length, "is worse'n bullets. You never know what they'll hit.”
― Max Brand, The Night Horseman

“When in doubt, head into the wind.”
― Max Brand, Gunman's Reckoning

“A slope of buttercups flashed suddenly when the wind struck it and wild morning glory spotted a stretch of daisies with purple and dainty lavender. To be sure, the blossoms never grew thickly enough to make strong dashes of color, but they tinted and stained the hillsides. He began to cross noisy little watercourses, empty most of the year, but now the melting snow fed them. From eddies and quiet pools the bright watercress streamed out into the currents,”
― Max Brand, The Seventh Man

“When the leader of the pack springs and fails to kill, the rest of the pack tear him to pieces.”
― Max Brand, Riders of the Silences

“perfect evil always wins something akin to admiration from more common people.”
― Max Brand, Gunman's Reckoning

“A good general," Allister was fond of saying, "plans in two ways: for an absolute victory and for an absolute defeat. The one enables him to squeeze the last ounce of success out of a triumph; the other keeps a failure from turning into a catastrophe.”
― Max Brand, Way of the Lawless

“This is a short cut to knowing one another,” he explained. “School and college and medical school first, please. Joiner and Vickery are from Groton and Harvard; I’m only from Andover and Yale, so they won’t let me stay in the same room with them; but we can keep the door ajar and get some of the air from the high life, now and then.”
― Max Brand, Young Dr. Kildare

“Lemme tell you what a friend is. He's the bunkie that guards your back in a fight; he's the man that can ask for your hoss [horse] or your gun or your life, no matter how bad you want 'em; he's the gent that trusts you when the world calls you a liar; he's the one that don't grin when you're in trouble, who gives a cheer when you're going good. With a friend you let down the bars and turn your mind loose like wild hosses. I take out my soul like a gun and show it to my friend in the palm of my hand. It's sure full of holes and stains, this life of mine, but my friend checks off the good agin' the bad, and when you're through he says: 'Partner, now I like you better because I know you better.”
― Max Brand, The Rangeland Avenger

“Go call him back,” pleaded Joe. “He will stay for your sake.”

She whispered: “I would rather call back the wild geese who flew across the moon. And they are only beautiful when they are wild!”

“But you’ve lost him, Kate, don’t you understand?”

“The wild geese fly north again in spring,” said Buck, “and he’ll—”

“Hush!” she said. “Listen!”

Far off, above the rushing of the wind, they heard the weird whistling, a thrilling and unearthly music. It was sad with the beauty of the night. It was joyous with the exultation of the wind. It might have been the voice of some god who rode the northern storm south, south after the wild geese, south with the untamed.”
― Max Brand, The Untamed

“Life is a serious problem to a man over thirty. To a man under thirty it is simply a game.”
― Max Brand, Riders of the Silences

“awakened her.”
― Max Brand, Bull Hunter

“Dan — Whistling Dan,” he said, “I’m seeing you a long, long ways off. Partner, I’m done for.”

The whole body of Dan stiffened.

“Done? Tex, you can’t be! Five minutes ago you sat at that there table, smilin’ an’ talkin’!”

“It doesn’t take five minutes. Half a second can take a man all the way to hell!”
― Max Brand, The Untamed

“kept repeating, his glance going blankly past her as he struggled to find words for the strange experience, "but then I saw his ribs going in and out. He was big where the cinches”
― Max Brand, Alcatraz

“Word's is worse'n bullets. You never know what they'll hit.”
― Max Brand, The Night Horseman

“have seen that same smile which stirs the heart of a woman and makes a man reach for his revolver.”
― Max Brand, Riders of the Silences

“A thing half done is a game not won,” said he. “If there’s only one window in the house unlocked the devil may fly through it as easy as if the whole place was open.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“The minds which one found in the pages of a book were understandable. But the minds of living men—how terrible they were! One”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“I’ll tell you, Champ, that a man has enough trouble in the world without asking for it.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“the doctor saw that the fire was still raging in the hollow breast of the cattleman, but there was no longer fuel to feed it.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“a gent gets his reward when he sees other people happy. As”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“And his face—the way he laughed—why he didn’t look like no fool at all, boys. But just as if he’d waked up!”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“In the Far West there is one thing which is more fabulously valuable then gold, even. And that is a story, whether it be truth or good, true-sounding fiction. Stories”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“A fitted shoe is a right good shoe,” said the old man, enthusiastically. “I’ll fit that shoe to the breadth of a hair.” “And you’ll be all the night about it,” declared the son. “Better a late start than a never ending,” said the father.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“if a man ain’t got the heart inside, it don’t make no difference how big around the chest he measures.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“Some damn fools say they ain’t a God! Some damn fools! Something for nothing. That’s what He gives! Steady,”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“Also, a mob has no conscience and no remorse. It is the nearest thing to a devil that exists, and it is also the nearest thing to the divine mercy and courage. It”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“the stranger met every remark; not a thoughtful pause, but rather as though he wondered if it were worth while to make any answer.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“He softened his voice. “Gaspar,” he said, “keep your head up. Make up your mind that you’ll fight to the last gasp. Why, it makes me plumb sick to see a grown man give up like you do!”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack

“He saw three ugly natures, three small, cruel souls.”
― Max Brand, The Max Brand Megapack