Travis Mcgee Quotes

“Old friend, there are people—young and old—that I like, and people that I do not like. The former are always in short supply. I am turned off by humorless fanaticism, whether it's revolutionary mumbo-jumbo by a young one, or loud lessons from scripture by and old one. We are all comical, touching, slapstick animals, walking on our hind legs, trying to make it a noble journey from womb to tomb, and the people who can't see it all that way bore hell out of me.”
― John D. MacDonald, Dress Her in Indigo

“In all emotional conflicts, the thing you find the most difficult to do, is the thing that you should do."
--Meyer's Law”
― John D. MacDonald

“I had that fractional part of consciousness left which gave me a remote and unimportant view of reality. The world was a television set at the other end of a dark auditorium, with blurred sound and a fringe area picture.”
― John D. MacDonald, The Deep Blue Good-By

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.”
― John D. MacDonald

“I awakened on Monday with the impression that I might have to get up and bang my head against the wall to get my heart started.”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt

“So!"

"So?"

So I don't think you drove that one off. So it was her choice. So she isn't the kind who says it is for good and then come back all of a sudden. With her, gone is gone. So if I were you, I would be just as bad off as you look. Or worse. So if I were you and one like that was gone for good, I'd miss hell out of her and wonder if maybe I'd handled things a little differently some how, I could have kept her around permanently."

"That's enough about 'so.”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt

“I leaned over and slapped his face sideways and backhanded it back to center position.

"Manners," I said.”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt

“I switched the FM-UHF marine radio to the commercial frequencies and tried to find something that didn't sound like somebody trying to break up a dogfight in a sorority house by banging drums and cymbals. Not that I want to say it isn't music.”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt

“That's the way They do you. That's the way They set you up for it. There ought to be a warning bell on the happy-meter, so that every time it creeps high enough, you get that dang-dang alert. Duck, boy. That glow makes you too visible. One of Them is out there in the boonies, adjusting the windage, getting you lined up in the cross hairs of the scope.”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt

“More fun than a hungover, carbuncled cowboy might have while trying to stay aboard a longhorn, in a dusty rodeo, but it would be a close decision”
― John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt