“I used to be endlessly troubled by meat-eating people who were uneasy with hunters and hunting. ... How can someone suggest that paying for the slaughter of animals is more justifiable than taking the responsibility for one's food into one's own hands? ... Civilization is a mechanism that allows us to avoid the necessary but ugly aspects of life; most of us do not euthanize our own pets, we don't unplug the life support on our own ailing grandparents, we don't repair our own cars, and we don't process our own raw sewage. Instead, the delegations of our less-pleasant responsibilities is so widespread that taking these things on is almost like trying to swim upriver. It's easier not to do them, and those who insist on doing so are bound to look a little odd.”
― American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
― American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon
“Pussyfooting is a vice I have been concerned to avoid.”
― In a Narrow Grave : Essays on Texas
― In a Narrow Grave : Essays on Texas
“All men wish to be captains, but few men wish to shoulder the burden of decision, and in coming here with these others, I had staked a claim that I must wall against misfortune.”
― To the Far Blue Mountains
― To the Far Blue Mountains
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
― A River Runs Through It
― A River Runs Through It
“woman’s love is like the morning dew, it’s just as apt to settle on a horse turd as it is on a rose.”
― Thalia: A Texas Trilogy
― Thalia: A Texas Trilogy
Jon’s 2025 Year in Books
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