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Epitaph QUOTES

Epitaph QUOTES

1 " Wyatt Earp had been born, and born again, and now there would be a third life, for the iron fist that had seized his soul in childhood had lost its grip at last. The long struggle for control was over, and in its place, he found a wordless acceptance of a truth he'd always known. He was bred to this anger. It had been in him since the cradle. He'd never bullied neighbors or beaten a horse. He'd never punched the front teeth out of a six-year-old's mouth or hit a woman until she begged. But he was no better than his father, and never had been. He was far, far worse. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

2 " When a man beats his boy, he wants a son who won't buck him. He's trying to make a coward. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it works.

And the hundredth boy?

We can go either way. Kill the old man, or try to become a better one. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

3 " No one who does not live with constant pain can imagine the toll it takes. The way it grinds you down. The sheer damnable tedium of it. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

4 " Its not lying, it's remembering things the way they should have been. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

5 " For five weeks, the Associated Press had provided the world with lurid coverage of the attack on Virgil Earp, which was labeled Cow Boy revenge for what was being called “the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” because it took too long to set the type for “Gunfight in the Vacant Lot behind Camillus Fly’s Photography Studio Near Fremont Street. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

6 " I would not have voted for the man,” Doc admitted, “but this—” He lifted a fine-boned hand toward the street, where small groups of Cow Boys were now tearing down Allen on horseback, shooting at the sky and racing beyond the city limits before the police could do anything about the ruckus. “This is indecent. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

7 " When she finished, no one clapped or even breathed, for they were still inside that sacred place that music can sometimes create. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

8 " It was politicians saying, “Let’s you and him fight! "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

9 " The answer was clear, though he half-expected his hand to shrivel and turn black when he voted for a Republican. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

10 " A tale begins and where it ends, matters. Who tells the story and why, that makes all the difference. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

11 " Raise your sights, sugar. Aim low all you'll hit is rats, snakes and rock bottom" from Epitaph "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

12 " Sadie was at his side when the old desire to leave everything behind rose up in him again.

“Suppose . . .” he began. “Suppose . . .”

Then he moved on, one last time. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

13 " Ringo's chuckle got tangled up with a cough. He tossed back a shot, cleared his throat, and said, "Politics, from the Latin. Poly, meaning 'many.' Ticks meaning 'bloodsucking little bastards. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

14 " IF YOU WANT A STORYBOOK ENDING, stop—now—and remember them in that tender moment. Be content to know that they embarked on a series of adventures throughout the West and that they stayed together through thick and thin for forty-five years.

But know this as well: If their story ended here, no one would remember them at all.

Where a tale begins and where it ends matters. Who tells the story, and why . . . That makes all the difference. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

15 " Do what works. That was the motto. Grab what you can when you can. That was the plan. It was not a golden age, as Mr. Twain had recently pointed out, but a cheap and flashy gilded one. A time of fakery and exuberant corruption, of patronage and cronyism and every species of shameless self-seeking. In such times, even honorable men give up trying to draw the line. It’s different now, they always think. Everything is different now. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

16 " He respected her before he loved her, and he loved her before he finished his lunch that first day. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

17 " On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, the Earps were incorruptible, intrepid lawmen bravely marching off to protect the city from gun-toting outlaws. The next morning, they were cold-blooded killers who’d murdered three men on a public street because of some kind of personal feud between Doc Holliday and Ike Clanton. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph

18 " Wyatt Earp had been born, and born again, and now there would be a third life, for the iron fist that had seized his soul in childhood had lost its grip at last. The long struggle for control was over, and in its place, he found a wordless acceptance of a truth he’d always known. He was bred to this anger. It had been in him since the cradle. He’d never bullied neighbors or beaten a horse. He’d never punched the front teeth out of a seven-year-old’s mouth or hit a woman until she begged. But he was no better than his father, and never had been. He was far, far worse. "

― Mary Doria Russell , Epitaph