Zane Grey Quotes & Sayings

Writing was like digging coal. I sweat blood. The spell is on me. — Zane Grey

It was a decent New Year's, but it took a million officers to make it so. — Zane Grey

I knew youd never be American enough to help me reconstruct my life. — Zane Grey

keep me from ridin' trail. But you're acting — Zane Grey

A man can die. He is glorious when he calmly accepts death; but when he fights like a tiger, when he stands at bay his back to the wall, a broken weapon in his hand, bloody, defiant, game to the end, then he is sublime. Then he wrings respect from the souls of even his bitterest foes. Then he is avenged even in his death. — Zane Grey

Belding hesitated and looked — Zane Grey

No one connected intimately with a writer has any appreciation of his temperament, except to think him overdoing everything. — Zane Grey

This motion-picture muddle had distracted me from my writing. — Zane Grey

Today I began the novel that I determined to be great. — Zane Grey

The windows of the — Zane Grey

For a few moments he indulged his old joy in range and mountain, stretching, rising on his right, away into the purple distance. Something had heightened its beauty. How softly gray the rolling range land - how black the timbered slopes! The town before him sat like a hideous blotch on a fair landscape. It forced his gaze over and beyond toward the west, where the late afternoon sun had begun to mellow and redden, edging the clouds with exquisite light. To the southward lay Arizona, land of painted mesas and storied canyon walls, of thundering streams and wild pine forests, of purple-saged valleys and grassy parks, set like mosaics between the stark desert mountains. — Zane Grey

Red Lake must be his Rubicon. Either he must enter the unknown to seek, to strive, to find, or turn back and fail and never know and be always haunted. — Zane Grey

Because of this genuine love for horses, the beautiful wild-horse panorama beneath Pan swelled his heart. He gazed and gazed. From near to far the bands dotted the green-gray valley. Far away this valley floor shaded into blue. Near at hand the colors were easily distinguishable. Blacks and bays, whites and chestnuts, pintos that resembled zebras dotted this wild pasture land. The closest band to where Pan and Blinky stood could not have been more than a mile distant, in a straight line. A shiny black stallion was the leader of this herd. He was acting strangely, too, trotting forward and halting, tossing his head and long black mane. — Zane Grey

A valley that had some of the characteristics of a canyon yawned beneath, so deep and wide that it appeared like a blue lake, so long that he could only see the north end, which notched under a rugged mountain slope, green and black and golden and white according to the successive steps toward the heights. The height upon which he stood was the last of the ridges, for the elevation that lay directly across was a noble range of foothills, timbered, canyoned, apparently insurmountable for horses. Gray cliffs stood out of the green, crags of yellow rock mounted like castles. — Zane Grey

I hate birthdays. — Zane Grey

Hard work makes for what I reckon you like in a man, but don't understand. As I look back over my life--an' let me say, young fellar, it's been a tough one--what I remember most an' feel best over are the hardest jobs I ever did, an' those that cost the most sweat an' blood." As — Zane Grey

But what can women do in times of war? They help, they cheer, they inspire, and if their cause is lost they must accept death or worse. Few women have the courage for self-destruction. "To the victor belong the spoils," and women have ever been the spoils of war. — Zane Grey

Jack had met me half-way that would have been better for him. An' for me, because I get good out of helpin' any one." His — Zane Grey

Adam Larey gazed with hard and wondering eyes down the silent current of the red river upon which he meant to drift away into the desert — Zane Grey

Likewise he believed that men wandering or lost in the wilderness often reversed that brutal order of life and became noble, wonderful, super-human. — Zane Grey

perhaps he and this man, alone on the desert, driven there by life's mysterious and remorseless motive, were to see each other through God's eyes. His — Zane Grey

I must go deeper and even stronger into my treasure mine and stint nothing of time, toil, or torture. — Zane Grey

Men may rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to higher things. — Zane Grey

Aboot the gold Syvertsen stole — Zane Grey

We must dress to make other women jealous and to attract men. — Zane Grey

Surely with all its greatness it could not be lost; surely in the end it must triumph over evil. — Zane Grey

I see so much more than I used to see. The effect has been to depress and sadden and hurt me terribly. — Zane Grey

There was never an angler who lived but that there was a fish capable of taking the conceit out of him. — Zane Grey

Jealousy is an unjust and stifling thing. — Zane Grey

Dusk settled down into this neck of the great valley. Coyotes barked out in the open. From the heights pealed down the mournful blood-curdling, yet beautiful, bay of a wolf. The rosy afterglow of sunset lingered a long time. The place was shut in, closed about by brushy steeps, redolent of sage. A tiny stream of swift water sang faintly down over rocks. And before darkness had time to enfold hollow and slope and horizon, the moon slid up to defeat the encroaching night and blanch the hills with silvery light. — Zane Grey

I confess that reading proofs is a pleasure. It stimulates and inspires me. — Zane Grey

Aunt Mary, you hurt my feelings." "Well, child, I'm glad to learn your feelings are hurt," returned the aunt. "I'm sure, Carley, that underneath all this--this blase ultra something you've acquired, there's a real heart. Only you must hurry and listen to it--or-- — Zane Grey

Pride would never be her ally. — Zane Grey

Where I was raised a woman's word was law. I ain't quite outgrowed that yet. — Zane Grey

I am waiting to plunge down, to shatter and crash, roar and boom, to bury your trail, and close forever the outlet to Deception Pass! — Zane Grey

Get up, an' take my scarf," said Wade, "an' bandage these bullet-holes I got. — Zane Grey

wild men in wild places, fighting cold, heat, starvation, thirst, barrenness, facing the elements in all their ferocity, usually retrograded, descended to the savage, lost all heart and soul and became mere brutes. — Zane Grey

Oh, Glenn!--forgive--me! " she faltered. "I was only--talking. What do I know? Oh, I am blind--blind and little! — Zane Grey

And of storehouses and of freight-trains - destruction — Zane Grey

All the saddle horses, and even some of the pack animals, were affected by the scent of the wild herd. Freedom still lived deep down in their hearts. That was why a broken horse, no matter how gentle, became the wildest of the wild when he got free. — Zane Grey

Like an arrow sprung from a bow Betty flashed past the Colonel and out on the green. Scarcely ten of the long hundred yards had been covered by her flying feet when a roar of angry shouts and yells warned Betty that the keen-eyed savages saw the bag of powder and now knew they had been deceived by a girl. — Zane Grey

I hope I have found myself, my work, my happiness - under the light of the western skies. — Zane Grey

So that's troublin' you? I reckon it needn't. You see it was this way. I come round the house an' seen that fat party an' heard him talkin' loud. Then he seen me, an' very impolite goes straight for his gun. He oughtn't have tried to throw a gun on me - whatever his reason was. For that's meetin' me on my own grounds. I've seen runnin' molasses that was quicker'n him. Now I didn't know who he was, visitor or friend or relation of yours, though I seen he was a Mormon all over, an' I couldn't get serious about shootin'. So I winged him - put a bullet through his arm as he was pullin' at his gun. An' he droppped the gun there, an' a little blood. I told him he'd introduced himself sufficient, an' to please move out of my vicinity. An' went - Lassiter — Zane Grey

the strong feeling beginning to be manifested to Wade was not the fun of matching wits and luck with his antagonists, nor a desire to accumulate money--for his recklessness disproved that--but the liberation of the gambling passion. — Zane Grey

Morning dawned bright and sparkling after the rain. The air was keen and crisp. The cedars glistened as if decked with diamonds. Pan felt the sweet scent of the damp dust, and it gave him a thrill and a longing for the saddle and the open country. — Zane Grey

only back of the bar. A white-clad figure rushed — Zane Grey

Life is hard enough, God knows, but it's unfailin' true in the end to the man or woman who finds the best in them an' stands by it." "Uncle John, y'u talk so - so — Zane Grey

Far away Tongariro! Green - white thundering Athabasca river of New Zealand! I vowed I would come again down across the Pacific to fish in the swift cold waters of this most beautiful and famous of trout streams. It is something to have striven. It is much to have kept your word. — Zane Grey

I can write best in the silence and solitude of the night, when everyone has retired. — Zane Grey

A good rule of angling philosophy is not to interfere with any fishermans ways of being happy, unless you want to be hated. — Zane Grey

With distrust came suspicion and with suspicion came fear, and with fear came hate--and these, in already distorted minds, inflamed a hell. — Zane Grey

Once he had said to her that a man should never be judged by the result of his labors, but by the nature of his effort. — Zane Grey

I need this wild life, this freedom. — Zane Grey

What's all the row over at Ben's?" [Mrs. Ide] inquired, placidly, from her comfortable chair.
"Rustlers, cattle, foremen, sheriffs, and Heaven only knows what," replied Hettie, distractedly. — Zane Grey

These critics who crucify me do not guess the littlest part of my sincerity. They must be burned in a blaze. I cannot learn from them. — Zane Grey

Mister Hawe, you come along, not satisfied with ropin — Zane Grey

Before exulatation had vanished, I felt as if I had been granted a marvellous privilege. Out of the inscrutable waters a beautiful fish had somehow leaped to show me fleetingly the life and spirit of his element. — Zane Grey

Unhappiness is only a change. Happiness itself is only change. So what does it matter? The great thing is to see life--to understand--to feel--to work--to fight--to endure. — Zane Grey

I will see this game of life out to its bitter end. — Zane Grey

You must use that hope an' faith to help you get well. — Zane Grey

Dad, I don't know women very well, but I reckon they live by their hearts. You — Zane Grey

Carley saw two forces in life--the destructive and constructive. On the one side greed, selfishness, materialism: on the other generosity, sacrifice, and idealism. — Zane Grey

If I fished only to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago. — Zane Grey

the trail, and returned home as he had left, stealthily, like an Indian. — Zane Grey

What is writing but an expression of my own life? — Zane Grey

Realism is death to me. I cannot stand life as it is. — Zane Grey

Fishing keeps men boys longer than any other pursuit — Zane Grey

With that they, and many others, left the hall and joined the moving crowd in the street. The night was delightfully cool. Stars shone white in a velvet sky. The dry wind from mountain and desert blew in their faces. Pan — Zane Grey

Halt! ... " Wade leaped at the white Belllounds. "If you run I'll break a leg for you
an' then I'll beat your miserable brains out! ... Have you no sense? Can't you recognize what's comin'? ... I'm goin' to kill you, Buster Jack!"
"My God!" whispered the other, understanding fully at last. — Zane Grey

I will live them. I will have faith and hope and love, for I am his daughter," she said. — Zane Grey

What makes life worth living? Better surely, to yield to the stain of suicide blood in me and seek forgetfulness in the embrace of cold dark death. — Zane Grey

Every once in a while I feel the tremendous force of the novel. But it does not stay with me. — Zane Grey

But he clung to hope, to faith in life, to the victory of the virtuous, to the defeat of evil. — Zane Grey

There are always greater fish than you have caught, always the lure
of greater task and achievement, always the inspiration to seek, to endure,
to find. — Zane Grey

twenty-foot-square, furious splash as he hooked himself. I sat spellbound. I — Zane Grey

Never insult seven men when all your packing is a six-shooter. — Zane Grey

I am full of fire and passion. I am not ready yet for great concentration and passion. — Zane Grey

Love grows more tremendously full, swift, poignant, as the years multiply. — Zane Grey

Did not at first give vague disappointment, a confounding of reality, a disenchantment of contrast with what the mind had conceived. — Zane Grey

At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. Its like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And its not so important happy ever after, just that its happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you , and once in a while people may even take your breath away. — Zane Grey

I am tired. My arm aches. My head boils. My feet are cold. But I am not aware of any weakness. — Zane Grey

Unless you begin to control your temper, to forget yourself, to kill your wild impulses, to be kind, to learn what love is--you'll never last!... — Zane Grey

Instantly a thick blackness seemed to enfold her and silence as of a dead world settled down upon her. Drowsy as she was she could not close her eyes nor refrain from listening. Darkness and silence were tangible things. She felt them. And they seemed suddenly potent with magic charm to still the tumult of her, to sooth and rest, to create thought she had never thought before. Rest was more than selfish indulgence. Loneliness was necessary to gain conciseness of the soul. — Zane Grey

Fishing is a condition of the mind wherein one cannot have a bad time. — Zane Grey

I love my work but do not know how I write it. — Zane Grey

The difficulty, the ordeal, is to start. — Zane Grey

I wrote for nearly six hours. When I stopped, the dark mood, as if by magic, had folded its cloak and gone away. — Zane Grey

I did not have one bad spell during writing - an unprecedented record. — Zane Grey

He saw his enemies stealthily darting from rock to tree, and tree to bush, creeping through the brush, and slipping closer and closer every moment. On three sides were his hated foes and on the remaining side - the abyss. Without a moment's hesitation the intrepid Major spurred his horse at the precipice. Never shall I forget that thrilling moment. The three hundred savages were silent as they realized the Major's intention. Those in the fort watched with staring eyes. A few bounds and the noble steed reared high on his hind legs. Outlined by the clear blue sky the magnificent animal stood for one brief instant, his black mane flying in the wind, his head thrown up and his front hoofs pawing the air like Marcus Curtius' mailed steed of old, and then down with a crash, a cloud of dust, and the crackling of pine limbs. — Zane Grey

Work is my salvation. It changes my moods. — Zane Grey

There are hours when I must force the novel out of my mind and be interested in the children. — Zane Grey

I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me. — Zane Grey

You and I will never live to see the day that women recover their balance. — Zane Grey

He stalked into the room, leaned his long rifle against the mantelpiece and spread out his hands to the fire. He was clad from head to foot in fringed and beaded buckskin, which showed evidence of a long and arduous tramp. It was torn and wet and covered with mud. He was a magnificently made man, six feet in height, and stood straight as an arrow. His wide shoulders, and his muscular, though not heavy, limbs denoted wonderful strength and activity. His long hair, black as a raven's wing, hung far down his shoulders. Presently he turned and the light shone on a remarkable face. So calm and cold and stern it was that it seemed chiselled out of marble. The most striking features were its unusual pallor, and the eyes, which were coal black, and piercing as the dagger's point. — Zane Grey

the false courage of association with a crowd. — Zane Grey

Recipe For Greatness - To bear up under loss; To fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief; To be victor over anger; To smile when tears are close; To resist disease and evil men and base instincts; To hate hate and to love love; To go on when it would seen good to die; To look up with unquenchable faith in something ever more about to be. That is what any man can do, and be great. — Zane Grey

False education, false standards, false environment had developed her into a woman who imagined she must feed her body on the milk and honey of indulgence. — Zane Grey

No nerve, hey? Not half a man! ... Buster Jack, why don't you finish game? Make up for your low-down tricks. At the last try to be worthy of your dad. In his day he was a real man ... Let him have the consolation that you faced Hell-Bent Wade an' died in your boots! — Zane Grey

strong, stirring instant as with fascinated eyes I watched — Zane Grey

An awful sense of her deadness, of her soul-blighting selfishness, began to dawn upon her as something monstrous out of dim, gray obscurity. — Zane Grey