A Trail of Memories – Louis L’Amour

This book is nothing more than a collection of quotes from books written by Louis L’Amour – but I love many of the quotes in his books, so I really love this book. I figured I’d give some of my favorite examples from each section that relate most directly to what we discuss here, as I re-read it, and let everyone comment on the quotes.

The first three, in the section about “Life”:

If man is to vanish from the earth, let him vanish in the moment of creation, when he is creating something new, opening the path to the tomorrow he may never see. It is man’s nature to reach out, to grasp for the tangible on the way to the intangible. (“The Lonesome Gods”)

Up to a point, a man’s life if shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be . . . Everyone has it within his power to say, “This I am today; that I shall be tomorrow.” (“The Walking Drum”)

This was what made life: a moment of quiet, the water falling in the fountain, the girl’s voice . . . a moment of captured beauty. He who is truly wise will never let such moments escape. (“The Walking Drum”)