A mistake constantly made by those who should know better is to judge people of the past by our standards rather than their own. The only way men or women can be judged is against the canvas of their own time. Louis L'Amour More Quotes by Louis L'Amour More Quotes From Louis L'Amour Up to a point a person’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and changes in the world about them. Then there comes a time when it lies within their grasp to shape the clay of their life into the sort of thing they wish it to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune or the quirks of fate. Everyone has the power to say, "This I am today. That I shall be tomorrow. Louis L'Amour fate life lying When I die, remember that what you knew of me is with you always. What is buried is only the shell of what was. Do not regret the shell, but remember the man. Remember the father. Louis L'Amour regret men father Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else. Louis L'Amour important somewhere-else people There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. Louis L'Amour change time inspirational The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for. Louis L'Amour slow-down ends missing There is no man more dangerous than one who does not doubt his own rightness. Louis L'Amour doubt doe men If you're going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow. Louis L'Amour writing water ideas Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more. Louis L'Amour winning time inspirational Actually, all education is self-education. A teacher is only a guide, to point out the way, and no school, no matter how excellent, can give you education. What you receive is like the outlines in a child’s coloring book. You must fill in the colors yourself. Louis L'Amour teacher book children You are your own best teacher. My advice is to question all things. Seek for answers, and when you find what seems to be an answer, question that, too. Louis L'Amour answers advice teacher The saddle is a place for dreaming when there's hours of trail ahead. Louis L'Amour saddles hours dream The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring. Louis L'Amour adversity inspirational memories There are good men everywhere. I only wish they had louder voices. Louis L'Amour good-man voice men Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone. Louis L'Amour mindfulness forever live-in-the-moment This-this was what made life: a moment of quiet, the water falling in the fountain, the girl's voice. . . a moment of captured beauty. Those who are truly wise will never permit such moments to escape. Louis L'Amour girl wise fall We are, finally, all wanderers in search of knowledge. Most of us hold the dream of becoming something better than we are, something larger, richer, in some way more important to the world and ourselves. Too often, the way taken is the wrong way, with too much emphasis on what we want to have, rather than what we wish to become. Louis L'Amour taken wish dream Only one who has learned much can fully appreciate his ignorance. Louis L'Amour appreciate ignorance We do not at present educate people to think but, rather, to have opinions, and that is something altogether different. Louis L'Amour different people thinking . . . What do you wish to be? What would you like to become?” I did not know, and I told her so, but the question worried me. Should I know? “There is time,” she said, “but the sooner you know, the sooner you can plan. To have a goal is the important thing, and to work toward it. Then, if you decide you wish to do something different, you will at least have been moving, you will have been going somewhere, you will have been learning. Louis L'Amour goal wish moving Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen. Louis L'Amour journey adventure travel