The wind was cold off the mountains and I was a naked man with enemies behind me, and nothing before me but hope. Louis L'Amour More Quotes by Louis L'Amour More Quotes From Louis L'Amour When I was a small boy I often went to the woods to lie on the grass in the shade. Somehow I had come to believe the earth could give me wisdom, but it did not. Yet I learned a little about animals and learned it is not always brave to make a stand. It is often foolish. There is a time for courage and a time for flight. Louis L'Amour animalbelievelying What is education but a conditioning of the mind to a society and a way of life. Louis L'Amour conditioningmindway A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one's life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself. You have a chance to select from pretty elegant furnishings. Louis L'Amour chancemindhome Some say opportunity knocks only once, that is not true. Opportunity knocks all the time, but you have to be ready for it. If the chance comes, you must have the equipment to take advantage of it. Louis L'Amour equipmentchanceopportunity ... we must read, not only for what we read but for what it makes us think. Louis L'Amour readingthinking violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble. Louis L'Amour gunrightsmen Men strive for peace, but it is their enemies that give them strength, and I think if man no longer had enemies, he would have to invent them, for his strength only grows from struggle. Louis L'Amour strengthstrugglemen 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 mistakemenpast It is not enough to do, one must also become. I wish to be wiser, stronger, better. This--" I held out my hands "--this thing that is me is incomplete. It is only the raw material with which I have to work. I want to make it better than I received it. Louis L'Amour strongerwishhands To die is nothing. One is here, one is no longer here. It is only at the end one must be able to say 'I was a man'. Louis L'Amour ableendsmen To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. Louis L'Amour democracypoliticaldoe Knowledge was not meant to be locked behind doors. It breathes best in the open air where all men can inhale its essence. Louis L'Amour airdoorsmen No man ever raised a monument to a cynic or wrote a poem about a man without faith. Louis L'Amour cynicraisedmen There are shadows for the shadows of things, as a reflection seen in a mirror of a mirror. We know there are circles within circles and dimensions beyond dimension. Reality is itself a shadow, only an appearance accepted by those whose eyes shun what might lie beyond. Louis L'Amour eyereflectionlying A wise man fights to win, but he is twice a fool who has no plan for possible defeat. Louis L'Amour fightingwisdomwise I am somebody. I am me. And I don't need anybody to make me somebody. Louis L'Amour being-yourselfinspirationalpeople Any man can shoot a gun, and with practice he can draw fast and shoot accurately, but that makes no difference. What counts is how you stand up when somebody is shooting back at you. Louis L'Amour gunpracticemen When corruption is visited upon the cities of men, the mountains and the deserts await him. The cities are for money but the high-up hills are purely for the soul. Louis L'Amour soulcitiesmen I fear there will be no future for those who do not change. Louis L'Amour future Living a life is much like climbing mountains-the summits are always further off than you think, but when a man has a goal, he always feels he's working toward something. Louis L'Amour climbingmenthinking