“If you want anything done right you will have to see to it yourself every time.”

“What have you done when you have bested a fool?”

“But I had not the strength nor the inclination to bandy words with a drunkard. What have you done when you have bested a fool?”

“You go for a man hard and fast enough and he don't have time to think about how many is with him, he thinks about himself and how he may get clear out of the wrath that is about to set down on him.”

“I know what they said even if they would not say it to my face. People love to talk. They love to slander you if you have any substance.”

“There is no generosity in women. They want everything coming in and nothing going out. They show no trust. Lord God, how they hate to pay you! They will get the work of two men out of you and I guess they would beat you with whips if they were able to. No sir, not me. Never. A man will not work for a woman, not unless he has clabber for brains.”

“She said, 'Goodbye, Reuben, a love for decency does not abide in you.' There is your divorced woman talking about decency. I told her, I said, 'Goodbye, Nola, I hope that little nail selling bastard will make you happy this time.”