“any live man is better than any dead man but no live or dead man is very much better than any other live or dead man”

“A man will talk about how he’d like to escape from living folks. but it’s the dead folks that do him the damage. It’s the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and don’t try to hold him, that he cant escape from”

“a fellow is more afraid of the trouble he might have than he ever is of the trouble he's already got. He'll cling to trouble he's used to before he'll risk a change. Yes. A man will talk about how he'd like to escape from living folks. But it's the dead folks that do him the damage. It's the dead ones that lay quiet in one place and dont try to hold him, that he cant escape from.”

“There is no such thing as bad whiskey. Some whiskeys just happen to be better than others. But a man shouldn’t fool with booze until he’s fifty; then he’s a damn fool if he doesn’t.”

“...the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time.”

“Whatever you do,strive to do it so well that no man living and no man dead and no man yet to be born could do it any better.”

“I can stand on my own feet; I don't need any man's mahogany desk to prop me up”