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Charles Portis Biography

Charles McColl Portis (born December 28, 1933) is an American author best known for his novels Norwood (1966) and the classic Western True Grit (1968), both adapted as films. The latter also inspired a film sequel and a made-for-TV movie sequel. A newer film adaptation of True Grit was released in 2010.

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Charles Portis Quotes

In the Anthropology Club, as I understood it, you were permitted, if not required, to despise only one thing, and that was your own culture, that of the West.

Anthropology, Club, Clubs, Culture, West

You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.

Deserve, Everything, Free, Grace, Grit, World

Nothing is too long or too short either if you have a true and interesting tale and what I call a "graphic" writing style combined with educational aims.

Call, Educational, Long, Nothing, True, Writing

We must each of us bear our own misfortunes.

Bear, Bears, Misfortunes

People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.

150, Father, Girl, Gold, Horse, Smith

It was old President Diaz who said that nothing ever happens in Mexico until it happens. Things rock along from day to day, and then all at once you are caught up in a rush of unforeseen events.

Caught, Day, Diaz, President, Progress, Rocks

Nothing I like to do pays well.

Like, Nothing, Pay, Pays, Wells

What have you done when you have bested a fool?

Bested, Done, Fool

There is no knowing what is in a man's heart.

Heart, Knowing, Men

On his deathbed he asked for a priest and became a Catholic. That was his wife's religion. It was his own business and none of mine. If you had sentenced one hundred and sixty men to death and seen around eighty of them swing, then maybe at the last minute you would feel the need for some stronger medicine than the Methodists could make.

Death, Medicine, Men, Priest, Seen, Swings

Lookin' back is a bad habit.

Back, Bad, Bad Habits, Habit, Lookin

Mexican homes as a rule are closed off to the world by high blank walls of yellowish masonry, topped with broken glass to discourage escaladores, or climbing burglars. The gardens and fountains and other delights are hidden, as in an Arab city.

Garden, Glass, Home, Homes, Wall, Yellowish

I always go backwards when I am backing up.

Backing, Backing Up, Backwards

One time you smash a bug with no mercy. Another time you find one helpless on his back with his legs flailing the air, and you flip him over and let him go on his way. The struggle that touches the heart.

Air, Bug, Flip, Heart, Smash, Struggle

I have known some horses and a good many more pigs who I believe harbored evil intent in their hearts. I will go further and say all cats are wicked, though often useful. Who has not seen Satan in their sly faces?

Believe, Evil, Further, Heart, Horse, Seen

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

Done, Right, See, Time, True Grit, Want

You do not think much of me, do you, Cogburn?" "I don't think about you at all when your mouth is closed.

Closed, Cogburn, Mouth, Mouths, Think, Thinking

As he drank, little brown drops of coffee clung to his mustache like dew. Men will live like billy goats if they are let alone.

Coffee, Let, Like, Men, Mustache

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?

Done, Fool, Inclination, Words, Drunkard

She gave me a pledge card, a card promising an annual gift of $5, $10, or $25 toward the support of the Unity mission. I filled it out under the hot light of the projector. The name and address spaces were much too short, unless you wrote a very fine hand or unless your name was Ed Poe and you lived at 1 Elm St.

Fine, Hands, Light, Lived, Space, Unity