True Grit

by Charles Portis

Tom Chaney said he was from Louisiana. He was a short man with cruel features.

If Papa had a failing it was his kindly disposition. People would use him. I did not get my mean streak from him.

would not rest easy until that Louisiana cur was roasting and screaming in hell!

The civilizing arts of commerce do not flourish there.”

I am saying that your headstrong ways will lead you into a tight corner one day.

Knowing the Gospel and preaching it are two different things.

They told me you had grit and that is why I came to you.

“They say he has grit,” said I. “I wanted a man with grit.”

I would have Lawyer Daggett skin Rooster Cogburn and nail his verminous hide to the wall.

Shooting cornbread out here on this prairie is not taking us anywhere.”

A man will not work for a woman, not unless he has clabber for brains.”

“Most girls like play pretties, but you like guns, don’t you?”

“I don’t care a thing in the world about guns. If I did I would have one that worked.”

I was utterly cast down and for the first time I feared for my life.