Joe R. Lansdale Quotes

My grandmother on my mother's side lived to nearly 100 years old, and she had seen Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show as a little girl and had come to Texas by covered wagon.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Show, Wagon, Nearly, Wild West

My father was the first person to introduce me to self-defense and martial arts, which I've been doing all my life now.

- Joe R. Lansdale

My Life, Been, Which, Introduce

I was a house dad. Once, my wife was working as a dispatcher at the fire department, and I was staying home and writing while baby-sitting my son, who hardly ever slept. So I wrote in twenty-minute patches. Some of that early stuff is just dreadful. I got a thousand rejects.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Some, Dad, Staying, Patches

Edgar Rice Burroughs taught me pace and gave me a sense of action and adventure.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Adventure, Pace, Taught, Edgar

I've been writing since 1973. I've written nonfiction things of that nature, but I'm probably best known for crime fiction and, to some extent, horror fiction.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Some, Been, Extent, Nonfiction

I've always done just pretty much what I wanted to do. I mean, I just did a thing for a small press called 'Zeppelins West' that's nothing but an absolute, over-the-top farce, almost like an Abbott & Costello, alternate-universe Western.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Small, Costello, Almost, Farce

My father had the most horrible racist rhetoric you ever heard, but he treated people all the same. I remember this rainstorm. A car broke down with these black people in it, and nobody would stop. My dad was a mechanic. He fixed the car for nothing. I remember looking at him when he got back in. He said, 'Well, they got those kids in the car.'

- Joe R. Lansdale

Father, I Remember, Dad, Fixed

Every time I've ever gotten close to being successful, I've found some way to screw it up.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Some, Being, Gotten, Screw

My parents had become adults during the Great Depression, as had many of my aunts and uncles, so I got stories from all of them. They are fastened up inside me, and now and again, they have to come out.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Inside, Got, Had, Aunts

Psychologists and psychiatrists send me cards and say, 'Hey, I love your books.'

- Joe R. Lansdale

Love, Cards, I Love, Psychiatrists

Twain is my keystone. He reminds me of my people because that's the way they told stories.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Me, Twain, Stories, Reminds

The bottom line is, Texas and its people are pretty much what most people mean when they use the broader term 'America.'

- Joe R. Lansdale

Pretty, Line, Bottom, Broader

I never felt poor. Our family euphemism was that we were broke, which I think psychologically gave you a different feeling. There were people far worse than we were.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Think, I Think, Which, Psychologically

If I could take you back in time to the fifties and walk you around to some of the places where I grew up, you'd be trying to get back in your time machine. It wasn't all sock hops - matter of fact, I never saw a sock hop.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Fact, Some, Hop, Sock

My father always encouraged me to get an education, but he was also a guy that, when he was younger, had ridden the rails from town to town to box and wrestle for money.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Education, Always, Town, Rails

I was well under the spell of the old Gold Medal Crime novels when I wrote 'Savage Season,' and I wanted to write a modern version of that. I had tried the same thing with 'Cold in July,' and I wanted to give it another go.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Another, Same Thing, Had, Novels

I didn't read Western novels much until I was in my twenties, but I had a diet of them on film and TV, as well as other things, of course.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Other, TV, Read, Novels

I've done very well financially and sold a lot because I've had a multiple method of attack as a writer. That's a conscious strategy.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Very, Sold, Method, Financially

When you live in a small town behind the Pine Curtain, you live inside your head a lot.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Small, Behind, Town, Curtain

I have been on a horrible sea cruise. When my wife and I went to Mexico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands, I was seasick for a lot of the time. I didn't like being trapped on a ship with a bunch of shuffleboarders.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Trapped, Like, Been, Jamaica

I decided with 'Savage Season' to use a lot of things in my life as the basis.

- Joe R. Lansdale

My Life, Decided, Lot, Season

When I wrote 'Savage Season,' it was three years later before I wrote the second Hap and Leonard novel. Whenever I wrote one, I never intended to write the next one.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Next, Before, Wrote, Season

'Bubba Ho-Tep' was an accidental story that turned out to be my first film adaptation, and it's still going strong in story and film.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Strong, Still, Turned, Accidental

I really hate racism because I saw people denied possibilities.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Racism, Possibilities, Saw, Denied

I always write like the devil's behind me with a whip. I'm going to write because I like it. Then I'm going to write another.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Behind, Always, Like, Whip

The Aryan Nation, the Klan, all these anti-immigrant groups - they've never really disappeared, and if you think they have, then you've been living in a bubble.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Think, Living, Been, Disappeared

Some people see writing as a white-collar career, but I've always approached it as a blue-collar writer.

- Joe R. Lansdale

See, Some, Always, White-Collar

I always disliked that anytime you had gays represented in - and there were some exceptions, certainly - but represented in popular fiction, they were usually the goofy neighbor next door, you know? And I just thought, 'Well, I know a lot of gay people, and they're just as varied as the heterosexual people I know.'

- Joe R. Lansdale

Door, Next, Some, Disliked

My father was just a hell of a guy. He had a real strong sense of honor, and he tried to pass that on to me. I like to think that I embrace that.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Strong, Think, Embrace, Strong Sense

In some ways, I don't consider a single Hap and Leonard novel the best, but I consider them my best characters.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Best, Some, Them, Novel

I figure I can be artistic, but I work like a blue-collar person, too, and I'm serious about that.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Like, Figure, Too, Blue-Collar

I don't plot, and I don't plan. I like to be surprised like the reader.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Plot, Like, Reader, Surprised

I lived below the poverty line when I was young and starting out as a writer. But my wife and I kept trying to do things better, as anyone with ambition does. But just because you're trying doesn't mean you're always going to succeed.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Young, Out, Line, Starting

I've never liked the publishing world's determination to pigeonhole every writer into a genre.

- Joe R. Lansdale

World, Never, Genre, Pigeonhole

I worked in rose fields, and I worked in potato fields. I did some bouncing.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Some, Potato, Worked, Bouncing

I used to just sit down and read the dictionary, and I read the Bible and Shakespeare from cover to cover.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Bible, Cover, Read, Shakespeare

I do better just letting the stories develop. I don't outline very well, and I can't follow it if I do. Once I've outlined it, why write the damn book?

- Joe R. Lansdale

Book, Very, Stories, Outline

Texas is so wrapped up in myth and legend, it's hard to know what the state and its people are really about. Real Texans, raised on these myths and legends, sometimes become legends themselves.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Legend, Sometimes, Texans, Wrapped

My mother wanted me to be a reader. She was a reader. Even though she had an 11th-grade education, she was curious about all kinds of things - archeology, anthropology.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Education, Anthropology, Archeology

I've always felt that if you pay your bills and can take care of yourself without too much stress, then it's a pretty damn good life.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Stress, Pretty, Always, Bills

I think the big thing is that Stephen King is just a phenomenon, and when he came along, for the first time horror was suddenly considered a very commercial genre. It had always been around, of course, but now, the books had the word 'horror' actually printed on their spines.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Big, Commercial, Very, Printed

If you know everything, it keeps you from writing. You don't want a story to burn you out instead of surprising you.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Burn, Want, Instead, Keeps

Ray Bradbury taught me the importance of metaphor and simile and poetic style.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Metaphor, Taught, Poetic, None

Ossie Davis is one of my heroes for civil rights and things like that.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Heroes, Like, Civil, Civil Rights

People in my town were not that into reading, but the overblown way Texans told stories was important.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Important, Town, Stories, Texans

A lot of friends I went to school with were criminals.

- Joe R. Lansdale

School, Lot, Were, Criminals

I'm glad I've had the comic work. I plan to do others, but I could lay it down if I had to choose. I hope I don't have to, though.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Work, Though, Lay, Comic

If you don't toot your own horn, it goeth untooted.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Own, You, Your, Horn

People who grew up on my books are now able to get the point across to others that they're worth reading.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Reading, People, Grew, Worth Reading

I come from blue collar. I'm very working class.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Blue, Very, Working Class, Collar

I tried to draw and write comics when I was four. By the time I was nine, I had written my first story - about my dog, of course.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Nine, By The Time, Comics, I Tried

I've got friends who totally disagree on politics, religion, cultural things, but at the core, we're the same people.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Politics, People, Got, Core

I think there are some people for whom words are like food.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Think, Some, I Think, Whom

I was born in the '50s - 1951. So I grew up during that part of the '50s when everything was supposed to be at its best in America, they claimed, and then eased into the '60s.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Born, I Was Born, Part, Claimed

I remember going to a theater once, and there was a stairway that wound its way out to the back. And I was very young, a small child, and I said to my mom, 'Why are those people going up those stairs?' And she said, 'You know, I don't know how to tell you this, I don't know how to explain it, but it won't always be that way, because it's wrong.'

- Joe R. Lansdale

Small, Explain, Very, Stairs

I love and respect the West - you can't live in Texas and not do that.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Love, Texas, I Love, West

I turned out to be a tough, smart kid.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Tough, Kid, Turned, Smart

The Westerns have probably affected me more than any one thing, Western-related material. I love Westerns.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Love, More, One Thing, Affected

I think I built my reputation by not worrying about it.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Think, I Think, Built, Worrying

'Night They Missed the Horror Show' is my signature story. It changed my life, so it remains my favorite.

- Joe R. Lansdale

My Life, Missed, Horror, Signature

Robert Bloch taught me about mixing horror and humor.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Humor, Horror, Taught, Robert

Sometimes, if I don't write for a day or two, I get backed up - it's like constipation.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Sometimes, Two, Like, Backed

Texas is as alien as Mars.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Alien, Mars, Texas

My dad was born in 1909, my mother in 1914, I believe. Their life experiences were different than younger parents, so I grew up with a different perspective.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Born, Younger, Dad, Perspective

I work in the mornings almost exclusively.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Work, Almost, Mornings

'The Bottoms' or 'A Fine Dark Line' are two of my favorites.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Dark, Line, Fine, Favorites

I don't want people reading my books just because they're horror or mysteries. I want them to read them because they're Joe Lansdale books.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Horror, Joe, Read, Mysteries

I sold my first story when I was 21 in 1973.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Story, First, Sold

The simple fact is, the more people who buy your books, the more are likely to read you. That's what I'd like to see happen.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Fact, Happen, Read, Likely

I never got a degree; I just started writing.

- Joe R. Lansdale

Writing, Never, Started, Degree

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