Quotes about gun
page 2

“Every German soldier must be made to feel that he is living under the muzzle of a Russian gun.”

Vasily Chuikov (1900–1982) Soviet military commander

Quoted in "199 Days: The Battle for Stalingrad" - Page 142 - by Edwin Palmer Hoyt - History - 1999

“They will never shoulder a musket again in anger, and if Grant is wise, he will leave them their guns to shoot crows with and their horses to plow with. It would do no harm.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Regarding the treatment of former Confederate soldiers. In Richmond, Virginia (April 4, 1865), as quoted in Incidents and Anecdotes of the Civil War https://archive.org/download/incidentsanecdot00port/incidentsanecdot00port.pdf (1885), by David Dixon Porter, p. 312 1860s, Tour of Richmond (1865)

Horse, Anger

“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

Mae West (1893–1980) American actress and sex symbol

Sextette (1978)
Source: [Quote Investigator: Exploring the Origin of Quotes, http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/20/glad-to-see/]
Source: [The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations, https://books.google.com/books?id=whg05Z4Nwo0C&pg=PA625]

“A few months ago, in response to too many tragedies -- including the shootings of a United States Congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, who's here today, and the murder of 20 innocent schoolchildren and their teachers -- this country took up the cause of protecting more of our people from gun violence. Families that know unspeakable grief summoned the courage to petition their elected leaders -- not just to honor the memory of their children, but to protect the lives of all our children. And a few minutes ago, a minority in the United States Senate decided it wasn't worth it. They blocked common-sense gun reforms even while these families looked on from the Senate gallery.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Senate Votes to Block Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales (17 April 2013) http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/17/senate-votes-block-expanded-background-checks-gun-sales 2013

Children, People, Family, Courage

“When we hear about rent control or gun control, we may think about rent or guns but the word that really matters is 'control.' That is what the political left is all about, as you can see by the incessant creation of new restrictions in places where they are strongly entrenched in power, such as San Francisco or New York.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

Random Thoughts http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/08/26/random_thoughts?page=full&comments=true, 26 August 2008. 2000s

Thinking

“For a while it looked like I was going to be stuck in westerns. I figured out I could make 6 a year for 60 years and then retire. I decided I didn't want it. So I started blinking my eyes every time a gun went off in the scenes. That got me out of westerns.”

Robert Mitchum (1917–1997) American film actor, author, composer and singer

As quoted in "In Hollywood" https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%22For+a+while,+he+said,+it+looked+like+I+was+going+to+be+stuck+in+westerns.+I+figured+out+I+could+make+six+a+year+for+GO+years+und+then+retire.+I+decided+I+didn't+want+it.%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 by Erskine Johnson (NEA), in The Blytheville Courier News (May 2, 1946)

Time

“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Statement at a San Francisco fundraiser (6 April 2008) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2000404/posts 2008

People, Religion, Way, Communication

“To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, Address to the Nation by the President on San Bernardino (December 2015)

Flying

“The guns are turning away from Europe and Russia and Iran and Iraq and they're turning to us.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

1990s, Prison interviews and interrogations (1995)

“We stand together because we believe that upholding peace and security is the responsibility of every nation. The days of empire and spheres of influence are over. Bigger nations must not be allowed to bully the small, or impose their will at the barrel of a gun or with masked men taking over buildings. And the stroke of a pen can never legitimize the theft of a neighbor’s land. So we will not accept Russia’s occupation of Crimea or its violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Our free nations will stand united so that further Russian provocations will only mean more isolation and costs for Russia. Because after investing so much blood and treasure to bring Europe together, how can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th century to define this new century?”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2014, 25th Anniversary of Polish Freedom Day Speech (June 2014)

Men, Peace

“It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit aggression upon them. They knew-they were expressly notified-that the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this Government desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from actual and immediate dissolution, trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object — to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolution. That this was their object the Executive well understood; and having said to them in the inaugural address, "You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," he took pains not only to keep this declaration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power of ingenious sophistry as that the world should not be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sumter, with its surrounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the Government began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort, sent to that harbor years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, "Immediate dissolution or blood."”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

1860s, Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)

Men, Pain, World, Law

“In the coming days, we’ll learn about the victims — young men and women who were studying and learning and working hard, their eyes set on the future, their dreams on what they could make of their lives. And America will wrap everyone who’s grieving with our prayers and our love.
But as I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America — next week, or a couple of months from now.
We don’t yet know why this individual did what he did. And it’s fair to say that anybody who does this has a sickness in their minds, regardless of what they think their motivations may be. But we are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.
Earlier this year, I answered a question in an interview by saying, “The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws — even in the face of repeated mass killings.” And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day! Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this.
We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.
And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, Remarks after the Umpqua Community College shooting (October 2015)

Love, Women, Men, People

“The distance at which it can strike, and the destructive power of such a quasi-intelligent machine being for all practical purposes unlimited, the gun, the armor of the battleship and the wall of the fortress, lose their import and significance. One can prophesy with a Daniel's confidence that skilled electricians will settle the battles of the near future. But this is the least. In its effect upon war and peace, electricity offers still much greater and more wonderful possibilities. To stop war by the perfection of engines of destruction alone, might consume centuries and centuries. Other means must be employed to hasten the end.”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

A Means for Furthering Peace (1905)

War, Peace, Confidence, Intelligence

“From this day forward, somebody propose it, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns. It's just that simple. Liberals should have their speech controlled and not be allowed to buy guns. I mean if we want to get serious about this, if we want to face this head on, we’re gonna have to openly admit, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns, nor should they be allowed to use computer keyboards or typewriters, word processors or e-mails, and they should have their speech controlled. If we did those three or four things, I can’t tell you what a sane, calm, civil, fun-loving society we would have. Take guns out of the possession, out of the hands of liberals, take their typewriters and their keyboards away from ‘em, don’t let ‘em anywhere near a gun, and control their speech. You would wipe out 90% of the crime, 85 to 95% of the hate, and a hundred percent of the lies from society.”

Rush Limbaugh (1951) U.S. radio talk show host, Commentator, author, and television personality

Radio show assertions, reported in "Rush Limbaugh: Here’s way to stop 100% of lies in society" at American Grand Jury (19 January 2011) http://americangrandjury.org/rush-limbaugh-heres-way-to-stop-100-of-lies-in-society

Love, Hate

“For too long, we’ve been blind to the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, Eulogy for the Honorable Reverend Clementa Pinckney (June 2015)
Context: For too long, we’ve been blind to the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation. Sporadically, our eyes are open: When eight of our brothers and sisters are cut down in a church basement, 12 in a movie theater, 26 in an elementary school. But I hope we also see the 30 precious lives cut short by gun violence in this country every single day; the countless more whose lives are forever changed -- the survivors crippled, the children traumatized and fearful every day as they walk to school, the husband who will never feel his wife’s warm touch, the entire communities whose grief overflows every time they have to watch what happened to them happen to some other place. The vast majority of Americans -- the majority of gun owners -- want to do something about this. We see that now. And I'm convinced that by acknowledging the pain and loss of others, even as we respect the traditions and ways of life that make up this beloved country -- by making the moral choice to change, we express God’s grace.

“I'm all for gun control, I just define it a little differently. If you can put 2 rounds into the same hole from 25 meters, that's gun control! If you're going to own a gun, you have an obligation to know what you're doing with it.”

Jesse Ventura (1951) American politician and former professional wrestler

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed (1999)
Context: I'm all for gun control, I just define it a little differently. If you can put 2 rounds into the same hole from 25 meters, that's gun control! If you're going to own a gun, you have an obligation to know what you're doing with it. When the Constitution gave us the right to bear arms, it also made us responsible for using them properly. It's not fair of us as citizens to lean more heavily on one side of that equation than on the other.
So I support waiting periods and training requirements for gun ownership, and I like the idea that it shouldn't be incredibly easy to get guns. I support the right to carry concealed weapons, but I think people who want a concealed-weapons permit need to pass a training and safety course. The Constitution calls for a "well-regulated militia." In other words, you need to know how to use your weapon, and practice with it.
Where I draw the line is at gun registration. A law that says that everybody who owns a gun has to be on record is too easy to abuse.

“You're a loaded gun”

Jon Bon Jovi (1962) American singer and musician

Music, Slippery When Wet (1986)

“I don't want to end up in the gutter punctured by machine gun slugs.”

Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster

“I've seen gambling houses, too-in my travels, you understand-and I never saw anyone point a gun at a man and make him go in. Tve never heard of anyone being forced to go to a place to have some fun.”

Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster

Travel, Making love, Housing, Understanding

“A philosopher has remarked that if a man knew that he had thirty years of life before him, it would not be an unwise thing to spend twenty of those years in mapping out a plan of living, and putting himself under rule; for he would do more with the ten well-arranged years than with the whole thirty if he spent them at random. There is much truth in that saying. A man will do little by firing off his gun if he has not learned to take aim.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

A Good Start: A Book for Young Men and Women, (1898)

Truth, Life, Learning

“Some of you may be aware our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon any time — without much if any regulation, they can buy it over the Internet, they can buy machine gun.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Comments at VTEX Day digital convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil (30 May 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shx-sXngQUI&t=2182s; also quoted in "Obama tells Brazil: In America ‘anybody can buy any weapon any time", Washington Examiner (31 May 2019) 2019

Sense, Time, Law, Making love

“My first act of preparation was the purchase my first handgun. I did this quickly and hastily, at a local gun shop called Goleta Gun and Supply. I had already done some research on handguns, and I decided to purchase the Glock 34 semiautomatic pistol, an efficient and highly accurate weapon. I signed all of the papers and was told that my pickup day was in mid-December. That fell in nicely, because that was when I was planning on staying in Santa Barbara till. After I picked up the handgun, I brought it back to my room and felt a new sense of power. I was now armed. Who’s the alpha male now, bitches?”

Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer

My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence

Sense, Bitch

“It has been argued that the perfection of guns of great destructive power will stop warfare. So I myself thought for a long time, but now I believe this to be a profound mistake. Such developments will greatly modify, but not arrest it. On the contrary, I think that every new arm that is invented, every new departure that is made in this direction, merely invites new talent and skill, engages new effort, offers new incentive, and so only gives a fresh impetus to further development. Think of the discovery of gun-powder. Can we conceive of any more radical departure than was effected by this innovation? Let us imagine ourselves living in that period: would we not have thought then that warfare was at an end, when the armor of the knight became an object of ridicule, when bodily strength and skill, meaning so much before, became of comparatively little value? Yet gunpowder did not stop warfare: quite the opposite it acted as a most powerful incentive.”

Nikola Tesla (1856–1943) Serbian American inventor

The Problem of Increasing Human Energy (1900)

Imagination, Time, Perfection, Thinking

“The downside of being outrageous is that you have to go around explaining your fucking self to people. If you're too cocky, somebody might just pull out a fucking gun and cock it and blow your fucking face off. You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don't bite off more than you can chew. It's a dangerous world.”

Ozzy Osbourne (1948) English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter

Rolling Stone Online, May 1997.

World, Self-confidence, People

“Sure as a gun.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part I, Book III, Ch. 7.

“There were all kinds of things I was afraid of at first, ranging from grizzly bears to 'mean' horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Chapter II The Vigor of Life http://www.bartleby.com/55/2.html 1910s, Theodore Roosevelt — An Autobiography (1913)

Horse

“I woke up early this morning with a new state of mind,
A creative way to rhyme without usin' knives and guns.
Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to God,
And keep your face to the rising sun. I feel like one day you'll understand me, dawg
You can still love your man and be manly, dawg”

Kanye West (1977) American rapper, singer and songwriter

Family Business
Lyrics, The College Dropout (2004)

God, Way, Understanding, Sun

“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.”

Raymond Chandler book Farewell, My Lovely

Source: Farewell, My Lovely (1940), chapter 34

Life, Home, Drink, Country

“Then, Holden, the little Fang gang kid, came out of nowhere with an apparent death wish. He raced directly toward the maniac with the gun shrieking something that sounded like”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Death

“One lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns…”

Mario Puzo (1920–1999) American Novelist

Men

“We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness.
We are monkeys with money and guns.”

Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor

Interview All Songs Considered, NPR, May 20, 2008

Money, Happiness, Wealth, Knowledge

“In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns.”

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) Novelist, screenwriter

Variant: When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.

Guy

“Girls were born knowing how destructive the truth could be. They learned to hold it in, tamp it down, like gunpowder in an old fashioned gun. Then it exploded in your face on a November day in the rain.”

Janet Fitch (1955) American writer

Source: Paint it Black

Truth, Girl, Fashion, Learning

“It wasn’t a gun wound. I just fell. (Zarek)
No offense, but you’d have to fall of Mount Everest to have those kinds of wounds. (Astrid)
Yeah, maybe next time I’ll remember to take my climbing gear with me. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Time

“Western civilization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of this planet.”

Terence McKenna (1946–2000) American ethnobotanist

“The key to happiness, she said, is tolerance of those who do not do as you do.' `What if those who do not do as you do are gunning you down?' I said…. Alaska frowned. `Guns are intolerant. Guns are a failure of communication.”

Jeanette Winterson book The Stone Gods

Source: The Stone Gods

Communication, Failure, Happiness

“Sometimes good and evil aren't so much opposites as two sides of a coin. You toss it one way and it looks good, another way and it's evil, sometimes it just depends on which end of the gun you're on.”

Laurell K. Hamilton (1963) Novelist

Way, Evil, Dependency

“Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space face close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!”

David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger

Love

“I should not have to flirt with someone while I'm trying to threaten someone else with a gun; it was too hard to do both.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Flirt

Source: Flirt

“I know that if I ever have the audacity to blame fate or God for holding a gun to my temple, I also have the wherewithal to remind myself that if I end up with a hole in my head, I was the one who pulled the trigger.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

God, Fate

“A difference in self loathing? Please. The only difference between a gun and a rope is the time it takes to tie the knot.”

Justine Larbalestier (1967) Australian young-adult fiction author

Source: Zombies Vs. Unicorns

Time

“You can't kill us all, human.'
He was right. I raised the machine gun a little. 'True, but who's going to be first in line?”

Laurell K. Hamilton book The Killing Dance

Source: The Killing Dance

“I could probably have made the head shot from the railing, but with an unfamiliar gun, it was too risky. I didn't want to accidentally shoot the woman in the head. Killing the hostage is always frowned upon.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book The Killing Dance

Source: The Killing Dance

“Sometimes love makes you selfish. Sometimes it makes you stupid. Sometimes it reminds you why you love your gun.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Cerulean Sins

Source: Cerulean Sins

Love, Stupidity, Selfishness

“And then the Necromancers pulled out their sub-atomic machine guns.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Death Bringer

“I held her, he wanted to say, and if I knew for certain that all it would take to hold her again would be to die, then I couldn't raise the gun to my head fast enough.”

Dennis Lehane book Shutter Island

Source: Shutter Island

“We are all just monkeys with money and guns.”

Tom Waits (1949) American singer-songwriter and actor

Money

“When she bleeds the smells I know change colour. There is iron in her soul on those days. She smells like a gun.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Written on the Body

Soul, Change

“You know how to shoot?"- Emma

"Yes. My dad taught me everything about gun safety. He was an expert." - Heather

"What happened to him?" -Shanna

"He was… shot." -Heather”

Kerrelyn Sparks (1955) American writer

Source: The Undead Next Door

“I knew from the moment I heard you, the moment I saw the gun and realized that this lovely, petit woman was the executioner, that you would never die waiting for me to save you - that you would save yourself.”

Laurell K. Hamilton book Narcissus in Chains

Source: Narcissus in Chains

Love, Waiting

“Put a gun to my head and paint the wall with my brains.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Variant: No, I say, it's fine.
Put a gun to my head and paint the wall with my brains.
Just great, I say. Really.
Source: Fight Club

Painting

“I can't do this to you,' he said, drawing back. Emily put her hand on his and pulled the gun to her temple. 'Then do it for me,' she said.”

Jodi Picoult book The Pact

Source: The Pact

Drawing

“A good friend will help you plant your tulips. A great friend will help you plant a gun on the unarmed intruder you just shot.”

Brian P. Cleary (1959) American writer

Help

“Guns are our friends because in a country without guns, I'm what's known as "prey." All females are.”

Ann Coulter book If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans

Source: If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans

Country

“It's all mirror, mirror on the wall because beauty is power, the same way money is power, the same way a gun is power.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters

Variant: It's all mirror, mirror on the wall because beauty is power the same way money is power the same way a gun is power.
Source: Invisible Monsters

Money, Beauty, Way

“Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die.”

Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club

Source: Fight Club

Life

“When guns are outlawed, only the Government will have guns. The Government - and a few outlaws. If that happens, you can count me among the outlaws.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist

Source: Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

“Tariq tucked the gun into the waist of his denims. Then he said a thing both lovely and terrible. "For you," he said. "I'd kill with it for you, Laila.”

Khaled Hosseini book A Thousand Splendid Suns

Source: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Love

“Journalism is just a gun. It’s only got one bullet in it, but if you aim right, that’s all you need. Aim it right, and you can blow a kneecap off the world.”

Warren Ellis (1968) English comics and fiction writer

Source: Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street

World

“As she’d left, I’d glanced at her gun.
This time, when she’d pointed it at me, she’d flicked the safety on. If that wasn’t true love, I don’t know what was.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firefight

Love, Time

“Please forgive me," Pleasant said, then aimed the gun at the girl and pulled the trigger.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Playing with Fire

Girl, Forgiveness

“The things a man sees when he ain't got a gun.--Watson the Caretaker”

Stephen King (1947) American author

“violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of the men without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer

Source: The Daybreakers

Men, Evil

“You must remember that the common criminal will always join the armed forces for, if nothing else, regular meals and expert training in the use of guns.”

Warren Ellis book Aetheric Mechanics

Source: Aetheric Mechanics

Training

“It's safe to assume that by 2085 guns will be sold in vending machines but you won't be able to smoke anywhere in America.”

David Sedaris When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Source: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

“If everybody who had a gun just shot themselves there wouldn’t be a problem.”

George Harrison (1943–2001) British musician, former member of the Beatles

The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 226

Problem

“They say that 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' Well I think the gun helps. If you just stood there and yelled BANG, I don't think you'd kill too many people.”

Eddie Izzard (1962) British stand-up comedian, actor and writer

People, Thinking, Help

“There is only one place to write and that is alone at a typewriter. The writer who has to go into the streets is a writer who does not know the streets… when you leave your typewriter you leave your machine gun and the rats come pouring through.”

Charles Bukowski book Notes of a Dirty Old Man

Source: Notes of a Dirty Old Man

“America… just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable”

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American journalist and author

"September,", p. 413
1970s, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 (1973)
Context: This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it — that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
Context: If the current polls are reliable... Nixon will be re-elected by a huge majority of Americans who feel he is not only more honest and more trustworthy than George McGovern, but also more likely to end the war in Vietnam. The polls also indicate that Nixon will get a comfortable majority of the Youth Vote. And that he might carry all fifty states... This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it — that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable. The tragedy of all this is that George McGovern, for all his mistakes... understands what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been, if we could have kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon. McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does every day of his life, on purpose... Jesus! Where will it end? How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?

Money, World, Cars

“The time for crying with your girlfriends about a broken heart is over chocolate ice cream
and chick flicks—not stun guns and bulletproof vests.”

Ally Carter I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Source: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

Time, Heart, Cry

“What do you do to your hair?"
"Dust, hair gel, and a little gun oil."
"Ever thought of patenting the recipe?"
"No.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Bites

“Careful, Mr. Spiro, guns are dangerous. Especially the end with the hole.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Eternity Code

“Fish cannot carry guns.”

Philip K. Dick book VALIS

Source: VALIS (1981)

Fish

“A gun gives you the body, not the bird.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

Quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson in Talks with Ralph Waldo Emerson http://books.google.com/books?id=IhA6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22A+gun+he+said+gives+you+the+body+not+the+bird%22&pg=PA86#v=onepage (1890) by Charles Johnson Woodbury

Bird

“Why would we ever want to go back when your world is so accommodating with your telephones and your guns and what's that sticky stuff called… duct tape.”

Cornelia Funke (1958) author

World

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.
- Atticus Finch”

Harper Lee book To Kill a Mockingbird

Pt. 1, ch. 11
Atticus Finch
Variant: Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
Source: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Context: I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

Courageous, Idea, Courage

“Every day's a negotiation and sometimes it's done with guns.”

Joss Whedon (1964) American director, writer, and producer for television and film

“You can’t kill me with a gun. (Thanatos)
I know, but it’s fun as hell just shooting you. (Zarek)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon book Dance with the Devil

Source: Dance with the Devil

Hell

“I do not know if all cops are poets, but I know that all cops carry guns with triggers.”

Ralph Ellison book Invisible Man

Source: Invisible Man (1952), Chapter 21.

“Kincaid, evidently exhausted himself, drew a gun, took the safety off, placed it on his chest, and went to sleep too.

"It's cute," I whispered to Murphy. "He has a teddy Glock.”

Jim Butcher book Small Favor

Source: Small Favor

Sleep

“Like a fellow running from or toward a gun ain't got time to worry whether the word for what he is doing is courage or cowardice.”

William Faulkner book Light in August

Source: Light in August

Courage, Time

“Honey, a man can't keep his gun in a cookie jar. It just isn't done.”

Janet Evanovich (1943) Novelist

“As picky as a woman with her shoes,” Abraham grumbled.
“Hey,” I said. “That’s insulting.” I knew plenty of women who were pickier with their guns than they were with their shoes.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firefight

Women, Shoe

“Only a heathen would bring a gun to a sword fight.'

And only a moron would bring a sword to a gunfight.”

Derek Landy (1974) Irish children's writer

Source: Playing with Fire

Fight

“Because nothing says flattery like a gun to the head.”

Jim Butcher book Blood Rites

Source: Blood Rites

“You can kill a man with those words.
No gun.
No bullets.
Just words and a girl.”

Markus Zusak (1975) Australian author

Variant: She soon says, "You're my best friend, Ed."
You can kill a man with those words.
No gun.
No bullets.
Just words and a girl.
Source: I Am the Messenger

Girl