Thomas McGuane Quotes

I'm a farm guy, so I like to work outside, dealing with the trees and that kind of stuff.

Everything is work on the farm.

When I was a kid, my step dad started this business and would go out and get lost cows and stuff. He was part-time truck driver, farmer and cowboy. He taught me how to ride from an early age.

I used to help my grandfather on the farm, driving tractors, raising crops and animals. I used to feed some of the baby cows and pigs, and I had to be no older than 7 or 8. Then at about 9 or 10 I started driving tractors. It showed me at an early age what hard work was all about and how dedicated you have to be, no matter what you do.

My father was what you would call a cowboy, a vaquero; he worked out in the ranches with cattle. And my mother came from farmers down in the valley.

My first love was, and remains, manual labor; sowing and harvesting, the pastures, the flock, and the cattle.

In my boyhood, cattle-raising ran almost neck and neck with grain-raising. In my secluded little valley in the Suisun Hills, the rodeo was the most exhilarating spectacle in the round year.

If I was a stone mason or if I was a painter or building bridges or whatever, there's going to be some wear and tear on your body and your brain. And that's just the way it is.

My grandfather and my father had wheat ranches, so we had quite a few trucks around and a lot of mules. Talk about horsepower - we had mule power.

I was in the cement end of the construction business, as a laborer. I was pouring concrete, and stripping forms off of set concrete, and pulling nails, and stacking plywood, and doing that kind of thing. I was in peak condition in those days.

I keep endlessly busy with all kinds of stuff, mostly horses, cattle, livestock, things like that.

I grew up in an agricultural family, and I never distanced myself from where the food comes from. I think it's quite natural.

I'm a country boy at heart. I love it when you've got your boots on and you're standing in three inches of cow muck.

We like horses and we like dogs and we like to be in the midst of agriculture.

Agriculture has deep roots both in my life and in Arkansas' history.

I've had back problems basically my whole career.

I grew up watching my parents work in the fields. That's where I get my work ethic from, because I saw them work hard my whole life.

You know, growing up in the cattle business, I know a lot about cattle.

I own a ranch in Texas, so there's always something to do as far as work goes, whether it's tractor stuff or tearing down fence.

When you are moulding 30 an hour, it takes its toll on your body. It got to the point where my back was just hanging off. It was time to say, 'I can't do this any more'.

I've worked the ranch. I've hauled sugar beets from the field.

I used to roof hay barns for my father. It's dangerous work. Writing is much better.

You can't do WWE forever; like, your body will just not hold up.

You can't do everything I did for all those years and not sustain some injuries.

My knees have just gotten to the point where they just get beat up.