Quotes: The Lonesome Gods

I just finished my new favorite book of all times, The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour. I picked up this book because it is listed in "A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century" for parents to read before starting the program. Since I am a very slow reader especially when it comes to classics I started the list this year ( you can see them in my 888 list at the right.) When I checked out the novel, the librarian asked if it was for my husband... no it's for me. I wouldn't have thought that a western would be a must read classic but knowing that part of TJE is empathizing and understanding the characters in the books so that you can recognize these same situations and react to them in real life, I quickly recognized its place on the list. The story is told mostly in first person from Johannes. In the beginning, he is six, I thought about G a lot. He is crossing the Mohave with his dying father to California. His mother is dead, his father is dying,and he is being taken to a grandfather he has never met, who by the way has threatened to kill his father if he finds him. All of this is within the adventure of a wagon crossing the desert with Indians and horse thieves. We grow up with Johannes through the 500 pages.

Through out this story I found some words that spoke to my heart... things I would like to impart to G.

“Men needed stories to lead them to create, to build, to conquer, even to survive, and without them the human race would have vanished long ago.”

“Listen well. Education is by no means confined to schools. Listen to such men talk, hear their philosophy, their ides about the country, about business, trade, shipping, politics. Listen and learn.”

“Some people only learn by reading, others by doing or seeing, some by hearing. Learn however you can, but learn!”

“You are history,” Thomas Fraser told us, “Do not think of history as something remote that concerns only kings, queens, and generals. It concerns you.” “Each of you has a history that is part of the history of Los Angeles, a part of the history of California, part of the history of the United States and the world.” “You and your families march across the pages of history, and often he who plows a furrow is more important than those who lead an army. The army can destroy, the furrow can feed.”