“General Custer was a close observer and student of personal character.”

We had avoided discovery by the Sioux scouts, and we were confident of giving them a complete surprise.

The greatest of all the Sioux in my time, or in any time for that matter, was that wonderful old fighting man, Sitting Bull, whose life will some day be written by a historian who can really give him his due.

Excitement was plentiful during my two years’ service as a Pony Express rider.

Having secured my Indian actors, I started for Baltimore, where I organized my combination, and which was the largest troupe I had yet had on the road.

My debut upon the world’s stage occurred on February 26th, 1845.

As a good horse is not very apt to jump over a bank, if left to guide himself, I let mine pick his own way.

I found Spotted Tail’s lodge. He invited me to enter.

Frontiersmen good and bad, gunmen as well as inspired prophets of the future, have been my camp companions. Thus, I know the country of which I am about to write as few men now living have known it.

Major North has had for years complete power over these Indians and can do more with them than any man living.

But the love of adventure was in father’s blood.

Don’t ever say you are sorry for “being caught in the moment”. Because, at that moment, that is EXACTLY where you wanted to be.

My restless, roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long.

But the West of the old times, with its strong characters, its stern battles and its tremendous stretches of loneliness, can never be blotted from my mind.

The Free State men, myself among them, took it for granted that Missouri was a slave state.

After crossing the Smoky Hill River, I felt comparatively safe as this was the last stream I had to cross.

Stations were built at intervals averaging fifteen miles apart. A rider’s route covered three stations, with an exchange of horses at each, so that he was expected at the beginning to cover close to forty-five miles – a good ride when one must average fifteen miles an hour.

I’ve never been a very prolific person, so when creativity flows, it flows.

Until bitcoin came along, the *character* of money was left undiscussed.

The opposite of compromise is character.

You can tell a lot about a fellow’s character by his way of eating jellybeans.

Character matters; leadership descends from character.

When you’re doing a character, you want to know the full landscape. You want to know them spiritually, mentally and physically.

One of the first things I was taught as an actor was, ‘Don’t judge the character.’

When you play characters, you shouldn’t just be putting on their characteristics – you should be finding it inside yourself.