On this list, readers can explore a few of the best quotes from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. These explore subjects like the state of the main characters’ love for one another, belief in God, and hope. The quotes also provide important information about the setting and the road itself.
Survival and Resilience
“The Road” is a book set in a post-apocalyptic world, where a man and his son transverse what used to be America. Their world is desolate, friendless, barren, and treacherous, and they have to draw on their last reserves to survive.
The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The names of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile than he would have thought. How much was gone already? The sacred idiom shorn of its referents and so of its reality.
Narrator; Page 75
This quote speaks to the changes that have come over the world since it fell into disarray. “Complexity,” the narrator says, is now a luxury. The world is based and has been whittled down to its “raw core.” This refers to the fact that everyone still alive is fighting for survival, looking for the basic needs of life. The “wants,” things that used to be important have fallen out of the world. The “concepts” of the old world have been easily lost.
The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never have come this far. A person who had no one would be well advised to cobble together some passable ghost. Breathe it into being and coax it along with words of love. Offer it each phantom crumb and shield it from harm with your body.
The Man’s wife; Page 49
These words are spoken by The Man’s wife, who only briefly appears in flashbacks. She took her own life outside the novel’s scope to escape the tragedy of their new life. She’s speaking about her desire to commit suicide and what she thinks the future is going to be like. The Man will only want to go on because of his love for their son. That love is required to survive in the situation they’re in. Without it, he has no hope of survival at all.
He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like groundfoxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.
Narrator; Page 110
The passage narrates the Man and the Boy exploring desolate houses, scavenging for items necessary for survival. They find a desiccated corpse but do not pay it much attention. The reader is impressed by the fact that the Earth continues to move, time passes, and some things change, and nothing cares for the suffering of its inhabitants. The Earth itself has no future; it is “intestate” and has left nothing behind for its inhabitants to use to take care of themselves, just like a person who dies without a will.
“He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.”
The narrator, Page 5
This quote shows the man’s deep connection to his son and establishes the son’s importance as his beacon of hope and purpose in a desolate world. The man feels his son is the only thing keeping him grounded and moving forward. The child symbolizes faith and hope in a world stripped of all meaning. This belief propels the man through the novel, offering him a reason to persevere despite overwhelming despair.
Good and Evil
The novel explores good and evil by contrasting the man and the boy’s moral compass and the brutal, lawless world they navigate. In the boy’s naivete and inherent goodness, he often shows empathy and compassion in situations where survival instincts could easily lead to cruelty. The man, however, struggles to maintain moral integrity while constantly protecting the boy from the evil that lurks in other survivors who have resorted to barbarity. In this way, they try to preserve humanity and avoid succumbing to savagery.
You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand?
Yes.
He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys? he said.
Yes. We’re still the good guys.
The Man and the Boy; Page 76
These lines are spoken by the man and the boy after the former kills a road agent intent on kidnapping and likely killing and eating the boy. The man references the boy’s interest in being the “good guys” and always standing up to “the bad guys.” But, the boy is concerned that the man’s violence towards the road agent put them over the edge and that they’re no longer on the side of the light. The man, however, strives to impress upon him that they are still good guys, even when he has killed another person. This introduces the nuances of making moral decisions in a world where survival is paramount.
“He was just hungry, Papa. He’s going to die.
He’s going to die anyway.
He’s so scared, Papa.
The man squatted and looked at him. I’m scared, he said. Do you understand? I’m scared.
The boy didn’t answer. He just sat there with his head down, sobbing.
You’re not the one who has to worry about everything.
The boy said something but he couldn’t understand him. What? He said.
He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.”The man and the boy about the thief; Page 259
This exchange occurs after the man and the boy encounter a thief who tries to steal their belongings. The boy empathizes with the thief, expressing fear and concern for him. The quote reveals the boy’s compassionate nature and understanding of their situation’s gravity, despite his youth. The boy’s acknowledgment of his fear and responsibility reflects his growing awareness and maturity in their dire circumstances. The exchange reveals that he shows a sense of responsibility for others, even in his innocence. The man’s admission of fear and the boy’s response illustrate the complexity of their relationship, where the roles of protector and protected are fluid and shared. The dialogue reveals the boy’s growing inner strength and sense of responsibility.
Hope and Despair
The quotes frequently address the tension between hope and despair, illustrating how the characters grapple with maintaining hope in a world that seems devoid of it.
In those first years the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded up in their clothing. Wearing masks and goggles, sitting in their rags by the side of the road like ruined aviators. Their barrows heaped with shoddy. Towing wagons or carts. Their eyes bright in their skulls. Creedless shells of men tottering down the causeways like migrants in a feverland. The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night.
The man reflecting on the immediate period after the catastrophe; Page 42
In these lines, the man describes the first days and years after the catastrophe. Men and women walked the roads wearing “masks and goggles.” They sat by the road, “totter[ed] down…causeways,” and the issues of the old world “resolved into nothingness and night.” The imagery suggests a fizzling out of everything that appeared to be of consequence and how the old world, which appeared unshakeable solid, was easily swept away.
“Listen to me, he said, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you’re happy again, then you’ll have given up. Do you understand? And you can’t give up, I won’t let you.”
The man to the boy; Page 189
This dialogue occurs when the boy has a nightmare and tells his father he is scared. His father reassures him that he is still in touch with reality. The man suggests that fantasies only offer comfort but render no hope for survival, and indulging in them can be a form of surrender. In this way, he emphasizes the importance of staying grounded in their reality. A strong mind is required to endure their desolate world, and having pleasant dreams is a sign of giving up. The man suggests that hope must be tempered with practicality.
“What’s the bravest thing you ever did?
He spat in the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said.”
The boy and the man; Page 272
This conversation takes place as the man and the boy near the end of their journey together. The boy asks the man about bravery, seeking understanding and reassurance. His response is grim and almost brutal, and lacks the usual reassurance he offers; and he can no longer hide his frail state from the boy. The quote highlights the daily struggle for survival, where simply choosing to continue living in such a harsh world is an immensely brave act. The act of “getting up this morning” becomes a metaphor for the ongoing battle to survive, facing uncertainties, dangers, and deprivations. The simplicity and directness of the man’s answer reinforce the stark reality of their world, where bravery is not defined by grand gestures but by the choice to continue living.
She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift. She would do it with a flake of obsidian. He’d taught her himself. Sharper than steel. The edge an atom thick. And she was right. There was no argument. The hundred nights they’d sat up debating the pros and cons of self destruction with the earnestness of philosophers chained to a madhouse wall.
The narrator; Page 57
This quote appears after the death of the man’s wife. She chose to leave the man and the boy and give in to her fears about the future. Now, the man is without his life partner, and he’s gone to contemplate his choice not to self-destruct. But that doesn’t mean it’s completely out of his line of thought. He continues to carry a gun with two bullets; one for him and one for his son.
“What would you do if I died?
If you died I would want to die too.
So you could be with me?
Yes. So I could be with you.
Okay.”
The man and the boy; Page 11
In this conversation, the boy asks the man what would happen if he died. This moment reveals the depth of their emotional connection and mutual dependence, and reveals the boy’s fear of losing the man and the man’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the boy. It finely frames the vulnerability of the characters in a world where death is a constant threat and shows the man’s unwavering commitment to the boy. The simplicity of their dialogue reflects the stark reality of their situation, where love becomes both a source of strength and a potential weakness.
“He lay listening to the water drip in the woods. Bedrock, this. The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered and carried forth again. Everything uncoupled from its shoring. Unsupported in the ashen air. Sustained by a breath, trembling and brief. If only my heart were stone.”
The narrator about the man, Page 11
This passage narrates the man awake at night while his son is asleep. The narrator reflects on the man’s internal struggle as he faces the bleakness of the world around him and his struggles to maintain emotional strength in the face of overwhelming despair. The imagery of “ashes of the late world” and “unsupported in the ashen air” carries the feeling of pervasive desolation and loss. The man’s wish for a “heart of stone” signifies a longing for emotional detachment, and reflects of the emotional toll of their journey. This moment shows the man torn between maintaining hope and succumbing to the bleakness of their reality, and illustrates the psychological challenges the man and the boy face.
“You have my whole heart. You always did.”
The man and the boy; Page 279
This tender statement is made by the man to the boy when he is very sick and is close to death. He shows his devotion to the boy, and offers him reassurance and strength, even though he knows he will not continue the journey with the boy. This quote encapsulates the novel’s theme of love as a sustaining force. McCarthy uses the simplicity and sincerity of the man’s words to convey the depth of their relationship. The phrase “You have my whole heart” is poetic and punchy, declaring a sublime emotion in the most meager words. The moment is all the more tender and heartbreaking for the man’s impending death.
“Perhaps in the world’s destruction it would be possible at last to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence.”
The narrator about the man’s thoughts; Page 274
This reflection occurs as the man contemplates the vast, desolate landscape they cross. He ponders the possibility of understanding the world through its destruction. The quote suggests that in the absence of civilization, the natural world can be seen in its raw, elemental form, offering insight into the fundamental nature of existence. The man’s thoughts reflect his search for meaning and understanding in a world stripped of its former complexity and beauty. McCarthy uses the imagery of a barren landscape to evoke a sense of awe and contemplation. The notion that destruction might reveal the world’s essence suggests a paradoxical form of clarity, where the absence of human constructs allows for a deeper appreciation of nature’s raw beauty.
“Years later he’d stood in the charred ruins of a library where blackened books lay in pools of water. Shelves tipped over. Some rage at the lies arranged in their thousands row on row. He picked up one of the books and thumbed through the heavy bloated pages. He’d not have thought the value of the smallest thing predicated on a world to come. It surprised him. That the space which these things occupied was itself an expectation.”
The narrator about the man; Page 187
This scene occurs when the man reflects on an encounter with the remnants of civilization—a library in ruins. This quote reflects on knowledge and its role in human affairs. McCarthy uses the image of a destroyed library to symbolize the collapse of civilization and the accompanying loss of cultural and intellectual heritage. The man’s surprise at the idea that objects held meaning only because of their place in an expected future world shows the change in values made necessary by their new reality. The “rage at the lies arranged” suggests a disillusionment with the past, where knowledge failed to prevent the catastrophe.
