We normally dedicate our quote of the day to something said in the last 24 hours. But in honor of Texas novelist, playwright, and screenwriter Larry McMurtry, we’re bending the rules.

Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.

LARRY McMURTRY

We were saddened to learn McMurtry passed away today at age 84. His 1986 epic “Lonesome Dove” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The anti-Western – later expanded into a quintet – challenged “the myth of the American cowboy,” and is considered one of the finest novels of the post-war era.

McMurtry was also a prolific essayist and his screenplay adaptation of “Brokeback Mountain” earned him an Academy Award in 2006. Several of his thirty plus novel were made into movies, including “The Last Picture Show,” “Terms of Endearment,” and “Hud.”

McMurtry was the son of a Texas rancher. He was a university professor, a bookstore owner, and a friend of counter-culture icons.

He left us with enough quotes to fill many books. Above is our favorite, particularly given our current political environment.