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Famous Texas Quotes

It doesn’t take a resident of the Lone Star State to know that Texans are rarely at a loss for words. We’re compiling a collection of some of the most quotable Texas quotes about the Lone Star State, Texas cities, Texas barbecue and other foods and Texans in general.

famous Texas quotes

Quotes about Texas

Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word. –John Steinbeck

There is a growing feeling that perhaps Texas is really another country, a place where the skies, the disasters, the diamonds, the politicians, the women, the fortunes, the football players and the murders are all bigger than anywhere else. – Pete Hamill

There’s no better place than Texas to start over. – John Connelly

You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas. –Davy Crockett

Texas is neither southern nor western. Texas is Texas -Senator William Blakley

I thought I knew Texas pretty well, but I had no notion of its size until I campaigned it. — Ann Richards

Quotes about Texans

A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner. –John Steinbeck

If a man’s from Texas, he’ll tell you. If he’s not, why embarrass him by asking? –US journalist John Gunther

I think Texans have more fun than the rest of the world. –Choreographer (and Wichita Falls native) Tommy Tune

What Texans can dream, Texans can do. – George W. Bush

I love Texas because Texas is future-oriented, because Texans think anything is possible. Texans think big. – Phil Gramm

First buy a cowboy hat and boots. Then you’re on your way to being a Texan. –James Michener

No matter how far we may wander, Texas lingers with us, coloring our perceptions of the world. –Elmer Kelton

Quotes about Specific Texas Destinations

Abbott

There is no place quite like Abbott. That is where my dreams began, and I go back there to begin dreaming again, like a child… — Willie Nelson, musician and songwriter

Alvin

I never found a place where I wanted to live more than Alvin. — Nolan Ryan, baseball great

Dallas

Dallas is a city of sophistication. — Tommy Tune, dancer and choreographer born in Wichita Falls

Lubbock

My favorite place in Texas is Lubbock. Mostly because Lubbock, like Popeye the Sailor, is what it is. – Molly Ivins, columnist

Presidio

Presidio is the unadorned meeting place of two great nations. — James Michener, author

San Antonio

In the daytime, San Antonio is more Mexican than American, but not quite genuine Mexican, but picture postcard Mexican. –Graham Greene, novelist

Quotes about Texas Barbecue

Classic Texas barbecue is a beef brisket, sausage, and ribs. A “vegetable plate” is traditionally a potato salad, raw white onions, and pickles. Not quite what most people would call a healthy vegetable plate, but this is how we do it in Texas. ― Liza Palmer, Nowhere But Home

But the fact that in Texas barbecue, you’re taking one of the worst pieces of the animal and converting it into one of the best is a miracle itself. –  Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto

Sure, I was poor. But barbecue has never been a rich man’s pleasure. It’s always been a culture of thrift. It’s a poor, rural cuisine based on the leanest, throwaway cuts of the animal being cooked until edible with a fuel that can be picked up off the ground (at least it used to be).  – Aaron Franklin, Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto

Barbecue sauce is like a beautiful woman. If it’s too sweet, it’s bound to be hiding something. – Lyle Lovett

Many Texas barbecue fanatics have a strong belief in the beneficial properties of accumulated grease. – Calvin Trillin

I won’t give up what I enjoy to look perfect. I want to find a happy medium between feeling good about my body and still having a beer and some barbecue. – Miranda Lambert

I’m a terrific Mexican cook, and I just love Mexican food. And I love cooking Mexican food. That’s pretty much my weakness…and barbecue beef…and Texas beef…and brisket. Any red meat I can get my hands on. – Eva Longoria

Quotes about Tex-Mex Food

I didn’t drive eleven hours across the state of Texas to watch my cholesterol. – Robb Walsh

I could never give up Mexican food. Nachos are usually my go-to if I’m courtside at an NBA game. I always, always get my picture taken with my mouth wide open and a tortilla chip sticking out of it! – Eva Longoria

Quotes about Chicken Fried Steak

Only a rank degenerate would drive 1,500 miles across Texas without eating a chicken fried steak.— Larry McMurtry

As splendid and noble as barbecue and Tex-Mex are, both pale before that Great God Beef dish, chicken-fried steak. No single food better defines the Texas character; it has, in fact, become a kind of nutritive metaphor for the romanticized, prairie-hardened personality of Texans. — Jerry Flemmons

Great God Beef dish — Jerry Flemmons

Tough beef has been the main indigenous ingredient in Texas regional cooking for quite some time now. Which is why we also invented the hamburger, chili con carne and barbecued brisket here. That’s also why we tenderize the steaks before we batter and fry them. — Robb Walsh

Telling Houstonians that there is no such thing as a great chicken-fried steak is like telling Philadelphians that there is no such thing as a great cheese steak, or New Yorkers that there is no such thing as a great pizza. It’s not just a snobby opinion, it’s a civic slur.– Robb Walsh

Quotes about Chili

When speaking of a bowl of red, I refer to chili con carne — honest-to-God chili… – Frank X. Tolbert

More Texas Food Quotes

Man who invented the hamburger was smart; man who invented the cheeseburger was a genius. — Matthew McConaughey

Texas does not, like any other region, simply have indigenous dishes. It proclaims them. It congratulates you, on your arrival, at having escaped from the slop pails of the other 49 states. –Alistair Cooke