No Country for Old Men Philosophical Viewpoints Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from No Country for Old Men.

Quote #4

"If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?"

Chigurh likes to taunt Carson Wells about his laid-back philosophy once he has a gun on him. It's clear that Chigurh is going to kill Wells no matter what. But even a cold-blooded guy like Chigurh can't help indulge himself in a little Evil Gloating, telling Wells that his entire worldview is useless because it has led him to such a shameful end.

Quote #5

"You need to call it. I can't call it for you."

Anton Chigurh is a psychopathic killer, but he still lives by a strict moral code based around the assumption that randomness is the only consistent force in human life. He expresses this belief by flipping a coin to decide whether he'll kill somebody, but the only way he can make the flip legitimate though is if he lets the other person call it. Anything else, according to his philosophy, would be unfair. Hey, we said he had a code.

Quote #6

"The coin don't have no say. It's just you."

When Chigurh comes to kill her, Carla Jean Moss refuses to participate in his messed-up worldview and won't let Chigurh believe he's acting randomly. At the end of the day, Carla Jean believes that Anton Chigurh is a human being like any other who's responsible for his own actions—and that just might make her his most effective opponent.