No Country for Old Men Spirituality Quotes

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

Quote #1

"You know the date on this coin? […] 1958. It's been traveling 22 years to get here. And now it's here and it's either heads or tails."

Anton Chigurh doesn't exactly (or at all) believe in God, but does have deeply held beliefs: that chance and randomness have power over the world. But even he can't seem to get away from the idea that events can carry deeper significance, as we see here where he talks about the journey of one little coin to a small Texaco gas station. Random? Maybe. Meaningful? Definitely.

Quote #2

"Told me he'd planned to kill somebody for as long as he could remember. Said if they turned him out, he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. Be there in about 15 minutes. I don't know what to make of that."

Sheriff Ed Tom doesn't know what to think of a man who said he knew he was going to hell fifteen minutes before he died in the electric chair, and frankly neither do we. It just goes to show you that religious belief isn't necessarily going to keep you from being a cold-hearted killer.

Quote #3

"It's all the goddamn money, Ed Tom. Money and the drugs. It's just goddamn beyond everything. What's it mean. What's it leading to?"

Ed Tom's friend from El Paso seems to in the throes of an even bigger spiritual crisis than the one Ed Tom is suffering. What's the point of living is when the whole world is just one big bloodbath of money and drugs? It's a toughie, and the Coen brothers don't provide any easy answers.