How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from No Country for Old Men.
Quote #4
"The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure."
Oaky, we admit that it sure does seem like the world is a more violent place than it used to be … but it's probably not. Violence is frightening and meaningless no matter when it happens—and Ed Tom certainly isn't the first guy to think that kids these days are worse than ever.
Quote #5
"Would you hold still please, sir?"
Brrr. There's a chilling coldness to the way Anton Chigurh kills people that makes the murder just a little bit worse than it has to be. In this scene, he simply asks a man to hold still while he holds an air-powered steer killer to his head and shoots a needle into his brain. And the guy does it—because he trusts his fellow human beings. Welp, not any more (for about the .02 seconds he has left alive).
Quote #6
"But that's what it took, you notice, to get somebody's attention. Digging graves in the backyard didn't bring any."
Here, Ed Tom is relating a story about how no one noticed people digging graves in a crowded neighborhood until a naked man wearing nothing but a dog collar ran out of the house screaming. Well, sure, that's a terrible story … but AHEM what about the Holocaust? Or slavery? Gruesome things happen all the time, and people just look the other way.