- William Cantrell: I know what I'm doing, Ma. I'll be running Kansas yet. I'm going clear up to the top. But I'm not going for the climb or the view.
- Miss Mary McCloud: I thought they bred men of flesh and blood in Texas. I was wrong. You're made of granite!
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: No, Mary, just common clay. It bakes kind of hard in Texas.
- [she holds a rifle on her son, William, to prevent him from going upstairs after his wife]
- William Cantrell: Say, what's the matter with you? What's that gun for?
- Mrs. Cantrell: It's for you, Will. I thought I'd borned a man-child when I first hear'd you squallin'. But I didn't. I borned a dirty murderin' snake that's broke my heart to see it crawlin' along. You're no good, Will.
- William Cantrell: I've killed a lot of men for saying less than that.
- Mrs. Cantrell: You've killed a lot of men for sayin' nuthin' at all! Kansas is red with their bleedin'. I curse the day I ever had you.
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: That'll be four and half
- [dollars]
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: . Two for the tooth, two-and-a-half for the whiskey. You got another swig coming.
- Judge Buckner: Come on, Doc! Your job is pulling teeth out of people's mouths, not putting words in 'em. Let him speak for himself!
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: You knock 'em loose and I'll pull 'em out. Maybe, I'm just saying maybe, you know; if you was more promiscuous with your punching, we might make a little more money.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: What do you mean - promiscuous?
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: Well, ah, you got strange ideas about justice. You don't want to hit nobody unless they deserve it. Now, that's all right, but we're in business. And business is different!
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: You know, you could make something of yourself if you tried.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Yeah?
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: Yeah. You could run for marshal.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Me being a marshal? Are you loco?
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: Well, you could try. It's better for a young fella like you to be working for Uncle Sam than against him.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: I can't even read or write. You know that!
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: Listen, you don't read or write a man into jail.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Folks, it's true. I don't know much about the law. Ain't had much book learning. But the good Lord gave me a nose for smelling a horse thief a mile off. And what you need in these parts is a marshal that's better at smelling than spelling.
- [Cantrell has been defeated by Bob Seton in the election for marshal]
- William Cantrell: Learning, studying, working like a dog... and what did it get me? The first chance I have to be somebody, I'm beaten out of it by an ignorant cowhand who can't even write his own name! Well, I can write mine... and I'm going to write it across the territory in letters of fire and blood if I have to! I'm going to be somebody in this country! Somebody big!
- Miss Mary McCloud: Now, will you please get to the point and tell me what you want?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: I want to marry you.
- Miss Mary McCloud: You what?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Well, I ain't got no job right now, but I figure to get one. And outside of a snort of hooch now and then, I got no bad habits.
- Miss Mary McCloud: I'd say asking a perfect stranger to marry you is a very bad habit!
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Well, I guess Lawrence is burned to the ground.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Yeah. Well, we got a saying down in Texas: that it takes a good fire to burn down the weeds... to let the flowers grow.
- Angus McCloud: Four killings in a week! It's got to stop!
- Judge Buckner: Four! Did you say four? That's right, four! Well, we're going to be quite a town, ain't we? I doubt that they have that many in Dodge City. No, I don't think so.
- Angus McCloud: We aim to compete with any city in size, but not in lawlessness!
- Andrew 'Doc' Grunch: [Finishes shaving the judge] That'll be two bits.
- Judge Buckner: Why no, my good man. I'll be settling with you weekly... no, make that monthly!
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: [accepting Cantrell's dinner invitation] This is the first time I've had two kinds of bird for dinner - turkey to eat, and buzzard to look at.
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Ever hear what William Shakespeare said - All's well that ends well.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Shakespeare, huh? He must've been from Texas. We been sayin' that down there for years!
- [last lines]
- [Inside barber shop after a brawl on the street and after Bob had told Fletch that he wants to marry Mary McCloud]
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: I don't think I got your name.
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: It's Fletch McCloud .
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Fletch McCloud. You got a first name?
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Yeah, Cupid!
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: You know that girl I was staring at when all the ruckus started?
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Yeah.
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Well, who is she?
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Well, her name is Mary McCloud. Why?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Well, I'll tell you. I think maybe I'll marry her.
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: What ?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Course if she'll have me, I mean. Fella wouldn't wanna marry anyone that didn't want him, naturally.
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Oh, naturally. Uh, you know her well?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: Naw, just seen her once or twice. Once she was on a horse, and...
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: ...next time she was with a jackass.
- [referring to Cantrell / Walter Pidgeon]
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: He is, huh? Makes it easier, don't it?
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Practically a cinch. Say, you do things kinda sudden don't you?
- Bob 'Shortcut' Seton: No, not exactly. But you see I got 'er figured out this way. If you LIKE someone - and you don't tell 'em right off - well, maybe all that time you wasted, she liked you, too. So... well, all that time's wasted, ain't it?
- Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud: Well, it IS the way you put it.