The Treasure of the Sierra Madre quotes

View Quote [about the Indian chief, whose son he saved] He's insisting we return with him to his village and be his guests...He says if he doesn't pay off his debt, all the saints in heaven will be angry. [Dobbs laughs] This is no laughing matter. I'm afraid he's determined to take us with him, even if it means force.

View Quote [about their gold dust being scattered by the wind] Oh laugh, Curtin, old boy. It's a great joke played on us by the Lord, or fate, or nature, whatever you prefer. But whoever or whatever played it certainly had a sense of humor! Ha! The gold has gone back to where we found it!... This is worth ten months of suffering and labor - this joke is!

View Quote [after Cody is killed by the bandits] One less gun.

View Quote [as Dobbs and Curtin come to shoot him] Better take a look down that hill first...They're not soldiers, they're bandits and they're not after gold, but after guns and ammunition. Someone in the village must have told them about the American hunter up here.

View Quote [to Curtin, about Howard] Ain't it always his burros that won't march in line...What was in your head when you offered to carry his goods for him that he couldn't manage by himself. He knew what he was doin' when he turned 'em over to us. Mighty cute of him, wasn't it?

View Quote [to Curtin] I meant what I said about going along with you. Those are my two burros. I'm all packed up and ready to start if you'll let me go with you back to your camp.

View Quote [to Curtin] I've a hunch there's loads of the real goods up in those mountains...I can look at a hillside miles away and tell you whether it carries an ounce or a shipload...If you haven't found anything up there yet, I'll come along with ya and put your nose in it. There's indications in this valley, lots of indications. By tracing the rocks, I find they come from that ridge up there, washed down by the tropical rain...

View Quote [to Curtin] Mr. Dobbs has made off with our goods and is on his way north. Well, I reckon we can't blame him too much...He's not a real killer as killer's go. I think he's as honest as the next fella - or almost. The big mistake was leaving you two fellas out there in the depths of the wilderness with more'n a hundred thousand between ya. That's a mighty big temptation, partner, believe me...Maybe if I'd've been young and been out there with either one of you, I might have been tempted too.

View Quote [to Curtin] Not many Americans get around this way. You're the first one I've bumped into for a long time.

View Quote [to Curtin] This is an all-or-nothing proposition, ain't it? If we make a find, we'll be lightin' our cigars with hundred dollar bills. If we don't, the difference between what you put up and what I put up ain't enough to keep me from being right back where I was this afternoon, polishing a bench with the seat of my pants. Put 'er there, pard.

View Quote [to Curtin] Why not try gold diggin' for a change? Well, it ain't any riskier than waitin' around here for a break. And this is the country where the nuggets of gold are just cryin' for ya to take 'em out of the ground and make 'em shine in coins and on the fingers and necks of swell dames. Our money would last longer while we lived out in the open. The longer it lasts, the greater our chance of diggin' something up would be!

View Quote [to Howard] I'll let you remember this the next time you try to do a good deed!

View Quote [translating for a shopkeeper] We're going into the country that's very wild and dangerous. Have to cut our way through jungles and climb mountains so high that rise above the clouds. With tigers so big and strong they can climb trees with burros in their mouths...Good! Glad to hear such tall tales 'cause that means mighty few outsiders have ever set foot there.

View Quote Can you help a fellow American down on his luck?

View Quote Conscience. What a thing. If you believe you've got a conscience, it'll pester you to death. But if you don't believe you've got one, what can it do to ya? Makes me sick all this talking and fussing about nonsense.