First Bounty Hunter You're wanted, Wales.
Reckon I'm right popular. You a bounty hunter?
First Bounty Hunter A man's got to do something for a living these days.
Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.
Josey Wales
Clint Eastwood · 10 quotes
Lone Watie
Chief Dan George · 6 quotes
Abe
Len Lesser · 1 quote
Grandma Sarah
Paula Trueman · 1 quote
Lige
Doug McGrath · 1 quote
The Outlaw Josey Wales quotes
Page 1 of 2 First Bounty Hunter First Bounty Hunter 
Jamie Whupped 'em again, didn't we Josey?
I reckon so.
Guess we ain't going to see that little Navajo girl again.
Nah, I guess not. I kinda liked her, but then it's always like that.
Like what?
Whenever I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.
I notice when you get to Dislikin' someone they ain't around for long neither.
Senator
The war's over. Our side won the war. Now we must busy ourselves winning the peace. And Fletcher, there's an old saying: To the victors belong the spoils.
Fletcher There's another old saying, Senator: Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
Ten Bears I am Ten Bears.
I'm Josey Wales.
Ten Bears I have heard. You are the Grey Rider. You would not make peace with the Bluecoats. You may go in peace.
I reckon not. Got no place else to go
Ten Bears Then you will die.
I came here to die with you. Or live with you. Dying ain't so hard for men like you and me. It's living that's hard when all you've ever cared about has been butchered or raped. Governments don't live together--people live together. With governments, you don't always get a fair word or a fair fight. Well, I've come here to give you either one or get either one from you. I came here like this so you'll know my word of death is true, and my word of life is then true. The bear lives here, the wolf, the antelope, the Comanche. And so will we. Now we'll only hunt what we need to live on, same as the Comanche does. And every spring, when the grass turns green, and the Comanche moves north, you can rest here in peace, butcher some of our cattle, and jerk beef for the journey. The sign of the Comanche, that will be on our lodge. That's my word of life.
Ten Bears And your word of death?
It's here in my pistols and there in your rifles. I'm here for either one.
Ten Bears These things you say we will have, we already have.
That's true. I ain't promising you nothing extra. I'm just giving you life and you're giving me life. And I'm saying that men can live together without butchering one another.
Ten Bears It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life. [Draws his knife and cuts his and Josey's palms, then grasps hands with him, becoming blood brothers] So will it be.
I reckon so.
[to Abe, his fellow bounty hunter]
He's mean as a rattler, and twice as fast with them pistols.
[to Lige]
You pull his teeth, he's harmless as a heel hound. Always wanted to face down one of these pistol fighters they raise all the fuss about. Only way to handle them.
[while aiming his scoped rifle at a ferry rope]
Well, Mr. Carpetbagger we've got something in this territory called the Missouri boat ride.
All I have is a piece of hard rock candy. But it's not for eating. It's just for looking through.
Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle 'Dixie'?
Hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.
I didn't surrender neither. But they took my horse and made him surrender ... they have him pullin' a wagon up in Kansas, I'll bet.
I wore this frock coat in Washington, before the war. We wore them because we belonged to the five civilized tribes. We dressed ourselves up like Abraham Lincoln. We only got to see the Secretary of the Interior, and he said: "Boy! You boys sure look civilized.!" he congratulated us and gave us medals for looking so civilized. We told him about how our land had been stolen and our people were dying. When we finished he shook our hands and said, "endeavor to persevere!" They stood us in a line: John Jumper, Chili McIntosh, Buffalo Hump, Jim Buckmark, and me — I am Lone Watie. They took our pictures. And the newspapers said, "Indians vow to endeavor to persevere."
Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is.
Sometimes, trouble just follows a man.