- Gil Favor: A thousand miles from San Antonio to the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri. We got three thousand head of Texas cattle that don't want to go. When everything's right, we cover eight miles a day. But how often are things right? The weather's what hits you the hardest between the eyes. Boiling sun that dries up the water, brings the dust and sand. Storms that mill the cattle, touch off stampedes. The way the land lies can hurt you, too, wearing off pounds with every step the beeves take. But the way to even things up is to hire the best men in the business. I got 'em. Pete Nolan, scout. Rowdy Yates, new as they come, but he's got the makings. Joe Scarlet, swing. Jim Quince, flank. And the man who can make or break the drive - the cook, Wishbone. And the cook's louse - his name is Mushy. And somebody's gotta kick this whole kit and kaboodle along. That's me. Gil Favor, trail boss. I ride point.
- Gil Favor: [Sees Rowdy, Wishbone and Pete bound and gagged to a carriage] What have the three of you done now.
- Jim Quince: Well, I'll be a blue nosed mule.
- Gil Favor: In a place like this.
- Wishbone: [Muffled] Well, all I was trying to do was get some water, and... took my gun away from me...
- [Rowdy tries to talk over him but his speech is even more muffled]
- Gil Favor: Young fella's gonna get his head shot off.
- Pete Nolan: What's that?
- Gil Favor: If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times, stick to cattle, don't go dipping your bread in another man's bacon grease.
- Mastic: Hello, Verbena, you sure have filled out, haven't you? I hear you got yourself married. Which one of the herd is he?
- Mastic: I'm surprised at you, Poppa. I wouldn't shoot you. I wouldn't shoot my own step-poppa. You must think I got no family feelings at all.
- Mastic: I'll tell you, Padre. First rule I learnt in gunfighting is don't believe anybody. Second, get something solid in front of you if you can. That way you just have to sweep 180 degrees. See? Just like a snake.
- Pete Nolan: I saw what I saw.
- Rowdy Yates: What do you mean: You saw what you saw?
- Pete Nolan: And I heard what I heard.
- Rowdy Yates: You and your friend, Buzz, the way I took it, you were prisoners of war, right?
- Rowdy Yates: That's right.
- Pete Nolan: Did you get took after a battle or before?
- Rowdy Yates: You gonna walk away from here?
- Pete Nolan: Nope.
- Rowdy Yates: My friend Buzz and I spent a lot of time underground. You understand? Yankee Territorial Prison at Yuma, Arizona. No one comes out of there seeing too good.
- Gil Favor: [a scene in which most of the men, Wish excluded, are topless as they wash, bathe and shave in preparation for the wedding party] He's a fast gun and he's not for you. And all he said was he was gonna visit.
- Rowdy Yates: You just gonna stand back if he comes in?
- Gil Favor: That's right.
- Rowdy Yates: Mr Favor, I don't think you're as smart as I think you are.
- Gil Favor: What was that?
- Wishbone: How do you tell which are the single ladies?
- Pete Nolan: Well, you just pick one out and ask her to dance and, if you don't get kicked with a saddle cinch, she'd single.
- Buzz Travis: ROWDY! YAHOO! What do you do!
- Rowdy Yates: What are you doing here, you crazy beanbag?
- Buzz Travis: I got clean away. You think I was gonna get killed?
- Rowdy Yates: We heard the shot and we thought they had ya.
- Buzz Travis: We went through those Union lines like a stung deer. How's Benny and Richards?
- Rowdy Yates: Aw, they got a place up in Kansas somewhere.
- Buzz Travis: ROWDY! DOGGONE! Hey, I want you to meet my bride. Honey, I want you to meet the best friend I ever had. Why, you wouldn't believe what we been through together. My wife, Rowdy Yates.
- Varbena Cardin: How do you do.
- Rowdy Yates: Glad to meet you, Ma'am.
- Buzz Travis: We were corporals together in the Confederate Army.
- Father Fabian: Now, Mastik, I know what you're up to. You were always a bully, now you've grown up to be a coward, a little man who lives by his guns.
- Pete Nolan: What a place for God to stake out a claim.
- Gil Favor: Right here in the middle of nowhere.
- Rowdy Yates: How'd they get it here? There's nothing for miles.
- Pete Nolan: You know what I figure. I think maybe the Good Lord just had a long rope with a hook on it and just lowered it down.
- Father Fabian: You think your folks have forgotten what you've done?
- Mastic: He was a pean, Padre. He was my servant. He didn't obey fast enough.
- Father Fabian: He was a 14 year old boy shot down by you. And it wasn't because he didn't saddle your horse fast enough. It was because you wanted to kill a human being. God help you.
- Rowdy Yates: [Last Scene] Did I show you this, Pete?
- Pete Nolan: No.
- Rowdy Yates: Solid silver inlaid in ebony. Must have cost a lot of money.
- Pete Nolan: It's a rattlesnake. How do you like that.
- Rowdy Yates: I've seen more men engrave their initials on guns but never anything like that.
- Gil Favor: Rowdy!
- Rowdy Yates: Yessir!
- Gil Favor: Tell him about it tonight in your own time. Get back in the cattle business, mister. We got a herd to push!
- Mastic: LOOK FOR THE ONE WITH THE SNAKE, BOY! This snake's not on the ground, boy. It's oiled and packed in leather and faster than anything you'll ever see.