True Grit quotes

View Quote I served under General Kirby Smith. And I don't have to hang my head when I say it.

View Quote I ain't dead yet, you bushwhacker!

View Quote She draws him like a gun! (referring to Mattie's constant invocation of her lawyer's name)

View Quote I never busted a cap on a woman or anybody much under sixteen. But it's enough that you know that I'll do what I have to do.

View Quote Most girls like little play-pretties. But you like guns, don't you?

View Quote All the Parmalees is touched, but Harold's the worst… no, their Ma's the worst, then comes Harold's brother Farrell… but they're all good shots.

View Quote If that girl don't stay healthy, you don't neither, understand? And you don't get paid!

View Quote I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!

View Quote Tom Chaney: A gun will say a whole lot quick!

View Quote Tom Chaney: Everything happens to me, and now I'm shot by a child!

View Quote Colonel Stonehill: Most people around here know of Rooster Cogburn and some people live to regret it. I would not be surprised to learn that he is a relative of yours.

View Quote [Marshal Cogburn is cross-examined by a defense attorney]
Attorney: How many men have you shot since you became a marshal, Mr. Cogburn?
Rooster: I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Attorney: That was not the question. How many?
Rooster: Uh… shot, or killed?
Attorney: Oh, let us restrict it to killed, so that we may have a manageable figure!
Rooster: Well, twelve to fifteen, stopping men in flight and defending myself.
Attorney: Twelve to fifteen? So many that you cannot keep an accurate count! I have examined the record, Mr. Cogburn. A much more accurate figure is available. Come now — how many?
Rooster: Counting them two Whartons… twenty-three.
Attorney: Twenty-three men in four years. That makes about six men a year!
Rooster: It's a dangerous business.

View Quote [Moon & Emmett Quincy were arrested in previous scene; Moon was shot in the leg during their capture]
Moon: Oh, my leg hurts!
Rooster: I'll bet it do, sonny-boy. Now you just sit right still so it don't bleed so much.
...
Quincy: I don't know any Ned Pepper. What's he look like?
Rooster: Short, feisty fella. He's got a messed-up lower lip. I shot him in it.
Quincy: In the lip? What was you aiming at?
Rooster: His upper lip.

View Quote Rooster: What we want to do is get them inside that dugout. I'll shoot the last man through the door, and then we'll have 'em over a barrel!
La Boeuf: You'll shoot them without a call?
Rooster: Well, it'll give 'em to know our intentions is serious! [La Boeuf & Mattie give him disapproving glares] Aw, well, I'll holler down after I shoot and see if any of 'em want to be taken alive — but when they won't, we'll shoot 'em as they come out the door.

View Quote Mattie: [drinking water from river near camp] That tastes like iron!
La Boeuf: You're lucky to be where water's so handy. I've seen the time I've drank out of a filthy hoofprint and I was glad to get it.
Rooster: If ever I meet one of you Texas wadis who ain't drunk from a hoofprint, I think I'll… I'll shake their hand, or buy them a Daniel Webster cigar! [he looks over La Boeuf's horse] How long you boys down there been mounted on sheep?
La Boeuf: Go ahead and have your little joke. But I'll tell you one thing: that little fella there will still be running when that big American stud of yours is winded and collapsed.
Rooster: Ha — sheep! Heh, heh…