Quotes

Other

Ain't nobody ever cut 5 centers, lessen' it were Dan'l Boone.

Other

[at the target range] Remember, guys, you're usin' real live ammunition! A bullet hasn't got any brains! It'll hit whatever you're aimin' at, so don't start murdering each other!

Dialogue

Pastor Rosier Pile: See that rock, Alvin? You've been plowin' around that rock a heap o' years. Alvin: Sure have! Pastor Rosier Pile: Did you ever think when you start plowin' yer furrows crooked, it's mighty hard to get 'em straight again? Alvin: I never thought on it much. Pastor Rosier Pile: It's that-a-way, I reckon, with other things 'sides plowin'. Satan's got ya by the shirt tail, Alvin!

Dialogue

Alvin: The way I figure, there ain't no use for a fellow going out looking for religion. It's well… it's just got to come to a fellow. Pastor Rosier Pile: It'll come my boy, you'll see. Maybe slow-like the way daylight comes, and maybe in flash like a bolt of lightning. Alvin: When? Pastor Rosier Pile: When you ain't even expecting it. Alvin: Well, I hope so.

Dialogue

Pastor Rosier Pile: War's way to the other side of the ocean, Alvin. Lots of things can happen before you get there. You put your trust in the Lord, and He'll look out for you. Alvin: I done forgot the Lord! I ain't never gonna forget him again!

Dialogue

Sergeant: Where did ya learn to shoot York? Alvin: Well I ain't never learned Sergeant! Folks back home used to say I could shoot a rifle before I was weaned, but they was exaggeratin' some.

Dialogue

'Pusher' Ross: An' you haven't even seen a subway? Alvin: I ain't never even heerd o' one. 'Pusher' Ross: 'Heerd'? 'heerd' What kind o' talk is that? Do they all talk that kind of English where you come from? Alvin: Well there ain't any English people down our way - just Americans.

Dialogue

Alvin: I don't want to be no corporal. Captain Danforth: Why not? Major Buxton: Wait a minute, captain, let him talk. Alvin: Well, you see… Major Buxton: Is it because of your religious convictions, York? Alvin: Yes, sir, that's it. You see, I believe in the Bible, and I'm a believin' that this here life we're living is something the Lord done give us, and we got to be a-living it as best we can — and I'm figuring that killing other folks is no part of what he was intending us to be a-doing here.

Dialogue

Major Buxton: York, What do you suppose Boone was looking for when he went out into the wilderness? Alvin: Well, I never thought much on it. Major Buxton: Was he looking for new lands? Alvin: Might be. Major Buxton: Maybe, maybe for something more, something that a man just can't see with his eyes, or hold in his hands. Something that some men don't even know they have until they've lost it. Alvin: Yes, sir? Major Buxton: To be free. Now that's quite a word, "Freedom" — I think that's what he wanted. I think that's what sent Boone into your Tennessee country. Alvin: That… that what this here book's about? Major Buxton: Yep. That's the story of a whole people's struggle for freedom, from the very beginning until now — for we're still struggling. It's quite a story York, how they all got together and set up a government, whereby all men were pledged to defend the rights of each man, and each man to defend the the rights of all men. We call that a government of the people, by the people,

Dialogue

Alvin: Well I'm as much agin' killin' as ever, sir. But it was this way, Colonel. When I started out, I felt just like you said, but when I hear them machine guns a-goin', and all them fellas are droppin' around me... I figured them guns was killin' hundreds, maybe thousands, and there weren't nothin' anybody could do, but to stop them guns. And that's what I done. Maj. Buxton: Do you mean to tell me that you did it to save lives? Alvin: Yes sir, that was why.