The Best Vin Tanner Quotes

Old: You worry about yourself. Are you ready for him?
[refers to Calvera]
Old: What if he comes now, huh?
Vin: Reminds me of that fellow back home that fell off a ten story building.
Chris: What about him?
Vin: Well, as he was falling people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Tch... So far, so good!

Vin: We deal in lead, friend.

Vin: Rojas is makin' room for you in his home.
Old: Rojas? His conversation would bore me to death!
Vin: Yeah, well, maybe somebody else, huh?
Old: Hey are all farmers. Farmers talk of nothing but fertiliser and women. I've never shared their enthusiasm for fertiliser. As for women, I became indifferent when I was 83. I am staying here.

Chris: You forget one thing. We took a contract.
Vin: It's sure not the kind any court would enforce.
Chris: That's just the kind you've got to keep.

Vin: We heard you got that Salinas thing cleaned up in five weeks.
O'Reilly: They paid me $800 for that one.
Vin: And Johnson County in four weeks.
O'Reilly: They paid me $500 for that one.
Vin: You cost a lot.
O'Reilly: [proudly] Yeah, I cost a lot.
Chris: The pay is $20.
[Chris and Vin turn and walk away]
O'Reilly: [Calling after them] $20? Right now, that's a lot.

Vin: Twenty dollars? You must be living in style.
Lee: Yes... I have the most stylish corner of the filthy storeroom out back. That and one plate of beans. Ten dollars a day.

Vin: You know - I've been in some towns where the girls weren't all that pretty. In fact I've been in some towns where they're downright ugly. But it's the first time I've been in a town where there are no girls at all, 'cept little ones. You know if we're not careful we could have quite a social life here.

[Chris and Vin were just shot at, hitting the tip of Chris' cigar]
Vin: You elected?
Chris: Na. I got nominated real good.

Vin: What're you gonna do when Calvera comes?
Old: At my age, a little excitement is welcome. Don't worry. Why would he kill me? Bullets cost money.

[Chris is driving the hearse up to Boot Hill; Vin is riding shotgun]
Chris: We'll get there.
Vin: It's not getting up there that bothers me. It's staying up there that I mind.

Vin: [Chris is driving the hearse up to Boot Hill; Vin is riding shotgun] Never rode shotgun on a hearse before.

Vin: It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock. Right now, I belong back in that border town sleeping on white sheets.

[Calvera has just captured the Seven]
Calvera: What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job in the first place, hmm? Why, huh?
Chris: I wonder myself.
Calvera: No, come on, come on, tell me why.
Vin: It's like a fellow I once knew in El Paso. One day, he just took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him that same question, "Why?"
Calvera: And?
Vin: He said, "It seemed to be a good idea at the time."

[as Chris, Vin and Chico are about to leave the village]
Old: You could a-stay, you know. They wouldn't be sorry to have you a-stay.
Vin: They won't be sorry to see us go, either.
Old: Yes. The fighting is over. Your work is done. For them, each season has its tasks. If there were a season for gratitude, they'd show it more.
Vin: We didn't get any more than we expected, old man.
Old: Only the farmers have won. They remain forever. They are like the land itself. You helped rid them of Calvera, the way a strong wind helps rid them of locusts. You're like the wind - blowing over the land and... passing on. Vaya con dios.
Chris: Adios.

Hilario: The feeling I felt in my chest this morning, when I saw Calvera run away from us, that's a feeling worth dying for. Have you ever felt something like that?
Vin: Not for a long, long time. I envy you.

Vin: You know the first time I took a job as a hired gun, fellow told me, "Vin, you can't afford to care." There's your problem.
Chris: One thing I don't need is somebody telling me my problem.
Vin: Like I said before, that's your problem. You got involved in this village and the people in it.
Chris: Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?
Vin: The reason I understand your problem so well is that I walked in the same trap myself. Yeah. First day we got here, I started thinking: Maybe I could put my gun away, settle down, get a little land, raise some cattle. Things that these people know about me be to my credit - wouldn't work against me. I just didn't want you to think you were the only sucker in town.

Chico: Villages like this they make up a song about every big thing that happens. Sing them for years.
Chris: You think it's worth it?
Chico: Don't you?
Chris: It's only a matter of knowing how to shoot a gun. Nothing big about that.
Chico: Hey. How can you talk like this? Your gun has got you everything you have. Isn't that true? Hmm? Well, isn't that true?
Vin: Yeah, sure. Everything. After awhile you can call bartenders and faro dealers by their first name - maybe two hundred of 'em! Rented rooms you live in - five hundred! Meals you eat in hash houses - a thousand! Home - none! Wife - none! Kids... none! Prospects - zero. Suppose I left anything out?
Chris: Yeah. Places you're tied down to - none. People with a hold on you - none. Men you step aside for - none.
Lee: Insults swallowed - none. Enemies - none.
Chris: No enemies?
Lee: Alive.
Chico: Well. This is the kind of arithmetic I like.
Chris: Yeah. So did I at your age.