- Sheriff Mason: You done checked your brains out of town on a Greyhound bus, Henry? Now, now who's your undertaker on this? You settle on one yet? 'Cause I want you to know I ain't backin' you on this. Not one bit. Henry, you listenin' to me? It's your funeral!
- Ambler Bowman: Now what the hell you doin' here, boy? You're the state. You've no cause to be hanging around here making trouble, messin' where you don't belong. You got no rights here, boy! I'm here! I'm this county! I'm the power! Ain't nobody gonna take that away.
- Abe Rand: Population here is dirt poor, you know? He buys their loyalty. Runs the whole county. That's paternalism not government. He's got a little dictatorship right here in the middle of Texas.
- Maggie Bowman: I married him. It was good for a while. But it's true what they say about him. He's mean. And he's corrupt. I tried to leave him. Nobody leaves Ambler Bowman. I'm scared.
- Emily Martin: Maggie's right. Ambler Bowman does own you.
- Judge Henry Martin: Ambler Bowman owns this county. Don't you know that by now?