- Melinda Sue: Maybe they brought it on themselves. Maybe they just took too much.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: Too much, Melinda? How is anyone supposed to know how much is too much? This stuff is made in sinks, it's made in bathtubs, and *nobody* knows how strong it *really* is.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: I smell ether, he's cooking it.
- Deputy Aaron Fairfax: Buford, don't you think you better let him finish? If we bust him now, we won't have enough evidence to charge him for manufacturing.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: As Sheriff of McNeal County, I might not have enough evidence, but as Michael Pusser's father, I DO.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: Michael, I notice you're not eating. Don't you want to grow up big and strong like your sister?
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: [Michael's in the hospital after jumping off the school roof] It's Pauline all over again.
- Carl Pusser: Don't think like that.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: I'm not thinking it, I'm feeling it. Two years ago I lost my wife in this same hospital because I'm the sheriff, now I'm going to lose my son the same way.
- Sheriff Buford Pusser: [a student comments PCP is for their generation what booze was for Buford's generation as a crutch] The only difference in these crutches is how long it takes to destroy a person. Alcohol takes years and years, but only one dose of PCP can leave your brain fried, bent and twisted.