- Bret Maverick: Jack, as my old Pappy used to say, "A man who sticks his head in the sand, makes an awfully good target."
- [last lines]
- Bret Maverick: As my old Pappy used to day, "You can be a gentleman, and not still forget all you know about self-defense"
- [first lines]
- [Bret stops a woman about to jump off a pier]
- Bret Maverick: What are you trying to do? The tides out, ma'am. You couldn't drown in that Sacramento mud if you had a cannonball under each arm.
- [she starts to cry and goes into Bret's arms]
- Bret Maverick: Well, don't cry. Please. Well, th-that's better. Now what brought you to that. Men?
- Modesty Blaine: No, sir. Cats.
- Mayor Uli Bemus: [after Modesty "faints"] She must'a took a spell.
- Bret Maverick: Uh, she'd take anything that wasn't nailed down.
- Bret Maverick: Better death than dishonor.
- Mayor Uli Bemus: Why?
- Bret Maverick: Why? I'm not quite sure.
- Bret Maverick: No, I'm serious. You made a bad choice, Captain. I'm no sailor, I'm a businessman.
- Captain Puget: In what line?
- Bret Maverick: Well, right now I'm in cats.
- Captain Puget: Cats, is it? Ever meet one with nine tails, bucko, me lad?
- Sheriff Scratch Madden: One of us is like to cash in 'fore long.
- Faro Jack Norcross: Meaning?
- Sheriff Scratch Madden: Meaning you been dealin' off the top, off the bottom, and off the in between.
- Faro Jack Norcross: [to a gambler] You ain't big enough to bluff. That pair of deuces wouldn't get an angel a free lunch in heaven. You're just wastn' the little woman's money.