- John Sims: I'm a scalp hunter. They're worth a hundred pesos in Mexico, their hair is. That's how I earn my living.
- John Sims: Hey, Boy, are you old enough to drink?
- Johnny Yuma: Yessir.
- John Sims: Can I buy you one for the road?
- Johnny Yuma: No, sir.
- John Sims: Don't you want to drink with me?
- Johnny Yuma: I forgot to buy some shells.
- Johnny Yuma: Uncle John. Well, you're one day and 60 miles early, aren't you?
- John Sims: I'm early and I ain't your uncle. And never was.
- Johnny Yuma: No, but you're always mean enough to be. Besides my Pa always told me to respect my elders.
- John Sims: Never know what to do. You travel along the rim of the hills and your silhouette can be seen, and shot. And you move along the gullies and they can take you from above. I don't know. I must be getting old.
- Johnny Yuma: It's him.
- Johnny Yuma: The earth was a scorching haystack. It was hard to find the needle. But once I came on the tracks, it was hard to hold them. Day by day, the uneven prints told their story in a savage language as if Masi himself was speaking to me. They told of desperation, hunger, of cunning. The days seared into weeks. At times it was hard to tell if I was the hunter or the one who was being hunted.
- Johnny Yuma: The bigger the country, the more you have to get used to seeing little things. The way a blade of grass is bent can tell you a direction. A soft spot in the earth might have been a dry camp.