CowboySpirit.TV – Although by and large the West was a peaceful place, there were hotbeds of activity that were regularly the sites of unlawful doings. Two of the best known were Abilene, Kansas and Deadwood, South Dakota, where few people who weren’t either cowboys or trying to make money from the cowboys dared to go. Places like these fueled early western movies, and provide us with more than a few quotes to enjoy.
1. "We are rough men and used to rough ways." – Bob Younger, member of the James-Younger Gang, after being taken into custody following a gunfight near Madelia, Minnesota.
2. “I do not care a thing about guns; if I did, I would have one that worked.” – Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross in True Grit (2010)
3. “I'm a law-abiding man. That is, if there's any law to abide by.” – Burl Ives as Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country
4. Pigs get fed and hogs get eaten!
This Old West proverb means that as a pig one can make do, but being too greedy and becoming a hog makes one ripe for negative attention.
5. "I have at all times tried to use my influence toward protecting the property holders and substantial men of the country from thieves, outlaws and murderers, among whom I do not care to be classed." – Clay Allison, rebutting a newspaper that wrote an article about the men he had killed as an “honest” gunfighter in Missouri, Kansas, and Texas
6. He’s as crooked as a dog’s hind legs.
7. “People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care.” – Lon Chaney Jr. as Martin in High Noon
8. “A cowboy never takes unfair advantage – even of an enemy.” – Gene Autry
9. You plant a tater, you get a tater.
10. She’s as scared as a sinner in a cyclone.
Comment by Bud "Marshal" Stilwell on February 2, 2013 at 2:47pm 
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