- [discussing a vacant deputy sheriff job]
- Frank Dalton: Now look, Hec, what you're tryin' to tell me is I might regret it if the law says do this and I'd sooner do that.
- Marshal Heck Thomas: Duty is a terrible thing. Sometimes doin' it just eats your insides out... ,and there comes a time - and it always comes - when you got no choice and all you can hope for is, maybe - don't bet on it - maybe somebody will say, "He seen his duty and he done it."
- Frank Dalton: It wouldn't look bad on a tombstone.