Favorite Quotes

The writers for The High Chaparral were among the best in the business.  Their credits are listed on the Writers and Directors page if you want to know who wrote which episodes.  Writers' credits are also on each episode page, reached by clicking on the title.  Here are some of our favorite quotes from the first season.  If you have more you'd like to add, please let me know. 

"Pay's real good, real good.  Place is lovely to work.
Hours: not long.  Work: not hard.  Beautiful.  Whatcha say?"

Buck's pitch for new hires in "The Kinsman"

"I know, I'll go watch the herd . . ."

Ira to Sam and Buck in "Best Man for the Job"

"He is a wild one, this one.  Some day someone will kill him for that. 
Perhaps it will be me."

Don Sebastian, speaking of Manolito.
"The Arrangement"

Blue:  Don Sebastian!  You gotta come quick!  Mano is in bad trouble!
Don Sebastian:  The sun is also shining.

"The Firing Wall"

"It's High Chaparral, all the things I want for it.  
It's your life, it's mine, your children - for all the Cannon
children that come after us.  That's what we're building."
 
John to Blue in "Young Blood"

"You've pulled some pretty stupid tricks in your time, but this is the worst."
 
John to Buck in "Bad Day for a Thirst"

"If he hurts her, the first bullet will be for him, the second for you."
Mano to John in "The Ghost of Chaparral"

"I don’t make threats I don’t mean, Mr. Brookes."

Victoria to Dan Brookes in "The Kinsman"

"Your hair.  It is a blaze of fire. 
It makes the light from the door superfluous."

Mano to Melanie Cawthorne in "The Widow from Red Rock"

"If it cost two cents to go around the world they couldn't get out of sight."
Buck speaking of the nuns' poverty in "A Joyful Noise"

"To steal a man's woman, that is one thing, 
but to steal a man's job, that is treachery beyond belief."

Mano to Melanie Cawthorne in "The Widow from Red Rock"

Reno:  How about relieving me from this bird's nest
before the buzzards eat me for breakfast?
Pedro:  I never heard of feeding crow bait to buzzards.
 
"Gold Is Where You Leave It"

John:  You know, Sam, there's a part of my brother that's never grown up.
Sam:  Yes sir, I think you're right.

"Young Blood"

"It is money I have saved from my father for – how do you say? – a rainy day. 
And when you decided to get yourself killed – well, for me that is a rainy day."
Mano to Buck in "To Ride the Savage Land"

John:  If I catch you working any claim in Las Animas Canyon
or any part of my land, I'll bury you there.
Would-be gold miner, Lige Driscoll:  I'll see you again.
 
John:  I wouldn't recommend it. 
"Gold is Where You Leave It"

"I did not quite translate the message that way . . .  
I told him you would send Blue to Cochise's stronghold,
have him roasted over a fire and served in dog stew
to prove that we wanted peace."

Mano to John and Blue in "Gold is Where You Leave It"

"These men ain't your flunkies.  
They're Cannon ranch hands and they take their orders from me."

Buck to Marshal Packer in "Mark of the Turtle"

Blue:  Hey Sam.  Did you see the way that girl looked at Manolito?
Sam:  Yeah.  They all look at him that way.

"The Firing Wall"

Killian:  I've got a sister that can out rope and out ride the
best man High Chaparral ever saw.
Joe:  Oh, I'll admit your sister's a better man than you, Killian.

"Champion of the Western World"

"Stop makin' me out to be a gunslinger. 
I couldn't hit myself in a mirror on a clear day."

Doc John Henry Holliday in "The Doctor from Dodge"

Mano:  You know Blue, we've got the same problem, you and me.
Blue:  We have?
Mano:  Sure.  Our fathers - yours and mine.  
We are children to them.  They are giants.
 
"Young Blood"

Blue:  I mean no disrespect, ma'am, but you could never be my mother.
Victoria:  Never is like always, Blue. There is no such thing.
"The Ghost of Chaparral"

Marshal Packer:  What the hell is he doing with us?
Buck:  Mano?  He lives with us and he rides with us.

"Mark of the Turtle"

"I must speak to you when I feel you are doing wrong.  It is my duty and my way.  
I can't change myself, not even for you.  I will not be Annalee.  I am Victoria."

Victoria to John in "Young Blood"

"Mr. Cannon, I do not know if you are a fool. 
But if you are a fool, you are a magnificent fool!"

Mano to John in "The Mark of the Turtle"

Don Sebastian to Mano:  You are an unprincipled, ruthless, . . . .
Mano, interrupting:  . . .son of my father?

"Young Blood"

"I am your wife for always, but I would not like to see
the husband I love at war with the father I also love."

Victoria to John in "Mark of the Turtle"

"Hey, Big John.  Didn't anybody tell you? 
You're too all-fired mean for anyone to kill."

Buck to John in "Destination Tucson"

"I have come to cheat the hangman."

Mano to Santos in "The Terrorist"

"She's as phony as a Chinese faro deck." 

Buck to John in "The Widow from Red Rock"

"Papa, I do respect you and love you very much, but you must understand that I did not become Mrs. Cannon as part of your agreement with my husband.  I would never have allowed that."

Victoria to Don Sebastian in "Ghost of Chaparral"

Buck:  I told you not to wear them boots...those low-cuts.
Mano:  I've always had a weakness for style over practicality.
"A Joyful Noise"

"I didn't sign on here as no dude.  I'm a workin' cow driver. 
And if you don't like me and my beautiful perfume a'smellin' up
your beautiful house, then I'll go down with Blue and the boys,
eat in the bunkhouse where the smell of whiskey on your breath
don't matter -- or any other manly smell!"

Buck to John in "Gold is Where You Leave It"

Mano:  Let me tell you about women and especially wives.
Victoria:  What do you know about women?
Mano:  I know more about them than you know about men.

"The Price of Revenge"

Don Sebastian:  You are lying.
Mano:  Why should I lie, Papa?
Don Sebastian:  Because you are my son.

"Young Blood"

Sam:  Ira, what the devil are we doin’ here?
Ira: I don’t know pard, but I’ll see you later.
 
"Shadows on the Land"

"The war ended for me at Appomattox. 
I came out here to forget the things that you want to remember. 
I brought a gentle woman with me.  I buried her. 
But I won't bury another one, Carr.
 
John to Finley Carr in "Threshold of Courage"

Blue:  I'm gonna go help!
Mano:  I was beginning to worry about you, compadre.

As Mano and Blue abandon their orders to watch the ranch 
and head out to help the crew under siege in "Shadows on the Land"

Mano:  You know if ever you would learn to leave things to me, 
these circumstances would not get out of control, Papa.
Don Sebastian:  If I should leave things to you for just one day, you would be shot. 
Then my life would be simpler.

"The Firing Wall"

"No matter what happens you still got me, and I am your blooded uncle."
 
Buck to Blue in "The Kinsman"

"You’re gonna keep away from my Blue Boy, you hear?  
'Cause if you don’t I’ll blow you out like the dirt that you are."

Uncle Buck to Uncle Dan in "The Kinsman"

Outlaw gang member to Buck:  What about that deal we had?
Buck:  Oh, that. Well, I’ll tell you, I lie a lot.

"Threshold of Courage"

"What touches you touches me. If you die, I die."

Victoria in "Threshold of Courage"

 Padre:  The Lord works in mysterious ways, doesn’t he? 
Mano (realizing his father has snookered them):  No more mysterious than my father.
"A Joyful Noise"

Blue: What do you think he’ll do to us?
Mano: Probably hang us.
Blue: No, he wouldn’t do that. Would he?
Mano: No, probably shoot us.
Blue: Well, is there nothing we can do?
Mano: We can shoot ourselves first.

Speculating about Don Sebastian in "Young Blood"

"I am old because I fought them when I was young!"

Don Sebastian in "The Filibusteros"

Sam:  Blue?
Blue:  Yeah?
Sam:  You're a pistol, kid.

"Best Man for the Job"

Buck:  This waitin', John, it's gettin' me edgy and mean."
John:  "Buck, you were born that way!"

"The Price of Revenge"

"This joke could have a very funny twist . . . or two."

Don Sebastian in "Young Blood"

Don Sebastian:  Our jokes are not so funny this time.  What else is there between us?
Mano:  I am the son of my father . ? .
 
"Young Blood"

"What does one who rides both sides of the road do when the road divides?"
 
El Lobo to Mano, questioning his loyalty in "Mark of the Turtle"

"Right, the contribution should be made with no strings attached. 
No strings, Victoria, but just a little bit of thread!"
Buck to Victoria in "A Joyful Noise"

Buck:  What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of being beholden to her?  
You afraid if she starts actin' like a wife, 
you're gonna have to treat her like a wife? . . . . . 
John: It's too soon, Buck ... I need more time 
Buck: More time. Alright John, maybe so. 
But let's just hope you don't need more than you got.
 
"Shadows on the Land"

Mano:  John wants you at High Chaparral . . . . .
Victoria:  But I am not important here.  I am nobody.
Mano:  You are. When you leave you add to his burden. Here you lighten it.

"The Price of Revenge"

John:  Blue, you've only known her a few days. 
How can you marry a girl you don't even know?
Blue:  You did.

"The Peacemaker"

John:  How is it that I can order everyone around on this ranch except you?
Victoria:  Because your men merely respect you, and I love you.

"The Kinsman"

Blue:  Don Sebastian, it's me, William Cannon.
Don Sebastian:  It is perfectly clear to see who you are.  
The reason for scattering my cattle escapes me.

"The Firing Wall"

"I got me two new hands!  You're my witness - they ain't drunk and they ain't sick!"

Buck to the Bartender in "The Kinsman"

Quotes Season Two

Quotes Season Three

Quotes Season Four

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