- Ponca: Hey, ain't I seen you someplace?
- Bret Maverick: It's possible, I've been there.
- Ponca: Sure, Ponca City, that's where it was. You was the customer that didn't drink.
- Bret Maverick: And you're the bartender who did.
- Bret Maverick: [narrating] One hour later, I let myself into Cora's office. She was asleep by now. Looking as sweet and innocent as a newborn vulture.
- [last lines]
- Doc Holliday: Which way?
- Bret Maverick: Well, I figured I'd ride on toward Dodge City.
- Doc Holliday: I hear they got a pretty good game going on up there. Mind if I ride along with you?
- [first lines]
- Bret Maverick: His name was Parker. I didn't know much about him except that he could lose a poker game with good cards and pay off with bad money.
- Parker: All right, I did know it was stolen money, but I didn't steal it.
- Bret Maverick: I hope you can prove that. But all you have to do is prove that I didn't.
- Parker: Look, you don't want me, you want them three men. They're the ones you're after.
- Bret Maverick: Look, I'm not trying to solve the crime. I'm just trying to get out from under it.
- Ponca: Hey, you're a gambling man. There's an opening for a dealer at the Red Front Casino.
- Bret Maverick: What happened to the old dealer?
- [Ponca points at a passing hearse]
- Ponca: He found a new opening.
- Bret Maverick: Too bad.
- Ponca: Uh-uh. Too slow.
- Cora: What are you looking for, then?
- Bret Maverick: A game.
- Cora: Well, if you change your mind, come and see me.
- Bret Maverick: Do I have to change my mind?
- Bret Maverick: Well, when do I start?
- Cora: Right now. Go tell Johnny he's relieved.
- Bret Maverick: Do you really think he will be?
- [discussing Doc Holliday]
- Stacey Johnson: Looking for trouble, huh?
- Bret Maverick: Not looking for, he brought it with him.
- Bret Maverick: [narrating] Doc Holliday's particular brand of poison was double deadly, 'cause Doc himself really wanted to die. To die quick instead of slow from a sickness that had no cure. Doc hated the world because he knew it'd go on living after he was gone, and it made him mad to see anybody healthy.
- Doc Holliday: Never kill time, friend. Or it'll end up kill you.
- Bret Maverick: Well, there's a difference between wasting it and spending it. Who knows, a few minutes here might even be an investment.
- Doc Holliday: Not for me.
- Bret Maverick: Might make a killing.
- [looking towards the room Stacey Johnson entered]
- Doc Holliday: How true.
- [Maverick is posing as Bret Martin]
- Doc Holliday: Why didn't you kill him?
- Bret Maverick: Well, he's kind of a friend of mine.
- Doc Holliday: You're wrong. You have no friends. There are only two kinds of people in the West, Mr. Martin. The quick and the dead.
- Doc Holliday: You seemed to have saved my life. Why?
- Bret Maverick: Well, I was afraid he might miss you and hit me.
- Bret Maverick: You see, the marshal in Qualary didn't like my having those bright new bills around. Didn't like my story either. Won 'em in a poker game.
- Parker: How'd you get away?
- Bret Maverick: Glad you asked. Hand's quicker than the eye. Showed the marshal a card trick: while he's takin' a card, I'm takin' his gun, this one.
- Doc Holliday: Careless talk, gossip mostly. But it's invidious. Distasteful. Depressing.
- Bret Maverick: I think I know what you're talkin' about, but...
- Doc Holliday: Then you do see my point? The most precious thing to a man is his reputation. If he loses that, he loses everything including sleep.
- Bret Maverick: I take it we're talkin' about the same Doc Holliday?
- Ponca Brown: You know him?
- Bret Maverick: Well, I played cards with him once in Wichita... didn't figure he'd back down from anybody, doesn't care that much about livin'.
- Doc Holliday: I'm very disappointed in you.
- Bret Maverick: Disappointed, Doc?
- Doc Holliday: Yes. It isn't often I think enough of anyone to be disappointed in 'em - but you've done it... You're a very dishonest man. You've been cheating me, Mr. Martin - with marked cards!
- Bret Maverick: Cheating you? Doc, you've been winning all night.
- Doc Holliday: That's how you've been cheating me.
- Ponca Brown: [as Bret watches Cora walk away] Hey, don't look like that.
- Bret Maverick: Like what?
- Bret Maverick: Like you're lookin'. That's the way the other dealer started lookin', the one that left town in the box.
- Doc Holliday: You know, it really doesn't matter why a man cheats me.
- Bret Maverick: Does it matter that he saved your life?
- Doc Holliday: For that dubious favor, I'll grant one small bonus. I'm gonna leave town in the morning - but before I do, I'm gonna complete the business I came here to transact. And if, Mr. Martin, I happen to see you here, on the street... or anywhere I happen to be, I'll deal with you exactly as I intend to deal with your friend. If, on the other hand, I don't happen to see you, I'll just ride out of town and forget you. And that, Mr. Martin, is a better deal than the one you've been giving me here tonight.