50 Doc Holliday Quotes From the Legendary Gunfighter & Gambler

If you love Tombstone, you’re going to love reading through these Doc Holliday quotes. Share your favorite quote from the movie with us in the comments.

Doc Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist in the late 1800s. Val Kilmer brought the legend to life in the movie Tombstone. In real life, Doc Holliday was a friend of Wyatt Earp’s.

Holliday had a pretty mean reputation for killing over a dozen men, but researchers now believe he only killed one to three. He is most famous for his role in the gunfight at O.K. Corral.

Tombstone is not the only portrayal of Doc Holliday; there have been several books, movies, and television series that depict his life. These Doc Holliday quotes from Tombstone are both funny and emotional, but there are also some authentic quotes, as well as some from Wynonna Earp. Wynonna Earp first premiered in Canada on CHCH-DT before Syfy purchased the rights to the show. You can now watch it on Netflix!

The real Doc Holliday, whose name was actually John Henry Holliday, earned a degree in dentistry from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery at age 21. He opened a practice in Griffin, Georgia but left after being diagnosed with tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his mother when he was 15. He moved to the American Southwest hoping the climate would be better for his symptoms.

There he became a gambler, which was actually a reputable profession in Arizona, but he got into several confrontations. His friendship with Wyatt Earp, the famous lawman, began when he saved his life in Texas. That is just the beginning of the story, though, and these Doc Holliday quotes, both fictional and authentic, will shed more light on this famous piece of American lore.

Don’t forget to also check out these Al Capone quotes from the crime czar of the 1920s.

Doc Holliday quotes about Johnny Ringo

1. “Why Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

2. “And you must be Ringo. Look, darling, Johnny Ringo. The deadliest pistoleer since Wild Bill, they say. What do you think, darling? Should I hate him?” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

3. “A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough or steal enough or inflict enough pain to ever fill it. He wants revenge. Revenge for being born.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

4. “Evidently, Mr. Ringo’s an educated man. Now, I really hate him.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

5. “Oh, Johnny, I’m sorry. I forgot you were there. You may go now.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

6. (After shooting Johnny Ringo) “You’re no daisy! You’re no daisy at all. Poor soul, you were just too high-strung.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

7. “Yes, but there’s just something about him. Something around the eyes, I don’t know, reminds me of, me. No. I’m sure of it, I hate him.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

Doc Holliday quotes from the movie Tombstone and Wynonna Earp that will make you laugh

8. “When will you wake up? You wouldn’t know a normal life if it bit you in the ass.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

9. “Dave Rudabaugh is an ignorant scoundrel! I disapprove of his very existence. I considered ending it myself on several occasions, but self-control got the better of me.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

10. “Why should I obtain by force that which I can obtain by cheating?” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

11. “I said poker’s an honest trade. Only suckers buck the tiger. The odds are all with the house.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

12. “You know why I’m here. My hypocrisy only goes so far.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

13. “Forgive me if I don’t shake hands.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

14. “Nonsense, I have not yet begun to defile myself.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

15. “I’m dying, how are you?” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

16. “Why, Kate, you’re not wearing a bustle. How lewd.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

17. “I feel it’s about to get weird.” — Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon), Wynonna Earp, Season 3

18. “Why, Ike, whatever do you mean? Maybe poker’s just not your game, Ike. I’ve got an idea! Let’s have a spelling contest.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

19. “Yes, it’s true. You are a good woman. Then again, you may be the Antichrist.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

Forceful and emotional Doc Holliday quotes from the movie Tombstone

20. “Make no mistake, it’s not revenge he’s after. It’s a reckoning.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

21. “We started a fight we never got to finish. Play for blood, remember?” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

22. “Say goodbye to me. Go grab that spirited actress and make her your own. Take that beauty from it, don’t look back. Live every second. Live right on to the end. Live Wyatt. Live for me. Wyatt, if you were ever my friend, if you ever had even the slightest of feelin’ for me, leave now. Leave now. Please.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

23. “You’re the only human being in my entire life that ever gave me hope.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

24. “Weave a circle round him thrice, and close your eyes with holy dread. For he on honey-dew hath fed and drunk the milk of Paradise.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

25. “Ed, what an ugly thing to say. Does this mean we’re not friends anymore? You know, Ed, if I thought you weren’t my friend, I just don’t think I could bear it.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

26. “Damn it, you’re the most fallible, stubborn, self-deluded, bullheaded man I’ve ever known in my entire life.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

27. Doc: “Wyatt Earp is my friend.”

Turkey Creek Jack: “Hell, I got lots of friends.”

Doc: “I don’t.”

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday quotes about life

28. “I enjoyed about as much of this as I could stand.” — Doc Holliday, 1877

29. “I’m not traveling about the country in search of notoriety, and I think your newspaper fellows have already had a fair hack at me.” — Doc Holliday, 1882

30. “If you fellows have been hunted from one end of the country to the other as I have been, you’ll understand what a bad man’s reputation is built on. I’ve had credit for more killings than I ever dreamed of.” — Doc Holliday, 1886

31. “There is no normal life, there’s just life. Get on with it.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

32. “It appears he missed an excellent chance to keep his mouth shut.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

33. “You tell ’em I’m coming, and hell’s coming with me, you hear? Hell’s coming with me!” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

34. “Fight’s commenced! Get to fightin’ or getaway.” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

35. “How the hell did we get ourselves into this?” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

36. “Already got a guilty conscience. Might as well have the money, too. Good day now.” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

37. “I spent my whole life not knowing what I want out of it, just chasing my tail. Now, for the first time, I know exactly what I want and who. That’s the damnable misery of it.” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

38. “I’ll be damned.” — Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone

Doc Holliday quotes and his most memorable movie one-liners

39. “I’m your huckleberry.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

40. “I stand corrected, Wyatt. You’re an oak.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

41. “Wyatt Earp? I’ve heard that name before. Don’t know where, but it wasn’t good.” — Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), Wyatt Earp

42. “Conflict follows wrongdoing as surely as flies follow the herd.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

43. “It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

44. “My mama always told me never put off till tomorrow people you can kill today.” — Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), Wyatt Earp

45. “I have two guns. One for each of ya’.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

46. “You’re a daisy if you do.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

47. “You may indeed, sir if you get lucky.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

48. “Do you believe in friendship, Wyatt Earp?” — Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), Wyatt Earp

49. “There is no hook my friend. There’s only what we do.” — Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), Wyatt Earp

50. “Not me, I’m in my prime.” — Doc Holliday (Val Kimmer), Tombstone

Doc Holliday quotes about him from people who knew him

51. “I found him a loyal friend and good company. He was a dentist whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long, lean blonde fellow nearly dead with consumption and at the same time the most skillful gambler and nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew.” –Wyatt Earp

52. “While he never did anything to entitle him to a Statue in the Hall of Fame, Doc Holliday was nevertheless a most picturesque character on the western border in those days when the pistol instead of law determined issues.” –Bat Masterson

53. “There was something very peculiar about Doc. He was gentlemanly, a good dentist, a friendly man, and yet outside of us boys I don’t think he had a friend in the Territory.” –Wyatt Earp

54. “Tales were told that he had murdered men in different parts of the country; that he had robbed and committed all manner of crimes, and yet when persons were asked how they knew it, they could only admit that it was hearsay, and that nothing of the kind could really be traced up to Doc’s account.” –Wyatt Earp

55. “Of all the nonsensical guff which has been written around my life, there has been none more ina59. ccurate or farfetched than that which has dealt with Doc Holliday. After Holliday died, I gave a San Francisco newspaper reporter a short sketch of his life. Apparently the reporter was not satisfied. The sketch appeared in print with a lot of things added that never existed outside the reporter’s imagination “ –Wyatt Earp

Which of these Doc Holliday quotes is your favorite?

In 1879, Holliday and Earp traveled to Las Vegas, New Mexico, before riding on to Prescott, Arizona. From there, the pair made their way to Tombstone. Once in Tombstone, he became the focus of members of the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. They threatened him repeatedly and were responsible for rumors he had robbed a stagecoach. Virgil Earp, Tombstone’s city marshal, deputized doc Holliday in 1881 before the lawmen tried to disarm members of the Cowboys, which resulted in the infamous shooting at the O.K. Corral.

Hidden assailants maimed Virgil Earp, and Morgan Earp was murdered following the shootout. Wyatt Earp turned to vigilante justice after failing to get justice in the courts. Earp, now a deputy U.S. Marshal deputized Holliday and a few others, forming a federal posse.

They went after Cowboys, who they believed were responsible. Wyatt Earp killed Frank Stilwell, who was lying in wait as Virgil boarded a train for California. Holliday and five members of Earp’s group now had a warrant out for them. They killed three other Cowboys during late March and early April 1882.

They got to Colorado where Wyatt Earp learned of an extradition request for Holliday. He convinced Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin to deny Holliday’s extradition. Tuberculosis would claim Doc Holliday’s life at 36, after spending just a few years in Colorado.

What is your favorite adaptation of Doc Holliday’s story? Do you have any other favorite Doc Holliday quotes and lines to add? Let us know in the comment section below.