Ben: "Words are a potent power, my friend, if you know how to use them properly."

Ben and Hop Sing:

Hoss Cartwright:
"Ain't it funny, Pa? A man shoots at a target, an' if he hits it, he's a good shot. He misses it, it's a bad gun."

I'm not going to have that woman beating me over the head with my own son!
— Ben Cartwright

Inger Cartwright: "In the mountain country, that is the name for a big, friendly man."

Inger Cartwright: "In the mountain country, that is the name for a big, friendly man."

This is how Eric Cartwright got his "Hoss" nickname.

Jeff: She's back... for the long haul. How long is the long haul?
Val: I am proud of her. Do you know how much courage it took to march back in here?
Jeff: She's courageous? (gestures to the busboys) They have to work with her. They're the real heroes.

Deputy Sheriff: I'll swear you in. Do you?
Eric 'Hoss' Cartwright: I do.
Deputy Sheriff: You are.

(First line of the series.)
Ben: "Look at that, Adam... Feast thine eyes on a sight that approacheth Heaven itself."

Adam:

Eric 'Hoss' Cartwright:
I ain't never done a fight without my hat.

Charlie:

Ben & Little Joe:

From The Honor of Cochise

Negotiating with Cochise

Ben: If an officer does not come back with me, alone, I will return and deliver myself into your hands again. With my sons dead I have no reason for living.

------


Colonel: Surely, Mr. Cartwright, you can't be serious.

Ben: I have one son with a bullet in his gut. My two other sons are sitting under the guns of the Apaches. How much more serious could I be?

Ben Cartwright:
I raised my sons to make their own decisions.

From "Broken Ballad."

Ben (speaking to Adam): I don't care about the first place, the second place or any other place. All I want's a straight answer from you. Did you or didn't you?

From "Broken Ballad."

Adam: I don't know. Well, I don't know I just got mad, I mean.. All right, maybe I shouldn't have done it.

I'll ride in tomorrow and I'll apologise. I really didn't mean that about taking our business away from him. It It's not mine to..take away.

“I don’t have anything against education—as long as it doesn’t interfere with your thinking.” —Ben Cartwright

From The Many Faces of Gideon Flinch



Joe: (about Hoss) "Sad but true, blood is thicker than water...He's my older brother....much older."

Joe, trying to impress a woman he just met: "Let me tell you about the ranch I run. We call it the Ponderosa."

"Of course Hoss helps me with a few routine matters, course then there's Pa and Adam, that's my older brother, they have a few minor chores to take care of, but I do take most of the burden myself."

Hoss: (to Bob Jolley)"Why don't you shut up?"
Bob Jolley: "Why should I? Words are the only weapons I have."

Ben Cartwright:
Look at it, Adam. Feast thine eyes on a sight that approacheth Heaven itself.

Adam Cartwright:
You been to a lotta places and you've seen a lotta things, Pa, but you never seen or been to heaven.

Ben Cartwright:
Well, maybe I never been to heaven... but heaven is gonna have to go some to beat the thousand square miles of the Ponderosa.

Adam Cartwright:
As long as it's ours, as long as we keep it in Cartwright hands...

Ben Cartwright:
Know anyone that could take it away from us, son?

Hoss:
Hey, come on Adam, boy. Them Edison girls are gonna be busting plum out of their corsets or something.

Joe:
Don't forget you've got to save the youngest one for me.

Ben:
My, don't we smell pretty? I got your horses curried.

Hoss:
Hey, thanks Pa. Hey, how come you don't come along. You might find yourself a young widow woman there and catch yourself a real howdown or something.

Joe:
Hey, Hoss is right. Why don't you come with us and show us how to do it?

Joe- -trying to imitate Ben:
Good evening, M'am. My name is Benjamin Cartwright. I'm the father of young Joseph Cartwright, (best looking boy in the territory). Would you mind if I had the next dance with you?

Hoss - pretending to be woman :
Oh, I'd love to. (they start dancing around)

Ben, smiling:
You boys better get going or those Edison gals are going to be fighting mad.

“I'm not going to have that woman beating me over the head with my own son!”
— Ben Cartwright

Hoss:

Jeb Drummond:
Maybe I should have let them wranglers string you up for stealin' them three pintos.

Billy Drummond:
Three pintos? Jeb, how in the world did you ever know they were looking for three of them?

Land Grab Season 3, Episode 15

Adam: Now, look Hop Sing. It's not just a privilege. You see, the horse the Colonel fell from when he busted his leg was one that Pa sold him. That makes it an obligation.

Hop Sing: Hop Sing's obligation?

Adam: Well, you're one of the family, aren't you, just like me, Hoss and Little Joe?

Hop Sing: You're too smart for me, Mr. Adam. You say I one of the family, I cannot go. I stay.

The Pressure Game Season 5, Episode 32

Adam: What about the Bonner brothers?

Ben: I'd just as soon not do business with those two cutthroats.

Adam: I don't see how we can avoid it. They're the only drovers working through it this time of year.

Ben: Since you used to chase around with them before you came to your senses, you want to talk to them?

Adam: If I can find them....

Mayor Amos Garrett: "And so I say, if the only thing that sweeps clean is a new broom, then let us get that new broom and get it fast!"

Bushwacker: (to Joe)"I'm payin' you a good price for it."
(Bushwhacker knocks out Joe.)
Bushwhacker: "Your life."

Joe: "That's what I get for bein' the youngest member of the family."

Katie O'Brien: "You poor fool. You poor, misguided fool."

Joe: (sarcastically)"Oh, I've got a lot of friends out there."

Katie: "You want to know what killed my husband? Cowardice. The cowardice of the whole town."

Ben: "Let's ride."

Ben: "...Martinville's been a ghost town for a good number of years."

Joe: "I know there were people in this town, Pa."

Ben: "Son, when a man knows somethin', deep down in his heart, when he really knows, he doesn't have to argue about it, doesn't have to prove it. Just knowin', that's enough."

Ben Cartwright: You and your education.
Adam Cartwright: Education is progress! Now what have you got against it?

Sheriff Roy Coffee: "I don't care who started it; it stops right now, do you understand?"

Bartender: "And he was doin' fine!, until the roof fell in on him."

Ben Cartwright: We can't ignore the rest of the world. We're the only stabilizing influence in the country.

Joe: "Well, where does a man go when he dies, Paco? A good man."
Paco: "To Heaven."
Joe: "And where does a bad man go when he dies?"
Paco: "To Hell."
Joe: "Yes, that's where he goes. Because nobody goes unpunished, Paco."

How couldn't he see,

standing on that
vital piece of land?

Heedless of his neighbors,

and stopping
every bit of progress

in the territory

just because he
didn't care to change.

Ben Cartwright: [to Sheriff Hawkins] They talk of the lawlessness of the West. Well, this is lawlessness backed up by law! They're evicting families, throwing them out of their homes, killing men - and you protect them!