The Doc Holliday quotes in Tombstone are one of the big reasons it is one of the most popular Westerns of the modern era. It tells the story of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp after he decides to retire and spend his days in the town of Tombstone, Arizona. However, thanks to outlaws in the town running all over the citizens, and law enforcement refusing to do anything about it, the Earp brothers come out of retirement to bring justice to the town. By their side is Wyatt’s long-time friend, Doc Holliday, a former dentist turned poker-playing gunfighter.
It is Val Kilmer’s scene-stealing portrayal of Doc Holliday that most fans point to when discussing their love for the film. The amazing dialogue, delivered with ease by Kilmer, elevates the character to icon status. The actor’s performance as the legendary Doc Holliday is so iconic that almost every line that he says feels like an all-time great and so many of them stick with fans long after the credits roll. With fans looking back on Kilmer’s iconic acting career, and the amazing roles he took on, Tombstone and Doc Holliday rank near the top of the list when looking at Val Kilmer’s all-time best performances.
“Not Me; I’m In My Prime.”
One of the key storylines in Tombstone is that Doc Holliday is not in the best of health. While the Earp brothers moved to Tombstone to retire, Kilmer was also no longer a dentist by trade and was just spending his days drinking, gambling, and spending time with Big Nose Kate. However, his pride was still there and that was on display when he met Johnny Ringo. While Curly Bill was measuring up Wyatt Earp at the poker table, Ringo turned his eyes to Doc and asked if he was retired too. Doc just looked at him and said, “Not me, I’m in my prime.” This led to a tense moment between the two, and these Doc Holliday quotes would pay off later in the movie.
“It’s Not Revenge He’s After. It’s A Reckoning.”
Doc Holliday was there to stand by Wyatt Earp’s (Kurt Russell) side to the end. However, even he knew that the fight they were taking on was one that would have dire consequences. Death had already come to the town of Tombstone on both sides, with Wyatt losing a brother and Johnny Ringo losing two. This led Doc to understand what needed to happen next. When talking about Johnny coming for them, he said it was “not revenge he’s after. It’s a reckoning.” He also knew that Wyatt Earp would lose to Johnny Ringo in a gunfight, so this was also the Doc Holliday quotes that showed he knew he had to be the one to face the legendary gunfighter.
“Forgive Me If I Don’t Shake Hands.”
When the iconic cowboys the Wyatt brothers showed up in the town of Tombstone, they meet the local sheriff Johnny Behan, who is aligned with the murderous cowboys – even after they gunned down Marshal Fred White. When Wyatt meets the sheriff, he is cordial, but Doc Holliday is not. As Doc looks at the sheriff, he delivers a typical example of Doc Holliday quotes when he just mockingly says, “Forgive me if I don’t shake hands.” This did two things at that moment. It showed that Doc did not respect the sheriff and revealed to the town who had the real power in this confrontation.
“Then Again, You May Be The Antichrist.”
Doc Holliday was not alone when he arrived in Tombstone with the Wyatt brothers, as he had a lover by his side in Big Nose Kate. After Doc collapses and his tuberculosis worsens, a doctor tells him to quit drinking and smoking and leaves the room. That is when Kate takes his shirt off and begins to care for him, telling him that she is a good woman. Doc looks at her and agrees that she is a good woman, but then adds, “Then again, you may be the Antichrist.” It lets viewers know that she is someone who might care for Doc, but she could also be who finally puts him in the ground.
“Wyatt Earp Is My Friend.”
Doc Holliday quotes show that he is loyal and determined – as long as it is to a person that he feels is worthy. No one is more worthy of Doc’s respect than Wyatt Earp. Even with Doc’s health failing, he is on the streets during the Fight at the O.K. Corral and holds his own in the battle. It is here that Texas Jack exasperatedly asks Doc why he is out on the streets fighting when he should be in his room resting. This leads to just five words from Doc that really show who is he – “Wyatt Earp is my friend.” With that, he made sure he lived long enough to ensure that Wyatt was safe. This sense of brotherhood is what helped make Tombstone one of the 90s’ best Westerns.
“You know, Ed, If I thought You Weren’t My Friend, I Just Don’t Think I Could Bear It.”
Doc Holliday is depicted in the movie as an excellent card player and this gets him into his fair share of fights. When he’s introduced at the beginning, one such argument happens right off the bat. Holliday is playing against a man named Ed Bailey, who takes exception to Holliday’s victory and begins getting aggressive only for Holliday to crank up his sarcasm and push right back. Of all the Doc Holliday quotes, this shows how he treats someone he has no respect for. While he will die for Wyatt, men like Ed don’t deserve more than one line and a dismissal.
“I Stand Corrected, Wyatt. You’re An Oak.”
When Wyatt Earp first meets his main love interest, the actress Josephine Marcus, face to face after a performance, she enters the saloon by dancing with various men across the floor toward Earp. Holliday had deliberately set Earp up by getting him to insist that he was a faithfully married man who would forsake all other women before she walked in and when Earp proves to be a man of his word and declines to dance with Josephine, Holliday is forced to admit defeat. Even though he’s ultimately dead right, and probably knows it too.
“Evidently, Mr. Ringo’s An Educated Man. Now I Really Hate Him.”
Holliday’s main rivalry in the movie is between him and the ruthless gunslinger Johnny Ringo, whose reputation appears to match Holliday’s own as does his intellect and skill with a pistol. On their first meeting, the two immediately get into a little war of words, spilling over from English into Latin. This prompts Holliday to explain in a typically hilarious and sardonic manner. What makes these specific Doc Holliday quotes so great is that Doc hates Johnny because he reminds him of himself. However, Doc proves smarter here because he studies Johnny’s movements with the gun and uses them against him in their final duel later in the movie.
“I Know, Why Don’t We Have A Spelling Contest?”
Val Kilmer’s Holliday is a character who just can’t help himself when he sees an opportunity to amuse himself and verbally take his opponent down a few rungs. About halfway through the movie, once the central conflicts have begun to show themselves, Holliday once again gets into an altercation due to being too successful at cards. After beating Ike Clanton 12 hands in a row, things start to get heated. Holliday, seeing the opportunity to really push his opponent, suggests that poker isn’t Ike’s game and proposes this alternative as a joke, finally causing Clanton to snap.
“My Hypocrisy Goes Only So Far.”
Doc Holliday was deputized before joining Wyatt Earp on his vendetta ride to hunt down the cowboys responsible for murdering Wyatt’s brother Morgan. Before dueling with Johnny Ringo, Holliday was sure to show his opponent the badge letting him know he had the legal right to shoot him dead. After killing Johnny Ringo Doc took off his badge and placed it on the corpse. These Doc Holliday quotes were to let Wyatt know, although he is happy to stand beside his friend on his quest for vengeance it doesn’t hide the fact that inside he will always be a killer, and he’s at peace with that.
“There’s No Normal Life There’s Just Life. Now Get On With It.”
In his final conversation with Wyatt Earp, he drops these Doc Holliday quotes on his best friend after the hardened lawman confesses all he wants now is a little normalcy. Doc drops the hard truth on his only friend from his deathbed emphasizing that no matter what we do we all end up in the same place in the end so you better find happiness while you can. Wyatt seems to take Doc’s words to heart and seeks out Josie – the woman he loves. However, up until talking with Doc, Wyatt was too afraid to commit. Lines like his are why many think Kilmer could’ve gotten an Oscar for Tombstone.
“I’m Your Huckleberry.”
Perhaps the quote most associated with Doc Holliday, he spoke the line twice in Tombstone — the first time was in response to Johnny Ringo’s open challenge to Wyatt Earp and his crew. However, Ringo’s fellow cowboys broke up the fight before anything could happen. Johnny Ringo wouldn’t be so lucky the second time when he greets who he thinks is Wyatt Earp only to realize it is actually Doc Holliday who has come to fight instead. Holliday cooly announced his arrival with his most famous line and dispatched Johnny Ringo minutes later. These Doc Holliday quotes are also the most misquoted as “I’ll be your Huckleberry.”
“Johnny I Apologize, I Forgot You Were There.”
Wyatt Earp was walking the dusty streets of Tombstone discussing business with his brothers, unaware he was being stalked by a gun-toting Johnny Tyler (Billy Bob Thornton), whom he had slapped around moments earlier. Before Tyler could pounce he was interrupted by Doc Holliday who had been watching the scene play out. The mere presence of Holliday was enough to scare the daylights out of Johnny Tyler. As Holliday and the Earp brothers stood catching up in the street Doc finally let the cowardly Johnny Tyler off the hook by dismissing him with these Doc Holliday quotes.
“I’ve Not Yet Begun To Defile Myself.”
Besides gun fighting and poker, Doc Holliday had another destructive hobby – drinking. As he got older and the effects of tuberculosis began to worsen, Holliday relied even more on alcohol to soothe his pain. While playing poker and winning hand after hand against Ike Clanton, Doc began to insult the slow-witted cowboy. Ike responded with violence before Wyatt Earp intervened and apologized on Holliday’s behalf, blaming his actions on being drunk. But no one knows his own limits like Doc Holliday, who assured everyone with these Doc Holliday quotes that he was just getting started.
“Why Johnny Ringo, You Look Like Somebody Just Walked Over Your Grave.”
The sadistic cowboy known as Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) had challenged Wyatt Earp to a duel to the death, but it was Doc Holliday who showed up instead. As confident as Ringo was, it was hard to ignore the fact that Holliday was a well-known killer with legendary speed. Johnny Ringo couldn’t help but show his inner fear at the sight of the former dentist and his doubts about his ability to beat him bubbled to the surface. Holliday had obviously seen that look before in many of his past opponents and these Doc Holliday quotes simply pointed out what was clearly written over Ringo’s face.
“I’m Afraid The Strain Was More Than He Could Bear.”
After shooting and killing Johnny Ringo in their climactic duel, which was supposed to take place between Ringo and Wyatt Earp before Doc showed up to save Earp (as he confirmed to Earp before the duel that Wyatt could not beat Ringo), Earp arrives to find Holliday kneeling over Ringo’s body. Before Earp’s arrival, he laments rather sarcastically that Ringo was just too “high-strung” and adds this explanation when Earp walks over. These Doc Holliday quotes, like the manner in which Ringo dies, are in reference to the theory that the real Johnny Ringo from Tombstone may have actually committed suicide.
“In Vino Veritas.”
Upon meeting Johnny Ringo Doc Holliday immediately insults him. In an attempt to broker peace, Wyatt Earp apologizes on Doc’s behalf attributing his behavior to being drunk to which Doc replies in Latin, “In Vino Veritas,” or “In wine there is truth.” Doc Holliday is simply pointing out that just because he is drunk does not mean he’s not speaking the truth. Ringo too is an educated man and the two gunslingers have a tense conversation completely in Latin. You don’t need to understand what they are saying to know these two are on a collision course to war.
“I Have Two Guns, One For Each Of You.”
Earlier in the evening, Doc had been playing piano after a night of drinking and poker. He is interrupted when Wyatt finds himself surrounded by a group of cowboys wanting to free their leader who is accused of murder. Doc wanders into the street to help his friend when one of the cowboys refers to him as “the drunk piano player,” and tells him he’s so drunk he’s probably seeing double. Never at a loss for words, the deadly gunfighter pulls out both pistols and remarks, “I have two guns, one for each of you.”
“You’re A Daisy If You Do.”
During the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Doc found himself in the sights of real life gunslinger Frank McLaury who barked, “I’ve got you now, you son of a bi**h.” Always cool under pressure, Holliday simply replied, “You’re a daisy if you do,” and watched as McLaury was shot by Morgan Earp. According to witnesses of the gunfight, Doc Holliday actually uttered these now-iconic Doc Holliday quotes when he found himself in the crosshairs of Frank McLaury, which only adds to the legendary outlaw’s legacy. He had no fear of death, and this was just another example.
“I’m Dying How Are You?”
Even at his lowest point, Doc Holliday was capable of delivering the goods. These Doc Holliday quotes were his response to his best and only friend Wyatt Earp. The lawman had come for one of his regular visits with Holliday who was nearing the end of his battle with tuberculosis. Doc was laid up in bed at a Colorado sanatorium. Wyatt casually asked Doc how he was doing. Holliday just as casually replied, “I’m dying, how are you?” Doc Holliday kept his amazing sense of sarcasm with him until the very end, showing why Val Kilmer was so good in Tombstone.