Boss Paul: That ditch is Boss Kean's ditch. And I told him that dirt in it's your dirt. What's your dirt doin' in his ditch?
Luke: I don't know, Boss.
Boss Paul: You better get in there and get it out, boy.

Dragline: Where'd the road go?
Luke: That's it. That's the end of it.
Convict: Man, there's still daylight.
Dragline: About two hours left.
Convict: What do we do now?
Luke: Nothin'.
Dragline: Oh Luke, you wild, beautiful thing. You crazy handful of nothin'.


[Discussing a new prisoner who has to spend the night in the box]
Dragline: He ain't in the box because of the joke played on him. He back-sassed a free man. They got their rules. We ain't got nothin' to do with that. Would probably have happened to him sooner or later anyway, a complainer like him. He gotta learn the rules the same as anybody else.
Luke: Yeah, them poor old bosses need all the help they can get.

[Dragline has repeatedly knocked Luke down during a boxing match]
Dragline: Stay down. You're beat.
Luke: You're gonna hafta kill me...
[struggles back to his feet]

Dragline: [Dragline attacks Boss Godfrey after fatally shooting Luke. The other prison guards subdue him to the ground. Sobbing and sitting against a car Dragline tells Luke...] You hang on in there Luke. You hang on. There's gonna be some world-shakin' Luke. We gonna send you a postcard.