84+ Best Cowboy Quotes: Exclusive Selection

Inspirational cowboy quotes will encourage growth in life, make you wiser and broaden your perspective.

Most Famous Cowboy Quotes

Let him ride a horse. He’s a cowboy ain’t he? Nathanael West

If you think bull riding isn’t intense, come sit on his back and try on my saddle. This ain’t for tenderfoots. Clancy Jean Driscoll

That was the trouble with explaining with words. If you explained with gunpowder, people listened. Dean F. Wilson

If I’m going to become the first cowboy in history to win seven all around world titles, I have to bear down. I have to ride this bull. Ty Murray

Training horses, heck riding horses, isn’t easy. Failing is part of the process. It’s how you brush yourself off and get back in the saddle that counts the most. There’s beauty in the breakdown. Everything is about balance. Carly Kade

Rodeo cowboys usually keep going until they’ve crippled injured by animals run out of money for entry fees and travel expenses, quit or get killed in the arena. The camaraderie among them is unlike any other sport. Chris LeDoux

There is no better place to heal a broken heart than on the back of a horse. Missy Lyons

Rodeo, like poetry, can get into your hemoglobin, into the deep helices of DNA, and once there it becomes your metaphorical makeup for life. Paul Zarzyski

Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway! John Wayne

Anyone who has ever experienced the thrill of rodeo life wishes it could go on forever. Ralph Clark

When you’re a cowboy, life isn’t all about horses and rodeo’s. It’s about mud and dirt, and cowboy boots.

The best bulls in rodeo are unpredictable. Trying to outsmart them can lead cowboys to outsmart themselves. Ty Murray

A true cowboy knows love, pain, and shame but never cares about fame.

When my time comes, just skin me and put me up there on Trigger, just as though nothing had ever changed. Roy Rogers

I think I was probably a cowboy in a past life. Gin Wigmore

Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway. John Wayne

Funny how women are ashamed of their inner fairy whereas men are forever proudly displaying their inner cowboy or fireman. Dawn French

If I thought you weren’t my friend, I just don’t think I could bear it. Doc Holliday

Champions arise through a combination of luck, hard work, and heartache. Carly Kade

America is a land of opportunity and don’t ever forget it. Will Rogers

I would like to be remembered, well the Mexicans have a phrase, Feo fuerte y formal. Which means he was ugly, strong and had dignity. John Wayne

Every woman wants a cowboy. B.J. Daniels

I’m your huckleberry. Doc Holliday

Bonner and Casey lived in different worlds. City and country. Cat Johnson

If you’re going to wear a cowboy hat, you’re going to have to go all the way. You should have livestock around you, settle all of your disputes with a pistol, and ride a horse absolutely everywhere. Tom Segura

It ain’t where, it’s how you live. We weren’t raised to take, but we were raised to give the shirt off our back to anyone in need. Brantley Gilbert

I spent two months in Fredericksburg, Texas, when I was 8, while my father shot a movie, and I loved it. I just embraced the whole cowboy culture. I got myself a pair of awesome boots and a cowboy hat. Alexander Skarsgard

Cowboy is a breed tougher than nails and strong as steel.

When I grew up, I only had two dreams. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses. Chris Kyle

You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. Arthur Baer

My dad grew up in western Nebraska. I’d visit all the time as a kid, and it’s very much like the Wild West. It felt to me like a cowboy movie. Stuff like that made me become this dreamer at a young age. Kevin Morby

Take my man, stay away from my horse.

I think I was probably a cowboy in a past life. Gin Wigmore.

I loved cowboy movies when I was a kid. When I was five years old, I was already wearing a cowboy hat and suit. When I grew up, I knew John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Kirk Douglas and so on. Jackie Chan

True cowboys are the ones who aren’t afraid to get dirty. Lane Frost

The horse is a mirror to your soul. And sometimes you might not like what you see in the mirror. Buck Brannaman

Cowboys are born, they ain’t made!

Cowboys come in many different shapes and sizes but all cowboys must be able to ride horses.  Meg Clibbon

If you’re going to wear a cowboy hat, you’re going to have to go all the way. You should have livestock around you, settle all of your disputes with a pistol, and ride a horse absolutely everywhere. Tom Segura

Let him ride a horse. He’s a cowboy ain’t he. Nathanael West

I want to be a Cowboy for life. Amari Cooper

A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse. William James

There never was a horse that couldn’t be rode; never was a cowboy who couldn’t be throwed.

Ain’t nuthin like ridin a fine horse in new country. Augustus MacCrae

The cowboy has been called America’s folk hero. Charles W. Harris

Nature gave us all something to fall back on, and sooner or later we all land flat on it.

Whoever said a horse was dumb, was dumb. Will Rogers

I’ve got two guns. One for each of ya. Doc Holiday

It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living. I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live. Robert Duvall

You see, in this world, there’s two kinds of people, my friend  those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig. Clint Eastwood

Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco. Will Rogers

The first picture of me that I know of was me in the crib wearing a pair of cowboy boots. Marty Stuart

Could I be jealous of the way he was touching my horse? Yes I was. Carly Kade

I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them. J.B. Books

You’re gonna have to hold on tight, because this rodeo is just getting started. Joya Ryan

My grandpa was a big cowboy in his values and the way he lived his life. For our family, the ranch represented our family time when we got to drive down through all that desert farmland and Grandpa would wake us up at 5 A.M. to feed the horses if we wanted to earn the right to ride them later. I always had so much fun. Cam

You can’t cover up the swagger of a cowboy. Jaycee Ford

The cowboy look  the hat and bandana that’s not a fashion statement. That clothing is purely practical. Ethan Coen

Howdy, ma’am. You always talk to yourself? Velia glanced up into bright eyes, as blue as the flame on a cigarette lighter, belonging to a man standing in front of her desk wearing a cowboy hat tipped back on his head. Mary J. McCoy Dressel

True cowboys are the ones who aren’t afraid to get dirty. Lane Frost

It’s been a childhood dream of mine to be a Cowboy, honestly. Matt Cassel

Life’s a rodeo and all you have to do is stay in the saddle. George Jung

Cowboys work hard, play well, love soft, and are a hell of a lot better than any other boy I’ve ever seen. Olivia Flannery

There is no better place to heal a broken heart than on the back of a horse. Missy Lyons

Generally, you ain’t learnin nothin when your mouth’s a jawin.

Now you are thinking like a thief. Fewer guns and more exits. We’ll cure your cowboy ways yet.  Richard Kadrey

Cowboys don’t go around breaking hearts. Missy Lyons

A cowboy’s hands are as strong as steel, as tough as leather, but soft enough to touch a butterfly’s wing and the skin of a woman without disturbing the beauty of either. Carol Crandell

Don’t squat with your spurs on.

Training horses, heck riding horses, isn’t easy. Failing is part of the process. It’s how you brush yourself off and get back in the saddle that counts the most. Carly Kade

Learn this well, the last ride is never the last ride. And the end is not the end. Richard Rowland

Such is the life and death of a good cowboy. Larry McMurtry

The cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man or take unfair advantage.

A cowboy is someone who loves his work. Since the hours are long ten to fifteen hours a day and the pay is $30 he has to. What’s required of him is an odd mixture of physical vigor and maternalism. Gretel Ehrlich

Where the leather is scarred, there is a great story to tell. Jimmy Tart

It ain’t where, it’s how you live. We weren’t raised to take, but we were raised to give the shirt off our back to anyone in need. Brantley Gilbert

When I grew up, I only had two dreams. One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic and riding horses. Chris Kyle

You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy. Arthur Baer

A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. John Wayne

I thought being a cowboy would be a terribly romantic thing to do. But it wasn’t. I shoveled a lot of stalls. Bob Weird

I’m an old time cowboy. I’m an outlaw. Mike Hughes

It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor. John Ford.

And my heart is sinking like a setting sun, setting on the things I wish I’d done. Oh the last goodbye’s the hardest one to say, and this is where the cowboy rides away. George Strai