39 Quotes by Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill, born William Frederick Cody on February 26, 1846, was an American showman, entertainer, and folk hero known for his wild west shows that showcased frontier life and the American West. As a buffalo hunter, scout, and soldier, Buffalo Bill became a legendary figure during his lifetime.
He capitalized on his fame and created the Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, a traveling extravaganza that presented reenactments, rodeo performances, and displays of cowboy skills. The show toured across the United States and Europe, introducing audiences to the mythos of the American West. Buffalo Bill's larger-than-life persona and his ability to capture the imagination of the public contributed to the romanticized image of the Wild West.
While his portrayal of western life was often exaggerated, Buffalo Bill's impact on popular culture and his role in shaping the perception of the American frontier cannot be understated.
Buffalo Bill Quotes
You who live your lives in cities or among peaceful ways cannot always tell whether your friends are the kind who would go through fire for you. But on the Plains one's friends have an opportunity to prove their mettle.
My restless, roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long.
Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government.
I could never resist the call of the trail.
The cholera had broken out at the post, and five or six men were dying daily.
Don't ever say you are sorry for "being caught in the moment". Because, at that moment, that is EXACTLY where you wanted to be.
The Indians said the bones were those of a race of people three times the size of a man.
My great forte in killing buffaloes was to get them circling by riding my horse at the head of the herd and shooting their leaders. Thus the brutes behind were crowded to the left, so that they were soon going round and round.
But the West of the old times, with its strong characters, its stern battles and its tremendous stretches of loneliness, can never be blotted from my mind.
As a good horse is not very apt to jump over a bank, if left to guide himself, I let mine pick his own way.
The greatest of all the Sioux in my time, or in any time for that matter, was that wonderful old fighting man, Sitting Bull, whose life will some day be written by a historian who can really give him his due.
The Indians kept increasing in numbers until it was estimated that we were fighting from 800 to 1,000 of them.
If Wild Bill could have made his successful dash into our lines earlier in the day, the attuck would have been made sooner, and greater results might have been expected. The Confederates had suspected him of being a spy for two or three days, and had watched him too closely to allow an opportunity to get away from them sooner.
My debut upon the world's stage occurred on February 26th, 1845.
The Indians were well mounted and felt proud and elated because they had been made United States soldiers.
It was because of my great interest in the West, and my belief that its development would be assisted by the interest I could awaken in others, that I decided to bring the West to the East through the medium of the Wild West Show.
Stations were built at intervals averaging fifteen miles apart. A rider's route covered three stations, with an exchange of horses at each, so that he was expected at the beginning to cover close to forty-five miles - a good ride when one must average fifteen miles an hour.
Frontiersmen good and bad, gunmen as well as inspired prophets of the future, have been my camp companions. Thus, I know the country of which I am about to write as few men now living have known it.
But the love of adventure was in father's blood.
My first plan of escape having failed, I now determined upon another.
The first presentation of my show was given in May, 1883, at Omaha, which I had then chosen as my home. From there we made our first summer tour, visiting practically every important city in the country.
Some days I would go without any fire at all, and eat raw frozen meat and melt snow in my mouth for water.
We got more provisions for our whiskey than the same money, which we paid for the liquor, would have bought; so after all it proved a very profitable investment.
It was my effort, in depicting the West, to depict it as it was.
Quick as lightning Wild Bill pulled his revolver. The stranger fell dead, shot through the brain.
My brother was a great favorite with everybody, and his death cast a gloom upon the whole neighborhood.
Excitement was plentiful during my two years' service as a Pony Express rider.
Wild Bill was a strange character. In person he was about six feet and one inch in height. He was a Plains-man in every sense of the word.
Major North and myself went out in advance of the command several miles and killed a number of buffaloes.
Having secured my Indian actors, I started for Baltimore, where I organized my combination, and which was the largest troupe I had yet had on the road.
The first trip of the Pony Express was made in ten days - an average of two hundred miles a day. But we soon began stretching our riders and making better time.
The Free State men, myself among them, took it for granted that Missouri was a slave state.
We had avoided discovery by the Sioux scouts, and we were confident of giving them a complete surprise.
Wild Bill was anything but a quarrelsome man yet I have personal knowledge of at least half a dozen men whom he had at various times killed.
After crossing the Smoky Hill River, I felt comparatively safe as this was the last stream I had to cross.
Washington newspaper men know everything.
General Custer was a close observer and student of personal character.
Indians were frequently off their reservations.
Nothing of course was ever done to Bill for the killing of Tutt.
― Buffalo Bill Quotes
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Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
