Will Varner: The man that built this place, his name's forgotten. This was his dream and his pride. Now it's dust. Must be a moral there somewhere.

Will Varner: They don't have to see her. They can smell her.

Will Varner: Thousands of acres out there. Millions of seeds put down in the ground, and every year the seeds come up again. Life goes on. Where's my crop, huh? What follows me? What happens when I'm dead?
Clara: You'll probably have the biggest funeral in the state of Mississippi.
Will Varner: That don't scare me none, just so long as there are plenty of Varners to mourn me.
Clara: Jody and I'll be there.
Will Varner: You and Jody and Jody's kids and yours and their kids, my descendants, sister, a line, a long line with my face stamped on 'em, my blood flowing in their veins.
Clara: All of that from the two of us?

Will Varner: You got hellfire and damnation in you, Jody Varner, but you got redemption too. When I think of the hate that put me in there and locked the door and set fire to it, and when I think of the love that wouldn't let me go... I got me a son again. I got me a good right arm - and a left.

Alan Stewart: My people have stood off Indians, Yankees, carpetbaggers. The least they could expect of me is to stand up to a Varner.

Ben Quick: What happens if a federal man comes by?
1st Resident: Oh, they've been known to come by. Also been known to disappear.
2nd Resident: Well, not entirely.
1st Resident: No, not entirely. The missing man's shoes might show up, or his hat; maybe even his suspenders. Of course, somebody else is wearing them.

Ben: [a group of men approaching with hostile intentions] Story of my life. Why don't nobody ever wanna talk with me peacable?

Ben: [to Clara] Never say never.

Ben: All right then, run, lady, and you keep on running. Buy yourself a bus ticket and disappear. Change your name, dye your hair, get lost - and then maybe, just maybe, you're gonna be safe from me.

Ben: Get out of character, lady. Come on, get way out.