Cowardly Lion Quotes in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Cowardly Lion: All right, I'll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I'll tear them apart. I may not come out alive, but I'm going in there. There's only one thing I want you fellows to do.

Tin Woodsman, Scarecrow: What's that?

Cowardly Lion: Talk me out of it!

Dorothy: Your Majesty, if you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?

Cowardly Lion: Not nobody! Not nohow!

Tin Woodsman: Not even a rhinoceros?

Cowardly Lion: Imposerous!

Dorothy: How about a hippopotamus?

Cowardly Lion: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomus!

Dorothy: Supposing you met an elephant?

Cowardly Lion: I'd wrap him up in cellophane!

Scarecrow: What if it were a brontosaurus?

Cowardly Lion: I'd show him who was king of the forest!

Cowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got?

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Courage!

Cowardly Lion: You can say that again! Huh?

Scarecrow: Help! Help! Help!

[the Flying Monkeys walking away, Tin Man and the Lion comes to him]

Tin Woodsman: Well, what happened to you?

Scarecrow: They tore my legs off and they threw it over there! Then, they took my chest off and they threw it over there!

Tin Woodsman: Well, that's you all over.

Cowardly Lion: They sure knocked the stuffings out of you, didn't they?

Scarecrow: Don't stand there talking, put me together. We've got to find Dorothy.

[the Tin Man and the Lion trying the fix the Scarecrow]

Tin Woodsman: Now, let's see.

Dorothy: My goodness, what a fuss you're making! Well naturally, when you go around picking on things weaker than you are. Why, you're nothing but a great big coward!

Cowardly Lion: [crying] You're right, I am a coward! I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself.

[sobs]

Cowardly Lion: Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven't slept in weeks!

Tin Woodsman: Why don't you try counting sheep?

Cowardly Lion: That doesn't do any good, I'm afraid of 'em.

[sobs loud]

Scarecrow: Aw, that's too bad.

Cowardly Lion: I *do* believe in spooks, I *do* believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do, I *do* believe in spooks, I *do* believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do, I *do*!

Wicked Witch of the West: Ah! You'll believe in more than that before I'm finished with you.

Cowardly Lion: Put 'em up, put 'em up! Which one of you first? I'll fight you both together if you want. I'll fight you with one paw tied behind my back. I'll fight you standing on one foot. I'll fight you with my eyes closed... ohh, pullin' an axe on me, eh? Sneaking up on me, eh? Why, I'll... Ruff!

Dorothy: Goodbye, Tinman. Oh, don't cry! You'll rust so dreadfully. Here's your oil can.

Tin Woodsman: Now I know I've got a heart, 'cause it's breaking...

Dorothy: Goodbye, Lion. I know it isn't right, but I'm going to miss the way you used to hollar for help before you found your courage.

Cowardly Lion: I never would've found it if it hadn't been for you...

Dorothy: [to Scarecrow] I think I'm going to miss you most of all.

Cowardly Lion: [singing] If I were king of the fore-e-e-est / Not queen, not duke, not prince / My regal robes of the fore-e-e-est / Would be satin, not cotton, not chintz / I'd command each thing, whether fish or fowl / With a r-r-ruff and a r-r-ruff, and a royal growl - R-R-Ruff! / As I click my heels / All the trees would kneel / And the mountains bow / And the bulls kowtow / And the sparrow would take wing / If I, if I were ki-i-i-i-ng! / The rabbits would show respect to me / The chipmunks genuflect to me / Though my tail would lash / I would show compash / For every underling / If I, if I were king / Just ki-i-i-i-ing!

Cowardly Lion: [singing] I'd be brave as a blizzard...

Tin Woodsman: [singing] I'd be gentle as a lizard...

Scarecrow: [singing] I'd be clever as a gizzard...

Dorothy: [singing] If the Wizard is a wizard who will serve.

Scarecrow: [singing] Then I'm sure to get a brain...

Tin Woodsman: [singing] A heart...

Dorothy: [singing] A home...

Cowardly Lion: [singing] The nerve!

Cowardly Lion: Read what my medal says: "Courage". Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth?

Cowardly Lion: I- I- I hope my strength holds out.

Tin Woodsman: [hanging by Lion's tail] I hope your tail holds out!

Cowardly Lion: I'll get you anyway, Pee-wee.

[Chases Toto; Dorothy hits him on the nose]

Dorothy: Shame on you!

Cowardly Lion: [Sobbing] Why did you do that for? I didn't bite him.

Dorothy: No, but you tried to. It's bad enough picking on a straw man, but picking on a little dog.

Cowardly Lion: Well, you didn't have to go and hit me! Is my nose bleeding?

Dorothy: Of course not.

Cowardly Lion: Come on, get up and fight, you shivering junkyard!

[goes over to the Scarecrow]

Cowardly Lion: And put your hands up, you lopsided bag of hay!

Scarecrow: Now that's getting personal, Lion.

Tin Woodsman: Yes. Get up and teach him a lesson.

Scarecrow: Well, what's wrong with you teaching him?

Tin Woodsman: Well, I hardly know him.

Cowardly Lion: [to Toto who is barking at him] I'll get you anyway Pee Wee!

Cowardly Lion: [noticing the snow that fallen on the poppy field] Unusual weather we're having, ain't it?

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Who rang that bell?

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodsman: [all four together] We did!

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Can't you read?

Scarecrow: Read what?

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: The notice!

Dorothy: What notice?

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: It's on the door - as plain as the nose on my face! It... oh...

[does a "tisk tisk tisk" expression, goes inside door for a moment]

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: [Guardian hangs the notice and goes back inside]

Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Tin Woodsman: [Reading notice, all together] Bell out of order, please knock.

[Dorothy knocks]

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Well, that's more like it! Now, state your business!

Dorothy: [Dorothy and friends, all together] We want to see the Wizard!

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: [gasps] The Wizard? But nobody can see the Great Oz! Nobody's ever seen the Great Oz! Even I've never seen him!

Dorothy: Well, then how do you know there is one?

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Oh, you're wasting my time!

[starts to close the window]

Dorothy: Oh, please! Please, sir! I've got to see the Wizard! The Good Witch of the North sent me!

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Prove it!

Scarecrow: She's wearing the ruby slippers she gave her.

Guardian of the Emerald City Gates: Oh, so she is! Well, bust my buttons! Why didn't you say that in the first place? That's a horse of a different color! Come on in!

Scarecrow: What about the heart that you promised Tin Man? Or the courage you promised Lion?

Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion: And Scarecrow's brain?

[the Cowardly Lion has just received a Courage Medal from the Wizard of Oz]

Cowardly Lion: Shucks, folks, I'm speechless. Ha Ha!

Tin Woodsman: Here, here. Go away and let us alone.

Cowardly Lion: Oh, scared, huh? Afraid, huh? Ah, how long can you stay fresh in that can? Ha ha ha ha.

Cowardly Lion: [singing] I'm afraid there's no denyin' / I'm just a dandy-lion / A fate I don't deserve / I'm sure I could show my prowess / Be a lion, not a mouse / If I only had the nerve.

Cowardly Lion: [getting a panic attack walking into the Wizard's foyer] Wait a minute, Fellows. I was just thinking. I really don't want to see the Wizard this much. I'd better wait for you outside.

Scarecrow: What's the matter?

Tin Woodsman: Oh, he's just a scared again.

Dorothy: Don't you know the Wizard's going to give you some courage?

Cowardly Lion: I'd be too scared to ask him for it.

[sobs]

Dorothy: Well then, we'll ask him for you.

Cowardly Lion: I'd sooner wait outside.

Dorothy: Why? Why?

Cowardly Lion: Because I'm still scared.

[sobs]