John Dunbar Quotes in Dances with Wolves (1990)

[talking about the white men coming]

Kicking Bird: How many?

John Dunbar: Like the stars.

John Dunbar: [to his army captors who are interrogating him, in Lakota] My name is Dances with Wolves. I have nothing to say to you. You are not worth talking to.

John Dunbar: Many times I'd felt alone, but until this afternoon I'd never felt completely lonely.

Ten Bears: [in Lakota to Dunbar; subtitled] Dances with Wolves has been quiet these past few days. Is his heart bad?

John Dunbar: [in Lakota to the village council; subtitled] Killing those soldiers at the river was a good thing. I never got to thank all of you for saving me. I did not mind killing those men. I was glad to do it. But now I know that the soldiers hate me like they hate no other. Because I killed soldiers, men of my own race, they think I am a traitor.

[the council murmurs and nods in agreement]

John Dunbar: [in Lakota; subtitled] And now they will hunt for me. And when they find me they will find you. I think it would be wise to move the village to another location right now. As for me... I will be leaving. I will be leaving with my wife Stands With a Fist as soon as possible. I must go and try to talk to those that will listen.

[shouts and protests immediately begin around the council. Wind In His Hair stands up and screams his objection. Even Kicking Bird is protesting. However, Ten Bears rises both of his hands as a sign to stop]

Ten Bears: [in Lakota; subtitled] Quiet! You are all hurting my ears! Leave us!

[all the Sioux file out of the tent, and within seconds Ten Bears and Dunbar are alone]

Ten Bears: [in Lakota to Dunbar; subtitled] You are the only white man I have ever known. I have thought about you a lot. More than you think. And I understand your concern. But I think you are wrong. The white man the soldiers are looking for no longer exists. Now there is only a Sioux named Dances with Wolves.

John Dunbar: [writing in his diary] If it wasn't for my companion, I believe I'd be having the time of my life.

Stands With a Fist: [translating for Kicking Bird] He thanks Dances with Wolves for coming.

John Dunbar: Who is Dances with Wolves?

Stands With a Fist: It is the name all the people are calling you now.

Major Fambrough: You wish to see the frontier?

John Dunbar: Yes sir, before it's gone.

Ten Bears: [in Lakota; subtitled] Let us smoke a while.

John Dunbar: [voiceover] With Ten Bears, it was always more than a while. There was purpose in everything he did, and I knew he wanted me to stay. But I was sure of myself. I would be an excuse, and that's all the Army would need to find this place. I pushed him as far as I could to move the camp. But in the end, he only smiled and talked of simple pleasures. He reminded me that at his age, a good fire was better than anything. Ten Bears was an extraordinary man.

Stands With a Fist: He also asks if you would watch over his family while he is gone.

[pauses]

Stands With a Fist: This thing he asks of you is a great honor.

John Dunbar: Tell him I would be happy to watch over his family.

John Dunbar: [voice-over] Nothing I have been told about these people is correct. They are not thieves or beggars. They are not the bogeymen they are made out to be. On the contrary, they are polite guests and I enjoy their humor.

John Dunbar: How did you get your name?

Stands With a Fist: When I came to live on the prarie, I worked every day... very hard... there was a woman who didn't like me. She called me bad names... sometimes she beat me. One day she was calling me these bad names, her face in my face, and I hit her. I was not very big, but she fell down. She fell hard and didn't move. I stood over her with my fist and asked if any other woman wanted to call me bad names... No one bothered me after that day.

John Dunbar: [smiles] I wouldn't think so. Show me... where you hit her.

[Stands With a Fist balls her fist and touches John at the base of the chin. John feigns being knocked unconscious as Stands With a Fist laughs]

John Dunbar: Who would do such a thing? The field was proof enough that it was a people without value and without soul, with no regard for Sioux rights. The wagon tracks leading away left little doubt and my heart sank as I knew it could only be white hunters. Voices that had been joyous all morning were now as silent as the dead buffalo left to rot in this valley, killed only for their tongues and the price of their hides.

John Dunbar: The strangeness of this life cannot be measured: in trying to produce my own death, I was elevated to the status of a living hero.

Kicking Bird: [after receiving the pipe from Dances with Wolves] How does it smoke?

John Dunbar: I don't know; I haven't smoked it yet.

John Dunbar: [voice-over] They were a people so eager to laugh, so devoted to family, so dedicated to each other. The only word that comes to mind is harmony.

John Dunbar: [at the celebration of the buffalo feast, noticing a big Sioux man has his Lieutenant's hat] That's my hat... that's my hat!

Big Warrior: [in Lakota, as all becomes quiet in the tent] I found it on the prarie. It's mine.

Wind In His Hair: [stands up, in Lakota] The hat belongs to Lieutenant.

Big Warrior: He left it on the prarie. He didn't want it.

Wind In His Hair: Well, you can see he wants it now. We all know it's a soldier hat. We all know who wears it. If you want to keep it, that's fine. But give something for it.

[the Sioux takes his knife and sheath off his belt and gives it to Dunbar]

Wind In His Hair: [in English, to Dunbar] Good... trade!

John Dunbar: [voice over] It seems every day ends with a miracle here. And whatever God may be, I thank God for this day.

John Dunbar: [in Lakota; subtitled] We are trying for a baby.

Kicking Bird: [in Lakota] No waiting?

John Dunbar: [in Lakota] No waiting.

Kicking Bird: [in Lakota] I was just thinking that of all the trails in this life, there are some that matter most. It is the trail of a true human being. I think you are on this trail, and it is good to see.

John Dunbar: I am Lieutenant John J. Dunbar and this is my post.

John Dunbar: [voice-over] I had never really known who John Dunbar was. Perhaps because the name itself had no meaning. But as I heard my Sioux name being called over and over, I knew for the first time who I really was.

John Dunbar: [voice-over] It was hard to know how to feel. I had never been in a battle like this one. This had not been a fight for territory or riches or to make men free. This battle had no ego. It had been fought to preserve the food stores that would see us through winter, to protect the lives of women and children and loved ones only a few feet away. I felt a pride I had never felt before.

John Dunbar: Dunbar, not Dumb Bear.

John Dunbar: Guns would make one warrior like two.

John Dunbar: How come we haven't seen any buffalo?

Timmons: Can't figure the stinking buffalo. Sometimes you don't see them for days, and sometimes they're out there as thick as curls on a whore.

John Dunbar: What about Indians?

Timmons: Indians? Goddamn Indians you'd just as soon not see, unless the bastards are dead. They're nothing but thieves and beggars.