As a man of action and very few words, Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) from The Walking Dead is the ultimate survivor. He’s the only person in a post-apocalyptic world that’s confident enough to ride a motorcycle – not a lot of protection there – and go for long walks in the woods with only a crossbow at his disposal. He’s far from elegant, but that’s part of why he’s so loved. He also might be the biggest badass left in the world that hasn’t been fully corrupted by the things they’ve done to survive.
While a lot of his most notable moments came in the form of physical violence and heroism, Daryl’s also got his fair share of quotes that need to be acknowledged. Some are funny, some reveal a deeper side to him, and others are just about what you’d expect.
“Choke hold’s illegal!”
Growing up with someone like Merle for a big brother, you’d imagine there weren’t many rough housing rules. However, on the contrary, Daryl’s a man with a code, if nothing else. Whether it’s in the octagon or a street fight, one thing he can’t stand for is illegal choke holds.
“You believe in dead people walking around?/ Yeah, and people in hell want Slurpees.”
Daryl’s outlook on life is noticeably simple and to the point. In a world where everyone’s been reverted to their most primal instincts, that’s probably best. Six months before, no one thought dead people could walk around. So who’s to say a Chupacabra doesn’t exist somewhere?
Also, cool points to Daryl for practicing gun safety, even in a world where almost everyone should probably have a personal armory at all times. Giving a teenager with no training a gun isn’t safe for anybody.
“Hey, shoot me again, you best pray I’m dead…”
You can’t blame the group for being scared sh*tless when he came stumbling out of the woods with blood on his face. So Andrea, who was too far to see that he was still alive, shot him in the side of the head. Luckily, it was just a graze, but, when she went to apologize later, he made it clear that she better make sure to finish the job if it ever happens again.
“Sophia wasn’t mine!”
This scene with Carol showed the start of one of the strongest relationships on The Walking Dead to date. After spending days searching for Sophia, only to find out that she was now a zombie only 30 yards away in Hershel’s barn, he was noticeably shaken – like everyone else. Carol, perhaps feeling the need to be held accountable, went to him and let him get out his frustrations. This exchange may have been therapeutic for them both.
“Come on! I ain’t got all day!”
And, just like that, Daryl comes to Carol’s rescue when a herd of walkers headed straight for the farm. This impressed her so much that she tried to convince Daryl to take charge and lead the group. I can only imagine what the group would look like with Daryl at the lead instead of Rick. There would probably be a lot of vests and silence.
“You like that, huh? Little Ass-Kicker? Right? That’s a good name, right?”
Her actual name may be Judith, but a lot of people still like to think of her by the first name she was given: Little Ass-Kicker. It’s the kind of name you’d expect Daryl to come up with for a baby. If we can get around to seeing him have a relationship of his own, maybe we’ll get the chance to find out what other cute pet names he could come up with.
“You better watch your mouth, sunshine.”
The irony in this scene is that Milton felt like he was too good to talk to Daryl because he thought he was Rick’s henchman, but he’s the same guy that got killed by the Governor for being just that. Maybe he should’ve taken Daryl’s advice to heart.
[bursts into tears, shoves Merle a bunch of times, then stabs him a bunch more times]
This scene doesn’t have any words at all, but it’s important and needs to be talked about. Daryl’s only family in the world was Merle, even if he was a raging, racist psychopath. So it was heartbreaking to see him stumble across his older brother’s undead body and have to simultaneously come to terms with it and kill him in a matter of seconds.
“Peanut butter and jelly, diet soda and pig’s feet. That’s a white trash brunch right there.”
Daryl knows what he is: a guy that grew up in the mountains of northern Georgia that could probably tell you how to track an animal a lot easier than he could tell you about local politics, and that’s perfectly fine. He owns that. As well as some peanut butter and jelly, diet soda, and some pigs feet to go along with it.
“I ain’t gonna have your first drink be no damn Peach Schnapps.”
There’s no such thing as a legal drinking age anymore, so there wasn’t a problem with Beth having a drink even though she was probably still in her teens. Except for what she was drinking. Big Brother Daryl wasn’t gonna let Beth ruin her first time getting drunk with some Peach Schnapps.
“Looks like a dog sat in paint, wiped its ass all over the place.”
AMC
Just because the world’s gone to sh*t doesn’t mean that art has to as well. Daryl puts his honorary degree from Georgia State in art interpretation to use to deliver a critique of a painting he and Carol come across in someone’s empty office. It was the kind of art that people get to look intelligent but don’t actually like.
“Wasn’t a question. This ain’t your decision. Wasn’t nobody’s fault. Just let me finish my smoke first.”
Daryl went a long way from being the guy that spent all his time alone in the woods to outright sacrificing himself for someone else. This was the closest we’d gotten to seeing Daryl bite the bullet and, if it had to happen, this would’ve been a good way to go. Luckily, Morgan came through like a janitorial samurai and no one had to die.