Top 10 Most Inspiring Elsa Dutton Quotes from Yellowstone TV Show
In this article, we have compiled some of the most inspirational, thought-provoking Elsa Dutton quotes from the show that illustrate her personality and outlook on life.
From perspectives on loyalty and betrayal to standing up for what you believe in, these memorable words from Elsa Dutton reflect her tenacious spirit and unwavering moral code.
Read on for our hand-picked selection of the top Elsa Dutton quotes that will motivate you to live courageously and fight for what matters most.
Elsa Dutton Quotes
I’d known death since I was a child, it’s everywhere, but it had never touched me, it had never placed It’s rotten finger on my heart, until today.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
We crossed the main stem of the Brazos River, just north of the Clear Fork. Though maps say we are still in Texas, the convergence of the main stem and the Clear Fork is where civilization ends. The land of no consequence is behind us. We are in the land of no mercy now
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
In less than three weeks, we had shrunk by half. Eight men, six women, and four children had died. And now we leave at least that many behind If strength is in numbers, then we are growing weaker. When we need our strength the most.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
What an odd thing, attraction. It consumes you. Stronger than hunger or fear or anything I’ve ever felt. I feel it everywhere. My hands my stomach, my toes…
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
The whole world faded away. No more stars or moon. No sky at all. No earth between my feet. No rock against my back. There was only us.
Freedom. Freedom is accepting consequences. Embracing them. Wrapping them around you like a blanket. I choose to love him. I choose to let him love me. If the consequence is a child, I’ll choose to love that too.
I’d known death since I was a child. It’s everywhere. But it had never touched me. It had never placed it’s rotten finger on my heart. Until today. Today, my eyes died. I see the world through my mother’s eyes now. Yes, freedom has fangs. And it sunk them in me. I chose to love him. He chose to love me back. Then chose to protect me. Then a man we’ve never met chose to kill him and made me color blind.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Season 1, Episode 1: ‘1883’
“I remember the first time I saw it. Tried to find words to describe it. But I couldn’t. Nothing had prepared me. No books. No teachers. Not even my parents. I heard a thousand stories… But none could describe this place. It must be witness to be understood. And yet, I’ve seen it. And I understand it less than when I first cast eyes on this place.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“Some called it the American Desert. Others, the Great Plains. But those phrases were invented by professors at universities. Surrounded by the illusion of order. And the fantasy of right and wrong. To know it, you must walk. Bleed until it’s dark. Drown in its rivers. Then its name becomes clear. It is Hell. And there are demons everywhere.”
“But if this is Hell, then I must be a demon, too. And I’m already dead.”
Season 1, Episode 2: ‘Behind Us, A Cliff’
Freedom is running wild through untamed land.”
“The world here plays parlor tricks on your senses. I do not know what the word Texas means. But to me it means magic.”
“It seems even the trees are new to this place; scattered about in clusters like little villages. And everywhere: treasures. Everywhere a bounty just waiting to be scooped up.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“18-years ago on this day, Lee surrendered to Grant in the home of Wilmer McClean in the village of Appomattox. A year later, I was born. It was Monday, April 9, 1883. And it was my birthday.”
“I looked to the right and saw my father somehow riding vertically towards the earth. Beyond him, cowboys and cattle pushed towards us; dust following them like a cloudy shadow. The light was soft and pale and pink, like God had decided to light this day with candles. And the whole of Texas spread out before me. It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen.”
“What began as a journey had become a retreat into the unknown. We were backing into the abyss; so worried our sins would follow us we didn’t bother watching where we walked. And behind us was a cliff.”
Season 1, Episode 3: ‘River’
“Death is everywhere on the prairie. In every form you can imagine. And a few your worst nightmare couldn’t muster.”
Death hides in creek beds. Possesses animals. It hides in tall grass, waiting. With every death, our father moved camp a little further away. As if death was not the result of accidents and disease, but death was its own disease. And carelessness was contagious.”
“But of all the perils awaiting us – sickness and snakes, bad horses and bandits – there was one thing above all that sent terror through both man and beast… There was one word so feared it was barely spoken and barely whispered… River.”
“I watched her ride and I didn’t see my mother. I saw a woman. And the woman was magnificent.”
Season 1, Episode 4: ‘The Crossing’
“I knew that war. That war between what you should become, and what you could become.”
“I had abandoned every memory of Tennessee as if I was born on this journey. But I wasn’t. We were leaving a place, and seeking another. And the journey was a necessary, miserable road between the two. Somehow I felt immune to the dangers of this place. As if the land and I had struck a deal. I could pass on heart so long as I loved it. And I did. I loved everything about it.
But crossing the Brazos taught me there was no deal. No matter how much we love it, the land will never love us back.”
Season 1, Episode 5: ‘The Fangs of Freedom’
“We are in the land of no mercy now.”
“I think cities have weakened us as a species. There are no consequences there. Step into the streets without looking and the carriage merely stops or swerves; the only consequence an angry driver. But here? There can be no mistakes. Because here doesn’t care. The river doesn’t care if you can swim. The snake doesn’t care how much you love your children. And the wolf has no interest in your dreams. If you fail to beat the current, you will drown; if you get too close, you will be bitten. If you are too weak, you will be eaten.”
The whole world faded away. No stars or moon, no sky at all. No earth between my feet; no rock against my back. There was only us.”
‘Today My Eyes Died’ – Elsa Dutton Quotes
I’d known death since I was a child. It’s everywhere. But it had never touched me. It had never placed it rotten finger on my heart. Until today. Today my eyes died. I see the world through my mother’s eyes now. Yes, freedom has fangs. And it sunk them in me. I chose to love him. He chose to love me back. Then chose to protect me. Then a man we’ve never met chose to kill him. And made me colorblind.”
Maybe killing this man will get my eyes back. Maybe it won’t. But I chose to find out.”
Season 1, Episode 6, ‘Boring the Devil’
“We moved towards Dome’s Crossing and the Red River, and tragedy’s next opportunity to ravage what’s left of us. My mother says the pain will fade and the good memories return. I suppose that’s true. Every person on this planet will endure this pain, until they are the cause of it for another. Someday I’ll die and shatter hearts, too. But that is not today. Today I am living. And I am a shadow.”
“We were leaving Texas, entering the Indian territory and redefining our meaning of unknown. Far from the cities that have paved the world away, and the farms which had turned it into a resource. We were no longer under the cloud of civilization. Only sky above us now. No more walking over bridges. Out here, we swim horseback through rivers. There is nowhere to chain love to vows and ceremony. Out here, love burns through you like a fever. And when the devil comes to strip that love from you, there is no funeral or song or speeches that dull our senses and deaden our hearts. Out here, you turn towards the pain as it tears into you. And you let it. When you do, the devil gets bored. He sees another soul to eat.
And you get to live again.”
Season 1, Episode 7, ‘Lightning Yellow Hair’
“The best way to know if land is truly undiscovered is to seek words to describe it. When you can’t, you know it’s virgin land. Untouched by our dirty hands. To see it is to be silenced by it. Made speechless by its endless uniformity… One must read the sun and stars like a sailor to navigate this place. We’ve seen nothing but grass for over a week. No grass, no birds. No snakes. Not even a lizard. And no evidence the human race still exists. But the plains are littered with bones.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“The dirty man of hand can go unnoticed in a city. because his dirty hand made the city. But in this place, where innocence is a mineral in the soil, the filth of our touch is an apocalypse.”
“She wouldn’t speak when she got back to camp. Wouldn’t look at my father. Wouldn’t look at me. I heard her crying by the fire before dawn. I sat beside her and asked her what was wrong. She said she killed a man over a horse, and now John was the only hope our family has of reaching heaven.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“I didn’t have the heart to tell her there’s not heaven to go to. Because we’re in it already. We’re in hell, too. They coexist right beside each other. And God is the land.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Season 1, Episode 8, ‘The Weep of Surrender’
“This is our third day here, the longest we’ve stayed in one place since the journey started. One trait all animals share, people included, is no matter where we are or where we wish to be, if we’re there longer than a day, we try to make a home of it. But the plains are not for home building. Not enough resources. No shelter. The plains are for vagabonds, wanderers, and cowboys. Their home is a saddle. The sky is their roof. The ground is their bed. What’s lacked in material comfort is regained in the knowledge that they are always home. To them, the journey is the destination.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Should they find gold at the end of the rainbow, they would leave it there and seek another; choosing freedom over the burden of the pot. I haven’t thought once of Oregon. No dreams of the ocean or snow-covered mountains. I only dream of the journey. That is all. No gold for me. Just the rainbow.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
‘To import the traditions of the place you fled, the place that failed you, is to condemn the place you seek to the same failures‘
“I understood my mother’s worry. My choices made no sense in her world, where customs and prejudice rule where law cannot reach. There will be customs and prejudice here, too, I’m sure. But they were born of this world, and belong here. To import the traditions of the place you fled, the place that failed you, is to condemn the place you seek to the same failures.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“I felt their eyes move over me. Felt their pity and disapproval. And it meant nothing to me. The only thing that mattered was riding away. Just as I was riding away from him. As I pondered the new journey before me – making it back to him – they watched the tears run my cheeks. And I let them. I didn’t turn my face or wipe them away. Tears became control. Sobs and weeps are little surrenders. And I will surrender nothing to the pain. Tears may flow, but I will not weep. I am the wife of a warrior now. Which is to say… I am a warrior. And warriors don’t cry.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Season 1, Episode 9, ‘Racing Clouds,’ Seals Elsa Dutton’s Fate
I had convinced myself of the world’s ambivalence towards its inhabitants… Until I came to this place. This place doesn’t want inhabitants at all. Every plant is inedible. Every creek bed is dry. Though only September, snow covers the mountain peaks. Winter can’t wait to have at us. Can’t wait to join with the land and run us off or kill us. If land can have emotions, this land hates. It hates us. And everyone can feel it.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“The dress felt like a prison built just for me, choking me by the neck and digging into my underarms. Flattening my breasts against my ribcage. It disguises everything that makes me a woman from the glares of jealous women and rapacious men; as if their lack of self-esteem and willpower should be my only concern. I will never live in that world again, where the weak would rather guilt the strong than become strong themselves. No, I will stay in this world. This world doesn’t care what the weak want. This world eats the weak.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“I felt no pain. Perhaps it was the fever of the fight. But it didn’t hurt. I thought of pushing it through. I thought better of it. As my father would say, ‘The one good thing about problems, is they’ll still be problems later. Don’t have to deal with them right away.’”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
That’s when I knew… I was going to die.’
I looked at my father, looked past his smile. Saw his worry. Saw something deeper. As if he were already in mourning. As if I were already gone. I felt different, too. Felt as though my soul had been dislodged from… Whatever cavern in our chest the soul is lodged to. It felt loose; disconnected. I looked out at the sagebrush, the colors looked different. Sharper. Looked up at the sky, the clouds seemed to race above us as if new laws applied to time and space above me.
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
“I looked back at my father, and I studied his eyes. Looked deep into them. That’s when I knew… I was going to die.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Heartbreaking Finale Gives Elsa Her Final Goodbyes
“The numbing shock of war is behind me now. Pain has taken its place. Hurts to move. Hurts to breathe. The back of my head throbs with every step of my horse. I look at the world through the hazy lens of fever and somehow see it clearer.”
“What is death? What is this thing we all share? Rabbits, birds, horses, trees. Everyone I love. And everyone who loves me. Even stars die. And we know absolutely nothing of it.”
“I wondered what became of them. Wondered if they staked their claim in Wyoming and built sod houses, bought cattle, and tried to scratch a life from this place. Perhaps they fought the winter and braved their way to Oregon; laying stakes in the emerald fields of the valley. But I’d seen too much of this world. Knew too much about the nature of man to think either would be their future. Another future awaited them, and it laid in the abyss of unmarked graves along the Oregon Trail.”
A Father Losing His Daughter
“You look at me like I’m dying,” Elsa tells her father as they look upon the home their Dutton descendants will inhabit.
“We never spoke of death or dreams again. We never spoke of the pioneers, either. Because there was no need… To survive the frontier, you must learn to recognize those who won’t, and be weary of their doomed decisions. They are to be avoided at all costs. Because their fear is tragedy’s closest cousin. And tragedy is contagious in this place.”
There is a moment where your dreams and your memories merge together and form a perfect world. That is heaven. And each heaven is unique. It is the world of you. The land is filled with all you hold dear. And the sky is your imagination.
My heaven is filled with good horses, open plains, wild cattle, and a man who loves me. It is always sunrise in my world. And there are no storms. I am the only lightning. I know death now. I’ve seen it. It had no fangs. It smiled at me. And it was beautiful.”
– Elsa Dutton Quotes
Elsa Dutton’s words reflect a young woman’s journey into adulthood marked by both joy and sorrow. Her poetic observations about attraction and love show the bliss of new romance.
However, her later reflections reveal the harsh realities of frontier life, where choices bring unforeseen consequences. Through loss and heartbreak, Elsa gains wisdom beyond her years. These quotes highlight her evolution from an innocent girl to a resilient woman, forged by the unforgiving yet liberating wildness of the West.
