# Who first Said "Never bring a knife to a gun fight"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709 "2004-04-29T17:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/1 "2004-04-29T17:56:38Z")
Who first Said “Never bring a knife to a gun fight”? I know Sean Connery said something like “Leave it to an Italian to bring a knife to a gun fight” in the Untouchables, but there is some debate in my office as to whether or not this phrase was made famous by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/2 "2004-04-29T17:58:29Z")
An American Indian, no doubt… ---
**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/3 "2004-04-29T18:05:14Z")
Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/4 "2004-04-29T19:30:31Z")
Jim Bowie at the Alamo? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/5 "2004-04-29T19:42:17Z")
Caius Jusius Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/6 "2004-04-30T03:29:42Z")
Jesus Christ ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/7 "2004-04-30T04:32:23Z")
No idea who first said it, but came across this quote while searching google that I found quite amusing : “Those who live by the sword get shot by those that don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/8 "2004-04-30T07:11:24Z")
Was it in West Side Story? Or am I just remembering someone actually bringing a knife to a gun fight in that movie? I haven’t seen it in _years_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/9 "2004-04-30T10:41:36Z")
I think Sean might’ve said that line more than once in The Untouchables, but the word was wop, not Italian. ---
**Author:** ![Dugrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dugrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dugrik)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/10 "2004-04-30T10:55:28Z")
Darned if I can give a cite, but my tiny little brain is telling me that this is a quote from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. One of the Hole in the Wall gang has challenged Butch’s leadership, brandishing a knife and challenging him to a fight. Butch’s response was classic. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/11 "2004-04-30T11:51:54Z")
Yeah, that would be Harvey Logan (played by Ted Cassidy, who had also played Lurch) challenging Butch to a guns-or-knives fight near the beginning of the movie. The quote the OP cites is nowhere expresssed here, though: > **[Quotes from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/quotes)** > > Sundance Kid: Ready? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-first-said-never-bring-a-knife-to-a-gun-fight/242709/12 "2004-04-30T13:42:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think Sean might’ve said that line more than once in The Untouchables, but the word was wop, not Italian. I’m well aware of the original quote. I chose to use an approximate quote because the offensive word ‘wop’ was not important to context of the quote that I was hunting down.