# 'You can run, but you'll only die tired.' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149 "2022-05-08T18:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/1 "2022-05-08T18:59:42Z")
‘You can run, but you’ll only die tired.’ was supposedly said by Boba Fett. I can’t remember hearing Boba Fett talking, much less that line. In my head, I hear Clint Eastwood saying it. I’m pretty sure I didn’t hear it in Star Wars. Is there another source for this quote? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/2 "2022-05-08T19:11:42Z")
My (dim) recollection is that I started hearing it in the late 70’s/early 80’s wrt Vietnam and snipers. One [source](https://www.military-quotes.com/mottos/USA.htm?msclkid=4408ad43cf0211ecb3d8e614fde204af) attributes it as a Unit Motto, for the JFK Special Warfare Center Sniper School. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/3 "2022-05-08T20:34:24Z")
I have never heard this before and am certain it was never said by anyone in _Star Wars_. Watched it 19 times when it first came out. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/4 "2022-05-08T20:39:47Z")
Fett only has a handful of lines in the movies, and that isn’t one of them. He only had four lines in _The Empire Strikes Back_, and none in _Return of the Jedi_ (except for his scream when he fell into the Sarlacc pit): - “As you wish.” - “What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth a lot to me.” - “He’s no good to me dead.” - “Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold.” It’s possible that he said something like that in an Expanded Universe novel or comic book (or, more recently, in _The Mandalorian_ or _The Book of Boba Fett_), but I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/5 "2022-05-08T20:43:40Z")
Yeah “Run and you’ll only die tired” is a phrase I remember seeing on military patches in the 80s at gun shows. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/6 "2022-05-08T20:52:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It’s possible that he said something like that in an Expanded Universe novel or comic book (or, more recently, in _The Mandalorian_ or _The Book of Boba Fett_ ), but I can’t remember. So, the link below indicates that Fett did, indeed, use the phrase, in a Star Wars e-novella, _A Practical Man,_ written by Karen Traviss, and published in 2006. Given the above cites that indicate the phrase seems to older than that, my guess is that the author of the novella borrowed it for Fett. > **["You can run," he said. "But you'll only die tired." - Boba Fett Quotes -...](https://www.bobafettfanclub.com/fettpedia/quotes/24/)** > > Quote from A Practical Man. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/7 "2022-05-08T20:56:29Z")
It’s older than Boba Fett. I saw it as a tee shirt maybe in the 70s and definitely by the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2022, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/8 "2022-05-15T21:50:16Z")
You do know _Star Wars_ came out in 1977? (Although it is true that it was not in _Star Wars_. It’s just that your given chronology is no evidence.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/9 "2022-05-16T00:28:03Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You do know _Star Wars_ came out in 1977? Though, Boba Fett wasn’t in the original film. His first appearance was in an animated segment of the infamous TV special _The Star Wars Holiday Special_, which had its one and only authorized airing in November of '78. Fett’s first appearance in the films was in _The Empire Strikes Back_ in 1980. Either way, to your point, a t-shirt seen in the late '70s or (particularly) the early '80s could certainly have had a Boba Fett quote on it, though, as noted above, Fett never uttered that phrase on film. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/10 "2022-05-16T04:18:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Though, Boba Fett wasn’t in the original film. His first appearance was in an animated segment of the infamous TV special _The Star Wars Holiday Special_ , which had its one and only authorized airing in November of '78. Fett’s first appearance in the films was in _The Empire Strikes Back_ in 1980. > > Either way, to your point, a t-shirt seen in the late '70s or (particularly) the early '80s could certainly have had a Boba Fett quote on it, though, as noted above, Fett never uttered that phrase on film. You know, I was confusing Boba Fett with the alien who tries to take Han Solo in the cantina and gets blasted for his efforts. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/11 "2022-05-16T04:27:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Fett only has a handful of lines in the movies, and that isn’t one of them. He only had four lines in _The Empire Strikes Back_ , and none in _Return of the Jedi_ (except for his scream when he fell into the Sarlacc pit): And of course, if you watch a modern copy of the movies, you won’t even hear any of the original dialogue, as Temuera Morrison’s voice was dubbed over the original voice actor in the 2004 remaster. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/12 "2022-05-16T04:39:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > You know, I was confusing Boba Fett with the alien who tries to take Han Solo in the cantina and gets blasted for his efforts. Poor Greedo. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/13 "2022-05-16T11:44:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Poor Greedo. He shot first, you know. _runs away_ ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2022, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-run-but-youll-only-die-tired/964149/14 "2022-05-16T11:50:43Z")
That’s a load of maclunkey.