50 Butch Quotes Celebrating All Things Butch

Take a moment and check out our butch quotes. 

We have some excellent selections of all things butch. 

From quotes about Butch identity to quotes about people named Butch to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid quotes, we have got everything butch covered. 

What does butch mean?

If you were to look in the dictionary for the definition of the word Butch, you would see the word defined as a person with an appearance or other qualities of a type traditionally seen as masculine. 

However, a dictionary would have difficulty defining a person’s identity. 

Check out these exciting butch facts:

• August 18 is Butch Appreciation Day.
• Butch is a shortened form of the word butcher.
• For many years, “butcher” was American slang for a tough person. 

The origin of the word butch

Butch is a popular word many people are familiar with.

However, many people would need help to define what it means precisely. 

Etymologically, it is believed that the word butch is an abbreviation of the American slang word butcher or tough person. 

The word took on a new meaning after the success of the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

By the early forties, the meaning had transformed again as a derogatory way to describe outgoing women. 

By the fifties, the word was reclaimed by many lesbian circles who used it with pride in places like San Francisco and New York. 

Butch personalities have been challenging social norms for a long time

Influential figures such as Gertrude Stein, Hannah Gluckstein, Marguerite Antonia Hall, Mabel Hampton, and Romaine Brooks left lasting impressions on the world, redefining Butchness. 

In recent times, the hit series Orange Is The New Black featured an array of archetypical characters. 

One of those characters was Big Boo, played by Lea Delaria, who had “butch” tattooed on her arm. 

Boo was an audience favorite because of her hilarity ability to define stereotypes. 

As we continue to advance as a global society, more people get to share their voices and narratives. 

For awesome content and butch quotes, check out our fabulous selections below. 

Butch identity quotes about perspective and life 

Have some fun with these butch quotes. 

1. “I’m competitive, but I’m not butch” — Charley Boorman

2. “I’m the tomboy, so I got to be a little butch.” — Laura Prepon 

3. “I’m old, but I’m still cute and strong. And very butch.” — Geraldo Rivera 

4. “I come from; I came from Wales, and it’s a strong, butch society.” — Anthony Hopkins 

5. “I hate the stereotype that women who fight are ‘butch’ or ‘wannabe men.” — Miesha Tate 

6. “I seem to get cast as one of two extremes. Either I play the butch heavy or totally nice guys.” — Tim Pigott-Smith 

7. “I’m all for guys being butch and guys being men. I identify with that and appreciate that.” — Kyan Douglas 

8. “But if I’m going to stab my gay brother in the back who isn’t butch and who maybe acts a little bit more effeminate, what good is that?” — Kyan Douglas 

9. “I was so beat down as a young person; being black, being gay, being unable to assimilate because I could never, ever pull off being butch.” — Billy Porter 

10. “I definitely think men prefer women more undone and natural than butch and masculine. ” — Marie Helvin 

Butch quotes about the classic film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 

11. “Butch Cassidy was the only film I ever enjoyed making.” — Robert Redford 

12. “I think a lot of people thought my career started with Butch Cassidy.” — Robert Redford 

13. “When I was growing up, Butch and Sundance was my absolute favorite film.” — James Purefoy 

14. “In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid I play a schoolteacher who is older than I am in life – and I like that.” — Katharine Ross 

15. “You can’t have the Allman Brothers without Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman. Those are just irreplaceable spirits.” — Derek Trucks

16. “It would honestly not have surprised me to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid plunging from an unforgiving precipice into the river below.” — Karl Wiggins, Wrong Planet 

17. “I am a big fan of movies that don’t take themselves too seriously. You know you won’t change the world, but have fun. Movies like Butch Cassidy I enjoyed tremendously, but it didn’t alter my opinion of the world.” — Baltasar Kormakur 

18. “When I was younger, I saw a movie called Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Those two actors and that movie was my inspiration to want to be an actor.” — Peter Facinelli 

19. “Whilst films such as The Pirates of the Caribbean and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid have gone a long way to popularise both pirates and outlaw behavior, the truth of the matter is that piracy is illegal, and it kills.” — Peter Middlebrook 

20. “There’s only three movies I’ve been involved with in my whole life that I really care about. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was one, and Princess Bride was the second, and ‘Hearts in Atlantis’ is the third.” — William Goldman 

Fun butch quotes and sayings about people named Butch 

Here are some fun quotes about people named Butch. 

21. “Butch Vig was a true friend and really guided us, and it was such a fulfilling relationship with a person to make records with.” — Laura Jane Grace 

22. “Rivalries don’t necessarily mean races being close at major championships. I had a rivalry with Butch Reynolds for many years.” — Michael Johnson 

23. “As he vomited, he felt, though did not see, V come over. Forcing his head up, Butch groaned, “Help me.” ― J.R. Ward, Lover Awakened

24. “Butch tightened his grip on his cell and wished there were an app that let you reach through a phone and bitch slap someone.” — J. R. Ward, Lover Unleashed

25. “One thing you could say about Butch was that his wardrobe was full of options. “Never thought I’d be glad that you’re a clothes whore.”— J. R. Ward, Lover Unleashed

26. “I won all the races, but Butch was the world record holder before I came into the sport, he was extremely talented, and he was the only other man running 43 seconds.” — Michael Johnson 

27. “George Murphy tagged that name ‘Butch’ on me years ago. We were all at a party, and he went around tagging names on people that didn’t fit them.” — Cesar Romero 

28. “As he vomited, he felt, though did not see, V come over. Forcing his head up, Butch groaned, “Help me.” ― J.R. Ward, Lover Awakened

29. “Thanks for putting me up for it … trahyner.” As V’s eyes flared, Butch said, “Yeah, I looked up what the word meant. ‘Beloved Friend’ fits you perfect as far as I’m concerned.” V flushed. Cleared his throat. “Good deal, cop. Good. Deal.” ― J.R. Ward, Lover Revealed

30. “As the male came up behind him, his brother’s face appeared right beside Z’s. And then Wrath’s dark reflection showed up in the mirror, all long hair, and sunglasses. Then Rhage’s star-fallen beauty. And Vishous’s Sox cap. And Tohrment’s brush cut. And Butch’s busted nose. One by one they reached out and touched him, their big hands gently on his shoulders.” ― J.R. Ward, Lover Awakened

Butch quotes about identity

Some of these quotes shed light on how the idea of being butch is represented and how that impacts identity and representation. 

31. “The difference between the butch and the queen is rooted in the system of male supremacy.” ― Joan Nestle, The Persistent Desire

32. “To be a butch girl in high school, to be better at masculinity than all the men around you, and then to be punished for it!” ― Michelle Tea, Black Wave

33. “I had great femme mentors. I had good role models of gentlemen. I found ways to be a butch that did not require being an ass in public, ways of masculinity that were not misogyny. “ ― S. Bear Bergman, Butch Is a Noun

34. “I’d go to lesbian parties. I felt like I wasn’t hard enough to be butch, but I wasn’t wearing heels and a skirt. I wasn’t femme, so I felt like I was sort of invisible.” — Dee Rees 

35. “Bob Fosse, even though he wasn’t gay. He was certainly queer and had a huge effect on the ‘Hedwig’ film, as did Hal Ashby and Robert Altman, who had a weird butch queer feeling about him.” — John Cameron Mitchell 

36. “Dressing femme to the nines and then hanging on the arm of another woman all night—a fuck-you to straight men—can feel electrifying. And butch confidence, the grit to invert every traditional way a woman is supposed to look is wholly contagious.” ― Grace Perry, The 2000s Made Me Gay

37. “I feel like, for so many years in the industry, LGBT-identifying actors were told to play small or water themselves down or ‘butch it up,’ whether you’re a male and you’re only going out for straight characters because gay characters aren’t being written, or you’re a woman, and you’re told to ‘femme it up to play the leading lady role.” — Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman 

38. “I don’t connect to a certain girliness or talking about girly things. I feel unauthentic and uncomfortable in that world – maybe I’m just more butch than I realize! I have, however, been fortunate to have a number of great girlfriends. You don’t meet as many girls as you do guys in my line of work, so I do cherish my friendships.” — Elizabeth Reaser 

39. “I think when I was a young person, there was just kind of – there was very little dialogue about it. And there was just kind of one way to be gay, right? You saw very effeminate guys. You saw very butch women. And there was no kind of in-between. And there was no – you know, there wasn’t anything in the media. There wasn’t anything on television.” — Jacqueline Woodson 

40. “I think I was scared of the drag thing, as a lot of gay boys are. It’s sort of knocked out of you in junior high. I wouldn’t find guys who were very feminine attractive. Then, doing ‘Hedwig,’ I got to be man and woman, really butch and really femme at the same time, and I realized, this is kind of the ideal.” — John Cameron Mitchell 

Insightful butch quotes and sayings 

These quotes are from authors and writers who aim to express their definition of Butchess. 

41. “Butch is not a role you play; it’s a way of life.” — Anonymous 

42. “Butches don’t back down, we don’t give up, and we don’t take shit from anyone.” — Anonymous 

43. “It’s a liberating feeling, and I’m grateful to have found my place in the butch community.” — Anonymous 

44. “I don’t know if part of being Butch is looking tough, but it certainly means showing up for who you love.” — Anonymous 

45. “From that moment on, I was her butch, and she was my femme.” ― Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues

46. “Being butch is all about being true to yourself. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin and not letting anyone else tell you who you should be.” — Anonymous

47. “Butches are strong, confident, and proud. We’re also sensitive, caring, and passionate. We’re complex and multi-faceted individuals, and here to stay.” — Anonymous

48. “Go ‘head.” Those freaky-ass black eyes had stared at Butch with the intensity of a shark. “Crack open that door. Run your little heart out. Run fast, run smart, call for help. Just know that I’ll come after you. Like a hearse.”” ― J.R. Ward, Dark Lover

49. “I don’t switch much, don’t really want many people to fuck me, because there’s a whole code, unwritten but no less rigid than if it were chiseled in stone, about how Tops Must be, how Butches Must Be, and it does not include taking off one’s pants.” — S. Bear Bergman, Butch Is a Noun

50. “Which is what I see more often than I used to these days, this way of butches distancing themselves from any and all things feminine by embodying the worst excesses of men, from relatively harmless ones like spitting on the street and wearing too much cheap cologne to behaving as though women were an entirely separate species of second-class citizen, the objects of jokes and derision.” ― S. Bear Bergman, Butch Is a Noun

Butch is synonymous with strength

Typically, butch lesbians are known to have more masculine-leaning styles. 

However, being butch is not just about how a person dresses. 

Butch is a vibe; it is an energy that a person exudes. 

Butch women are just being themselves; they are not imitating men, although some observers who misunderstand them may reduce their identity to copying men. 

Butch energy is much deeper than imitation. 

When referring butch energy, Olympic swimmer Casey Legler once said, “We exist in this realm of masculinity that has nothing to do with cis men. That’s the part only we butches know how to talk about.” 

It would be unwise to stereotype a butch identity as someone who wears a tank top, shaved head, no makeup, and Doc Marten boots. 

These are tropes that do not speak to the deep sense of pride felt by butches all over the world. 

Do you have a favorite butch quote?

Please, be sure to let us know in the comment section below.