If all you remember of Patrick Swayze, who died yesterday of cancer at age 57, is his dance moves, you may be forgetting what an iconic tough guy he was. Sure, he started out specializing in arguably unmanly ventures like ballet and gymnastics, and many of his most memorable scenes show him as a limber romantic with thick, luxurious hair. But he was really best when he portrayed macho, domineering and otherwise badass dudes.

We grew up thinking of him first as a big brother type, thanks to movies like Red Dawn and The Outsiders. And even when he went on to sappier fare like Dirty Dancing and Ghost we accepted him as a man in control of every situation he was in. Later in his career, he would play more desperate and vulnerable characters, such as in Donnie Darko and the underrated 11:14. Still, we never got over believing that Swayze was the boss.

Below we spotlight ten favorite movie quotes that display the power commanded by his characters.

10. “And you — get me another roll of licorice!”
from George and the Dragon (2004)

In this silly fantasy film, Swayze plays your usual fairy tale jerk betrothed to a princess who does not love him. With his terrible accident, it’s hard to take him seriously much of the time, but at one point while leading an army of soldiers he barks this order for some licorice. Did they even have rolls of licorice candy in the Middle Ages? Who cares? You try telling Swayze he can’t have his licorice because it doesn’t exist yet. He’ll slay you immediately. Unfortunately, his character doesn’t end up the powerful ruler he wishes to be; instead he’s eaten by a dragon.

9. “I can draw faster, shoot straighter, ride harder and drink longer than any man alive…I’m the rip-snortinest cowboy that ever rode north, south, east or west of the Rio Grande.”
from Tall Tale (1995)

Swayze probably wasn’t the most logical choice to play Pecos Bill, the mythological cowboy, but it’s better casting than Oliver Platt as Paul Bunyan. At least Swayze had a history of playing figures legendary in their displays of machismo. Certainly it made some sense to have the guy from Point Break play a character who rides tornadoes and uses a snake for a lasso. Too bad the movie didn’t show as much prowess as the actor or his role.

8. “Ditto.”
from Ghost (1990)

A term of endearment, yes, but Swayze’s character’s way of telling his wife he loves her is of a pretty domineering sort. Obviously it’s also a display of fear, because he is not comfortable enough to say the real words he feels. But it’s a very macho thing to do, not giving in to those feelings and basically putting his wife below him by making her the one submitting to the profession that she loves him. It’s like when Han Solo says to Leia, “I know,” instead of “I love you, too.”

7. “Conversely, some men need to be hit back.”
from To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)

In this terribly long-titled comedy, Swayze makes up for his famous line in Ghost by dressing up as a woman and putting a wife beater in his place. As the drag queen Vida, he confronts the abusive husband, who claims that some women need to get hit. Swayze replies with this statement before slapping the guy across the face, then clobbering him out the door. Like other cross-dressing films, such as Tootsie, it’s basically still something of a sexist statement that women need to be protected and empowered by men disguised as women, but regardless it is another great display of power by Swayze.

6. “My way or the highway.”
from Road House (1989)

It’s a line that others have said better — Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs, for example. But for Swayze it’s the beginning of a favorite speech from the actor’s most guilty pleasure. We could have gone for the more popular part of the monologue, where his character instructs a room full of bouncers that it’s important to start off nice. And, sure, that’s a good display of how to be in command of a situation. Yet this quote is definitely more powerful and to the point, even if it is something of a cliché.

5. “You don’t.”
from Black Dog (1998)

By itself this line doesn’t mean much. Put it as a reply to what you do if you need to stop short while driving a big rig hauling a heavy load, however, and it’s typical Swayze swaggering. The joke about running over a Mazda that follows the nonchalant statement may seem to make light of the reply, but that’s only if you don’t see the rest of the scene, in which Swayze truly proves he’s king of the road by shaking off a few other truckers in the most destructive of ways. He’s right, “you don’t” want to mess with him, because nothing can stop him.

4. “Take me away. Lock me up. It is a crime to feel this good.”
from Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)

He’s about to be arrested for demolishing a house with a bulldozer — with his wife and her lover inside, but he’s still the one giving the orders. It takes a very commanding personality to cause the kind of jealous destruction he does and acknowledge that it was worth it, no matter the consequence, with such bravado. He’s handing himself over, yet he’s hardly submitting to the law, which is not the boss of him.

3. “It’s basic dog psychology, brah.  If you scare them, get them pissing down their leg, they submit… you control them.”
from Point Break (1991)

It may not be the most famous of lines from Point Break, not even of those spoken by Swayze’s character, Bodhi. But it’s one of the actor’s most fitful quotes given the consistency of his roles. He follows the line with further words of wisdom for the thrill-seeking, self-ruling individual who’s in command of every situation. And like his character from Grandview, U.S.A., he claims to be the master when it comes to the law.

2. “You think you’re so smart, man, but you’re just a bunch of scared kids.”
from Red Dawn (1984)

Swayze’s literal big brother character takes the lead of this film’s ensemble right away, but it’s with this line that he shows his younger companions why he’s the boss. It’s partly an ageist thing, but there’s more to it than that. He may not be the smartest; he just has the authoritative personality to take charge of these scared kids and turn them into men, soldiers, Wolverines.

1. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
from Dirty Dancing (1987)

This iconic line isn’t really as tough sounding as some of the others on this list, but it’s understood that this quote gets the top spot. Anyway, it is truly a brave and commanding move to challenge the authority of Jerry Orbach, especially through such corny means. Given the context of the film, when Swayze goes up to that table and steals Jennifer Grey away from her parents, he may as well have been bulldozing a house, running 18-wheelers off the road, robbing a bank or taking down Cuban and Russian invaders in this climactic moment.