Was a saying in the old west during a gun fight. Means be quick or be dead. 1st guy that drew his gun was the winner the other guy was dead.

Originally and in religion, it means the living and the dead. In movies and such, it means either fast (like pulling a gun) or dead (because the other guy was faster).

It's also a movie title

The quick and the dead means "the living and the dead". It appears in the Christian Apostles' Creed: "He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." It also appears in Shakespeare's Hamlet and the Bible.