Many quotes from films have entered common usage, usually for comic effect. The following are noteworthy because they represent some aspect of society and the human condition. With thanks to the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Movie Quotes.
The Quote: I’m the King of the World
Said By: Leonardo Di Caprio as Jack Dawson
Demonstrates: Poor Boy Makes Good
Jack wins a voyage on the luxury liner in a card game and boards as a Third Class passenger. He can’t believe his luck and stands proudly at the prow of the ship and throws out his arms, declaring he’s the King of the world. He captures the heart of socialite Rose (Kate Winslet), who prefers the partying on the Third Class deck to the stuffy atmosphere of First Class. Together, they must combat Rose’s caddish fiancé, not to mention a certain iceberg that is lurking in the Atlantic.
The Quote: I’m as Mad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore
Said By: Peter Finch as Howard Beale
Demonstrates: Nervous Breakdown
News anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is fired following deteriorating ratings. The network allows him back on and he astonishes everyone with his rants on modern life, culminating in his famous speech, urging the audience to express their anger by shouting out of their windows that they’re not going to take it anymore. Beale becomes a hero, as he explores the isolation of people, and society’s attempts to pacify them with consumer goods. He is clearly not well but the network cynically exploits the situation as the ratings soar. Finch won the Oscar for Best Actor (posthumously) and was ably supported by William Holden and Faye Dunaway.
The Quote: We’ll Always Have Paris
Said By: Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine
Demonstrates: Lost Love
There are several famous quotes to choose from but none so heartrending as this one, when Rick persuades Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) to get on the plane with her husband, Victor (Paul Henreid). Set in WWII, Casablanca is controlled by the Vichy and Rick tries to stay politically and emotionally neutral. Then, the former love of his life, now married, walks into his café. Ilsa has already broken his heart, leaving him bitter, but she melts him again. It takes all his strength of character to tell Ilsa to do the right thing and stick by her husband. Paris is where Rick and Ilsa had been happy during their previous romance. The wartime story has the benefit of Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre in support but it’s the romance that is the heart of the movie. For doomed lovers everywhere, they know what it means to always have Paris.
The Quote: You Used to be Big (reply: I Am Big. It’s the Pictures That Got Small)
Said By: Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond
Demonstrates: Faded Star
It was inspired casting to place Gloria Swanson, a star in silent films, in the role of Norma. There were parallels between the actress and the character, as both were movie icons no longer wanted in movies, although Swanson had moved on to television roles. Beautifully shot in a film noir style, Norma is a mentally unstable recluse who desperately wants to resurrect her career. When she hooks up with Joe Gillis (William Holden), she asks him to help her. Joe, a struggling screenwriter, has problems of his own. This is a fascinating insight into the sad decline of a star and the dark arts practiced in Hollywood.
The Quote: Greed, for Lack of a Better Word, is Good
Said By: Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko
Demonstrates: The Rise of the Yuppie
It was the perfect film for the ‘80s and gave birth to a modern villain, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Gekko is a speculator and uses inside information on companies to acquire his financial acumen. Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, a stockbroker who wants to get to the top. The ruthless Gekko is his role model and Gekko is only too happy to mentor him. This corporate greed and unethical behavior is in opposition to the working class values of Carl Fox (Martin Sheen), estranged father to Bud. The Greed is good quote became a mantra for some, either in admiration or as a morality tale. Gekko delivers a speech about the condition of corporate America to a packed room, telling his audience that greed is good, greed is right and greed will save the USA.
The Quote: They Call Me Mister Tibbs
Said By: Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs
Demonstrates: Fight for Racial Equality
When a wealthy white man is murdered in a small Mississippi town, the sheriff, Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) is under pressure to charge someone. Along comes Virgil Tibbs, a black man carrying a lot of money. The racist Gillespie assumes he’s got his man, only to discover that Tibbs is a homicide detective from Philadelphia, passing through to visit his mother. When Tibbs’ captain wants him to stay to help with the investigation, Tibbs and Gillespie are reluctantly thrown together. This movie came out against the background of civil rights struggles in the 1960s. Poitier, as always, is superb and portrays the detective as a dignified and proud man. Gillespie asks him what they call him in his hometown and Tibbs shoots back that they call him Mister Tibbs. Gradually, as they work together, Gillespie’s prejudice gives way to respect for his colleague.
The Quote: I Love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning
Said By: Robert Duvall as Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore
Demonstrates: Dehumanization in War
The movie explores the horror of the Vietnam War and the main plot concerns Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) and his mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a US Army officer who has gone AWOL and reportedly insane. Lieutenant Kilgore is a disturbing supporting character, an eccentric Helicopter Cavalry commander, whom you suspect doesn’t want the war to end. He’s enjoying himself too much, particularly when he launches an attack on a beach, simply because he wants to surf there. Cue Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’. The cavalry also drops napalm on the jungle. Later, Kilgore is in a reflective mood, and declares his love of napalm because it smells like victory.
The Quote: What’re You Rebelling Against Johnny? (Johnny: Whaddya Got?)
Said By: Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler
Demonstrates: Teenage Rebellion
Johnny, leader of the Black Rebel Motorcycles Club, is the epitome of cool with his black leather motorcycle jacket, sunglasses and peak cap. It seems tame by our standards now but this movie was banned in the UK until 1968! It’s a tale of youthful rebellion, although Brando was thirty years old when it came out. It influenced James Dean and numerous anti-heroes that followed. The gang rides into a small town and comes into conflict with the local townsfolk and a rival motorcycle gang, The Beetles, led by Chino, played by Lee Marvin. The Sheriff’s daughter falls for Johnny’s charms. When a young blonde asks him what he’s rebelling against, he gives the perfect answer.
The Quote: Andy Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side
Said By: Morgan Freeman as Red Redding (narrating)
Demonstrates: Indomitable Spirit
Based on a Stephen King novella, it’s the story of a banker named Andy (Tim Robbins) who is mistakenly found guilty and given two life sentences for the murder of his wife and her lover. He must adapt to the harsh world of the Shawshank gaol. The prison ‘fixer’, Red, befriends him and the two inmates forge a close bond. Morgan Freeman, as Red, is also the narrator. Hope and patience are the themes as Andy refuses to be crushed by the system and spends years planning his eventual escape. The river of shit is the sewage pipe that he crawls through to freedom.
The Quote: I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.
Said By: Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy
Demonstrates: Wasted Life
The New Jersey docks were used as a location for this story about longshoremen. Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) is the corrupt dockworkers’ union leader. He controls the waterfront because everyone is afraid of him. Terry Malloy has information on Friendly that would put him behind bars, a situation complicated by the fact that Terry’s brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) is Friendly’s lawyer. Will Terry do the right thing? His promising career as a boxer had been curtailed because Friendly told Charlie to order Terry to take a fall in a fight because Friendly was betting on his opponent. The famous lines delivered to Charley are from a man who knows what he gave up. He tells Charlie that he should have looked out for him, as his brother.
This is the first time I have commented so it’s fitting that I’m first. Interesting list.
Where the heck is "Gone With the Wind" film qoute: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn". That is like the most popular movie qoute that is in existence of cinema film history.
I personally love Arnold Schwarsnegger’s “Let’s ged owwd of yer!” from Last Action Hero.
I like this one..nice list
I thought Robert Duvall’s “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” from Apocalypse Now would be there though.
it…is…
Haha. These are classics. Love it
I have been a long time reader but never posted before and this is now my 3rd comment with a different username. I finally registered so expect me to be active in all future discussion/debates!
I would include “I’ll be back” from Terminator. It represents the human (or rather cyborg) condition of being totally badass.
Doughboy, it is on the list.
no darth vader??? i think it went something like this…
Luke: You killed my father!
Vader: No, I am your father.
Luke: Nooooo!
haha all time favorite of mine, i dont know what it means or demonstrates but its for sure memorable.
How about “get away from her you *****!”, a quote by Ripley in Aliens to the Queen alien… it represents the human condition of motherly love and protection.
(i realize Ripley isn’t that girl’s mother, but she “adopts” her, especially if you consider the deleted scene where we learn Ripley’s daughter died of old age… time lag thingy..)
If you gonna put Brando up there you gotta put:
“Will make him an offer he cant refuse” – Godfather
Demonstrates how dominant the family was!
“We’ll make him an offer he cant refuse!”
My favorite would be ‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse’ from The Godfather.
-guess I wasn’t the only one who liked that quote.
You can’t handle the truth!
“We’re on a mission from God”
“So I jump ship in Hong Kong, and made my way over to Tibet. So I tell ‘em I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? THe Dali Lammmma himself. The flowing robes, bald. Striking, striking…….big hitter, The Lammmma.”
-Carl Spackler
“THIS IS SPARTAAAA!!!” (with saliva flung everywhere lol!)
Surprised that the following are missing:
“You can’t handle the truth” from “A Few Good Men”
“May the force be with you” from “Star Wars Double-Trilogy”
“I’ll have what she’s having.” from “Harry meets Sally”
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” from “Love story”
amen! (sorry for the unnecessary cheesiness)
“There can be only one!!!” (The Kurgan vs Connor McLeod in “Highlander”) – that’s much better than “Imma daking of the world”
My favorite “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine” from Casablanca.
Irony and lost love go hand in hand, always when you least expect them to.
A girl prolly made this list :p no self respecting guy would consider #10 and #10 as “memorable” :p
funny, as a man wrote the screenplay. also, i feel I ca represent the femal part of the population by saying that we also think its a sickly line
“Say hello to my little friend!” – Tony Monatana, Scarface. Demonstrates the human condition to not giving a f*ck.
“You talking to me? I see no one else around… you must be talking to me!” – Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver
“Run Forest, run!” – Forest Gump
“Yo, Adrien” – Rocky Balboa, Rocky. Demonstrates an underdog making it.
“Show me the money!” – Jerry Maguire.
“Funny how? Tell me, what the ***** is so funny about me?” – Tommy DeVito, Goodfellas
“Beam me up Scotty.” – Star Trek
uh… I meant #10 and #8
“I don’t drink… wine” (which sounded like “I zon’t drink… vine” as rendered by Bela Lugosi in “Dracula”)
I cannot believe “Go ahead, make my day.” is not on the list as #1 (Harry Callahan anyone?).
Also:
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?” – Hmmm..
“This is mass madness, you maniacs!” – Howard Beale
“Hooah” – Frank Slade (try not to remember this after the movie! ..and his entire speech at the end!)
“Engage!” – Jean-Luc Picard
“I’m a doctor, not a(n)…” – Leonard H. McCoy
“Dude your mom’s a MILF!” – American Pie
“There’s nothing wrong with letting the girls know that you’re money and that you want to party.” – Trent (Vince Vaughn), Swingers
“Bull***** I can’t hear you. Sound off like you got a pair!” – Sgt. Hartman, Full Metal Jacket
“Dude, wheres my car?” – Jesse, Dude Wheres My Car?
Make hin an offer he can’t refuse
I love the smell of napalm in the morning
You can’t handle the truth
are among the ten MOST recognised movie quotes of all time.
However the two biggest; OFFICIALLY – according to most of the ovie groups I belong to – as well as other official “Lists” including the “Top Ten of Everything” the seminal and most authoritative source for lists are
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” – Rhett Butler to Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone With the Wind’
and
“I’ll be back” – T-100 (Arnie) to Cop in the original ‘Terminator’
“Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?–Mae West, She Done Him Wrong
“I think I chipped my tooth”
“From giving me oral pleasure?”–Butch and Fabienne, Pulp Fiction
“It’s not a tooo-moor.” Arnold Schwartzenegger, Kindergarten Cop
“Greed is GOOD.” Wallstreet,
Ah crap, my erratic browser skipped a list item. Found it as I re-read list to others.
Jamie where’s a “delete my post” button?!!!!
Hehe! This is a fun list, and may spawn others!
I’m with (19) Howabout. “I’ll have what she’s having”
My own personal fav: Chauncy Gardner in “Being There”
I LIKE TO WATCH!
deeeziner: one day comment edits might return
I forgot to mention that my comments might be a little sporadic as I am on a much needed holiday at mount ruapehu – let’s hope she doesn’t errupt while I am here!
Oh – and let’s not forget that this list is of quotes that show the human condition – it is not just great quotes – which all of the ones mentioned in the comments are
cool…
@atmos_fear: AGREE!!!
First thing I did was check if this is a list of “Another” 10 quotes, well it isn’t, so the following are my additions:
Jerry Mcguire had a few more quotes like “you complete me” and “you had me at hello”. Demonstrates that it pays in many ways to watch this movie on a first date (it did for me!)
“I’ll be back” from Arnold demonstrates fulfillment of commitment. He came back for 3 more terminator films.
I agree that “Make my day” should not only be here but should be number one.
“With great power comes great responsibility” – Uncle Ben from Spiderman; demonstrates how one line can become the premise of a trilogy of films.
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” another classic.
“Whoa” – Neo from Matrix demonstrates what happens when a dumb surfer dude becomes saviour of the human race against an army of computers.
“I am duh lauow” Stallone in Judge Dredd; I’m starting to believe rumours that Stallone’s cheeks are actually paralyzed.
“Assolootly” Stallone trying to mouth ‘absolutely’
“Yo Adrien” Rocky Balboa
“I’m not gonna say it again, I’m not gonna say it again, I’m not gonna say it again…” DeNiro from some movie, probably before beating up some guy.
“This is not my war, I didn’t ask for this” John Rambo; another line that helped carry four films.
“Hulk SMASH” the incredible hulk; demonstrates what happens if u ***** off the hulk.
“I have breakfast 10 miles from 10,000 soldiers who are trained to kill me” Jack Nicholos in Few Good Men
“I feel the need for speed” from Top Gun
“In this hotel there’s always someone watching” Ocean’s 11
nice list. although my favorite movie quote is not listed, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” said by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) in Gone With The Wind. Demonstrates tired love.
“Have that removed”
Capt. Stillman – John Larroquette
Stripes
…You’re gonna need a bigger boat…. JAWS
Just thought of another one of my favorites-
“When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk” – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The world could do with a lot more of this philosophy. Action over words.
@mel061970
I love that line. I use it way too much.
Okay… obviously everyone can think of a ton more movie quotes that are more memorable. This list sucked.
#17 Rob, I love that scene also. He goes on to say, The ‘lama is going to give him complete enlightenment when he passes on. Then he tells the kid “so I got that going for me.”
So now in my family whenever we have some little trivial thing go right we say: “So I got that going for me.”
“what we do in live, echoes in eternity” -gladiator… but maybe too “new” for this list
@jfrater:
Human condition for “Go ahead, make my day.”: Shows the persistence in the intent of kicking your ass.
It also means that Clint Eastwood is the only man in the history of mankind to reach 0.9999999999(…)ChuckNorris.
The only person to reach 1.0 ChuckNorris is of course Chuck Norris.
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” (Gone with the Wind)
“You had me at hello.” (Jerry Maguire)
“Hasta La Vista, Baby.”
I’m not much of a movie person…rarely watch them, in fact. But as soon as I saw the movie title, I knew the quote for each entry on the list.
WHEN THIS THING HITS 88MPH, ur gonna see some serious *****!!!
For you Terminator fans, while “I’ll Be Back’ is iconic, I don’t think that is the funniest line in that movie. I liked when the janitor of the apartment T-100 is renting comes around and asks, “Hey buddy, You got a dead cat in there, or what?” And Arnie in trying to elicit a response, accesses a list of possibles and comes up with “***** YOU, *****!”
@kring_kring: now I wanna watch Jerry Maguire!
“here’s johnny” => the shining
and “were in hell is major kong” => Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb both kinda memorable =)
Great list and follow up comments! What fun!
I always liked these:
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherf**ker” – Die Hard
“What’s happenin’ hot stuff?” – Sixteen Candles
“Gee, I’m real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky.” – Better Off Dead
“Git-R-Done!” (Mater) – Cars
this list? you’re killing me, smalls.
“I POOP too much, and then I get tired”
“- perhaps you’re lactose intolerant.”
35. Tomo – ““Hulk SMASH” the incredible hulk; demonstrates what happens if u ***** off the hulk.”
That made me giggle.
“Ooooh… ooooh… Stiffler’s Mom!!!”
American Pie 2
“He fixes the cable?”
The Dude from The Big Lebowski
Demonstrating a stoner’s understanding of a ***** film.
“I POOP too much, and then I get tired”
“- perhaps you’re lactose intolerant.”
TEX quoted Beavis and Butthead–Hehe hehe
Wow! “We’ll always have paris” in Casablanca is so emotional. I hadn’t even watched it yet.
“Rory? Yeah I know Rory. He’s not to be underestimated, you’ve got to look past the hair and the cute, cuddly thing – it’s all a deceptive facade. A few nights ago Rory’s Roger iron’s rusted, so he’s gone to the local battle-cruiser to catch the end of his footer. Nobody is watching the custard so he turns the channel over. A fat man’s north opens and he wanders over and turns the Liza over. ‘Now ***** off and watch it somewhere else.’ Rory knows claret is imminent, but he doesn’t want to miss the end of the game; so, calm as a coma, he stands and picks up a fire extinguisher and he walks straight past the jam rolls who are ready for action, then he plonks it outside the entrance. He then orders an Aristotle of the most ping pong tiddly in the nuclear sub and switches back to his footer. ‘That’s *****ing it,’ says the guy. ‘That’s *****ing what’ says Rory. Rory gobs out a mouthful of booze covering fatty; he then flicks a flaming match into his bird’s nest and the man’s lit up like a leaky gas pipe. Rory, unfazed, turned back to his game. His team’s won too. Four-nil.”
Barfly Jack from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
“May the Force be with you.”
“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
“We’ve got bush!”
“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”
“ET phone home!”
“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”