# What is the greatest movie quote... EVER???

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 26, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995 "2004-04-26T01:47:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/41 "2004-04-26T18:39:40Z")

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From Good Will Hunting:

“Why?”

“'Cause fuck him, that’s why.”

I always liked Robert Duvall’s cow speech in Colors but I can’t find it anywhere online and I don’t want to mess it up.

Ditto with Mark’s speech before he leaves Salt Lake City in SLC Punk. He says something along the lines of “cars, people, houses, what else do you think is out there?” Kind of gives me chills.

I would appreciate it if anyone has these exact quotes and posts them.

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/42 "2004-04-26T19:46:35Z")

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Most inspirational quote? Easy!

“Do, or do not. There is no try.”  
–Yoda, **The Empire Strikes Back**

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**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/43 "2004-04-26T19:52:50Z")

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> [@yojimbo](#):
>
> I’ve come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.  
> _They Live_

hear hear. Rowdy Roddy Piper is the man.

Another from the Princess Bride:

Buttercup: “We’ll never survive.”  
Wesley: “Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.”

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**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/44 "2004-04-26T19:56:37Z")

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Well, there’s my sig, of course, but while not exactly inspirational, my favorite is from Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in _The Big Sleep_:

“I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners, I don’t like them myself. They’re pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings.”

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/45 "2004-04-26T20:23:48Z")

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God damn it. An entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables…slaves with white collars. Advertising has its taste in cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, no purpose or place. We have no great war, no great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war; our great depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d be millionaires, movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. We’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.

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**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/46 "2004-04-26T20:30:35Z")

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Inspriational? This quote is the wind beneath my wings…

**Bluto** : Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

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**Author:** ![SeGate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SeGate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeGate)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/47 "2004-04-26T20:47:36Z")

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From _The American President_:

> [@](#):
>
> America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of it’s citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.

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**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/48 "2004-04-26T20:53:45Z")

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Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future. Choose life… But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin’ else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/49 "2004-04-26T21:00:12Z")

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Dirty Harry: “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

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**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/50 "2004-04-26T21:37:36Z")

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Also from **Say Anything** :

> [@](#):
>
> I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.

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**Author:** ![dalovindj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@dalovindj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalovindj)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/51 "2004-04-26T21:43:30Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> A kiss may not be the truth, but it is what we wish were true.

Aint it the truth. That one is from L.A. Story. These two are from waking life and I will never forget either:

> [@](#):
>
> “The trick is to combine your waking rational abilities with the infinite possibilities of your dreams. Because, if you can do that, you can do anything.”
> 
> &
> 
> “Resistance is not futile! We’re gonna win this thing. Humankind is too good - we’re not a bunch of under-achievers! We’re gonna stand up, and we’re gonna be human beings. We’re going to get fired up about the real things, the things that matter! Creativity, and the dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit.”

That spark, that creativity, that ability to dream, and that hope and faith that things will get better, well, that’s inspiration to me. . .

DaLovin’ Dj

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/52 "2004-04-26T22:04:30Z")

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I dunno; _Casablanca_ has always had my vote for greatest movie of all time, but it doesn’t have much in the way of inspirational quotes – the many memorable lines are mostly witty ones. But inspirational scenes? Oh yeah – “Paris has fallen”; _Die Wacht am Rhein_; _La Marseillaise_. Tears and chills, baby.

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**Author:** ![Vanderbilt\_Higgins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/dbc845/32.png) [@Vanderbilt\_Higgins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanderbilt_Higgins)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/53 "2004-04-26T22:36:50Z")

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From **Army of Darkness,** pretty much anything that comes out of Ash’s mouth from the Boomstick scene on. But, in particular:

“Sure, I could’ve stayed. Could’ve even been king. But, in my own way, I am king. Hail to the king, baby.”

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**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/54 "2004-04-26T22:46:03Z")

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These are two of my favorites:

**Breakfast at Tiffanys**

> [@](#):
>
> Paul Varjak: You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.

and  
Spencer Tracy’s speech in **Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner**

> [@](#):
>
> Matt Drayton: Now Mr. Prentice, clearly a most reasonable man, says he has no wish to offend me but wants to know if I’m some kind of a _nut_. And Mrs. Prentice says that like her husband I’m a burned-out old shell of a man who cannot even remember what it’s like to love a woman the way her son loves my daughter. And strange as it seems, that’s the first statement made to me all day with which I am prepared to take issue… cause I think you’re wrong, you’re as wrong as you can be. I admit that I hadn’t considered it, hadn’t even thought about it, but I know exactly how he feels about her and there is nothing, absolutely nothing that you son feels for my daughter that I didn’t feel for Christina. Old- yes. Burned-out- certainly, but I can tell you the memories are still there- clear, intact, indestructible, and they’ll be there if I live to be 110. Where John made his mistake I think was in attaching so much importance to what her mother and I might think… because in the final analysis it doesn’t matter a damn what we think. The only thing that matters is what they feel, and how much they feel, for each other. And if it’s half of what we felt- that’s everything. As for you two and the problems you’re going to have, they seem almost unimaginable, but you’ll have no problem with me, and I think when Christina and I and your mother have some time to work on him you’ll have no problem with your father, John. But you do know, I’m sure you know, what you’re up against. There’ll be 100 million people right here in this country who will be shocked and offended and appalled and the two of you will just have to ride that out, maybe every day for the rest of your lives. You could try to ignore those people, or you could feel sorry for them and for their prejudice and their bigotry and their blind hatred and stupid fears, but where necessary you’ll just have to cling tight to each other and say “screw all those people”! Anybody could make a case, a hell of a good case, against your getting married. The arguments are so obvious that nobody has to make them. But you’re two wonderful people who happened to fall in love and happened to have a pigmentation problem, and I think that now, no matter what kind of a case some bastard could make against your getting married, there would be only one thing worse, and that would be if - knowing what you two are and knowing what you two have and knowing what you two feel- you didn’t get married.

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**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/55 "2004-04-26T22:57:27Z")

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“Be excellent to each other.”

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**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/56 "2004-04-26T23:02:55Z")

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Eomer. Take your éored down the left flank. Gamling, follow the King’s banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right, after you pass the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise. Arise, Riders of Théoden. Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered. A sword day… a red day… ere the sun rises. Ride now… Ride now… Ride. Ride for ruin and the world’s ending. DEATH!

And

Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! For all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!

Both give me goosebumps just reading them.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/57 "2004-04-27T00:10:56Z")

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See my sig…

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**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/58 "2004-04-27T00:38:42Z")

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The Godfather

Leave the gun, take the cannolis.

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/59 "2004-04-27T00:39:19Z")

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Wax on.

Wax off.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-movie-quote-ever/241995/60 "2004-04-27T00:52:57Z")

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“_LAWRENCE-SAN!_ . . . Merry Christmas!”

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