In the past, I’ve presented collections of real-life quotes from some of my favorite directors, actors and actresses. In continuing with this, I thought I’d put together a short list of some of my personal favorite excerpts of film dialogue. Like other lists I’ve put together, this one isn’t meant to be one of those “greatest of all time” lists. There are many great quotes long and short that are considered the best and most iconic, and while there’s no argument here on any of them, below are quotes lifted from some of my favorite films that had an impact on me, not just as a film lover, but as a filmmaker. To me, a great excerpt of film dialogue is not just the written words, but also the skill in which the actor delivers it. Enjoy.



“I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance, tomorrow morning I’ll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and walk in, and if you don’t have my money for me, I’ll crack your fuckin’ head wide-open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I’m comin’ out of jail, hopefully, you’ll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I’ll split your fuckin’ head open again. ’Cause I’m fuckin’ stupid. I don’t give a fuck about jail. That’s my business. That’s what I do.”

—Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), from Casino (1995)



“Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can’t savor all the little emotions. You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?”

—The Joker (Heath Ledger), from The Dark Knight (2008)



“…war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”

—General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)



“I don’t think it’s nice, you laughin’. You see, my mule don’t like people laughing. He gets the crazy idea you’re laughin’ at him. Now if you apologize, like I know you’re going to, I might convince him that you really didn’t mean it.”

—The Man with No Name (Clint Eastwood), from A Fistful of Dollars (1964)



“Tonight, you pukes will sleep with your rifles. You will give your rifle a girl’s name because this is the only pussy you people are going to get. Your days of finger-banging ol’ Mary-Jane Rottencrotch through her pretty pink panties are over! You’re married to this piece. This weapon of iron and wood. And you will be faithful.”

—Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), from Full Metal Jacket (1987)



“We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won’t not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they’re tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good?”

—Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), from Inglourious Basterds (2009)



“See, now I’m thinkin’: maybe it means you’re the evil man. And I’m the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. And I’d like that. But that shit ain’t the truth. The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.”

—Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), from Pulp Fiction (1994)



“All I hear from you, you spineless cowards, is how poor you are; how you can’t afford my taxes. Yet somehow, you managed to find the money to hire a gunfighter to kill me. If ya got so much money, I’m just gonna have to take some more. Because clearly some of you haven’t got the message! This is my town! I run everything! If you live to see the dawn, it’s because I allow it! I decide who lives and who dies!

—John Herod (Gene Hackman), from The Quick and the Dead (1995)