The Quotes canon

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304 quotes
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Genre·Drama (film)✕clear
Film · Courtroom drama (film) · Drama (film) · Courtroom drama · Drama

Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it!

Col. Nathan R. Jessep
A Few Good Men · 1992
★ 7.1
Film · Legal drama (film) · Drama (film) · Legal drama · Drama

My wife used to always say to me, "Why can't a woman have the same ambitions as a man." I think you're right. Maybe I've learned that much. But by the same token, I'd like to know, what law is it that says a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex? I've had a lot of time to think about what it is that makes somebody a good parent, you know. It has to do with constancy. It has to do with patience. It has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can't even listen any more. It has to do with love—like, like, like she was saying. And I don't know where it's written that says that a woman has a corner on that market. That a man has any less of those emotions than a woman does?

Ted Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer · 1979
★ 3.6
Film · Courtroom drama (film) · Drama (film) · Courtroom drama · Drama

It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities—we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's sure.

Juror #8
12 Angry Men · 1957
★ 3.5
Film · Drama (film) · Drama

The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price of a paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market and you're a part of it. Yeah, you got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I still got a lot to teach you.

Gordon Gekko
Wall Street · 1987
★ 3.5
Film · Biography (film) · Drama (film) · Biography · Drama

Because of the spiritual rebirth which I was blessed to undergo as a result of my pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of one race. I intend to be very careful not to sentence anyone who has not been proven guilty. I'm not a racist and do not subscribe to any of the tenets of racism. In all honesty and sincerity it can be stated that I wish nothing but freedom, justice and equality: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people. Now my first concern, of course, is with the group to which I belong, for we, more than any others, are deprived of our inalienable rights. But I believe the true practice of Islam can remove the cancer of racism from the hearts and the souls of all Americans.

Malcolm X
Malcolm X · 1992
★ 2.9
Film · Drama (film) · Drama

That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road and when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town and when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama, and that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean and when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going.

Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump · 1994
★ 2.1
Film · Drama (film) · Teen (film) · Drama · Teen

The mind is like a muscle, okay, and if you want it to be really powerful, you got to work it out. Ok? Each new fact gives you another choice. Each new idea builds another muscle, okay, and it’s those muscles that are going to make you really strong. Those are your weapons and in this unsafe world, I want to arm you...Look, okay, if at the end of the term, you’re not faster, stronger, and smarter, you will have lost nothing. But if you are, you’ll be that much tougher to knock down.

Louanne Johnson
Dangerous Minds · 1995
★ 1.9
Film · Biography (film) · Drama (film) · Biography · Drama

What truly is logic? Who decides reason? My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back. I have made the most important discovery of my career—the most important discovery of my life. It is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I am only here tonight because of you. You are the reason I am. You are all my reasons. Thank you.

John Nash
A Beautiful Mind · 2001
★ 1.9
Film · Crime (film) · Drama (film) · Crime · Drama

You know, when Khruschev was forced out, he sat down and he wrote two letters and gave them to his successor. He said, "When you get yourself into a situation you can't get out of, open the first letter, and you'll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can't get out of, open the second letter." Well, soon enough, this guy found himself in a tight place so you open the first letter which says blame everything on me. So he blamed the old man, it worked like a charm. When he got himself into a second situation he couldn't get out of, he opened the second letter. It said, "Sit down, and write two letters."

General Ralph Landry
Traffic · 2000
★ 1.9
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