When it comes to unforgettable cinema, great movie monologues can elevate a film from good to iconic. In this post, we'll highlight the best movie monologues for men, shining a light on those powerful performances that stay with us long after the credits roll. These monologues are often the emotional core of the films they belong to, offering a profound glimpse into a character's inner world.
Consider Sean's monologue in Good Will Hunting, where Robin Williams delivers a moving speech about the difference between knowledge and experience, striking a chord with both the protagonist, Will, and the audience. Then there's Forrest's monologue in Forrest Gump, where Tom Hanks' simple yet poignant delivery reflects on the unexpected twists and turns of life, capturing the essence of the character's enduring optimism. And who could forget Red's monologue in The Shawshank Redemption? Morgan Freeman's reflective narration about hope and freedom adds depth and gravity to an already powerful story, leaving an indelible mark on viewers.
Now, it's your turn to weigh in. Scroll through our list and vote for your favorite movie monologues for men. Whether it's the heartfelt wisdom of Sean, the earnest reflections of Forrest, or the hopeful resilience of Red, your votes will help determine which performances are truly the most impactful. So sit back, relive these cinematic gems, and let us know which monologues resonate with you the most.
1You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't.
Little Forrest, he's doin' just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teachin' him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny.
You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze.
But I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happenin' at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
2So if I asked you about art you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo? You know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientation, the whole works, right? But I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. Seen that.
If I asked you about women you’d probably give me a syllabus of your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can’t tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy.
You’re a tough kid. I ask you about war, and you’d probably, uh, throw Shakespeare at me, right? ‘Once more into the breach, dear friends.’ But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap and watched him gasp his last breath, looking to you for help.
And if I asked you about love you probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone could level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel on earth just for you…who could rescue you from the depths of hell. And you wouldn’t know what it’s like to be her angel and to have that love for her to be there forever. Through anything. Through cancer. You wouldn’t know about sleeping sitting up in a hospital room for two months holding her hand because the doctors could see in your eyes that the term visiting hours don’t apply to you.
You don’t know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you’ve ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you; I don’t see an intelligent, confident man; I see a cocky, scared sh*tless kid.
But you’re a genius, Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine and you ripped my f*ckin’ life apart. You’re an orphan right? Do you think I’d know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you?
Personally, I don’t give a sh*t about all that, because you know what? I can’t learn anything from you I can’t read in some f*ckin’ book. Unless you wanna talk about you, who you are. And I’m fascinated. I’m in. But you don’t wanna do that, do you, sport? You’re terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Gus Van Sant
3Pulp Fiction - Jules Winnfield
I'm givin' you that money so I don't have to kill your ass. You read the Bible, Ringo?...Well, there's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. 'The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you.'
I been saying that sh*t for years, and if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded sh* to say to a mother f*cker before I popped a cap in his ass.
But I saw some sh*t this mornin' made me think twice. See, now I'm thinkin' maybe it means you're the evil man and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. 9-millimeter here, he's the shepherd protectin' 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.
Now, I'd like that. But that sh*t 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. Go.
4Ray. People will come, Ray. They’ll come to Iowa for reasons they can’t even fathom. They’ll turn into your driveway, not knowing for sure why they’re doing it. They’ll arrive at your door, as innocent as children, longing for the past.
'Of course, we won’t mind if you look around,' you’ll say, 'It’s only twenty dollars per person.' And they’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they’ll walk off to the bleachers and sit in their short sleeves on a perfect afternoon. And find they have reserved seats somewhere along the baselines where they sat when they were children. And cheer their heroes. And they’ll watch the game, and it’ll be as they’d dipped themselves in magic waters.
The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
5Rehabilitated?
Well, now, let me see.
You know, I don’t have any idea what that means. I know what you think it means, sonny.
To me, it’s just a made up word. A politician’s word, sonny. Young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job.
What do you really want to know?
Am I sorry for what I did?
There’s not a day goes by I don’t feel regret. Not because I’m in here. Because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then. A young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him. Tell him the way things are.
But I can’t.
That kid’s long gone and this old man’s all that’s left.
I got to live with that.
Rehabilitated? That’s just a bullsh*t word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time.
Because, to tell you the truth, I don’t give a sh*t.
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Frank Darabont
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6This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the first World War. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up till then people just carried pocket watches.
It was bought by private Doughboy Erine Coolidge on the day he set sail for Paris. It was your great-grandfather’s war watch and he wore it everyday he was in that war. When he had done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, took the watch off, put it an old coffee can, and in that can it stayed ’til your granddad Dane Coolidge was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again.
This time they called it World War II. Your great-grandfather gave this watch to your granddad for good luck. Unfortunately, Dane’s luck wasn’t as good as his old man’s. Dane was a Marine and he was killed — along with the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island.
Your granddad was facing death, he knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leavin’ that island alive. So three days before the Japanese took the island, your granddad asked a gunner on an Air Force transport name of Winocki, a man he had never met before in his life, to deliver to his infant son, who he’d never seen in the flesh, his gold watch.
Three days later, your granddad was dead. But Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father, his Dad’s gold watch. This watch.
This watch was on your Daddy’s wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured, put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew if the gooks ever saw the watch it’d be confiscated, taken away. The way your Dad looked at it, that watch was your birthright. He’d be d*mned if any slopes were gonna put their greasy yella hands on his boy’s birthright.
So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
- 1Reservoir Dogs183 Votes
- 2Goodfellas151 Votes
- 3The Godfather113 Votes
7Now if one were to determine what attribute the German people share with a beast, it would be the cunning and the predatory instinct of a hawk. But if one were to determine what attributes the Jews share with a beast, it would be that of the rat. If a rat were to walk in here right now as I’m talking, would you treat it with a saucer of your delicious milk? (LaPadite: “Probably not”) I didn’t think so. You don’t like them. You don’t really know why you don’t like them. All you know is you find them repulsive.
Consequently, a German soldier conducts a search of a house suspected of hiding Jews. Where does the hawk look? He looks in the barn, he looks in the attic, he looks in the cellar, he looks everywhere he would hide, but there’s so many places it would never occur to a hawk to hide. However, the reason the Führer’s brought me off my Alps in Austria and placed me in French cow country today is because it does occur to me. Because I’m aware what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity.
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
8A Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin’ back, from the island of Tinian Delady, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into that water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn’t see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer.
You know, you know what when you’re in the water, chief? You tell by lookin’ from the dorsal to the tail. Well, we didn’t know. ‘Cause our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn’t even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin’. So we formed ourselves into tight groups.
You know it’s…kinda like ‘ol squares in a battle like a, you see on a calender, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark would go for the nearest man and then he’d start poundin’ and hollerin’ and screamin’ and sometimes the shark would go away.
Sometimes he wouldn’t go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know that thing about a shark, he’s got…lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin’ and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin’ and hollerin’ they all come in and rip ya to pieces.Y’know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men!
I donk’t know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don’t know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin’ chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson of Cleveland. Baseball player. Bosom’s mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended.
Well…he’d been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and saw us. He’d a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up.
You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin’ for my turn. I’ll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest. June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
- Released: 1975
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
9Let me have your attention for a moment! So you’re talking about what? You’re talking about…b*tching about that sale you shot, some son of a b*tch that doesn’t want to buy, somebody that doesn’t want what you’re selling, some broad you’re trying to screw and so forth. Let’s talk about something important. Are they all here?
Well, I’m going anyway. Let’s talk about something important! Put that coffee down! Coffee’s for closers only. Do you think I’m f*cking with you? I am not f*cking with you. I’m here from downtown. I’m here from Mitch and Murray. And I’m here on a mission of mercy. Your name’s Levene?
You call yourself a salesman, you son of a b*tch?
You certainly don’t pal. Cause the good news is — you’re fired. The bad news is you’ve got, all you got, just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonight’s sit. Oh, have I got your attention now? Good. Cause we’re adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize’s a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired. You get the picture? You’re laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them! You can’t close the leads you’re given, you can’t close sh*t, you ARE sh*t, hit the bricks pal and beat it cause you are going out!!!
The leads are weak. F*cking leads are weak? You’re weak. I’ve been in this business fifteen years.
F*CK YOU, that’s my name!! You know why, Mister? ‘Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove a eighty thousand dollar BMW. That’s my name! And your name is ‘you’re wanting.’ And you can’t play in a man’s game. You can’t close them. And you go home and tell your wife your troubles. Because only one thing counts in this life! Get them to sign on the line which is dotted! You hear me, you f*cking f*ggots?
A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!! A-I-D-A. Attention, interest, decision, action. Attention — do I have your attention? Interest — are you interested? I know you are because it’s f*ck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks! Decision — have you made your decision for Christ?!! And action. A-I-D-A; get out there!! You got the prospects comin’ in; you think they came in to get out of the rain? Guy doesn’t walk on the lot unless he wants to buy. Sitting out there waiting to give you their money! Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it? What’s the problem pal? You. Moss.
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: James Foley
10I’d like to, I’d like to say something that I’ve prepared tonight. Hello. How ’bout that ride in? I guess that’s why they call it Sin City. You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own.
And my wolf pack, it grew by one. So – there were two of us in the wolf pack. I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, ‘Wait a second, could it be?’ And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast! (He pulled out a knife and cut his palm) Blood brothers!
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Todd Phillips
11You may sit down, Mr. O'Malley. You think you can run this school? If you could, then I wouldn't be here, would I? No one talks in my meetings. NO ONE! You take out your pencils and write. I want the names of every hoodlum, drug dealer, and miscreant who's done nothing but take this place apart on my desk by noon today. Reverend Slappy...you are now the chief custodian, Reverend Slappy. You will scour this building clean. Graffiti goes up is off the next day. Is that clear?
Detention students can help you. Let them scrub this place for awhile, and tear down those cages in the cafeteria. You treat them like animals, that's exactly how they'll behave! This is my new Dean of Security, Mr. William Wright. He will be my Avenging Angel, as you teachers reclaim the halls. This is an institution of learning, ladies and gentlemen. If you can't control it, how can you teach?! Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm! Mr. Zorella...Mr. Zorella, you are now my new Head Football Coach. Mr. Darnell. Stand up, Mr. Darnell. Mr. Darnell will be your assistant. You know why you're being demoted, Mr. Darnell? Because I'm sick and tired of our football team getting pushed all over the field. Thank you. Sit down. I want precision. I want a weight program. And if you don't like it, Mr. Darnell, you can quit.
Same goes for the rest of ya. You tried it your way for years. And your students can't even get past the Minimum Basic Skills Test. That means they can hardly read!! They've given me less than one year, one school year to turn this place around, to get those test scores up, so the state will not take us over to perform the tasks which you have failed to do! To educate our children! Forget about the way it used to be. This is not a d*mn democracy. We are in a state of emergency and my word is law. There's only one boss in this place, and that's me - the "HNIC." [Head N*gger in Charge] Are there any questions?
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: John G. Avildsen
12Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Forget everything you've seen on television and in the movies. There's not gonna be any last minute surprise witnesses. Nobody's gonna break down on the stand with a tearful confession. You're gonna be presented with a simple fact: Andrew Beckett was fired. You'll hear two explanations for why he was fired: ours and theirs. It is up to you to sift through layer upon layer of truth until you determine for yourselves which version sounds the most true. There are certain points that I must prove to you.
Point number one, Andrew Beckett was - is a brilliant lawyer, great lawyer. Point number two, Andrew Beckett, afflicted with a debilitating disease, made the understandable, the personal, the legal choice to keep the fact of his illness to himself. Point number three, his employers discovered his illness, and ladies and gentlemen, the illness I am referring to is AIDS. Point number four, they panicked. And in their panic, they did what most of us would like to do with AIDS, which is just get it, and everybody who has it, as far away from the rest of us as possible.
Now, the behavior of Andrew Beckett's employers may seem reasonable to you. It does to me. After all, AIDS is a deadly, incurable disease. But no matter how you come to judge Charles Wheeler and his partners in ethical, moral, and inhuman terms, the fact of the matter is, when they fired Andrew Beckett because he had AIDS, they broke the law.
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Jonathan Demme
13My desert island all-time top five most memorable breakups, in chronological order are as follows: Alison Ashmore, Penny Hardwick, Jackie Alden, Charlie Nicholson, and Sarah Kendrew. Those were the ones that really hurt. Can you see your name on that list, Laura? Maybe you'd sneak into the top ten. But there's just no room for you in the top five. Sorry! Those places are reserved for the kind of humiliation and heartbreak you're just not capable of delivering. If you really wanted to mess me up, you should have got to me earlier!
Which brings us to number one on the top five all-time breakup list: Alison Ashmore. One moment they weren't there, not in any form that interested us, anyway. And then the next, you couldn't miss them. They were everywhere. And they'd grown breasts. And we wanted - actually we didn't even know what we wanted. But it was something interesting, disturbing even. My relationship with Alison Ashmore lasted for six hours: the two hours after school before the 'The Rockford Files' for three days in a row. But on the fourth afternoon, Kevin Bannister....It would be nice to think that since I was 14, times have changed. Relationships have become more sophisticated. Females less cruel. Skins thicker. Instincts more developed. But there seems to be an element of that afternoon in everything that's happened to me since. All my romantic stories are a scrambled version of that first one.
Number two on the top five all-time breakup list was Penny Hardwick. Penny was great lookin', and her top five recording artists were Carly Simon, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Elton John...She was nice. Nice manners, nice grades, nice looking. She was so nice, in fact, that she wouldn't let me put my hand underneath or even on top of her bra. Attack and defense. Invasion and repulsion. It was as if breasts were little pieces of property that had been unlawfully annexed by the opposite sex. They were rightfully ours and we wanted them back.
Sometimes I got so bored of trying to touch her breast that I would try to touch her between her legs. It was like trying to borrow a dollar, getting turned down, and asking for 50 grand instead. I wasn't interested in Penny's nice qualities, just breasts. And therefore, she was no good to me...I started dating a girl who everyone said would give it up and who didn't. And Penny went with this a*shole named Chris Thompson who told me that he had sex with her after something like three dates.
Number three in the top five all-time breakup list? Charlie Nicholson. Sophomore year of college. As soon as I saw her, I realized she was the kind of girl I'd wanted to meet ever since I was old enough to want to meet girls. I mean, she was different. She was dramatic and she was exotic. And she talked a lot and when she talked she said remarkably interesting things about music, books, film and politics. And she talked a lot. And she liked me. She liked me. She liked me. At least I think she did...We went out for two years and I never got comfortable.
Why would a girl, no, a woman, like Charlie go out with me? I felt like a fraud. I felt like one of those people who suddenly shave their heads and said they'd always been punks. I was sure I'd be discovered at any second. And I worried about my abilities as a lover. And I was intimidated by other men in her design department and became convinced she was gonna leave me for one of them. Then she left me for one of them. The dreaded Marco. And I lost it. Kinda lost it all. Faith, dignity, about fifteen pounds.
When I came to a few months later, I found to my surprise I had flunked out of school. Started working at a record shop. Some people never got over 'Nam or the night their band opened for Nirvana. I guess I never really got over Charlie. But the thing I learned from the whole Charlie debacle - you gotta punch your weight. You see, Charlie, she's out of my class. She's too pretty. Too smart. Too witty. Too much. I mean, what am I? I'm a middleweight. Hey, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm certainly not the dumbest. I mean, I've read books like 'Unbearable Lightness of Being' and 'Love in the Time of Cholera.' And I think I've understood them. They're about girls, right? Just kidding... Anyway, me and Charlie, we didn't match. Marco and Charlie matched.
But me and Sarah, number four on the all-time list, we matched. She'd just been dumped by some a*shole named Michael...I'd just been run over by Charlie...It made sense to pool our collective loathing for the opposite sex and while we were at it, we get to share a bed with somebody at the same time. We were frightened of being left alone for the rest of our lives. Only people of a certain disposition are frightened of being left alone for the rest of their lives at 26. We were of that disposition. So when she told me -- ("I met someone else")...it was contrary to the whole spirit of our arrangement. So how come I got dumped?...
For a couple of years, I was DJ at a club. I was good at it, I think. And while I was doing it, it was the happiest I've ever been. And that's where I met Laura. She was already a lawyer but she worked for legal aid, hence the leather jacket and clubbing. Oh, I liked her right away...To be honest, I hadn't met anyone as promising as Laura since I started deejaying, and meeting promising women is kind of what the deejaying thing is supposed to be about. And anyway, we, we moved on from there. She lost her lease on her apartment in Lakeview, and she moved in with me. And it stayed that way for years. She didn't make me miserable, or anxious, or ill-at-ease. And you know, it sounds boring, but it wasn't. It wasn't spectacular, either. It was just - good. But really good.
So, how come I'm suddenly an a*shole?...One: That I slept with someone else...while she, Laura, was pregnant...Two: That my affair directly contributed... Three: That after the abortion, I borrowed a large sum of money from her... And have not, as of yet, repaid any of it....Four: That shortly before she left me, I told her that I was kind of unhappy in the relationship and maybe sort of lookin' around for someone else...Did I do and say those things?...Yes, I did. I am a f*ckin' asshole....That pretty much brings us up to date....What's wrong with me? Seriously. What happened? Why am I doomed to be left? Doomed to be rejected? I need answers...
Number five - Jackie Alden. Jackie Alden's breakup had no effect on my life whatsoever. It was a casual thing and I was glad when it ended. I just slotted her in to bump Laura out of position. But now, congratulations, Laura. You made it to the top five. Number five with a bullet. Welcome.
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Stephen Frears
14Hello, Dad.
Y’know, I remember a lifetime ago I was about three and a half feet tall, weighing only sixty pounds, but every inch your son. Those Saturday mornings, going to work with my dad and we’d pile into that big, green truck. I thought that truck was the… was the biggest truck in the universe, Pop. I remember how important the job we did was. How, if it weren’t for us, people would freeze to death.
I thought you were the strongest man in the world.
Remember those home movies, when Mom would dress up like Loretta Young?
Ice creams, football games, playing hook the tuna, the day I left for California only to come home with the FBI chasing me, that FBI Agent Trout… When he had to get on his knees to put my boots on, you said, 'That’s where you belong, you sonofab*tch, puttin on Georgie’s boots.'
That was a good one, Dad. That was really something. You remember that?
And that time you told me that money wasn’t real?
Well, old man, I’m 42 years old and I’ve finally realised what you were trying to tell me too many years ago. I finally understand.
You’re the best, Dad.
I just wish I could’ve done more for you. Wish we had more time. Anyway, may the wind always be at your back, and the sun always upon your face, and the winds of destiny to carry you aloft, to dance with the stars.
I love you, Dad.
Love, George.
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Ted Demme
15I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be! We all know things are bad — worse than bad — they’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out any more.
We sit in the house, and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.'
Well, I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad. You’ve gotta say, 'I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!' So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, 'I’m as mad as hell,and I’m not going to take this anymore!!'
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Sidney Lumet
16Oh, f*ck you! F*ck you, pal! Jesus, there you go. Trying to pass the buck. I`m the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? Who tried to win back his ex-girlfriend without even discussing how he felt with his present one?
You want to blame somebody? Blame yourself! (mimicking) 'I'm not even supposed to be here today.' You sound like an as*hole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulder, like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here.
Jesus, you over-compensate for havin' what's basically a monkey's job. You push f*ckin' buttons! Anybody could waltz in here and do our jobs. You, you're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante, and badly I might add.
I work in a sh*tty video store, badly as well. You know, that guy Jay's got it right, man, he has no delusions about what he does. Us - we like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the people that come in here to buy a paper or God forbid, cigarettes. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, if we're so f*ckin' advanced, what are we doin' working here?
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Kevin Smith
17I have an M.D. from Harvard, I am board certified in cardio-thoracic medicine and trauma surgery, I have been awarded citations from seven different medical boards in New England, and I am never, ever sick at sea.
So I ask you; when someone goes into that chapel and they fall on their knees and they pray to God that their wife doesn't miscarry or that their daughter doesn't bleed to death or that their mother doesn't suffer acute neural trama from postoperative shock, who do you think they're praying to?
Now, go ahead and read your Bible, Dennis, and you go to your church, and, with any luck, you might win the annual raffle, but if you're looking for God, he was in operating room number two on November 17, and he doesn't like to be second guessed.
You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God.
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Harold Becker
18Come in, come in. You prefer to speak to me alone? You can’t speak. So why don’t you flap your arms about and have what’s his name tell me where you’ve been. Or do you think I don’t know? Your own company?
This makes you my competitor. You’re making such a misstep. What are you doing? Say it. You’ve got something to say? Then say it. I’d like to hear you speak instead of your little dog, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof..... You’re killing us with what you’re doing. You’re killing my image of you as my son. You’re not my son.
Well it’s the truth, you’re not my son. You never have been. You’re an orphan. Did you ever hear that word? Tell him what I said. You operated here today like one. I should have seen this coming. I should have known that under this, all these years you’ve been building your hate for me piece by piece.
I don’t even know who you are because you have none of me in you. You’re someone else’s. This anger, your maliciousness. Backwards dealings with me. You’re an orphan from a basket in the middle of the desert. And I took you for no other reason than I needed a sweet face to buy land. Did you get that? Now you know. Look at me. You’re lower than a b*stard. You have none of me in you. You’re just a b*stard from a basket.
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
19How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to feel the straps on your shoulders. Feel 'em? Now I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. You start with the little things. The things on shelves and in drawers, the knick-knacks, the collectibles. Feel the weight as that adds up. Then you start adding larger stuff, clothes, table-top appliances, lamps, linens, your TV.
The backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. And you go bigger. Your couch, bed, your kitchen table. Stuff it all in there. Your car, get it in there. Your home, whether it's a studio apartment or a two bedroom house. I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now try to walk. It's kind of hard, isn't it? This is what we do to ourselves on a daily basis. We weigh ourselves down until we can't even move. And make no mistake, moving is living.
Now, I'm gonna set that backpack on fire. What do you want to take out of it? What do you want to take out of it? Photos? Photos are for people who can't remember. Drink some ginkgo and let the photos burn. In fact, let everything burn and imagine waking up tomorrow with nothing. It's kind of exhilarating, isn't it?
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Now, this is gonna be a little difficult, so stay with me. You have a new backpack. Only this time, I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office, and then you move into the people that you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend or your girlfriend.
You get them into that backpack. And don't worry. I'm not gonna ask you to light it on fire. Feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake - your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. Do you feel the straps cutting into your shoulders?
All those negotiations and arguments, and secrets and compromises. You don't need to carry all that weight. Why don't you set that bag down? Some animals were meant to carry each other, to live symbiotically for a lifetime - star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not those animals. The slower we move, the faster we die. We are not swans. We're sharks.
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Jason Reitman
20From the oldest of times, people danced for a number of reasons. They danced in prayer or so that their crops would be plentiful, or so their hunt would be good. And they danced to stay physically fit and show their community spirit. And they danced to celebrate. And that, that is the dancing that we're talking about.
Aren't we told in Psalm 149: 'Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song. Let them praise His name in the dance'?...It was King David - King David, who we read about in Samuel - and, and what did David do? What did David do? What did David do? (laughter) 'David danced before the Lord with all his might, leaping, leaping and dancing before the Lord.'
Leaping and dancing! Ecclesiastes assures us that there is a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to laugh and a time to weep. A time to mourn and there is a time to dance. And there was a time for this law, but not anymore. See, this is our time to dance. It is our way of, of celebrating life. It's the way it was in the beginning. It's the way it's always been. It's the way it should be now.- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Herbert Ross
