100+ Best Movie Quotes of All Time: The Definitive List

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Published: May 29, 2026

A great movie quote does one thing: it leaves the screen, enters everyday conversation, and stays there for decades. The best ones are short, specific, and somehow universal. You can drop them into a text message, a toast, or a comeback, and they still land.

This list pulls from nearly a century of cinema. It draws on critical consensus and cultural longevity. For a broader look at the greatest films ever made, that’s a good place to start.

The best movie quotes of all time may not be what you remember

Every quote here is presented verbatim, exactly as spoken on screen. Bogart never said, “Play it again, Sam.” Ray Liotta never said, “If you build it, they will come.” Schwarzenegger absolutely did say, “I’ll be back.” Where a famous misquote exists, I’ve included a small note. After all, cinema has been producing language worth stealing for a hundred years. The least we can do is get the words right

I’ve organised the 100 best movie quotes into twelve categories by tone and theme. Whether you’re here for the villains, the lovers, or the lines you’ve been getting wrong for years, you’ll find them all below.

The Untouchables

These ten quotes need no introduction. They are cinema’s shared language: the lines that have appeared on bumper stickers, in presidential speeches, and on every list like this one for decades. You already know them. Seeing where they come from makes them land differently.

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
— Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind (1939)

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
— Rick Blaine, Casablanca (1942)

“May the Force be with you.”
— Various Characters (first said by General Jan Dodonna during the pre-battle briefing before the Death Star attack.), Star Wars (1977)

“You talkin’ to me?”
— Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver (1976)

“I’ll be back.”
— The Terminator, The Terminator (1984)

“Bond. James Bond.”
— James Bond, Dr. No (1962)

“There’s no place like home.”
— Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

“You can’t handle the truth!”
— Col. Nathan R. Jessup, A Few Good Men (1992)

“Rosebud.”
— Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane (1941)

“I’m the king of the world!”
— Jack Dawson, Titanic (1997)

Villain Lines

Cinema’s great screen villains have always gotten the best dialogue. These are the lines that made audiences lean back in their seats. Menacing, cold, sometimes darkly funny: they stick because the character delivering them means every word.

“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
— Vito Corleone, The Godfather (1972)

“A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
— Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

“Say ‘hello’ to my little friend!”
— Tony Montana, Scarface (1983)

“Here’s Johnny!”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining (1980)

“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!”
— Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

“Hasta la vista, baby.”
— The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

“No, I am your father.” (Often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father”)
— Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

“Why so serious?”
— The Joker, The Dark Knight (2008)

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.”
— Norman Bates, Psycho (1960)

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part II (1974)

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” (Often misquoted as the shorter “Greed is good”)
— Gordon Gekko, Wall Street (1987)

“The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.”
— Tyler Durden, Fight Club (1999)

Love and Heartbreak

Cinema has always been the world’s best at capturing what love sounds like, from the first spark to the final goodbye. These lines come from the greatest romantic films ever made, and many of them hit harder precisely because you know how the story ends.

Casablanca (1942)

No single film has produced more quotable lines about love than Casablanca. Four of the eleven entries in this category come from the same 102-minute film. That tells you everything about the writing.

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
— Rick Blaine, Casablanca (1942)

“We’ll always have Paris.”
— Rick Blaine, Casablanca (1942)

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
— Rick Blaine, Casablanca (1942)

“Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.’” (Often misquoted as “Play it again, Sam” — a line nobody in the film says)
— Ilsa Lund, Casablanca (1942)

The Rest

“You had me at ‘hello.’”
— Dorothy Boyd, Jerry Maguire (1996)

“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
— Jennifer Cavalleri, Love Story (1970)

“You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”
— Marie Browning, To Have and Have Not (1944)

“I’ll have what she’s having.”
— Customer, When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
— Johnny Castle, Dirty Dancing (1987)

“As you wish.”
— Westley, The Princess Bride (1987)

“Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?” (Often misquoted as “Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?”)
— Lady Lou, She Done Him Wrong (1933)

Wit and Comedy

The funniest lines in cinema history arrive at exactly the right moment. Comedy as a film genre gave us some of the sharpest writing the medium has ever produced, and these quotes prove it. Several of them were improvised, which makes them even harder to explain.

“Well, nobody’s perfect.”
— Osgood Fielding III, Some Like It Hot (1959)

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”
— President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove (1964)

“One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.”
— Capt. Geoffrey T. Spaulding, Animal Crackers (1930)

“Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”
— Oliver Hardy, Sons of the Desert (1933)

“La-dee-da, la-dee-da.”
— Annie Hall, Annie Hall (1977)

“Snap out of it!”
— Loretta Castorini, Moonstruck (1987)

“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
— Benjamin Braddock, The Graduate (1967)

“I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.”
— Jessica Rabbit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

“Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?”
— Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

“We’re on a mission from God.”
— Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers (1980)

Striker: “Surely you can’t be serious.” Rumack: “I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.”
— Ted Striker and Dr. Rumack, Airplane! (1980)

Stand Up and Fight

Defiance, rebellion, and righteous fury. These lines gave audiences a clenched fist. Some are cold and precise, some are pure adrenaline, but every one of them is the sound of someone refusing to back down.

“Go ahead, make my day.”
— Harry Callahan, Sudden Impact (1983)

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
— Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry (1971)

“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
— Howard Beale, Network (1976)

“I’m walkin’ here! I’m walkin’ here!”
— “Ratso” Rizzo, Midnight Cowboy (1969)

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
— Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride (1987)

“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”
— William Wallace, Braveheart (1995)

“Get away from her, you bitch!”
— Ellen Ripley, Aliens (1986)

“Yippee-ki-yay, motherf***er.”
— John McClane, Die Hard (1988)

“They call me Mister Tibbs!”
— Virgil Tibbs, In the Heat of the Night (1967)

“Attica! Attica!”
— Sonny Wortzik, Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Words to Live By

Some quotes stick because they function as genuine life advice. These lines escaped the screen and became something closer to philosophy: short enough to remember, true enough to carry with you.

“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
— John Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)

“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
— Lou Gehrig, The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
— Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
— Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
— Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight (2008)

“My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” (Often misquoted as the shorter “Life is like a box of chocolates”)
— Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump (1994)

“You is kind, you is smart, you is important.”
— Aibileen Clark, The Help (2011)

“If you build it, he will come.” (Often misquoted as “they will come”)
— Shoeless Joe Jackson, Field of Dreams (1989)

“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!”
— Mame Dennis, Auntie Mame (1958)

Horror and Dread

The lines that made you check the back seat, sleep with the lights on, or suddenly feel watched. Horror cinema has produced some of the most economical writing in the medium: a few words, and the temperature drops.

“I see dead people.”
— Cole Sear, The Sixth Sense (1999)

“My precious.”
— Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.”
— Count Dracula, Dracula (1931)

“It’s alive! It’s alive!”
— Henry Frankenstein, Frankenstein (1931)

“They’re here!”
— Carol Anne Freeling, Poltergeist (1982)

“Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”
— Carl Denham, King Kong (1933)

Crime and Corruption

Film noir and the crime genre gave cinema some of its most quotable writing, where every line carries the weight of a world where the rules belong to someone else. These quotes are clipped, direct, and often haunting.

“Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
— Lawrence Walsh, Chinatown (1974)

“Round up the usual suspects.”
— Capt. Louis Renault, Casablanca (1942)

“The stuff that dreams are made of.”
— Sam Spade, The Maltese Falcon (1941)

“A martini. Shaken, not stirred.”
— James Bond, Goldfinger (1964)

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”
— Peter Clemenza, The Godfather (1972)

“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather (1972)

“We rob banks.”
— Clyde Barrow, Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

War and Conflict

The best war films tend to find dark poetry in the worst circumstances. These quotes land somewhere between horror and absurdity, which is often where the truth lives.

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
— Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore, Apocalypse Now (1979)

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.”
— Captain, Cool Hand Luke (1967)

“Soylent Green is people!”
— Det. Robert Thorn, Soylent Green (1973)

“Houston, we have a problem.” (The actual Apollo 13 transmission was “Houston, we’ve had a problem”)
— Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 (1995)

“Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”
— Arthur “Cody” Jarrett, White Heat (1949)

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Science fiction and fantasy gave cinema some of its most quotable lines because the stakes are always existential: identity, survival, what it means to be human. These six quotes span eight decades and cover almost every register from terror to joy.

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” (Often misquoted as “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore”)
— Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz (1939)

“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
— Dave Bowman, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

“E.T. phone home.”
— E.T., E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

“Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape.”
— George Taylor, Planet of the Apes (1968)

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
— Dr. Emmett Brown, Back to the Future (1985)

“To infinity and beyond!”
— Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story (1995)

Triumph and Glory

The victory lap. The peak. The moment the crowd goes wild. These lines arrive at the top of a climb, and every one of them earns it.

“Show me the money!”
— Rod Tidwell, Jerry Maguire (1996)

“There’s no crying in baseball!”
— Jimmy Dugan, A League of Their Own (1992)

“I feel the need—the need for speed!”
— Pete Mitchell and Nick Bradshaw, Top Gun (1986)

“Are you not entertained?”
— Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator (2000)

“Yo, Adrian!”
— Rocky Balboa, Rocky (1976)

Drama and Longing

Not every great line is a punchline or a battle cry. Some of the most enduring quotes in cinema are simply beautiful: melancholy, graceful, or achingly specific to a moment that never comes back.

“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard (1950)

“I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.”
— Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard (1950)

“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” (Often misquoted as “bumpy ride”)
— Margo Channing, All About Eve (1950)

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
— Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

“Stella! Hey, Stella!”
— Stanley Kowalski, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

“Oh, Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.”
— Charlotte Vale, Now, Voyager (1942)

“After all, tomorrow is another day!”
— Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind (1939)

“As God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again.”
— Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind (1939)

Honorable Mentions

A hundred quotes is never really enough. These fifteen didn’t make the final cut — some because they fall outside the Hollywood canon, some because they come from animation or cult cinema, and a few simply because one hundred is an arbitrary number and the list could have gone differently on another day. They belong here anyway.

The Cult Ones

“You’re tearing me apart, Lisa!” — Johnny, The Room (2003)

“I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!” — Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood (2007)

“I want to play a game.” — John Kramer, Saw (2004)

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” — Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects (1995)

Animation

“Just keep swimming.” — Dory, Finding Nemo (2003)

“I am Groot.” — Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

“I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now.” — Edna Mode, The Incredibles (2004)

“Some people are worth melting for.” — Olaf, Frozen (2013)

The Blockbuster Era

“You shall not pass!” — Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

“It’s not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me.” — Batman, Batman Begins (2005) (note: originally spoken to Bruce by Rachel Dawes; he echoes it back at the film’s end)

“I am Iron Man.” — Tony Stark, Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Heartbreak and Longing

“I wish I knew how to quit you.” — Jack Twist, Brokeback Mountain (2005)

“We accept the love we think we deserve.” — Mr. Anderson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

The Ones That Stayed

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” — Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part III (1990)

“I see you.” — Neytiri, Avatar (2009)