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Besides the Joker, Harley Quinn is probably the most famous villain from the Batman franchise, but the pair are two of a kind.
Named Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, the character is inspired by the word harlequin, which is a similar form of court jester that typically is masked, mute, and dressed in a diamond pattern costume.
Harley Quinn has all the madness of Joker and all the cool, sleek, and sensuousness of Catwoman, which makes her a fan favorite villain.
Being “madly” in love with Joker, she’s also terrifyingly unstable, with similar dark impulses that coincide with a demented sense of humor. Basically, she’s the full package!
Also, check out the Joker dishing out some wisdom in the Best Deep Joker Quotes here.
Fans of the character will likely know that Harley Quinn wasn’t always a Batman comics staple – in fact, she was introduced in the 1992 Batman: The Animated Series show, and became so popular that she became a mainstream DC character with her own film series.
Below we’ve gathered some of the best collection of Harley Quinn and Joker’s top quotes, romantic dialogues, sassy one-liners, and funny and famous sayings from the Batman franchise along with some background to explain them in context.
Check them out below:
1. “A-Okay, Mr. J”
This quote represents Harley Quinn’s enduring loyalty to Joker. Harley Quinn always called Joker “Mr. J” both as a term of endearment and also as a show of loyalty.
Since this loyalty typically knows no bounds, she’s been known to beat up anyone who insults her man.
This was true when she faced off against Lex Luther’s henchwoman Mercy during the episode The World’s Finest of Superman: The Animated Series.
The two fight each other offscreen as Lex and Joker casually discuss the terms of their disagreement, occasionally entering the frame now and then to slug one another and then popping off.
It’s a hilarious scene and ends when Lex gets what he wants and calls off Mercy. A beat, bruised, and bedazzled Harley Quinn wobbles up next to Joker as he asks:
The Joker: How you doin’, slugger?
Harley Quinn: [weakly] A-OK, Mr. J.
Check out the scene below:
Want more from the Joker? Check out the Best Joker Quotes from The Dark Knight here.
2. “I got you a kitty.”
As Harley Quinn’s character is introduced in the original 2016 Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller narrates as we see then Arkham psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel treating the clown himself.
Only the problem is, that she wasn’t exactly “curing him” but falling in love with him.
Joker tells Dr. Harleen that he lives for the moments with her. Her response:
Harley Quinn: “I got you a kitty.”
Joker: “So thoughtful”
As Amanda Waller narrates, we see how Harley Quinn swoons over the Joker. The scene continues:
Joker: “There is something you could do for me, Doctor.”
Harley Quinn: “Anything. I mean, yeah.”
Joker: “I need a machine gun”
Harley Quinn: A machine gun?”
Here’s the full scene below:
3. “Back off bats, or say ciao to your girlfriend – cat chow, that is”
In this episode of Batman: The Animated Series called Almost Got ‘Im, Joker shares his story of how he almost got Batman. Joker and Harley Quin hold a TV crew hostage, and they have batman tied to an electric chair that’s powered by laughter.
Harley is essentially the producer of the show, so she introduces Joker as the “late-night host.”
Harley Quinn: “It’s Late Night Gotham Live, and here’s the man who puts a smile on your face whether you want it or not, The Joker!”
The Joker: “Good evening folks, I’m The Joker: living proof that you don’t have to be crazy to host this show, but it helps! Ha ha!”
[Harley Quinn does a drum fill]The Joker: “We’ve got a real treat for you kids. I ran into my first guest last night after making a withdrawal from the bank. You know him as the dark knight, but we prefer to think of him as history. Here he is, the one and only batman… So, how’s Robin? (no response) Moving right along… you know, kids, we’ve got an item here no home should be without. The laughter-activated electric chair. Yes, sir, the merest titter or guffaw starts the chair’s generator revving up towards maximum zappage. Harley?”
Harley Quinn demonstrates the device with a few fake laughs.
The Joker: “But for a real demonstration, we’re pumping our studio audience full of my patented laughing gas. These yahoos will laugh at anything now. Even the phone book.”
As the gas fills the room, Harley Quin begins to read from the phone book.
Harley Quinn: Marvin Abbot, 555-8976. Gerald Adam, 555-9011. Mary Jane Addison, 555-”
And then Catwoman arrives to save the day. Check it out below:
At the end of the scene, it’s revealed that Joker and Harley Quinn still have Catwoman tied up at the Pussykins pet food factory.
Harley Quin: “I had a kitty once. You know, they don’t always land on their feet. Look on the bright side, tomorrow you’ll be feeding hundreds of hungry cats”
Then Batman shows up.
Harley Quinn: “Back off bats, or say ciao to your girlfriend – cat chow, that is. That’s a good little rodent, and just to make sure you don’t follow me…”
She starts the machine. Batman flies after her to stop it.
Harley Quinn: “Gee Batman, what are you going to do, kick me around or save your kitten? You’ve only got time for one.”
Batman turns off the machine with the emergency stop leve.
Harley Quinn: “Heh. Good call. Help!”
Check out the scene below:
4. “Huh? What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry. The voices.”
This isn’t a scene between Harley Quinn and the Joker per se, but it’s a fantastic quote from Harley in the Suicide Squad as the squad is rolled out and released to the military team that will be managing them during their deadly mission.
Here’s the full context:
Harley Quinn: “Huh? What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry. The voices.”
She chuckles.
Harley Quinn: “I’m kidding! Jeez! That’s not what they really said.”
Here’s the scene:
5. “You can be my own little mermaid.”
This one comes from Batman: The Animated Series. Harley Quinn and Joker are holding one of Gotham’s detectives’ hostage in a deadly aquarium.
Harley expresses the fact that she doesn’t like fish, and Joker seems offended.
Harley Quinn: “Yeeugh. Again with the fish. I hate fish. Uhh, no offense Mr. J.”
Joker: “Aww poor Harley. This caper’s been pretty rough on you, huh?”
Harley Quin: “Uh-huh.”
Joker: “Cheer up. You can be my very own little Mermaid.”
And then he puts a giant fish on her head.
Harley Quinn: “you’re really sick, you know that boss.”
Check out the scene:
Check out the Best Funny Joker Quotes here.
6. “My heart scares you, and a gun doesn’t?”
In the extended cut of Suicide Squad, we see a great flashback where Harley Quinn chases Joker down and demands he take her with him.
She literally crashes her motorcycle in front of his car, which forces him to screech to a stop to avoid crushing her.
He gets out of his car and they have a confrontation.
The Joker: “Oh, you.”
Dr. Harleen Quinzel: “You’re not leaving me. You’re not leaving me!”
The Joker: “You, you, you’re a pain in the ass.”
Dr. Harleen Quinzel: “I have done everything you said. Every test, every trial, every initiation. I have proved I love you. Just accept it.”
The Joker: “Got it, got it, got it, got it. I am not someone who is loved. I’m an idea. A state of mind. I execute *my* will according to my plan. And you, Doctor… are not part of my plan.”
Dr. Harleen Quinzel: “Just let me in. I promise… Let me in! I promise I won’t hurt you!”
The Joker: “A promise-promise?
It’s at this moment that a truck driver who is blocked in by Joker’s car rolls up to them.
Harley easily guns him down, then turns the gun on Joker. He jokingly begs her not to hurt him, but then he gets deadly serious.
The Joker: “Do it. Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it.”
Dr. Harleen Quinzel: “My heart scares you, and a gun doesn’t?”
The Joker: “Do it!”
He snatches the gun away and laughs.
The Joker: “Ah, if you weren’t so crazy, I’d think you were insane. Go… away.”
Here’s the full scene:
If you want to see a mash-up of the best scenes of Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, check out this master cut here:
Also, check out the 15 Best Batman Movie Quotes Ever, Ranked.
7. “Aw Come on puddin’, don’t you want to rev up your Harley? Vroom, vroom!”
One of the best episodes of Harley Quinn’s story is actually from The New Batman Adventures in an episode called Mad Love.
It details Harley Quinn’s obsession with Joker and how toxic it really is.
For instance, in this scene, when Harley Quinn puts on a sultry red dress and tries to seduce Joker, he’s too busy lost in his plans.
She climbs on his desk and says this genius line, which would be totally inappropriate for a kids’ show – if the kids were even aware of what she’s saying.
Check it out below:
Joker’s response is so Joker… he pushes her off the desk. Once he kicks her out of his place, she says this to herself:
“Harley Quinn: ” Face it, Harl, this stinks! You’re a certified nutso wanted in twelve states and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown. At wait point did my life go Looney Tunes? How did it happen? Who’s to blame?… Batman, that’s who. Batman! It’s always been Batman! Ruining my life, spoiling my fun! Coming between me and my Puddin’ from the very beginning…”
Obviously, this leads her to track down Batman to try to put an end to Joker and Batman’s “love affair.” But when she succeeds, things don’t go as planned.
Joker turns on her and pushes her out a window, leaving her in a body cast in Arkham Asylum.
Harley Quinn: “Never again. No more obsession, no more craziness, no more Joker. I finally see that slime for what he is: a murderous, manipulative, irredeemable… (she reads a note from Joker)… angel!”
Check out the whole sequence below:
8. “I’m here to report a terrible crime.” “Which crime is that?” “This one.”
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was so popular she got her own movie called Birds of Prey.
In this epic scene, she takes out a whole police station full of cops with bean bag guns full of confetti and colored paint, color bombs, and her acrobatic fighting skills.
Then when she fights her way through the whole police station, she has to fight her way out of the prison block with all the prisoners.
The line comes at the beginning of the scene, but the whole thing is great.
Check it out here:
9. “It’s a name that puts a smile on my face.”
This scene from Mad Love again, features Joker’s “seduction” of Dr. Harleen Quinzel and depicts how she goes from a psychiatrist to becoming Harley Quinn.
Check it out below:
Joker: “You know sweets, I like what I’ve heard about you. Especially the name. “Harley Quinzel.” Rework it a bit, and you get Harley Quinn.”
Dr. Quinzel: “Like the clown character harlequin. I know. I’ve heard it before.”
Joker: “It’s a name that puts a smile on my face. It makes me feel there’s someone here I can relate to. Someone who might like to hear my secrets…”
Joker begins to relay his secrets to her in therapy. He begins to talk about his upbringing.
Joker: You know, my father used to beat me up pretty badly. Every time I got out of line, BAM! Sometimes I’d just be sitting there doing nothing. POW! Pops tended to favor the grape, you see.”
Harley Quinn: “Uh huh.”
Joker: “There was only one time I saw dad really happy. He took me to the circus when I was seven. I still remember the clowns… running around, dropping their pants… my old man laughed so hard, I thought he’d bust a gut. So the very next night, I ran up to meet him with his best Sunday pants around my ankles. Hi Dad! Look at me! Zwoop! I took a big pratfall and tore the crotch clean out of his pants.
They both break up laughing, Harley to the point of tears.
Joker: “And then he broke my nose. But hey, that’s the downside of comedy. You’re always taking shots from folks who just don’t get the jokes. Like my dad… or Batman.”
Harley Quinn: It soon became clear to me that the Joker, so often described as a raving homicidal madman, was actually a tortured soul crying out for love and acceptance, a lost injured child trying to make the world laugh at his antics… and there as always was the self righteous batman, determined to make life miserable for my angel…Yes I admit it, as unprofessional as it sounds, I’ve fallen in love with my patient. Pretty crazy huh?”
Joker: “Not at all. As a dedicated, career-oriented woman, you felt the need to abstain from all amusement and fun, it’s only natural you’d be attracted to a man who could make you laugh again.”
It turns out, by the end, Joker is giving HER therapy!
Check out the clip here:
10. “You were gonna come back for me, weren’t you Puddin’?”
In this episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Batman uses Harlequin to help him track down Joker before he detonates a nuclear bomb. When they finally catch up to him, she turns on them in order to help Joker escape.
However, Robin throws a wrench in their relationship by pointing out he would have blown her up with the rest of Gotham.
Here’s how the scene plays out:
Harley Quinn: “You were gonna come back for me, weren’t you, Puddin’?”
The Joker: “Of course, Pumpkin Pie. It’s just that, well, here you are. So I can, uh… save myself a trip.”
Harley Quinn: “But what about all our friends? Ivy and Two-Face and… Hat Guy and Lizard Man and Puppet Head and…”
The Joker: “What about them?”
Batman: “Don’t forget your little pets!”
Harley Quinn: “The babies! We can’t leave the babies!”
The Joker: “I’ll buy you a goldfish. Let’s go!”
But then he leaves her behind again! So she goes to untie batman…
Harley Quinn: You know, Bats, I got a crazy idea Mr. J may not be the guy for me after all.
And then as Joker flies away without her, she lashes out at him furiously:
Harley Quinn: “Laugh this off, Puddin'”
She shoots him out of the sky, and as he brings himself out of the rubble, she holds his machine gun to his head.
Harley Quinn: Freeze, clown.
Batman: Quinn! Stop!
Harley Quinn: He’s mine, Bats.
The Joker: You wouldn’t dare. You don’t have the guts. Not in a million years would you…
To see what happens, watch the clip below:
11. “A dream come true, Puddin.”
As you can see, a lot of the relationship between Harley Quinn and Joker is violent and toxic. Joker treats her like a toy he can throw around and she blindly follows him.
Well, the new animated series Harley Quinn rewrite some of that narrative and gives her a baseball bat full of more agency.
In this scene, Harley Quinn revisits her “origin story” and has a tragic realization, which leads to an epiphany about her past that is empowering and damn right funny.
Joker and Harley Quinn fan fiction lovers, this one’s not for you. But it’s my favorite of all the quotes on this list because it’s hilarious and freaking rules. Check it out:
“Harley Quinn: My real origin story didn’t happen here. It happened in your lair. I wasn’t wearing this costume and I wasn’t saying you were a dream come true. I was saying go fuck yourself.“
Check out the full scene below. It’s genius.
Check out more genius quotes from Harley Quinn from the first season of the show, check out this montage below:
This wasn’t the only iteration of the character where she breaks up with Joker. Here’s the scene where Harley Quinn breaks up with Joker from Birds of Prey:
12. “Eh, what are you looking at?”
Joker and Harley fans, look away from this one too. Harley Quinn gets her own episode of Batman: The Animated Series. She spends the whole day “trying” to reenter society and has a really bad day trying.
Batman tries to help her, or at least stop her from causing any worse chaos, and at the end of the day, she asks him why he wanted to help her.
They have a brief exchange, and she can’t help herself – she gives him a big old kiss on the lips.
It’s quite a funny moment, and at the end of it, she catches Poison Ivy watching her.
Check it out here:
Perhaps Harlequin could pursue a new guy now that she and Joker have broken up…
Although, I’d be careful of whoever is going to date her next, as…
13. “Killing kids is kinda a red flag”
In the sequel to the first Suicide Squad, The Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn is back and newly single (from Birds of Prey).
However, she finds out a horrifying discovery about her new boyfriend and ends up having to turn on him.
No spoilers, so all I’ll say is as she does it, she gives a great monologue (excellently performed by Margot Robbie), written below:
“Harley Quinn: I recently made a promise to myself that if I got a new boyfriend I’d be on the lookout for red flags. And I’d murder them. And killing kids is kinda a red flag. I know I know what you’re trying to say, ‘Harley! Why don’t you just leave! And I’d say ‘Why are you screaming at me?! I’m not deaf, I’m standing right here! And then I’d say, when your taste in men is as bad as mine, they don’t go away quietly. They- slash your tires, and they kill your dogs, and tell you that the music you like isn’t real music at all, and all the cruelty- tears you apart after awhile. You were real pretty and all, and R.I.P to that absolutely beautiful monster between your legs, but all and all, I think you’re more pretty like this, with all those rotten thoughts emptied from your head…. I can’t believe this thing had a bullet.”
We stan a queen who stands up for herself and knows her worth!
Check out the scene here:
And that’s it! Enjoy 🙂
Grant Harvey is a freelance writer, screenwriter, and filmmaker based out of Los Angeles. When he’s not working on his own feature-length screenplays and television pilots, Grant uses his passion and experience in film and videography to help others learn the tools, strategies, and equipment needed to create high-quality videos as a filmmaker of any skill level.