Genuinely witty or profound film/movie quotes

After doing half an hour's Googling of film quotes, I found that nigh-on all of the popular quotes are fairly banal one-liners, some even with as few as one or two words in. I'm sure rhp-ers can do better, so I invite you to post something a little more "highbrow" here.

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
After doing half an hour's Googling of film quotes, I found that nigh-on all of the popular quotes are fairly banal one-liners, some even with as few as one or two words in. I'm sure rhp-ers can do better, so I invite you to post something a little more "highbrow" here.

Third outing from me on RHP for this one, so apologies for repeating it, but some of the best lines ever seen on screen:

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. Weinburg?

I have a greater responsibility than you could 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.

I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.

A Few Good Men

"Howard Roark: A building has integrity, just as a man and just as seldom! It must be true to its own idea, have its own form, and serve its own purpose!" The Fountainhead, 1949.

Sgt Charles Daniels: ...I observed the tight rope dancer... because you couldn't call him a walker... approximately half-way between the two towers. I personally figured I was watching something that somebody else would never see again in the world. Thought it was once in a lifetime.

Man On Wire (2008)

Rose Mather: People ask all the time what I learned in the camps. But the camps weren't therapy. What do you think these places were? Universities? We didn't go there to learn. One becomes very clear about these things. What are you asking for? Forgiveness for her? Or do you just want to feel better yourself? My advice, go to the theatre, if you want catharsis. Please. Go to literature. Don't go to the camps. Nothing comes out of the camps. Nothing.
The Reader (2008)

"Jack: I don't actually know who I am by birth. I was... well, I was found.
Lady Bracknell: Found?
Jack: Yes. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentlemen of a kindly disposition found me and gave me the name of Worthing because he happened to have a first class ticket to Worthing at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It's a seaside resort.
Lady Bracknell: And where did this charitable gentlemen with the first class ticket to the seaside resort find you?
Jack: In a handbag.
Lady Bracknell: [closes eyes briefly] A handbag?
Jack: Yes, Lady Bracknell, I was in a hand bag. A somewhat large... black... leather handbag with handles... to it.
[pause]
Lady Bracknell: An ordinary handbag.
Lady Bracknell: And where did this Mr. James... or, Thomas Cardew come across this ordinary handbag?
Jack: The cloak room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own...
Lady Bracknell: [Shocked] The cloak room at Victoria Station?
Jack: Yes. The Brighton line.
Lady Bracknell: The line is immaterial.
[begins tearing up notes]
Lady Bracknell: Mr. Worthing. I must confess that I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred in a handbag, whether it have handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life which reminds one of the worst excesses of the French revolution, and I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to?"
- The Importance of Being Earnest

These two quotes are not from a movie, but perhaps a movie about the complex relationship between Richard Strauss and the Third Reich would be a worthy endeavor.
In 1933, Strauss wrote in his private notebook:

I consider the Streicher-Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence—the basest weapon of untalented, lazy mediocrity against a higher intelligence and greater talent.

Meanwhile, far from being an admirer of Strauss's work, Joseph Goebbels maintained expedient cordiality with Strauss only for a period. Goebbels wrote in his diary:

Unfortunately we still need him, but one day we shall have our own music and then we shall have no further need of this decadent neurotic.

Strauss after the war: The most terrible period of human history is at an end, the twelve year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany's 2000 years of cultural evolution met its doom.

Also after the great war and right before the death of the great man: Strauss himself declared in 1947 with characteristic self-deprecation, "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer."

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
These two quotes are not from a movie, but perhaps a movie about the complex relationship between Richard Strauss and the Third Reich would be a worthy endeavor.
In 1933, Strauss wrote in his private notebook:

I consider the Streicher-Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence—the basest weapon of untalented ...[text shortened]... recation, "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer."

The Importance of Being Earnest is a film based on Oscar Wilde's much appreciated play. The British actress Judi Dench played the part of Lady Bracknell and Colin Firth (The King's Speech) was the unfortunate child in the handbag.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
These two quotes are not from a movie, but perhaps a movie about the complex relationship between Richard Strauss and the Third Reich would be a worthy endeavor.
In 1933, Strauss wrote in his private notebook:

I consider the Streicher-Goebbels Jew-baiting as a disgrace to German honour, as evidence of incompetence—the basest weapon of untalented ...[text shortened]... recation, "I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer."

Sorry, I think I misunderstood you - I thought you referred to Oscar Wilde's play.
Your quotes are very good. 🙂

Originally posted by lolof
Sorry, I think I misunderstood you - I thought you referred to Oscar Wilde's play.
Your quotes are very good. 🙂

Not a problem lolof. Not hard to misread intent. I love the Importance of being Earnest, one of history's incredible masterworks. I hate it when it happens to me(as in the one misinterpreting), but indeed no one is immune to such folly as we are all fallible human beings. Your earnestness in admitting error is admirable indeed!

Ma Joad: Well, Pa, a woman can change better'n a man. A man lives sorta - well, in jerks. Baby's born or somebody dies, and that's a jerk. He gets a farm or loses it, and that's a jerk. With a woman, it's all in one flow, like a stream - little eddies and waterfalls - but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it thata way.
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Not a problem lolof. Not hard to misread intent. I love the Importance of being Earnest, one of history's incredible masterworks. I hate it when it happens to me(as in the one misinterpreting), but indeed no one is immune to such folly as we are all fallible human beings. Your earnestness in admitting error is admirable indeed!

I love that play too, especially Lady Bracknell: ("As a ruthless social climber and spokesperson for the status quo, Lady Bracknell's behavior enforces social discrimination and excludes those who do not fit into her new class. . . She bends the rules to suit her pleasure because she can. Jack will be placed on her list of eligible suitors only if he can pass her unpredictable and difficult test. She gives him ruthlessly "correct," but immoral, advice on his parents..." )

- "I would strongly advise you, Mr. Worthing, to try and acquire some relations as soon as possible, and to make a definite effort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over."

Originally posted by lolof
I love that play too, especially Lady Bracknell: ("As a ruthless social climber and spokesperson for the status quo, Lady Bracknell's behavior enforces social discrimination and excludes those who do not fit into her new class. . . She bends the rules to suit her pleasure because she can. Jack will be placed on her list of eligible suitors only if he can pass ...[text shortened]... ffort to produce at any rate one parent, of either sex, before the season is quite over."

Interesting indeed how the archetype of the rigid woman in control exists in all cultures and in all genres. Lady Bracknell reminds me of Puccini's Turandot, the original story based on the epic Turan-Dokht, from the 12th century Persian poet Nizami, in his book, Haft-Peykar. The opera story, set in China, involves Prince Calàf who falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot. To obtain permission to marry her, a suitor has to solve three riddles; any false answer results in death. Calàf passes the test, but Turandot still hesitates to marry him. He offers her a way out: he agrees to die should she be able to guess his real name. Princess Turandot is avenging the rape of a relative from a thousand years back. The opera's most famous number Nessun Dorma (Nobody will sleep): YouTube


"Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, guardi le stelle che tremano d'amore, e di speranza!"

(English translation: "None shall sleep! None shall sleep! Even you, O Princess, in your cold bedroom, watch the stars that tremble with love and with hope!"😉

"Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me; il nome mio nessun saprà! No, No! Sulla tua bocca lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!"

("But my secret is hidden within me; none will know my name! No, no! On your mouth I will say it when the light shines!"😉

"Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio che ti fa mia!"

("And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!"😉

Just before the climactic end of the aria, a chorus of women is heard singing in the distance:

"Il nome suo nessun saprà, E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!"

("No one will know his name, and we will have to, alas, die, die!"😉

Calaf, now certain of victory, sings:

"Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!"

("Vanish, o night! Fade, you stars! Fade, you stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win! "😉

The Lion in Winter

“Give me a little peace.
A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now, there's a thought.”

“I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it. We're a knowledgeable family.”

“Why you chivalric fool - as if the way one fell down mattered.
When the fall is all there is, it matters.”

“He came down from the North to Paris with a mind like Aristotle's and a form like mortal sin. We shattered the Commandments on the spot.”

“I've given up the looking glass; quicksilver has no sense of tact.”

“I've snapped and plotted all my life. There's no other way to be a king, alive and fifty all at the same time. ”

“John: "Poor John. Who says poor John? Don't everybody sob at once! My God, if I went up in flames there's not a living soul who'd pee on me to put the fire out!"

Richard: "Let's strike a flint and see.”
― James Goldman, The Lion in Winter

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
The Lion in Winter

“Give me a little peace.
A little? Why so modest? How about eternal peace? Now, there's a thought.”

“I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it. We're a knowledgeable family.”

“Why you chivalric fool - as if the way one fell down mattered.
When the fall is all there is, ...[text shortened]... Richard: "Let's strike a flint and see.”
― James Goldman, The Lion in Winter

I like these a lot, scacchipazzo, thanks for putting this film on my radar. I've put the '68 version on my rental list.