Burning Questions: The New Classic Quotes
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:00PM 
Michael C. here to see if I can blow some of the dust of the all time lists to make room for some new blood.
If you read as much film writing as I do you know one of the most tiresome attitudes one encounters is the rose-colored “they don’t make them like the used to” mindset. This is the Pleasantville way of seeing things that insists cinema attained a sort of perfection in the forties and fifties and has been on a downhill slide towards Transformers sequels ever since.
One of the most common forms this viewpoint takes is the lament that movies aren’t as quotable as they used to be. "Why, when the American Film Institute released its list of the 100 greatest quotes in 2005" the argument goes, "Casablanca landed six spots on the list alone, while Gone With the Wind and Wizard of Oz landed three apiece." The problem with this argument is that, while I wouldn’t deny those films a single one of their spots, it is meaningless to compare films that have had the better part of a century to secure their place in the cultural pantheon to those that have just been released. More often than not cinematic greatness emerges over time rather than instantly emblazoning itself on the face of the culture.
So if I’m correct and in four or five decades the films of the early part of this century do manage to slide in some lines alongside “You talkin’ to me?” and “Frankly My Dear, I don't give a damn.” what will they be?
What are the new classic quotes in the making?
Since the most recent quote on the AFI’s top 100 is “My Precious” from 2002’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers I think that would be a good jumping off point. In the decade following where the AFI list left off here are, in my best estimation, the ten quotes that have most thoroughly permeated popular culture:
- “I wish I knew how to quit you.” – Brokeback Mountain
- “I drink your milkshake” – There Will Be Blood
- “Why so serious?” – Dark Knight
- “This is Sparta!” - 300
- “You stay classy, San Diego.” - Anchorman
- “That’s a Bingo!” – Inglourious Basterds
- “I have had it with these Motherf-cking snakes on this motherf-cking plane!” – Snakes on a Plane
- “Squirrel!” - Up
- “Call it, Friendo.” – No Country For Old Men
- “I’m finished.” – There Will Be Blood
One could also make a case for “I am NOT drinking any f-cking Merlot!” from Sideways, “Mo Cuishle” from Million Dollar Baby or any number of Borat-isms. I would also argue for “The Dude abides” seeing as The Big Lebowski has only received its due recognition in recent years.
And those are the ones that I objectively judge to be most ingrained in the public consciousness at present. You never know what will emerge over time. If I could nominate my a few more quotes that deserve to be put into heavy rotation by the public at large these would be my candidates:
Baby, you are gonna miss that plane.”
– Before Sunset
At least a dozen of the quotes on the AFI countdown are their film’s closing line, which goes to show what a golden opportunity a movie’s final moments are to leave an indelible impression on the audience. And closers don’t come any better than this heart-stopper from Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset.
I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my Squishy.”– Finding Nemo
A good judge of the quote’s durability is its everyday applications, and I rarely go a week without someone I know referencing this inspired bit of baby talk from Ellen Degeneres’s Dory.
No. It's for me.”
– The Lives of Others
Another brilliant closing line. Some lines make the list because their hilarious a la “Don’t call me Shirley” or because they perfectly evoke a certain movie star like Brando's “I coulda been a contender.” And then there are those like this one from von Donnersmarck’s film that deserve to be in the Hall of Fame for no other reason than they are so damn perfect they take your breath away.
Did I miss any major lines from the last ten years? Is there an under-the-radar quote you think deserves to stand alongside "Nobody's perfect." Let's hear it in the comments. You can follow Michael C. on Twitter at @SeriousFilm or read his blog Serious Film.
Reader Comments (104)
Surely some lines from JUNO should be on here!
"He picked me, ,mommy" ? - Black Swan
So happy you included "It's for me" in there! I don't think that line or The Lives of Others in general get their due nearly often enough.
It's funny -- I was actually thinking about this very subject the other day, and how (for me) one of the past decade's most quotable movies is A Serious Man. "Look at the parking lot"; "I seriously fucked her!"; "I don't want Santana's Abraxas!"; etc. Not a week goes by that I don't pull out some line from that movie.
And another recent, universally applicable quote that I know you're a fan of, from A History of Violence: "HOW do you fuck that up?"
(Of course, neither of these has permeated the public consciousness quite yet, but that could always change!)
Jordan - I thought of Juno but could not single out a particular line. Writing this I noticed that many movies that are very quotable - Juno, In the Loop, Social Network - still did not have a single breakthrough line.
Andreas - Love that Violence line. Love it. I did a small tribute to it back on my blog a month or two back in my running Line Reading Hall of Fame feature
Fabulous list, but there's a big one missing- how could "That's all," from The Devil Wears Prada not make it?
Your top 3 and the Finding Nemo quote will definitely withstand the test of time if my friends' and I usage of those are in any indication.
Again using me and my friends, I'd say quotes from Bring It On and Mean Girls should be included, the latter especially.... "Four for you Glen Coco!" "Too gay to function." "Boo, you whore!" ...and any usage of "fetch" thanks to Gretchen Wieners.
As for more recent films... have no idea how time-tested this will be, but we can't stop quoting Ryan Gosling's Drivers mantra. In The Social Network there's Andrew Garfield's not oft-quoted "You better lawyer up asshole, because I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for everything." I'm sure there's more, but all of this from the top of my head.
*Andrew Garfield's NOW oft-quoted...
Even just those first five words, "You better lawyer up asshole," I've noticed is entering the lexicon.
"You don't have to be so fucking STRIDENT!" from Margaret. If more than a handful of people had seen it, that is.
Other quotes that stuck with me this past year:
"Don't fuck with the original" from Scream 4 had me hooting with laughter.
"Seriously, it's like you're Photoshopped" from Crazy Stupid Love
"Life is only on Earth, and not for long" from Melancholia. Despite not liking the film much, I thought Kirsten Dunst's delivery (and, in fact, her entire performance) was wonderful, and that quote haunted me for days.
I don't know if this necessarily implies a correlation, even, but I felt like the incredibly overused saying "fuck my life" exploded in popularity after its spectacular usage in Superbad (2007). Of course, it may have been purely coincidental.
"It's like your photoshopped!" is definitely entering the public consciousness already, I say. And as much as I loathe the film, "you better lawyer up, asshole" is instantly recognizable, much moreso than half the ones on that top ten.
I'd also like to add "boo, you whore", which I seriously would think would be #1 on any list. EVERYONE says this, and everyone knows where it's from. In fact, you could make a case for most of Mean Girls' script - "oh my God Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white"; "is butter a carb"; "four four you Glen Coco YOU GO GLEN COCO!"; "cold, hard, shiny plastic"; "Danny DeVito I love your work"; the list goes on and on.
Actually, my vote for The Social Network's most catchy line:
"A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars."
Can't ignore The Help:
"Eat. My. Shit."
"Ann? Punch me in the face" from The Social Network is a recent favorite. Also:
"You wrote a bad song, Petey!" from Fantastic Mr Fox (and I've pretty well integrated "cuss" as a generic curse word replacement courtesy of FMF, too).
And then there's any given Coen brothers movie, but in particular A Serious Man:
"Please, accept the mystery"
"Just look at that parking lot!"
"He's *thinking*"
I also like to quote liberally from The Goy's Teeth section of A Serious Man. "Can Sussman sleep? Sussman can't sleep..." etc.
"A sign from Hashem? Who knows... Helping people? Couldn't hurt."
Actually, the quote from Social Network I was most tempted to go with was "If you were the guys who invented Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook."
Let's not forget the forever quotable Nicholas Cage: "Not the bees! NOT THE BEES!!!!"
Dylan E. - I've not seen the movie and never ever heard any of those lines, so...not "everyone". (Unless you were employing hyperbole, of course.)
the only one of these lines that I've ever heard spoken by a friend (real friend, not FB "friend") is the Finding Nemo "squishy" one (although I love the monologue where Dory is asking him not to go away "When I'm with you, I remember things better...when I'm with you, I'm home...And I don't ever want to forget how that feels". I doubt that's entered the lexicon or will anytime soon; makes me bawl like a baby, though.)
And Before Sunset - *sigh* just the mention of that movie, the memory of that ending, makes me all sorts of happy (AND melancholy all at once.)
I haven't seen the list so I don't know if anything from 2001 was included but I have heard other Moulin Rouge- loving friends of mine pop off "the greatest thing you'll ever learn..." bit. Which I can live without ever hearing again.
"Who else was gonna love me?" -- PRECIOUS
"King Kong ain't got $h!t on me!" -- TRAINING DAY
"Make me feel good." -- MONSTER'S BALL
"Head, body, head, body." -- THE FIGHTER
I might add "Just keep swimming" and "Fish are friends, not food" from Finding Nemo, as I hear those quite often. Everyone seems to love that movie.
And I definitely agree that several quotes from Mean Girls are very famous, including "Boo you whore" and "You go Glen Coco!"
"I am an oilman"—There Will Be Blood
"You are a smelly pirate hooker"—Anchorman
"Why don't you go back to your home on whore island?"—Anchorman
"I drive, that's what I do"—Drive
"Silencio"—Mulholland Dr
"Jack Twist?—Jack Nasty"—Brokeback Mountain
Troy - The Training Day quote is a great one. I only left it off because I had to draw the line somewhere and decided to only go over the last ten years.
Other big quotes just outside the scope of this article are "Are you not entertained?!" and "With great power comes great responsibility."
Awww yeah Nathaniel I agree. I wish "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane" was a thing.
Anchorman: I'm kind of a big deal.
Tron: Legacy: Bio-digital jazz, man. [I know it's dumb but amongst my friends it's quoted a lot]
Attack the Block: This is too much madness to explain in one text.
Attack the Block: Believe
Scott Pilgrim: I'm in lesbians with you.
The Town: I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people
The Hurt Locker: If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable
Taken: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
I definitely think "Just keep swimming" should be considered. I say it almost every week.
I know a lot of people repeat quotes from Mean Girls. I would also the Facebook quote from TSN, Silencio from Mulholland, and "I wish I knew how to quit you," quote from Brokeback are classics.
And don't forget the Helps: "You is kind. You is smart. You is important."
Just a quick add on - for a while after we saw UNKNOWN, my friends and I would randomly scream, "I am Martin Harris - DOCTOR Martin Harris!" at each other. Always good for a laugh, that.
My favorite Anchorman quote is, "I'm gonna punch you in the uterus. RIGHT IN THE BABY MAKER." though really it's all will ferrell's delivery. i don't actually ever quote that line to anyone, lest i be misunderstood.
Everytime I think of Pixar, "to infinity and beyond" is what jumps to mind. And given that it's used in all three films, it might stick around.
There's no way, no how this would ever make a more...traditional list, but how about Melissa McCarthy's "IT'S COMING OUT OF ME LIKE LAVA," from Bridesmaids? The entire script of Bridesmaids deserves a mention, especially Kristen Wiig's airplane scene ("It's called civil rights. This is the nineties...") and Megan's dolphin monologue. So good.
Additionally, everything that came out of Emily Blunt's mouth in Prada, but especially "I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight."
Also, in honor of Gretchen Weiners, "That's so fetch..."
My votes go to the aformentioned quotes:
"Eat. My. Shit."
"Mommy, he picked me."
"I wish I knew how to quit you."
"Squirrel!"
and "Why so serious?"
and would add to the list
"Because I have a voice!" coupled with the required response of "Yes, you do." Even my grandma knows that quote :D
BTW, great write up!
Um, yeah. MEAN GIRLS. "That is SO fetch!" and "Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen!" are probably the ones I hear the most, but pretty much that entire script is quotable.
The brilliance of that line from Before Sunset cannot be understated, but I fear too few people have seen it for it to ever be a thing.
Also, I submit the following from In The Loop: "Fuckety-bye!", "It'll be difficult difficult lemon difficult!", and "Fuck the nibbles. What was with the homoerotic tension?" If that movie doesn't become a cult classic in the next ten years, I will eat my hat.
Dating you is like dating a stairmaster- from Social Network.
Minnie don't burn chicken.- from The Help
My favorite of al time: "I doubt it. She got hit in the head!!" From Steel Magnolias
"I was perfect" (Nina) - Black Swan
"I have doubts" (sister Aloysius) - Doubt
"For Frodo" (Aragorn) - LOTR: The Return of the King
"I saw him. I saw him on my own eyes" (Briony) - Atonement
"Tempting but no thanks!" (Velma) - Hairspray
"I'm here. I'm really here" (Pam/Cassidy) - The Wrestler
"I knew you'd be watching" (Jamal) - Slumdog Millionaire
"Thanks, guys" (Andy) - Toy Story 3
"I'll protect you, daddy" (that little girl) - Crash
"I'm pregnant" (Juno) - Juno
Ok, so MR is outside of the ten years but I have a question: I hear the phrase "wait for it!" quoted a lot by both friends, on the 'net and in other movies/tv shows., The first time I'd ever heard it was when Harold Zidler said it. Was that line a "thing" already at the time and I didn't know it, or is everybody quoting MR?
I wish there had only been one Pirates movie so that "Where has the rum gone?" wouldn't feel so totally overdone.
Requiem for a Dream:
"Juice by you! Juice by you!"
the whole red dress monologue
Me & You & Everyone We Know
))<>((
No Country for Old Men:
"Any new bodies accumulated out there?"
Also, pretty much everything Hemingway says in Midnight.
Especially the punctuation-free monologue in the car.
Nick G: I completely forgot that line from Taken, but I think you hit the nail on the head. It's gonna be up there with Dirty Harry's "feel lucky" scene on the badass scale in ten years.
Umm, how about EVERY quote from Mean Girls? "Irregardless..." "Stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen."
Some quotes I hope will catch on:
"You're an inanimate fuckin' object!" - In Bruge
"If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from, you look around... this is where they're made." - Hugo
"Scott, if you life had a face, I would punch it." - Scott Pilgrim vs the World
"Maniacal laugh. Maniacal laugh" - The Muppets
"I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy." - The Departed
300: Sparta!
She's the Man: Vinnie Jones says: " In Illyria, we do not discriminate on the basis of gender".
White Oleander: Michell Pfieffer says: "Remember, we are Vikings".
I'm pretty sure There Will Be Blood starts and ends with "I drink your milkshake."
There's way too many great quotes for that movie to occupy two spots.
"They will rue the day."
A few from the top of my head:
"It'll be difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult." from 'In the Loop'.
"I see... a rhinoceros." from 'Midnight in Paris'
"Hey, you want a toothpick?" from 'Drive'
"An old man dies. A young woman lives. A fair trade." from 'Sin City'
"How am I not myself?" from 'I Heart Huckabees'
"Ich will leben, ich will tanzen, ich will ficken - und nicht nur mit einem Typen!" ("I want to live, I want to dance, I want to fuck - and not just with one guy!") from 'Gegen die Wand' ('Head-On')
"I thought you might be worried about the security... of your shit." from 'Burn After Reading'
All great quotes in the article and comments!! other ones I can think are:
''You know how I know you're gay?'' - The 40-Year-Old Virgin
&
''I want to have his adoptive babies'' - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
I know it's not exactly a quote and I don't know in U.S. but in Mexico became very popular the use of ''Sufro como Precious'' which translates ''I'm suffering like Precious''
adopted* sorry
"Just keep swimming" definitely, but I've never heard anyone mention anything from "Before Sunset" and I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen it.
"I'm in a glass case of emotion!" From Anchorman is one I've heard a lot. Same with literally anything from Mean Girls, I don't think any movie's dialogue has gone down in the popular lexicon more than that one (for people my age, at least)
"Cranberry juice." (The Departed)
I'm still waiting for someone to mention Tropic Thunder.
Some of my favs:
"Honest to blog?" ("Juno") [hate on me bitches, I don't care, this was a great film]
"I want you to make me feel GOOD!" ("Monster's Ball")
"Why so serious?" ("The Dark Knight")
"He picked me, Mommy!" ("Black Swan")
"I wish I knew how to quit you" ("Brokeback Mountain")
"Who else was gonna love me?" ("Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire")
"I love me some fried chicken" ("The Help") [this isn't really one of my choices--Tate Taylor should be ashamed of himself for writing this stereotypical shit]
"Stop trying to make fetch happen!" ("Mean Girls")
"You diddddd?" ("Bridesmaids")
"I drink your milkshake!" ("There Will Be Blood")
"That's a bingo!" ("Inglourious Basterds")
"You're an inanimate fuckin' object!" - In Bruges
YES.
Going back to 2001, I would say Royal Tenenbaums has a few. The one i hear quoted/acted out the most is definitely:
Royal: I know you, asshole!
Eli looks up and just reaches one hand toward Royal.
+++
There's something about Hackman's delivery, mixed with the general absurdity of the exchange, that really sticks with me, and evidently lots of people once you get a couple beers in them.
The Departed
Ellerby: Patriot Act, Patriot Act! I love it, I love it, I love it!
&
Ellerby: I'm gonna go have a smoke right now. You want a smoke? You don't smoke, do ya, right? What are ya, one of those fitness freaks, huh? Go fuck yourself.