The
Shawshank Redemption
quotes are some of the most
moving and inspiring quotes you are likely to find. If you really want
to grasp this
films true genius
then you must sample these amazing Shawshank
Redemption quotes.
The screenplay gives almost every actor at least one or more memorable
lines throughout the film.
Directed
by: Frank Darabont Written by:
Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Stephen King (short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank
Redemption") Starring: Tim Robbins
- Andy Dufresne Morgan
Freeman - Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding Bob Gunton
- Warden Norton William
Sadler - Heywood Clancy Brown
- Captain Hadley Gil Bellows
- Tommy Mark Rolston
- Bogs Diamond James
Whitmore - Brooks Hatlen
[first
lines] District
Attorney: Mr. Dufresne, describe the confrontation you had
with your wife the night that she was murdered. Andy:
It was very bitter. She said she was glad I knew, that she hated all
the sneaking around. And she said that she wanted a divorce in Reno.
District
Attorney:
And that also is very convenient, isn't it, Mr. Dufresne? Andy: Since
I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it
decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found.
[1947
Parole Hearings] Man #2: We
see by your file you've served twenty years of
a life sentence. Man #3: You
feel you've been rehabilitated? Red:
Yes, sir. Absolutely. I've learned my lesson. I can honestly say I'm a
changed man. I'm no longer a danger to society. That's the God's honest
truth. No doubt about it.
Red:
[narrating]
There's a con like me in every prison in America, I guess. I'm the guy
who can get it for you. Cigarettes, a bag of reefer if you're partial,
a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation. Damn
near anything, within reason.
[Red
places his bet on Andy] Red: That
tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass.
Con:
When do we eat?
Captain Hadely:
YOU EAT WHEN WE SAY YOU EAT! YOU PISS WHEN WE SAY YOU PISS! YOU SHIT
WHEN WE SAY YOU SHIT! YOU SLEEP WHEN WE SAY YOU SLEEP! YOU MAGGOT-DICK,
MOTHERFUCKER!
Warden
Norton:
I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive
both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to
Shawshank.
Red:
[narrating]
The
first night's the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in
naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that
delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that
cell... and those bars slam home... that's when you know it's for real.
A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all
the time in the world to think about it.
Fat
Ass: You don't
understand! I'm not supposed to be here! Inmates: Me
neither! They run this place like a fucking prison!
Fat
Ass: I don't
belong here! I want to go home! I want my mother! Another Prisoner:
I had your mother, she wasn't that great!
Captain
Hadley:
Get this tub of shit down to the infirmary.If I hear so
much as a mouse
fart in here the rest of the night I swear by God and sonny Jesus you
will all visit the infirmary. Every last motherfucker in here.
Red:[narrating]
His
first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of
cigarettes. He never made a sound.
[Boggs
sizes Andy up] Boggs: Hey,
anybody come at you yet? Anybody get to you yet? [Andy looks at him in
puzzlement] Boggs: Hey,
we all need friends in here. I could be a friend to you. [Andy walks away] Boggs:
Hey...hard to get. I like that...
Red:[narrating] I
could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet
way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn't normal around here.
He strolled, like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the
world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this
place. Yeah, I think it would be fair to say...I liked Andy from the
start.
Andy:
Hello. I'm Andy Dufresne. Red: The
wife-killin' banker. Andy:
How do
you know that? Red:
I keep
my ear to the ground. Why'd you do it? Andy: I
didn't, since you ask. Red: Hell,
you're gonna fit right in, then. Everyone's innocent in here, don't you
know that? Heywood! What are you in for, boy? Heywood:
Didn't do it! Lawyer fucked me!
Andy: What
else have you
heard? Red: People
say you're a
cold fish. They say you think your shit smells sweeter than ordinary.
That true? Andy: What
do you think? Red: Ain't
made up my
mind yet.
Red:
Well, if it was
a toothbrush I wouldn't ask questions, I'd just quote a price, but then
a toothbrush is a non-lethal object, isn't it? Andy: Fair
enough. A rock-hammer is about
eight or nine inches long. Looks like a miniature pickaxe, with
a small sharp pick on one end, and a blunt hammerhead on the other. It's
for rocks. Red:
Rocks.
Andy:
I have no
enemies here. Red: Yeah?
Wait a while. Word gets around. The Sisters have taken quite a likin'
to you. Especially Boggs. Andy: I
don't suppose it would help if I told them that I'm not homosexual. Red: Neither
are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify.
Red:
[narrating]
I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the
Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that, but prison is no
fairy-tale world. He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things
went on like that for awhile - prison life consists of routine, and
then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh
bruises. The Sisters kept at him - sometimes he was able to fight 'em
off, sometimes not. And that's how it went for Andy, that was his
routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and
I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would
have got the best of him.
Red:[narrating]
But
then, in the spring of 1949, the powers that be decided that... Warden
Samuel Norton: The roof of the license-plate factory needs
resurfacing.
I need a dozen volunteers for a week's work. As you know, special
detail carries with it special privledges. Red: [narrating] It was
outdoor detail, and May is one damn fine month to be working outdoors.
Andy:
Mr.
Hadley. Do you trust your wife? Captain Hadley:
You're gonna look real funny sucking my dick with no teeth.
Red: [narrating]
You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe
make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel
normal again, if only for a short while.
Red:[narrating]
We sat
and drank with the
sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell,
we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were
the lords of all creation. As for Andy, he spent that break hunkered
in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his
beer.