King Richard (2021) Best Movie Quotes

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Starring: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis, Jon Bernthal, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, Dylan McDermott, Kevin Dunn

OUR RATING: ★★★½

Story:

Bio-drama directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green. Inspired by a true story, King Richard (2021) centers on Richard Williams (Will Smith), father of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton). We follow Richard, as he’s driven by a clear vision of the future, executing a plan that moves the girls from the streets of Compton, California, to the global stage as sports icons.

Our Favorite Quotes:

'The most strongest, the most powerful, the most dangerous creature on this whole Earth is a woman who knows how to think. Ain't nothing she can't do.' - Richard Williams (King Richard) Click To Tweet

Best Quotes

Richard Williams: Where I grew up, Louisiana, Cedar Grove, tennis was not a game peoples played. We was too busy running from the Klan. But here it is. When I’m interested in a thing, I learn it. How it works, how the best peoples in the world do it. And that’s what I did with tennis, with the girls.

Richard Williams: I wrote me a seventy-eight page plan for their whole career before they was even born.

Richard Williams: Okay, you making a mistake, but I’m going to let you make it.

Tennis Coach: If I had a dollar for every crazy parent that told me their kid would make it to number one, I’d be a rich man.
Richard Williams: You look pretty rich to me.

Richard Williams: They work as hard as they need to to stay off these streets. I’m in the champion raising business.

Richard Williams: And you don’t need to be worrying about what other folks is doing anyway. You need to worry about what you doing. We out here getting great, that’s what we need to be worrying about.

Old Patron: King Richard, don’t get much rest ever, do you?
Richard Williams: Don’t nothing come to a sleeper but a dream.

Richard Williams: Venus Williams, who is your best friend?
Venus Williams: You, daddy.
Richard Williams: Serena Williams, who is your best friend?
Serena Williams: Venus. Then you. Then you after Venus.
Richard Williams: That’s unbelievable. That is unbelievable.

Richard Williams: This world ain’t never had no respect for Richard Williams. But they going to respect y’all. They going to respect y’all.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Okay, we just got to stick to the plan. We got champions in the other room. Richard, we have done a great job with them. They are great. But they’re not going to Wimbledon like this. Not with hitting with you and me on those raggedy courts. They need better surfaces that… They need better everything.

Richard Williams: Venus and Serena going to shake up this world. And they’re going to need to because they not going to make it as singers.

Richard Williams: We’re going to shake up this world.

Richard Williams: Got to have a plan for every day, else what?
Girls: You fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Richard Williams: That’s right. And we’re not failing, are we?
Girls: No, daddy.
Richard Williams: Okay, all the way to the top.

'Remember who you are. Remember where you came from. Stand tall, and be proud in that.' - Oracene 'Brandy' Williams (King Richard) Click To Tweet

Richard Williams: You know, one day not too long from now, somebody going to hand you girls a check for one million dollars. And you going to buy as many beds as you want.
Venus Williams: In one check? Really?
Richard Williams: Maybe even a couple of them. But we’re not going to be like this forever, okay?

Richard Williams: When the girls was younger, I had bought me this camcorder. So I film myself in the mirror asking questions, things, and the such. Then when they got older, I start doing it with them. I called it their “media training”.

Vic Braden: [to Richard] This deal you’re asking for, you know, all of this for free, Richard? Nobody’s taking that bet. Tennis is a technical game, you know, probably one of the most. And if you didn’t grow up with the game, then it’s like playing the violin. You know, it takes hours and hours a day. You know, year after year of expensive expert instruction, just to hold the thing right.

Vic Braden: [to Richard] Even for families with unlimited financial resources, the chances of achieving the kind of mastery and success that you’re talking about, I mean, for one kid, let alone two, it’s like asking somebody to believe that you got the next two Mozarts living in your house, you know? It’s just very, very unlikely. I’m sorry, that’s just my two cents. Maybe you can prove me wrong.

Richard Williams: [praying with the girls] We thank you for this opportunity as a family to come together. And we ask you to please, please don’t let nobody get fat from eating all this food.

Richard Williams: You going to have any one of these houses you want. Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills, any of these old hills. Because you got a plan, and you going to stick to it.

Richard Williams: When I was a little boy, my mom used to say, “Son, the most strongest, the most powerful, the most dangerous creature on this whole Earth is a woman who knows how to think. Ain’t nothing she can’t do.”

Richard Williams: Who’s that?
Venus Williams: John McEnroe?
Richard Williams: That’s right. Who that?
Serena Williams: That’s Pete Sampras.
Richard Williams: One day, they going to be bragging about the time they met the two of you.

Paul Cohen: Let me ask you both something. What do you want out of this? I know what your dad wants. But what about you?
Venus Williams: Well, I want to win Wimbledon as many times as anyone’s ever won it.
Paul Cohen: You think you can do that?
Venus Williams: I know I can.

Paul Cohen: What about you? Who on the tour do you want to play like?
Serena Williams: Well, I’d like other people to want to play like me.
Paul Cohen: I bet they will.

'If you don't have no respect for yourself right now, you will never have none. At all.' - Richard Williams (King Richard) Click To Tweet

Richard Williams: You got to stay prepare for whatever’s unpredictable.

Richard Williams: It’s okay. They’re just not used to seeing good looking peoples like us.
Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: You don’t worry about them. Let them worry about you, Venus.

Richard Williams: You are Venus Williams. You going to win Wimbledon. These girls ain’t never going to want to see your name in their draw. Okay?
Venus Williams: Okay, daddy.
Richard Williams: You just go on out there and you have fun.
Venus Williams: I know. I got this.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: [as Venus is about to start her match] She knows who she is. We’ve done our job.

Richard Williams: [referring to Cinderella] The point is she was humble. No matter how them peoples treated her, no matter how disrespected, she stayed calm, she kept her heart clean. She was humble. Now we going to go out here, and we going to play these matches, and we going to compete. But we going to stay humble, else we not going to do it.

See more King Richard Quotes

Richard Williams: [to the social worker] You want to check on the kids? Let’s check on the kids. We got future doctors, and lawyers, plus a couple of tennis stars in this house. Now, I understand you got to do your job, even if some crazy-a** neighbor do call, talking foolishness. And I don’t even mind you saying we hard on these kids, you know why? Because we are! That’s our job, to keep them off these streets. You want to arrest us for that? Fine. But what you not going to never do is come knock on this door talking about you have to blow their damn brains out in them streets, because they running with hoodlums, and doing drugs, and things. That’s what you not never going to say in this house! You want to arrest us for that? That’s fine. You need to be arresting them parents at them tennis matches. That’s who needs to be getting arrested.

Man: Your daughter looks good out there.
Richard Williams: Yeah, thank you. She a little tight today.
Man: No, I mean the little one. She looks like a champ too. Could have warned us, man. I didn’t know you had two.

Girl: All the food here is for free.
Richard Williams: Nothing’s for free. Somebody is paying for it.

Richard Williams: Never take anything from anybody for free. Everything in this place got hooks in it.

Paul Cohen: [after Richard refuses the girls playing in the Juniors]This window you guys have is so freaking small. And it will close. I know you don’t want to believe me, but it will.
Richard Williams: Everybody talking about this window, this window they got to get through. But peoples like us, we get shot when we go through those. So I’m thinking we just going to pause right here, and then when the time is right, we just going to walk through the front door.

Paul Cohen: You are the most stubborn person I have ever met in my life. And I coach McEnroe.
Richard Williams: We appreciate everything you’ve done, Paul. But this part of our relationship is done. And we will no longer be requiring your services any more.
Paul Cohen: Richard, no good coach is going to take them for free if they’re not playing Juniors.
Richard Williams: Yeah, you did. Remember? And I think you’re a pretty good coach.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Richard, my faith dictates that I stand by your side.
Richard Williams: Alright, well, just do that then.
Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: But don’t mistake my silence for agreement. You do that again, and I won’t be quiet.

Barry: This guy, Richard Williams, keeps calling. It’s like the tenth time in a row. Told me to tell you it’s urgent.
Rick Macci: Urgent? What’s so urgent? His backhand?

Rick Macci: These girls are so great, how come I’ve never heard of them?
Barry: They’re from Compton.

Rick Macci: They’re terrific, I think. I think you might just have the next Michael Jordan on your hands.
Richard Williams: Oh, no, brother man. I gots me the next two.
Rick Macci: I like the way you think.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: What’s in it for you?
Rick Macci: My fee is fifteen percent of their future earnings. If you make nothing, I make nothing. But I can tell you one thing, we are not going to make nothing.

Rick Macci: Mr. and Mrs. Williams, whether it’s Nick, or Rick, Tom, Dick, or Harry, it doesn’t matter. If it’s their dream to be a champion, well, then you got a chance. But, you know, if it’s yours, mine, no. Crash and burn. It’s not going to happen. So, you want to go with Nick, you know, you got to go with Nick. That’s your prerogative.
Richard Williams: No, we want to go with you.
Rick Macci: Oh. Thank heavens.
Richard Williams: We just wanted to hear you say what you had said.

Rick Macci: You hear that sound? That sound is effort. I love effort. That’s my happy place.

Rick Macci: Yeah, you know, you got a good eye, Richard. You know how that works. You need a few cheeseburgers to pay for the sirloin. Once you sell enough sirloin, you can get to the filet mignon.

Rick Macci: They’re going to be kids? But, Richard, that is not how it works. I can’t do that. I can’t mold her like that. You need to play Juniors. Look, there’s not a single player, not one on the pro tour, that didn’t play Juniors. Without Juniors, it’s impossible.
Richard Williams: Well, not for you. Not for you. You Rick Macci. That’s why we drove all this way. Nothing is impossible for Rick Macci.

Richard Williams: Don’t be scared, Rick. I wrote the plan.
Rick Macci: Oh, God. The plan.

ESPN Reporter: You’ve been called controversial, overbearing, a self-promoting distraction. How do you respond to all that?
Richard Williams: Well, look, peoples going to say what peoples going to say, you know. When somebody come to me, telling me my daughter so good, and she, you know, she need to be playing matches, I know the only reason they see good is because they see money. And most of the time, they see money that can be going into they’re pocket.

ESPN Reporter: But your daughters haven’t played a match since 1991.
Richard Williams: Well, we still pushing them forward. Venus speaking four languages. Most of them fluently, almost. How many languages you speak? Exactly. Not even really good at this one.

Richard Williams: My wife think I got a girlfriend down here, I be coming to get your burgers so much. She don’t know I’m cheating on her cooking.

Rick Macci: You showed up here, first thing you did, you pulled them out of Juniors. Now you pull them out of practice. You do it constantly. For music lessons, or homework, or church.
Richard Williams: Look, they got to get straight A’s, else they can’t play tennis. You knew that. I told you that. That’s my rules.

Richard Williams: I’m trying to look out for my kids.
Rick Macci: No, you’re looking out for yourself. You know, all I hear from you is pressure. Pressure, pressure, pressure. But you know what I see? On TV, I see it every day. I see the Richard Williams Show. A million dollars. Number one. The greatest of all time! You don’t think that adds pressure?
Richard Williams: It add confidence.
Rick Macci: No, that’s bulls**t. It’s about you.

Richard Williams: Rick, all respects due, we love you. You like a member of our family. But you work for us. I wrote this plan. And when I say she’s not playing, she is not playing. I call the shots. And I’m sorry if you don’t like that.
Rick Macci: Richard, screw your freaking plan. You don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t.

Richard Williams: So I puts this whole thing together, and now everybody seem to know better than me.

Richard Williams: You never believed in none of this.
Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: When did I not believe? I want you to tell me, when did I not believe? You not the only dreamer in this family. Wouldn’t be no dream if it wasn’t for me. I carried them inside me and on my back. And I carried you too. Working two shifts so I could put food on your table.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: [to Richard] I’m here. I’ve been here dreaming and believing, just like you. You just don’t want to see me.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: [to Richard] I don’t need your thank you. Unlike you, I don’t need the world to tell me I’m great.

Richard Williams: You sound like you got something you need to get off your chest. Don’t let God stop you. Say what you need to say.
Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Oh, I said it!

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Richard, you think I’m staying here because of you? I stay here because of my girls. I stay here because I answer to something higher than Richard Williams. And you better be glad, because if I was staying here for you, I would have been gone a long time ago.

Richard Williams: Where would you live if it wasn’t for me? Where would you be? Stuck in some apartment with three kids and no daddy. That’s where you would be.
Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Listen to you. That’s your ego and your bragging. You’re just scared. You’re just scared. Scared you will fail.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: [to Richard] You’ve done your job. And whether you want to see it, or not, I’ve done mine. But this is Venus’s life. You got to let her decide. Because if you don’t trust her to do that, she’s going to be the one leaving you.

Richard Williams: [to Venus] Now, I haven’t been no great daddy. But I’ve never done nothing but try to protect you. This next step you’re about to take, it would be hard for anybody. But for you, you’re not going to just be representing you, you’re going to be representing every little Black girl on Earth. And you’re going to be the one got to through that gate. And I just never wanted you to look up and see your daddy running away.

Venus Williams: Daddy, you always said I’d be number one in the world, right? Let’s go out there and show all of those people that I can handle what’s coming. And I’m not going to let you down.
Richard Williams: How could you, Junior?

Rick Macci: Richard, you did it. Hey, you did it, Richard! Look, I thought you were nuts. All the talking, and the interviews, and the nonsense. But look, you were right, she’s a star!

Richard Williams: Venus Williams, do you care who you play?
Venus Williams: No, daddy.
Richard Williams: Venus Williams, are you going to beat whoever on the other side of that net?
Venus Williams: Yes, daddy.
Richard Williams: Venus Williams, do you want to take this deal?
Venus Williams: No.
Richard Williams: Well, there it is. We’re not taking the deal.

Venus Williams: I think I have the game to beat anyone. I just have to play it.

Rick Macci: She’s playing Vicario. She’s the best player on the planet, Richard. She’s the best player in the whole wide world. She can’t beat her.
Richard Williams: But what if she do?
Rick Macci: Richard, it doesn’t work like that.

Richard Williams: Can I tell you a secret? Your sister is going to be number one in the whole world, no doubt about it.
Serena Williams: I know that.
Richard Williams: But you, you’re going to be the best there ever was. You’re going to be the greatest of all time. You know how I know? Because I planned for it. I knew you was having a hard time in Venus’s shadow, but I kept you there because I knew you was rough. I knew you was tough. I knew you was a fighter. That’s why I did this whole thing like this.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: Tonight, I want you to remember who you are. Remember where you came from. Stand tall, and be proud in that. Alright? Yeah. You going to look beautiful. You are beautiful, Venus. You too, Serena.

Richard Williams: That’s Venus Williams. Remember that name.

Richard Williams: [after Venus loses the game] If you don’t have no respect for yourself right now, you will never have none. At all. You are a champion, Venus Williams. And the whole world know it. You going to walk out there with your head up. I have never been more proud of a person in my whole life.

Rick Macci: They’re coming out of the woodwork. Puma. Fila. Reebok. They all want to meet. They all want to meet first. I’m going to tell them they can kiss my backside.
Richard Williams: No, I think we’ll talk to the peoples. I think we’re going to talk to them.
Rick Macci: Hey, Richard, she did it.
Richard Williams: Oh, yeah. She did it.

Richard Williams: [real footage] We had the kids future planned before they were born. And the first day that I took Venus and Serena to the tennis court, I knew I had champions.

Oracene ‘Brandy’ Williams: [real footage] Sometimes I feel like it was just destiny, for the both of them.

Venus Williams: [real voice] I’ll never forget my dad said, “This is the moment we’ve been working for all our lives. Stay focused, and don’t be afraid.”

Richard Williams: [real footage] They will remember Venus and Serena. They will say, “Boy, they did it. I can do it.” We’ll win, and we’ll share our victory with every person in the world.

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