Our list of the best quotes from Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic period drama which centers on ruthless oil prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), who goes on a ruthless quest to become the most powerful oil tycoon.
'There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking.' - Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood) Share on X
Paul Sunday: We have oil, and it seeps through the ground. Do you want to pay me to know where it is?
Daniel Plainview: Well, just because there’s something on the ground doesn’t mean there’s anything beneath it.
Paul Sunday: Why did Standard Oil buy up land?
Daniel Plainview: Is it in California?
Paul Sunday: Maybe.
Daniel Plainview: How much land did they buy?
Paul Sunday: I’d like it better if you didn’t think I was stupid.
Daniel Plainview: New roads, agriculture, employment, education. These are just a few of the things we can offer you. And I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that if we do find oil here, and I think there’s a very good chance that we will, this community of yours will not only survive, it will flourish.
Daniel Plainview: [to Eli] I’m going to bury you underground.
[referring to Daniel]
Eli Sunday: You are a stupid man, Abel. You’ve let someone come in here and walk all over us. You let him in and do his work here, and you are a stupid man for what we could have had.
Abel Sunday: I followed His word, Eli. I tried.
Eli Sunday: You didn’t do anything but sit down. You’re lazy, and you’re stupid. Do you think God is going to save you for being stupid? He doesn’t save stupid people, Abel.
[he suddenly lunges across the table and grabs hold of Abel]
Eli Sunday: I will tear you apart for what you’ve done, you stupid man!
Henry: [to Daniel] I’m your brother, from another mother.
Daniel Plainview: I don’t like to explain myself.
Daniel Plainview: Are you envious? Do you get envious?
Henry: I don’t think so, no.
Daniel Plainview: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.
Henry: That part of me is gone. Working and not succeeding, all my failures have left me. I just don’t care.
Daniel Plainview: Well, if it’s in me, it’s in you.
Daniel Plainview: I want to earn enough money I can get away from everyone.
Daniel Plainview: I see the worst in people, Henry. I don’t need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I’ve built up my hatreds over the years, little by little. Having you here gives me a second breath of life. I can’t keep doing this on my own, with these people.
H.M. Tilford: How’s your boy?
Daniel Plainview: Thank you for asking.
H.M. Tilford: Is there anything we can do?
Daniel Plainview: Thanks for asking is enough.
Daniel Plainview: Did you just tell me how to run my family?
H.M. Tilford: It might be more important now that you’ve proven the field, and we’re offering to buy you out.
Daniel Plainview: One night I’m going to come to you, inside of your house, or wherever you’re sleeping, and I’m going to cut your throat.
H.M. Tilford: What? What are you talking about? Have you gone crazy, Daniel?
Daniel Plainview: Did you hear what I said?
H.M. Tilford: I heard what you said. Why did you say it?
Daniel Plainview: You don’t tell me about my son.
H.M. Tilford: Why are you acting insane and threatening to cut my throat?
Daniel Plainview: You don’t tell me about my son.
H.M. Tilford: I’m not telling you anything! I’m asking you to be reasonable. If I’ve offended you, I apologize.
Daniel Plainview: You’ll see what I can do.
Daniel Plainview: What’s this? Why don’t I own this? Why don’t I own this?
Al Rose: That’s the Bandy tract. He was the holdout, when we were doing the buying. He had hoped to speak with you. Can’t you just build the pipeline around this tract?
Daniel Plainview: Can I build around fifty miles of Tehachapi Mountains? Don’t be thick in front of me, Al.
Al Rose: I can go to him again.
Daniel Plainview: No, I’ll go and talk to the man. I’ll talk to him. Show you how it’s done.
Eli Sunday: “I was lost, but now I am found.”
Daniel Plainview: I was lost, but now I’m found.
Eli Sunday: “I have abandoned my child.” Say it. Say it.
Daniel Plainview: [quietly] I abandoned my child.
Eli Sunday: Say it louder. Say it louder!
Daniel Plainview: [yells] I’ve abandoned my child! I’ve abandoned my child! I’ve abandoned my boy!
Eli Sunday: Now beg for the blood!
Daniel Plainview: Just give me the blood, Eli. Let me get out of here. Give me the blood, Lord, and let me get away!
Daniel Plainview: You’re not my son.
HW’s Interpreter: Please don’t say that. I know you don’t mean it.
Daniel Plainview: Well, it’s the truth. You’re not my son. You never have been. You’re an orphan! Did you ever hear that word?
[to HW’s interpreter]
Daniel Plainview: Tell him what I said.
[to HW]
Daniel Plainview: You operated here today like one. I should have seen this coming. I should have known that, under this all, these past years, you’ve been building new hate for me, piece by piece. I don’t even know who you are, because you have none of me in you. You’re someone else’s. This anger. Your maliciousness. Backwards dealings with me. You’re an orphan from a basket in the middle of the desert. And I took you for no other reason than I needed a sweet face to buy land. Did you get that? So now you know.
Daniel Plainview: [to HW] Look at me! You’re lower than a bastard. You have none of me in you. You’re just a bastard from a basket.
HW’s Interpreter: I thank God I have none of you in me.
[HW and his interpreter get up and start to leave the room]
Daniel Plainview: You’re not my son. Just a little piece of competition. Bastard from a basket. Bastard from a basket! You’re a bastard from a basket!
Eli Sunday: My brother. Daniel, my brother by marriage. We’re such old friends. So much time. Things go up, things go down, but at least the Lord is always around. We’ve seen ups and downs, haven’t we?
Daniel Plainview: Are things down for you right now, Eli?
Eli Sunday: No. No.
Daniel Plainview: I’d like you to tell me that you are a false prophet. I’d like you to tell me that you are, and have been a false prophet. And that God is a superstition.
Eli Sunday: But that’s a lie. It’s a lie. I cannot say it.
Eli Sunday: I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!
Daniel Plainview: Because you’re not the chosen brother, Eli. It was Paul who was chosen. He found me and told me about your land. You’re just a fool.
Eli Sunday: Why are you talking about Paul?
Daniel Plainview: I did what your brother couldn’t.
Eli Sunday: Don’t say this to me.
Daniel Plainview: I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He’s the prophet. He’s the smart one. He knew what was there, and he found me to take it out of the ground. And you know what the funny thing is? Listen, listen, listen. I paid him ten thousand dollars cash in hand. Just like that. He has his own company now. A prosperous little business. Three wells producing, five thousand dollars a week.
[as Eli is crying]
Daniel Plainview: Stop crying, you snivelling a**! Stop your nonsense. You’re just the afterbirth, Eli.
Eli Sunday: No.
Daniel Plainview: That slithered out on your mother’s filth.
Eli Sunday: No.
Daniel Plainview: They should’ve put you in a glass jar on the mantelpiece. Where were you when Paul was suckling at his mother’s teat? Where were you? Who was nursing you, poor Eli? One of Bandy’s sows? That land has been had. Nothing you can do about it. It’s gone. It’s had.
'I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!' - Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood) Share on X
Daniel Plainview: Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I’m so sorry. If you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw, there it is. That’s the straw, you see? Watch it. Now my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
Eli Sunday: Don’t bully me, Daniel!
[Daniel roars and tosses Eli across the room]
Daniel Plainview: Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Eli? I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!
Eli Sunday: I’m your old friend, Daniel!
Daniel Plainview: Because I’m not a false prophet!
Eli Sunday: Help me, please!
Daniel Plainview: You snivelling boy! I am the Third Revelation! I am the Third Revelation! I told you I would eat you!
Eli Sunday: We’re family!
Daniel Plainview: I told you I would eat you up!
Eli Sunday: We’re brothers! We’re brothers!
[Daniel starts throwing bowling pings at him]
[after Daniel has beaten Eli to death with a bowling pin]
Daniel Plainview: I’m finished.
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