Here is our pick of the best quotes from Titanic, James Cameron’s epic shipwreck romance, based on accounts of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which follows young star-crossed lovers, aristocrat Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), and poor artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), who fall in love aboard Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage.
'When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.' - Jack Dawson (Titanic) Click To Tweet
Old Rose: [over phone] I was just wondering if you had found the Heart of the Ocean yet, Mr. Lovett.
Bobby Buell: [Lovett looks at Bobby in shock] I told you you wanted to take the call.
Brock Lovett: Alright, you have my attention, Rose. Can you tell us who the woman in the picture is?
Old Rose: Oh, yes. The woman in the picture is me.
Lewis Bodine: [referring to Old Rose] She’s a goddamned liar! Some nutcase seeking money or publicity! God only knows why! Like that Russian babe, Anaesthesia!
Bobby Buell: They’re inbound!
Lewis Bodine: Rose DeWitt Bukater died on the Titanic when she was seventeen. Right?
Brock Lovett: That’s right.
Lewis Bodine: If she had lived, she’d be over a hundred by now.
Brock Lovett: A hundred and one next month.
Lewis Bodine: Okay. So she’s a very old goddamned liar!
Old Rose: It’s been eighty-four years, and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called The Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was.
Ruth Dewitt Bukater: So this is the ship they say is unsinkable.
Cal Hockley: It is unsinkable. God himself could not sink this ship!
Jack Dawson: [yelling as he’s standing on the bow of the shop] I’m the king of the world!
Old Rose: I saw my whole life as if I’d already lived it. An endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back. No one who cared, or even noticed.
Jack Dawson: [trying to stop Rose from jumping into the ocean] You ever been to Wisconsin?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: What?
Jack Dawson: Well, they have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there, near Chippewa Falls. I remember, when I was a kid, me and my father, we went ice fishing, out on lake Wissota. Ice fishing is, you know, where you…
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I know what ice fishing is!
Jack Dawson: Sorry. You just seem like, you know, kind of an indoor girl. Anyway, I fell through some thin ice. And I’m telling you, water that cold, like right down there, it hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. You can’t breathe. You can’t think. At least not about anything but the pain. Which is why I’m not looking forward
to jumping in there after you. Like I said, I don’t have a choice. I guess I’m kind of hoping you’ll come back over the rail, and get me off the hook here.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: You’re crazy.
Jack Dawson: That’s what everybody says, but with all due respect, miss, I’m not the one hanging off the back of a ship here.
Jack Dawson: [after he’s stopped Rose from jumping] I’m Jack Dawson.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Rose DeWitt Bukater.
Jack Dawson: I’ll have to get you to write that one down!
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Jack. I want to thank you for what you did. Not just for pulling me back, but for your discretion.
Jack Dawson: You’re welcome.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Look, I know what you must be thinking. “Poor little rich girl. What does she know about misery?”
Jack Dawson: No. No, that’s not what I was thinking. What I was thinking was, what could have happened to this girl to make her think she had no way out?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Well, I, it was everything. It was my whole world, and all the people in it. And the inertia of my life plunging ahead, and me powerless to stop it.
Jack Dawson: [referring to Cal] Well, it’s a simple question. Do you love the guy or not?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: This is not a suitable conversation.
Jack Dawson: Why can’t you just answer the question?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: This is absurd. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, and we are not having this conversation at all. You are rude, and uncouth, and presumptuous, and I am leaving now.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [starts shaking his hand] Jack. Mr. Dawson, it’s been a pleasure. I sought you out to thank you, and now I have thanked you.
Jack Dawson: And you’ve insulted me.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Well, you deserved it.
Jack Dawson: Right.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Right.
Jack Dawson: I thought you were leaving.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I am. You are so annoying! Wait. I don’t have to leave. This is my part of the ship. You leave.
Jack Dawson: [chuckles] Well, well, well! Now who’s being rude?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [referring to Jack’s drawings] You liked this woman. You used her several times.
Jack Dawson: Well, she had beautiful hands, see?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I think you must have had a love affair with her.
Jack Dawson: No, no, no, no, no. Just with her hands. She was a one-legged prostitute. See?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Oh!
Jack Dawson: She had a good sense of humor though.
Jack Dawson: [referring to his drawing] Oh, and this lady. She used to sit at this bar every night, wearing every piece of jewellery she owned, just waiting for her long lost love. We called her Madame Bijoux. See how her clothes are all moth-eaten?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Well, you have a gift, Jack. You do. You see people.
Jack Dawson: I see you.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: And?
Jack Dawson: You wouldn’t have jumped.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Teach me to ride like a man.
Jack Dawson: And chew tobacco like a man.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: And spit like a man!
Jack Dawson: What, they didn’t teach you that in finishing school?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: No!
'I figure life's a gift, and I don't intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you're going to get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count.' - Jack Dawson (Titanic) Click To Tweet
Molly Brown: [referring to Jack being invited to dinner in first class] Son! Do you have the slightest comprehension what you’re doing?
Jack Dawson: Not really.
Molly Brown: Well, you’re about to fall into the snakepit. What are you planning to wear?
Molly Brown: [Jack shrugs] I figured. Come on.
Molly Brown: [to Jack after she’s given him new clothes] You shine up like a new penny!
1st Class Waiter: How do you take your caviar, sir?
Jack Dawson: No caviar for me, thanks. Never did like it much.
Ruth Dewitt Bukater: And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?
Jack Dawson: Well, yes, ma’am. I do. I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, and a few sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s going to happen, or who I’m going to meet, where I’m going to wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge. And now, here I am, on the grandest ship in the world, having champagne with you fine people. I figure life’s a gift, and I don’t intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you’re going to get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you, to make each day count.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: It’s so unfair.
Ruth Dewitt Bukater: Of course it’s unfair. We’re women. Our choices are never easy.
Jack Dawson: Rose, you’re no picnic. Alright? You’re a spoiled little brat, even. But you’re the most amazingly, astounding, wonderful girl, woman, that I’ve ever known, and…
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Jack.
Jack Dawson: Let me try and get this out. I’m not an idiot. I know how the world works. I’ve got ten bucks in my pocket, I have nothing to offer you, and I know that. I understand. But I’m too involved now. You jump, I jump, remember? I can’t turn away without knowing you’ll be alright. That’s all I want.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Well, I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Really.
Jack Dawson: Really? I don’t think so. They’ve got you trapped, Rose. And you’re going to die if you don’t break free. Maybe not right away, because you’re strong, but sooner or later that fire that I love about you, Rose, that fire is going to burn out.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: It’s not up to you to save me, Jack.
Jack Dawson: You’re right. Only you can do that.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I’m going back. Leave me alone.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Hello, Jack. I changed my mind. They said you might be up here.
Jack Dawson: Shh. Give me your hand. Now close your eyes. Go on. Step up. Now hold on to the railing. Keep your eyes closed. Don’t peek.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I’m not.
Jack Dawson: Step up onto the rail. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your eyes closed. Do you trust me?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I trust you.
Jack Dawson: Alright. Open your eyes.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [as she’s standing on the railing holding out her arms] I’m flying! Jack!
Jack Dawson: [sings softly in Rose’s ear] Come, Josephine, on my flying machine, going up, she goes, up she goes.
Old Rose: That was the last time Titanic ever saw daylight.
'It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it.' - Rose Dewitt Bukater (Titanic) Click To Tweet
Jack Dawson: [referring to the diamond necklace] What is it? A sapphire?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: A diamond. A very rare diamond. Jack, I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, wearing this.
Jack Dawson: Alright.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Wearing only this.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [as Jack is trying to draw her nude] I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can’t imagine Monsieur Monet blushing.
Jack Dawson: He does landscapes.
Old Rose: [recalling when Jack was drawing her nude] My heart was pounding the whole time. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Up until then, at least.
Lewis Bodine: So what happened next?
Old Rose: You mean, did we do it? Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Bodine. Jack was very professional.
Jack Dawson: [pretends he’s the chauffeur] Where to, miss?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: To the stars.
Jack Dawson: [holding each other in the back seat of the car] You nervous?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: No. Put your hands on me, Jack.
[Jack kisses her]
Creman #1: You know, I can smell ice, you know. When it’s near.
Creman #2: Bollocks!
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [after they’ve made love] You’re trembling.
Jack Dawson: Don’t worry. I’ll be alright.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: When the ship docks, I’m getting off with you.
Jack Dawson: This is crazy.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I know! It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I trust it.
Ruth Dewitt Bukater: Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they’re not too crowded.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Oh, mother. Shut up! Don’t you understand?! The water is freezing, and there aren’t enough boats. Not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die.
Cal Hockley: Not the better half.
Cal Hockley: Where are you going? To him?! To be a whore to a gutter rat?!
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I’d rather be his whore than your wife!
Salonisti Violin: [as the passengers are all rushing around them] What’s the use? Nobody’s listening to us anyway.
Wallace Hartley: They don’t Listen to us at dinner either. Come on, let’s play. Keep us warm.
Tommy Ryan: [as they’re running through first class to find a lifeboat] Music to drown by. Now I know I’m in first class.
'You must promise me that you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless.' - Jack Dawson (Titanic) Click To Tweet
Jack Dawson: [as Rose jumps back onto the Titanic from the lifeboat] Rose! You’re so stupid! Why did you do that, huh? You’re so stupid, Rose! Why did you do that? Why?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: You jump, I jump, right?
Jack Dawson: Right.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Oh, God. I couldn’t go. I couldn’t go, Jack.
Jack Dawson: It’s alright. We’ll think of something.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: At least I’m with you.
Spicer Lovejoy: What could possibly be funny?
Cal Hockley: I put the diamond in the coat. And I put the coat on her!
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [as the Titanic starts to sink] Jack, this is where we first met.
Molly Brown: [to the women in the lifeboat] I don’t understand a one of you. What’s the matter with you?! It’s your men out there! There’s plenty of room for more!
Quartermaster Hichens: And there’ll be one less on this boat, if you don’t shut that hole in your face!
Jack Dawson: [to Rose, as they’re in the cold water of the ocean] I don’t know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this.
'A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets.' - Old Rose (Titanic) Click To Tweet
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I love you, Jack.
Jack Dawson: Don’t you do that. Don’t you say your goodbyes. Not yet. Do you understand me?
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I’m so cold.
Jack Dawson: Listen, Rose. You’re going to get out of here. You’re going to go on, and you’re going to make lots of babies, and you’re going to watch them grow. You’re going to die an old lady warm in her bed. Not here. Not this night. Not like this. Do you understand me?
Jack Dawson: Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you, and I’m thankful for that, Rose. I’m thankful. You must do me this honor. You must promise me that you’ll survive. That you won’t give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I promise.
Jack Dawson: Never let go.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: I will never let go, Jack. I’ll never let go.
Rose Dewitt Bukater: [as she’s letting go of Jack’s frozen hand] I’ll never let go. I promise.
Old Rose: Fifteen hundred people went into the sea when Titanic sank from under us. There were twenty boats floating nearby, and only one came back. One. Six were saved from the water, myself included. Six out of fifteen hundred. Afterward, the seven hundred people in the boats had nothing to do but wait. Wait to die. Wait to live. Wait for an absolution that would never come.
Lewis Bodine: We never found anything on Jack. There’s no record of him at all.
Old Rose: No, there wouldn’t be, would there? And I’ve never spoken of him until now. Not to anyone. Not even your grandfather. A woman’s heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson, and that he saved me. In every way that a person can be saved. I don’t even have a picture of him. He exists now only in my memory.
Brock Lovett: Three years, I’ve thought of nothing except Titanic, but I never got it. I never let it in.