AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes


Part of The American Film Institute, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS. The program was hosted by actor Pierce Brosnan and had commentary from many Hollywood actors and filmmakers. A jury consisting of 1,500 film artists, critics, and historians selected "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", spoken by Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in the 1939 American Civil War epic Gone with the Wind, as the most memorable American movie quotation of all time.

Criteria

Jurors were asked to consider the following criteria in making their selections:
The table below reproduces the quotes as the AFI published them.
RankQuotationCharacterActor/ActressFilmYear
1"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."Rhett ButlerClark GableGone with the Wind1939
2"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."Vito CorleoneMarlon Brando'1972
3"You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."Terry MalloyMarlon BrandoOn the Waterfront1954
4"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."Dorothy GaleJudy Garland'1939
5"Here's looking at you, kid."Rick BlaineHumphrey BogartCasablanca1942
6"Go ahead, make my day."Harry CallahanClint EastwoodSudden Impact1983
7"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."Norma DesmondGloria SwansonSunset Boulevard1950
8"May the Force be with you."Han SoloHarrison FordStar Wars1977
9"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."Margo ChanningBette DavisAll About Eve1950
10"You talkin' to me?"Travis BickleRobert De NiroTaxi Driver1976
11"What we've got here is failure to communicate."CaptainStrother MartinCool Hand Luke1967
12"I love the smell of napalm in the morning."Lt. Col. Bill KilgoreRobert DuvallApocalypse Now1979
13"Love means never having to say you're sorry."Oliver Barrett IVRyan O'NealLove Story1970
14"The stuff that dreams are made of."Sam SpadeHumphrey Bogart'1941
15"E.T. phone home."E.T.Pat WelshE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial1982
16"They call me Mister Tibbs!"Virgil TibbsSidney PoitierIn the Heat of the Night1967
17"Rosebud."Charles Foster KaneOrson WellesCitizen Kane1941
18"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"Arthur "Cody" JarrettJames CagneyWhite Heat1949
19"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"Howard BealePeter FinchNetwork1976
20"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."Rick BlaineHumphrey BogartCasablanca1942
21"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."Hannibal LecterAnthony Hopkins'1991
22"Bond. James Bond."James BondSean ConneryDr. No1962
23"There's no place like home."Dorothy GaleJudy Garland'1939
24"I am big! It's the pictures that got small."Norma DesmondGloria SwansonSunset Boulevard1950
25"Show me the money!"Rod TidwellCuba Gooding Jr.Jerry Maguire1996
26"Why don't you come up sometime and see me?"Lady LouMae WestShe Done Him Wrong1933
27"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!""Ratso" RizzoDustin HoffmanMidnight Cowboy1969
28"Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'"Ilsa LundIngrid BergmanCasablanca1942
29"You can't handle the truth!"Col. Nathan R. JessupJack NicholsonA Few Good Men1992
30"I want to be alone."GrusinskayaGreta GarboGrand Hotel1932
31"After all, tomorrow is another day!"Scarlett O'HaraVivien LeighGone with the Wind1939
32"Round up the usual suspects."Capt. Louis RenaultClaude RainsCasablanca1942
33"I'll have what she's having."CustomerEstelle ReinerWhen Harry Met Sally...1989
34"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."Marie "Slim" BrowningLauren BacallTo Have and Have Not1944
35"You're gonna need a bigger boat."Martin BrodyRoy ScheiderJaws1975
36"Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"Gold HatAlfonso Bedoya'1948
37"I'll be back."The TerminatorArnold Schwarzenegger'1984
38"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."Lou GehrigGary Cooper'1942
39"If you build it, he will come."Shoeless Joe JacksonRay Liotta Field of Dreams1989
40"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."Forrest GumpTom HanksForrest Gump1994
41"We rob banks."Clyde BarrowWarren BeattyBonnie and Clyde1967
42"Plastics."Mr. MaguireWalter Brooke'1967
43"We'll always have Paris."Rick BlaineHumphrey BogartCasablanca1942
44"I see dead people."Cole SearHaley Joel Osment'1999
45"Stella! Hey, Stella!"Stanley KowalskiMarlon BrandoA Streetcar Named Desire1951
46"Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."Charlotte ValeBette DavisNow, Voyager1942
47"Shane. Shane. Come back!"Joey StarrettBrandon De WildeShane1953
48"Well, nobody's perfect."Osgood Fielding IIIJoe E. BrownSome Like It Hot1959
49"It's alive! It's alive!"Henry FrankensteinColin CliveFrankenstein1931
50"Houston, we have a problem."Jim LovellTom HanksApollo 131995
51"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"Harry CallahanClint EastwoodDirty Harry1971
52"You had me at 'hello.'"Dorothy BoydRenée ZellwegerJerry Maguire1996
53"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."Capt. Geoffrey T. SpauldingGroucho MarxAnimal Crackers1930
54"There's no crying in baseball!"Jimmy DuganTom HanksA League of Their Own1992
55"La-dee-da, la-dee-da."Annie HallDiane KeatonAnnie Hall1977
56"A boy's best friend is his mother."Norman BatesAnthony PerkinsPsycho1960
57"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."Gordon GekkoMichael DouglasWall Street1987
58"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."Michael CorleoneAl Pacino'1974
59"As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."Scarlett O'HaraVivien LeighGone with the Wind1939
60"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"OliverOliver HardySons of the Desert1933
61"Say 'hello' to my little friend!"Tony MontanaAl PacinoScarface1983
62"What a dump."Rosa MolineBette DavisBeyond the Forest1949
63"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"Benjamin BraddockDustin Hoffman'1967
64"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"President Merkin MuffleyPeter SellersDr. Strangelove1964
65"Elementary, my dear Watson."Sherlock HolmesBasil Rathbone'1939
66"Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape."George TaylorCharlton HestonPlanet of the Apes1968
67"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."Rick BlaineHumphrey BogartCasablanca1942
68"Here's Johnny!"Jack TorranceJack Nicholson'1980
69"They're here!"Carol Anne FreelingHeather O'RourkePoltergeist1982
70"Is it safe?"Dr. Christian SzellLaurence OlivierMarathon Man1976
71"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet!"Jakie Rabinowitz/Jack RobinAl Jolson'1927
72"No wire hangers, ever!"Joan CrawfordFaye DunawayMommie Dearest1981
73"Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?"Rico BandelloEdward G. RobinsonLittle Caesar1931
74"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."Lawrence WalshJoe MantellChinatown1974
75"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."Blanche DuBoisVivien LeighA Streetcar Named Desire1951
76"Hasta la vista, baby."The TerminatorArnold Schwarzenegger'1991
77"Soylent Green is people!"Det. Robert ThornCharlton HestonSoylent Green1973
78"Open the pod bay doors, HAL."Dave BowmanKeir Dullea'1968
79Striker: "Surely you can't be serious."
Rumack: "I am serious … and don't call me Shirley."
Ted Striker and Dr. RumackRobert Hays and Leslie NielsenAirplane!1980
80"Yo, Adrian!"Rocky BalboaSylvester StalloneRocky1976
81"Hello, gorgeous."Fanny BriceBarbra StreisandFunny Girl1968
82"Toga! Toga!"John "Bluto" BlutarskyJohn BelushiNational Lampoon's Animal House1978
83"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make."Count DraculaBela LugosiDracula1931
84"Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast."Carl DenhamRobert ArmstrongKing Kong1933
85"My precious."GollumAndy Serkis'2002
86"Attica! Attica!"Sonny WortzikAl PacinoDog Day Afternoon1975
87"Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"Julian MarshWarner Baxter42nd Street1933
88"Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!"Ethel ThayerKatharine HepburnOn Golden Pond1981
89"Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper."Knute RocknePat O'BrienKnute Rockne, All American1940
90"A martini. Shaken, not stirred."James BondSean ConneryGoldfinger1964
91"Who's on first."DexterBud Abbott'1945
92"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"Carl SpacklerBill MurrayCaddyshack1980
93"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"Mame DennisRosalind RussellAuntie Mame1958
94"I feel the need—the need for speed!"Pete Mitchell and Nick BradshawTom Cruise and Anthony EdwardsTop Gun1986
95"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."John KeatingRobin WilliamsDead Poets Society1989
96"Snap out of it!"Loretta CastoriniCherMoonstruck1987
97"My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you."George M. CohanJames CagneyYankee Doodle Dandy1942
98"Nobody puts Baby in a corner."Johnny CastlePatrick SwayzeDirty Dancing1987
99"I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!"Wicked Witch of the WestMargaret Hamilton'1939
100"I'm the king of the world!"Jack DawsonLeonardo DiCaprioTitanic1997

By the numbers

With six movie quotes, Casablanca is the most represented film. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz are tied for second, with three each. Sunset Boulevard, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Graduate, and Jerry Maguire each have two quotes.
Rick Blaine is the character with the most quotes ; Dorothy Gale, Harry Callahan, James Bond, Norma Desmond, Scarlett O'Hara, and The Terminator have two quotes each.
With five, Humphrey Bogart is the actor with the most quotes. Al Pacino, Bette Davis, Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, and Vivien Leigh have three apiece, while Jack Nicholson, Judy Garland, Gloria Swanson, Dustin Hoffman, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, James Cagney, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have two each. Sean Connery also has two entries, but his two quotes are shared with five other actors. As well as the five quotes spoken by Bogart, two other quotes on the list were spoken to him, by Alfonso Bedoya and Lauren Bacall, respectively. Another was spoken in his presence and for his character's benefit by Claude Rains, and another is often mistakenly attributed to Bogart; he actually said, "You played it for her, you can play it for me.... If she can stand it, I can! Play it!"
The line "My precious", from ', is the only quote from a movie released in the 21st century and the only one by a CGI character.
Quotations by decade:
  • 1910s: 0
  • 1920s: 1
  • 1930s: 16
  • 1940s: 17
  • *World War II years : 21
  • 1950s: 9
  • 1960s: 13
  • 1970s: 16
  • 1980s: 17
  • 1990s: 10
  • 2000s: 1
Top years''':
A number of the entries are frequently misquoted, as:
A number of the quotes are drawn from real world events and sources:
RankQuotationFilmSource
38"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."'An actual quotation from Lou Gehrig's retirement speech
50"Houston, we have a problem."Apollo 13The actual message from the Apollo 13 mission that was: "Houston, we've had a problem"
68"Here's Johnny!"'The line is Ed McMahon's signature introduction of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
97"My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you."Yankee Doodle DandyGeorge M. Cohan's curtain speech.