They may not be original, entertaining, or even funny, but for some reason these one-liners seem to hold a place close to our hearts.
1. Dirty Dancing – ‘Nobody puts baby in a corner.’
There’s a big fan base for ‘I carried a watermelon?’ but there’s something about a smouldering Patrick Swayze – complete with ruffled mullet and too-tight trousers – that makes this line the winner.
2. Pulp Fiction – ‘What do the French call a Big Mac with cheese?’
Yes, we all know it’s a Royale. Just because you’re in MacDonalds steaming drunk at midnight doesn’t make the line original or funny. Now hurry up and order, we’re hungry.
3. Wall Street – ‘Lunch is for wimps.’
Even if we got to wear red braces, shout a lot and make heaps of cash, we’re not giving up our daily cheese sandwich.
4. Top Gun – ‘You can be my wingman any time.’
There are a plethora of lines to choose from as any Top Gun geek will attest, but beyond writing out the entire lyrics to ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling’, this is probably the most heavily quoted. Best accompanied by a white vest and some heavy homoerotic overtones.
5. Zoolander – ‘Words can only hurt you if you try to read them. Don’t play their game.’
Evidently they’re not up for teaching you much at the ‘Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too’. There is more to life than being really, really good-looking but if you can master the walk off and Blue Steel look, it certainly opens doors.
6. The Princess Bride – ‘My name is Inigo Montoya – you killed my father, prepare to die.’
It’s essential to accompany this line with an Italian accent while brandishing a fake sword. Even better if you can hunt down a 6-fingered man to act as your opponent.
7. Anchorman – ‘I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal.’
Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgandy is a walking one-liner with a moustache to die for. We must have watched this movie 647 times and somehow it still inspires stomach-ache-inducing laughter.
8. Withnail & I – ‘I must have some booze. I demand to have some booze.’
Withnail is quite heavy on the booze quotes, and the hangover ones too. After a heavy night, most people can probably relate to: ‘I feel like a pig shat in my head’.
9. The Italian Job – ‘You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.’
It’s hard to imagine an everyday scenario when this quote might come in handy but people manage to quote it with alarming frequency – usually in an imitation Michael Caine cockney accent that would be more at home on the set of Eastenders.
10. The Terminator – ‘I’ll be back.’
While, unlike the rest of the flicks on this list, The Terminator didn’t generate a large number of oft-repeated quotes from its fanboys, it did spawn the hugely irritating German-English catchphrase, ‘I’ll be back’.
I think these are great reference quotes. Of them, the Terminator quote it’s kinda famous among the younger generation so I can’t see why you put it last. Except that, I have no other problem with your quotes. Rated 10+.
Pulp Fiction is totally misquoted.
It’s “You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? ” not a Big Mac.
a big mac is called a big mac, a QUARTER POUNDER is called the royale, if you’re gonna have an article about top movie quotes, you should probably get the quote from one of the best movies of all time correct
and “I love lamp” is much better
“I came to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I’m all out of bubble gum.” Roddy Piper in They Live
also Duke Nukem
Wow, looks like you and the friend you have who has used these quotes in your presence have seen a total of 10 movies. Most quoted of all time and the Italian Job gets a spot?!!?
You don’t even have the right quote from Wall Street ….. “greed is good” thank you very much
There are so many better quotes I don’t know where to start
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning”
“No more yanky my wanky, Donger need sleep”
“Frankly my Dear, I don’t give a damn”
“be the ball”
I could do better if I spent more than 3 minutes thinking on this.
Thumbs down
I have to totally agree. What about
“You can’t handle the truth!”
The greatest thing about that quote is, 90% of the people who say it haven’t even SEEN THE MOVIE.
Yea, great list, but if you are going to do the Italian Job, you might as well have it fight for Jack’s other movie.
” Forget it Jake, It’s Chinatown.”
“I’ll have what she’s having” – When Harry Met Sally
Recently saw Dirty Dancing, The Musical (hey, my wife sat through King Lear with me, I figured it was only fair…). That line does not come up until about 5 minutes from the end, and the place *erupted*. It was like they’d been waiting 2 and a half hours just to hear him say that.
I hate to say it, but this list sort of fails.
How did you manage to get the Pulp Fiction quote wrong?
‘I’ll be back’ is number 10?
No quotes from Godfather? Not even the offer they can’t refuse?
‘There is no spoon’ from Matrix.
‘You talkin’ to me’ from Taxi Driver is almost legendary.
‘Use the force’ and ‘I’m your father, Luke’ from Star Wars.
‘You can’t handle the truth’ from A Few Good Men.
I could go on …
My favourite movie of all time isn’t here. Scarface, Antonio “Tony” Montana: Say hello to my little friend!