For 23 years, "The Shawshank Redemption" is considered as the greatest film of all time and the highest rated film on IMDb. It is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont. It tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman), and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton). William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore appear in supporting roles. In this article, we will take a look at all the best quotes in this cinematic masterpiece.
Warden Samuel Norton : I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
Andy Dufresne : It's funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Get busy living, or get busy dying.That's god-damn right.
Andy Dufresne : Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : hope is a dangerous thing my friend,it can kill a man ...
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : I wish I could tell you Andy fought the good fight. I wish I could tell you that... But prison is no fairy tale world.
Warden Samuel Norton : [returning bible containing rock hammer back to Andy] Salvation lies within.
Andy Dufresne : there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. there's something inside they cant touch.
Andy Dufresne : Forget that... there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : what are you talking about?
Andy Dufresne : hope.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : King me.
Andy Dufresne : Ah chess.. now theres a game of kings, knights, strategy ...
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : And a total fucking mystery. I hate it!
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : In prison, a man'll do most anything to keep his mind occupied.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Every man's got a breaking point.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. I would like to think they were singing about some thing was so beautiful it cant be expressed in words and make your heart ache because of it.I tell you this voice soared higher and farther than anybody in a Gray place dares to dream it is like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away. For the briefest moment every last man in Shawshank felt free.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : He had enough rocks to keep him busy till Rapture.
Andy Dufresne : I don't waste time on losers, Tommy.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Andy dufresne, the man who crawled through 500 yards of shit and came out clean the other end.
Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding : I remember thinking it would take a man 600 years to tunnel through the wall with it. Andy did it in less than 20.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : That was the longest night of my life.
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it really takes, pressure and time. That and a big damn poster.
1967 Parole Hearings Man : You feel you've been rehabilitated?
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Rehabilitated. Let's see now. You know, come to think of it, I have no idea what that means.
1967 Parole Hearings Man : Well, it means you're ready to rejoin society as?
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : I know what you think it means. Me, I think it's a made-up word, a poli- tician's word. A word so young fellas like you can wear a suit and tie and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did?
1967 Parole Hearings Man : well, are you?
Ellis Boy "Red" Redding : Not a day goes by I don't feel regret, and not because I'm in here or because you think I should. I look back on myself the way I was...stupid kid who did that terrible crime...wish I could talk sense to him. Tell him how things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, this old man is all that's left, and I have to live with that. (beat) Rehabilitated? That's a bullshit word, so you just go on ahead and stamp that form there, sonny, and stop wasting my damn time. Truth is, I don't give a shit.
Warden Samuel Norton : It's a miracle...man up and vanished like a fart in the wind.
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