All Quotes

"[narrating] Parris Island, South Carolina—the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot, an eight-week college for the phony tough and the crazy brave."

"[narrating] The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive."

"I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill."

"[narrating] Graduation is only a few days away, and the recruits of Platoon 3092 are salty. They are ready to eat their own guts and ask for seconds. The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear."

"[narrating; last lines] We have nailed our names in the pages of history enough for today. We hump down to the Perfume River to set in for the night. My thoughts drift back to erect-nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece, and short. I'm in a world of shit, yes, but I am alive. And I am not afraid."

"[To Private Pyle when he is unable to climb over an obstacle on a course] Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit! Get the fuck off of my obstacle! Get the fuck down off of my obstacle! NOW! MOVE IT! Or I'm going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you, Private Pyle, IF IT SHORT-DICKS EVERY CANNIBAL ON THE CONGO!"

"[Graduation speech to the platoon] Today, you people are no longer maggots. Today, you are Marines. You're part of a brotherhood. From now on, until the day you die, wherever you are, every Marine is your brother. Most of you will go to Vietnam. Some of you will not come back. But always remember this: Marines die. That's what we're here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever and that means you live forever."

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle. It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong, you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. You will become dead Marines. And then you will be in a world of shit. Because Marines are not allowed to die without permission! Do you maggots understand?"

"[Speech to the platoon on Christmas Day] Today is Christmas. There will be a magic show at 0930. Chaplain Charlie will tell you about how the free world will conquer Communism with the aid of God and a few Marines. God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see. He plays His games, we play ours. To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep Heaven packed with fresh souls. God was here before the Marine Corps. So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps!"

"Drop your cocks and grab your socks!"

"These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting."

"[after he and the other recruits have hazed Pyle by restraining and beating him] Remember, it's just a bad dream, fat boy!"

"In Vietnam, the wind doesn't blow. It sucks."

"Vietnam can kill me, but it can't make me care."

"Matthew Modine - Private/Sergeant James T. "Joker" Davis"

"Vincent D'Onofrio - Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence"

"R. Lee Ermey - Gunnery Sergeant Hartman"

"Ed O'Ross - Lieutenant Touchdown / Walter J. Schinoski"

"John Terry - Lieutenant Lockhart"

"Kieron Jecchinis - "Crazy" Earl"

"Kirk Taylor - Payback"

"Peter Edmund - Private "Snowball" Brown"

"Tim Colceri - Doorgunner"

"Gil Kopel - Stork"

"[the shark crashes into the boat killing the power] It ate the light."

"Lee Fierro - Mrs. Kintner"

"[from TV spot] None of man's fantasies of evil can compare with the reality of Jaws."

"You'll never go in the water again!"

"The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying No. 1 best seller."

"When beaches open this summer, you will be taken by Jaws."

""Slow ahead." I can go slow ahead. Come on down here and chum some of this shit. [the shark suddenly appears, causing Brody to recoil in shock] You're gonna need a bigger boat."

"[aiming an M1 Garand] Smile, you son of a...! [shoots the air tank in the shark's mouth; causing the shark to explode]"

"[about Mayor Vaughn] I'm not going to waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch."

"Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll catch this bird for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad fish! Not like going down to the pond and chasing bluegills and tommycods. This shark, swallow ya whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back the tourists, that'll put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant! I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing."

"Here lies the body of Mary Lee; died at the age of a hundred and three. For fifteen years she kept her virginity; not a bad record for this vicinity."

"Bigotry may be called the appalling frenzy of the indifferent. This frenzy of the indifferent is in truth a terrible thing; it has made all monstrous and widely pervading persecutions. In this degree it was not the people who cared who ever persecuted; the people who cared were not sufficiently numerous. It was the people who did not care who filled the world with fire and oppression. It was the hands of the indifferent that lit the faggots; it was the hands of the indifferent that turned the rack. There have come some persecutions out of the pain of a passionate certainty; but these produced, not bigotry, but fanaticism — a very different and a somewhat admirable thing. Bigotry in the main has always been the pervading omnipotence of those who do not care crushing out those who care in darkness and blood."

"As I sang hymns on stage, one phrase echoed continuously in my mind: “If one member suffers, all members suffer together.” This is not a slogan, but the fundamental logic of the church as the body of Christ. Persecution is not “their problem,” but “our shared wound.” …the most insidious aspect of persecution isn’t a single “disruption,” but the gradual fragmentation of people’s lives—leaving them exhausted, scattered, doubting, and retreating—forcing faith to [withdraw slowly] from public expression until it can only be “hidden in the heart.” …the cruelty of persecution lies not only in stripping away freedom, but in attempting to sever people’s connection to truth—robbing them of their voice, their testimony, and their network of mutual support."

"Today, as ever, the few are misunderstood, hounded, imprisoned, tortured, and killed."

"Persecution cannot harm him who stands by Truth. Did not Socrates fall proudly a victim in body? Was not Paul stoned for the sake of the Truth? It is our inner selves that hurt us when we disobey it, and it kills us when we betray it."

"[Australian scholar David Thomas] Smith’s theory of religious persecution shows us that a general “system of tolerance of minorities” is perfectly compatible with the persecution of some groups, and the two things in fact go together in many modern democratic states, which answers the objection that Tai Ji Men cannot be persecuted because Taiwan in general protects religious liberty. It also shows that democratic states, unlike their totalitarian counterparts that are often irrational, cease the persecutions when they understand that the political cost of persecution has become higher than the cost of tolerating a group they do not like."

"There is a deplorable tendency of expanding the notion of “human trafficking” beyond its original limits, targeting religious organizations that use unpaid volunteers for their missionary or charitable activities."

"Academics have a key role in persuading the courts and the governments, which is paradoxically easier than persuading the media, that “cults” and “brainwashing” are pseudo-scientific labels used to discriminate against unpopular religious minorities. Of course, there are abusive and criminal religious groups, but they should be prosecuted for their real common law crimes rather than for the imaginary crimes of “being a cult” and “using brainwashing.”"

"History shows many examples of persecuted believers who win in the end. Religions tend to last longer than governments, regimes, or their opponents. History is fair, and often gives persecuted believers the last laugh."

"The world must not mistake persecution for prosecution."

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

"Any body of men who believe in hell will persecute whenever they have the power."

"The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts. He ascribes all his failure to get on in the world, all of his congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall Street, or some other such den of infamy."

"The dictum that truth always triumphs over persecution, is one of those pleasant falsehoods which men repeat after one another till they pass into commonplaces, but which all experience refutes. History teems with instances of truth put down by persecution. If not suppressed for ever, it may be thrown back for centuries."

"Can we agree that having an irresistible urge to ridicule other people’s beliefs is not generally a sign of good mental health?"

"We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."