"Bengel: You ever think the whole thing doesn't make sense? I mean, they take all this stuff away from you; freedom, girls and sunshine - because it's supposed to make it so when you get back on the outs you never wanna screw up again. All that really does is get you to thinking that you're... just so small. You know? Like you're this... this small thing that doesn't matter for anything. And by the time you do get out - you don't even feel like a human person anymore."

"Pearl Madison: Love is when you can't get somebody out of your mind. When they are your first thought in the morning and your last thought at night. Maybe it's not in your heart but it is in your head."

"Pearl Madison: Just because what you did was wrong doesnt mean that giving up on your life is right."

"Mrs. Calderon: You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo."

"Albert T. Fitzgerald: I recall when our lives were unusual and electric. When we burned with something close to fire. But now we sway to a different rhythm. Lives lived without meaning or even directed hope. The passage of time measured only by loss. Loss of a job, loss of a minivan...a son."

"The worst part is knowing that there is goodness in people. Mostly it stays deep down and buried. Maybe we don't have god because we're scared of the bad stuff. Maybe we're really scared of the good stuff. Because if there is no god, then that means it's inside of us and we can be good all the time if we wanted. So when we do bad things maybe it's because we want to, or because we have to. Or maybe we just need the bad stuff to remind us what the good stuff is in the first place."

"It covers my eyes. It's all I can see. Say there's some kids playing baseball. All I see is the one kid they won't let play because he tells corny jokes and no one thinks they're funny. Or I see a boy and a girl in love and kissing, you know. I just see that they're gonna be one of those sad old couples one day who just cheats on each other and can't even look each other in the eye. And I feel it. I feel all of their sadness. I feel it probably worse than that sad old couple or that corny kid will ever feel it."

"And that's when I figured out that tears couldn't make somebody who was dead, alive again. There's another thing to learn about tears: they can't make somebody who doesn't love you anymore love you again. It's the same with prayers. I wonder how much of their lives people waste crying and praying to God. If you ask me, the devil makes more sense than God does. I can at least see why people would want him around. It's good to have somebody to blame for the bad stuff they do. Maybe God's there because people get scared of all the bad stuff they do. They figure that God and the Devil are always playing this game of tug-of-war with them. And they never know which side they're gonna wind up on. I guess that tug-of-war idea explains how sometimes, even when people try to do something good, it still turns out bad."

"I think there are two ways you can see the world. You either see the sadness that's behind everything or you choose to keep it all out. Your heart can't break if you don't let the world touch it."

"You want a why. Well, maybe there isn't one. Maybe...maybe this is just something that happened."

"I know what they want from me. They want a reason. Something to tie up with a little bow and bury in the backyard. Bury it down so deep it's like it never happened. They want me to say how I'm so sorry, and it was my mom's fault. Or maybe it was my dad's fault. Or it happened because of TV or movies or some junk like that. Or maybe I blame some girl."

"This one is something a friend of mine said to me. "You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo." I remember it right now to the "kiddo" part. But when I think about what she said, the same thing always comes into my head. What if you can't put the pieces together in the first place?"

"Dan Hedaya — Det. Sgt. Della Pesca Paterson"

"John Hannah — Terry Swinton"

"Liev Schreiber — Sam Chaiton"

"Deborah Kara Unger — Lisa Peters"

"Vicellous Reon Shannon — Lesra Martin"

"Denzel Washington — Rubin "Hurricane" Carter"

"25 cent? Must not be much of a book."

"Hate put me in prison. Love's gonna bust me out."

"Debbi Morgan — Mae Thelma Carter"

"Doug Hutchison — Percy Wetmore"

"James Cromwell — Warden Hal Moores"

"Michael Clarke Duncan — John Coffey"

"Bonnie Hunt — Jan Edgecomb"

"David Morse — Brutus "Brutal" Howell"

"Tom Hanks — Paul Edgecomb"

"Miracles do happen."

"Paul Edgecomb didn't believe in miracles. Until the day he met one."

"Miracles happen in the most unexpected places."

"Adios, Chief. Drop us a card from Hell. Let us know if it's hot enough."

"You can come in here on your legs, but you'll go out on your backs. Billy the Kid gonna guarantee ya that."

"Dead man walking, we got a dead man walking here."

"Eve Brent — Elaine Connelly"

"Dabbs Greer — Old Paul Edgecomb"

"Harry Dean Stanton — Toot-Toot"

"Patricia Clarkson — Melinda Moores"

"Jeffrey DeMunn — Harry Terwilliger"

"Barry Pepper — Dean Stanton"

"Michael Jeter — Eduard "Del" Delacroix"

"Sam Rockwell — "Wild Bill" Wharton"

"Barbecue! Me and you! Stinky-pinky, Pew-Pew-Pew! Weren't Billy, Jilly, Hilly, or Pa! It was a French-fried Cajun named Delacroix! WOO!"

"All I wanted me was a little corn bread, you motherfuckers! All I wanted me was a little corn bread!"