"I can't make another piece of art that glorifies violence and bloodshed and brutality. I can't contribute another stone to this landslide of dehumanizing rage that has swept across this country like a pestilence."

"The point is there's a gulf in this country; an ever-widening abyss between the people who have stuff, and the people who don't have shit. It's like this big hole in the ground, as big as the fucking Grand Canyon, and what's come pouring out is an eruption of rage, and the rage creates violence, and the violence is real, Mack. Nothing's gonna make it go away, until someone changes something, which is not going to happen. And you may not like it, even I may not like it, but I can't pretend it isn't there because that it is a lie, and when art lies, it becomes worthless. So I gotta keep telling the truth, even if it scares the shit out of me, like it scares the shit out of you. Even if it means some motherfucker can blow a big hole in my leg for a watch, and I'm gonna walk with a fucking limp for the rest of my life and call myself lucky."

"While we got a moment here, maybe you can explain something to me I never understood. What is the theory on this handkerchief thing? I mean, after you blow your nose in it, you put it back in your pocket and then you see someone in distress and you like give them this gift from your pocket and they are suppose to be grateful as they wipe it all over their face."

"Kevin Kline - Mack"

"That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."

"Mary McDonnell - Claire"

"[to Mack] You ever been to the Grand Canyon? Its pretty, but that's not the thing of it. You can sit on the edge of that big ol' thing and those rocks... the cliffs and rocks are so old... it took so long for that thing to get like that... and it ain't done either! It happens right there while your watching it. Its happening right now as we are sitting here in this ugly town. When you sit on the edge of that thing, you realize what a joke we people really are... what big heads we have thinking that what we do is gonna matter all that much... thinking that our time here means diddly to those rocks. Just a split second we have been here, the whole lot of us. That's a piece of time so small to even get a name. Those rocks are laughing at me right now, me and my worries... Yeah, its real humorous, that Grand Canyon. It's laughing at me right now. You know what I felt like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the ass of a cow chewing his cud on the side of the road that you drive by doing 70 mph."

"[to Mack] You know what your problem is? You never want to be the bad guy. You want everything you do to be right, but it isn't. If you really didn't want me to go, you shouldn't have fucked me."

"[describing the plot of "Sullivan's Travels"] It's a story about a guy, he's a filmmaker like me, who loses his way, and forgets what it was he set on earth to do. Fortunately, he finds his way back. It can happen, Mack. Check it out."

"Danny Glover - Simon"

"Alfre Woodard - Jane"

"There's so much rage going around we're damn lucky we have the movies to help us vent it."

"Steve Martin - Davis"

"Mary-Louise Parker - Dee"

"Robert Mitchum - Lt. Elgart"

"Gregory Peck - Lee Heller"

"Martin Balsam - Judge"

"Joe Don Baker - Claude Kersek"

"Nick Nolte - Sam Bowden"

"Jessica Lange - Leigh Bowden"

"Illeana Douglas - Lori Davis"

"Juliette Lewis - Danielle Bowden"

"This court does not condone feuds, vendettas or vigilantism. Let me quote our great Negro educator, Mr. Booker T. Washington: "I will let no man drag me down so low... as to make me hate him.""

"There is nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light. Except fear."

"Sam Bowden has always provided for his family's future. But the past is coming back to haunt them."

"[from TV spot] One man's freedom becomes another man's fear."

"[on Cady's tattoos] I don't know whether to look at him or read him."

"Fred Thompson - Tom Broadbent"

"[from TV spot] He paid his debt to society. Now he's paying back his lawyer."

"Zully Montero - Graciella"

"Robert De Niro - Max Cady"

"[singing] On Jordan's stormy branks I stand! Oh, who will come with me? I am bound for the promised land! I am bound for the promised l-... land! I am bound for the promised land!"

"My reminiscence: I always thought that for such a lovely river, the name was mystifying - Cape Fear - when the only thing to fear on those enchanted summer nights was that the magic would end, and real life would come crashing in."

"We never spoke about what happened, at least not to each other. Fear, I suppose, that to remember his name and what he did would mean letting him into our dreams. And me, I hardly dream about him anymore. Still, things won't ever be the way they were before he came. But that's all right, because if you hang onto the past, you die a little every day. And for myself, I know I'd rather live. [whispers] The end."

"Tonight, you're gonna learn to be an animal! To live like an animal and to die like one!"