Martin Sheen Quotes

Captain Hollister What's to stop me from having you erased right here and now?

John Rainbird My word - that I've already made certain provisions that should I "disappear", The Shop will cease to exist within six weeks. And within six months, you will stand in front of a judge awaiting sentence for crimes serious enough to keep you behind bars for the rest of your life.

Gen. Robert E. Lee In the morning is the great battle. Tomorrow or the next day will determine the war. Virginia is here. All the South is here. What will you do tomorrow? In the morning the enemy will be up in fortified positions on high ground. Longstreet's corps will be coming up and my boys will be ready to finish the job. If I tell them to withdraw now? No, sir. They've been patient for far too long. With the enemy out there up on the hill, they'll be ready to finish the job. But I don't even know how much is up there. How many men? How many cannon? I don't know the ground or the flanks. I don't know. If I wait in the morning, the early morning, maybe Meade, under pressure, will attack. That would make General Longstreet very happy. But I don't think Meade will come down. And I don't think I can withdraw, so, God's will, thy will be done.

Kit Carruthers I got it all planned - and, uh, I'm taking Holly off with me.

Greg Stillson Who are you, you son of a bitch? Who sent you?! HUH?!

Johnny Smith It's over...you're finished.

Greg Stillson Where's that kid with the camera?! He was taking pictures!

Sonny Elliman I didn't see him.

Greg Stillson YOU ASSHOLE!

Greg Stillson I have had a vision that I am going to be President of the United States someday. And nobody, and I mean nobody is going to stop me!

Gen. Robert E. Lee It's my fault.

Gen. Robert E. Lee Major, this Army will conduct itself properly and with respect to all civilian population at all times. And you will personally report to me any infraction no matter how minor or trivial they may appear.

Gen. Robert E. Lee Soldiering has one great trap. To be a good soldier, you must love the army. To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. We do not fear our own death, you and I. But there comes a time...we are never quite prepared for so many to die. Oh, we do expect the occasional empty chair, the salute to fallen comrades. But this war goes on, and the men die, and the price gets ever higher. We are prepared to lose some of us, but we are never prepared to lose all of us. And there is the great trap, General: When you attack, you must hold nothing back. You must commit yourself totally. We are adrift here in a sea of blood, and I want it to end. I want this to be the final battle.

Captain Hollister When we find out all we need to know from her...

John Rainbird When you give her to me.

Captain Hollister What are you going to do with her?

John Rainbird John, the friendly orderly, will come in. He will greet her, talk to her, get her to smile... John, the friendly orderly, will make her happy because he's the only one who can. And when John feels she has reached the moment of her greatest happiness, he will strike her across the bridge of the nose, breaking it explosively and sending bone fragments into her brain. It'll be quick. And he'll be looking at her face at the time. He will know her power. And when he dies, which I hope is very soon, perhaps he can take that power with him... into the other world.

Captain Hollister You are crazy!

Dignam Tell me, what's a lace-curtain mofo like you doing in the staties?

Costigan Well, families are always rising or falling in America, am I right?

Queenan Who said that?

Costigan ].

Dignam What's the matter, smart-ass, you don't know any fucking ]?

Gen. Robert E. Lee They do not die for us. Not for us. That at least is a blessing. If this war goes on, and it will...it will...what else can we do but go on, you and I? It's always the same question forever. What else can we do? If they fight, we must fight with them. And does it matter after all who wins? Was that ever really the question?

Queenan Congratulations on passing the detective's exam, and welcome to the Special Investigation Unit.

Dignam Whoop-da-fucking-do.

Queenan We won't be working together, that is, directly. You'll be working for Captain Ellerby, but I like to watch everybody.

Queenan You're a worker. You rise fast.

Staff Sergeant Dignam Like a 12-year-old's dick.

Greg Stillson I need your support, I need your expertise, I need your input, and most importantly, I need your money.

Greg Stillson Do it, General.

Five Star General You're insane... I won't...

Greg Stillson DO IT! Put your hand on the scanning screen, and you'll go down in history with me.

Five Star General As what? The world's greatest mass murderers?

Greg Stillson You cowardly bastard! You're not the voice of the people, I am the voice of the people! The people speak through me, not you! It came to me while I slept, Sonny... my destiny. In the middle of the night, it came to me - I must get up NOW, RIGHT NOW, and fulfill my destiny! Now you put your goddamn hand on that scanning screen, or I'll hack it off and put it on for you! DO IT!

Five Star General God forgive me.

Greg Stillson Congratulations, General.

Sonny Elliman Complete the sequence, Mr. President.

Greg Stillson My destiny.

Queenan Do you know what we do here? in my section?

Billy Costigan Sir, yes, sir. I have an idea...

Dignam Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's say you have no idea and leave it at that, okay? No idea. Zip. None. If you had an idea of what we do, we would not be good at what we do, now would we? We would be cunts. Are you calling us cunts?

Queenan Staff Sergeant Dignam has a style of his own. I'm afraid we all have to get used to it.

Vince Walker I met him once.

Collins You mean Gandhi?

Vince Walker Yeah, in South Africa, a long time ago. I wonder if he'll recognise me.

Collins What was he like?

Vince Walker He had a full head of hair then. We were a bit like college students, trying to figure everything out.

Collins Well, he must have found some of the answers!

Gen. Robert E. Lee They will break in the center. Those people will be gaining men from all directions, guns by the thousands. And Richmond has nothing left to send us. So if we stay, we fight. If we retreat now, we will have fought here for two days, and will leave knowing we could not drive them off. And I have ] ] ] ] ]. No Sir. Retreat is no longer an option.

Kit Carruthers Somebody dropped a bag on the sidewalk. Everybody did that, the whole town'd be a mess.

Greg Stillson The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Dignam Your fuckin family's dug into the Southie projects like ticks. Three-decker men at best. You, however, grew up on the North Shore, huh? Well, la-di-fuckin'-da. You were kind of a double kid, I bet, right? Huh? One kid with your old man, one kid with your mother. You're upper-middle class during the weeks, then you're droppin your "R"s and you're hangin in the big, bad Southie projects with your daddy, the fuckin donkey on the weekends. I got that right? Yup. You have different accents? You did, didn't you? You little fuckin snake. You were like different people.

Billy Costigan You a psychiatrist?

Dignam Well, if I was I'd ask you why you're a Statie making 30 grand a year. And I think if I was Sigmund fuckin Freud I wouldn't get an answer. So tell me, what's a lace-curtain motherfucker like you doing in the Staties?

Billy Costigan Well, "Families are always rising and falling in America", am I right?

Queenan Who said that?

Billy Costigan ].

Dignam Pfft! What's the matter, smart ass? Don't know any fuckin ]?

Queenan We have a question: Do you want to be a cop, or do you want to appear to be a cop? It's an honest question. A lot of guys just want to appear to be cops. Gun, badge, pretend they're on TV.

Dignam Yeah, a lot of people just wanna slam a nigger's head through a plate-glass window.

Billy Costigan I'm all set without your own personal job application. Alright, Sergeant?

Dignam What the fuck did you say to me, trainee?

Billy Costigan With all due respect, sir, what do you want from me?

Dignam Hey asshole, he can't help you! I know what you are, okay? I know what you are and I know what you are not. I'm the best friend you have on the face of this earth, and I'm gonna help you understand something, you punk. YOU'RE NO FUCKIN COP!

Queenan He's right. We deal in deception here. What we do not deal with is self-deception. Five years from now, you can be anything else in the world, but you will never be a Massachusetts State Trooper.

Billy Costigan You sure of that?

Queenan I'm sure.

Dignam Guaran-fucking-teed. You got a 1400 on your SATs, kid. You're an astronaut, not a Statie.

Doctor Joseph Wanless Ever since this child was born, her father has been trying to inhibit her use of those powers. But what if his control had weakened now?

Captain Hollister Why would he lose control, now, after all those years?

Doctor Joseph Wanless Ask yourself this question. How exhausting must it have been for Victoria and Andrew McGee when this child was an infant? The bottle is late, the baby cries, and at that moment, one of her toys right there in the crib beside her bursts into smokey flame.

Captain Hollister Joe, she's just a little girl. She can light fires, yes. But you're making her sound like Armageddon!

Doctor Joseph Wanless Yes!... and that's what it might well be. Suppose lighting fires is just the tip of the iceberg?

Captain Hollister I don't know what you're talking about.

Doctor Joseph Wanless I am talking about a talent that is directly linked to this child's pituitary gland; undeveloped pituitary gland. What happens when she becomes adolescent and that sleeping gland wakes and becomes, for 20 months, the most powerful force in the human body? Suppose we have a child here who, someday, is capable of creating a nuclear explosion simply by the power of her will?

Captain Hollister That's insane.

Doctor Joseph Wanless Is it? Is it? Then allow me to progress from insanity to utter lunacy. Suppose there is a little girl out there, somwhere today... this morning!... who has within her, lying dormant at present... the power someday to crack the very planet in two like a china plate in a shooting gallery?

Gen. Robert E. Lee With General Longstreet in command, my old war horse, meeting the enemy face to face on ground of his own choosing, and with honour, we will prevail!

Charlie McGee Where's my father?

Captain Hollister He's fine. He's happy, and he sends his love, and he wants you to cooperate with us.

Charlie McGee You're a liar!

Captain Hollister Now, what kinda talk is that from a nice little girl like you?

Charlie McGee GO TO HELL!

Vince Walker You're an ambitious man, Mr. Gandhi.

Gandhi I hope not.

Greg Stillson Let's send Greg Stillson to the United States Senate - and mediocrity to hell!