Field of Dreams Quotes

The Voice Ease his pain.

The Voice Go the distance.

Ray Kinsella By the time I was ten, playing baseball got to be like eating vegetables or taking out the garbage. So when I was fourteen I started refusing. Can you believe that? An American boy refusing to have a catch with his father.

Terence Mann Why fourteen?

Ray Kinsella That's when I read "The Boat Rocker", by Terence Mann.

Terence Mann Oh, God.

Ray Kinsella Never played catch with him again.

Terence Mann You see? That's the kind of crap people are always trying to lay on me. It's not my fault you wouldn't play catch with your father!

Ray I bet it's good to be playing again, huh?

Shoeless Joe Getting thrown out of ] was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that have been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.

Shoeless Joe Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?

Ray Yeah.

Shoeless Joe I used to love travelling on the trains from town to town. The hotels... brass spittoons in the lobbies, brass beds in the rooms. It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

Dr. Graham It was like coming this close to your dreams and then watch them brush past you like a stranger in a crowd. At the time, you don't think much of it. You know, we just don't recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they're happening. Back then I thought, Well, there'll be other days. I didn't realize that that was the only day. And now, Ray Kinsella, I want to ask you a question. What's so interesting about a half an inning that would make you come all the way from Iowa to talk to me about it 50 years after it happened?

Ray Kinsella I really didn't know till just now, but I think it's to ask you if you could do anything you wanted, if you could have a-a wish.

Dr. Graham And that you're the kind of a man who could grant me that wish?

Ray Kinsella I don't know. I'm just asking.

Dr. Graham Well, you know, I-I never got to bat in the major leagues. I'd have liked to have had that chance just once, to stare down a big-league pitcher. To stare him down, then just as he goes into his windup, wink. Make him think you know something he doesn't. That's what I wish for. The chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingle in your arm as you connect with the ball. To run the bases, stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third, wrap your arms around the bag. That's my wish, Ray Kinsella. That's my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true?

Ray Kinsella What would you say if I said yes?

Dr. Graham I think I'd actually believe you.

Ray Kinsella Well, sir, there's a place where things like that happen, and if you want to go, I can take you.

Dr. Graham This is my most special place in all the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again. You feel for it, like it was your child. I can't leave Chisholm.

Ray Kinsella Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within... y-you came this close. It would kill some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they'd consider it a tragedy.

Dr. Graham Son, if I'd only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes... now that would have been a tragedy.

Shoeless Joe Hey, rookie! You were good.

Taglines All his life, Ray Kinsella was searching for his dreams. Then one day, his dreams came looking for him.

Ray Kinsella My name's Ray Kinsella. You used my father's name in one of your stories: John Kinsella.

Terence Mann You're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?

The Voice * This was ranked #39 of the ] of all time in a poll by the ].

Taglines If you believe the impossible, the incredible can come true.

Ray Kinsella You catch a good game.

John Kinsella Thank you. It's so beautiful here. For me, well, for me, it's like a dream come true. Can I ask you something? Is, is this heaven?

Ray Kinsella It's — it's Iowa.

John Kinsella I could have sworn it was heaven.

Ray Is there a heaven?

John Kinsella Oh, yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.

Ray Maybe this is heaven.

John Kinsella Well, good night Ray.

Ray Kinsella Good night, John.

Ray Kinsella Hey... Dad?

Ray Kinsella You wanna have a catch?

John Kinsella I'd like that. Very much.

Ray Kinsella Don't you miss being involved?

Terence Mann I was the East Coast distributor of involved'. I ate it, drank it, and breathed it. Then they killed ], they killed ], they elected ] twice. And people like you think I must be miserable because I'm not involved anymore. Well, I've got news for you. I spent all my misery years ago. I have no more pain for anything. I gave at the office.

Ray Kinsella So, what do you want?

Terence Mann I want them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. I want my privacy.

Ray Kinsella I mean, what do you want?

Terence Mann Oh. Dog and a beer.

Ray Kinsella Two of those.

Concession stand worker Seven bucks.

Terence Mann I'm going to beat you with a crowbar until you leave.

Ray Kinsella You can't do that.

Terence Mann There are rules here? No, there are no rules here.

Ray Kinsella You're a pacifist!

Terence Mann Shit.

Terence Mann Ray. People will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. "Of course, we won't mind if you look around", you'll say. "It's only $20 per person". They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.

Mark Ray, when the bank opens in the morning, they'll foreclose.

Terence Mann People will come, Ray.

Mark You're broke, Ray. You sell now, or you'll lose everything.

Terence Mann The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game; it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh…people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

Ray Kinsella My father's name was John Kinsella. It's an Irish name. He was born in North Dakota in 1896 and never saw a big city until he came back from France in 1918. He settled in Chicago where he quickly learned to live and die with the White Sox. Died a little when they lost the 1919 World Series, died a lot the following summer when 8 members of the team were accused of throwing that series. He played in the minors for a year or two but nothing ever came of it. Moved to Brooklyn in 35, married mom in 38 and was already an old man working at the naval yards when I was born in 1952. My name's Ray Kinsella. Mom died when I was three and I suppose dad did the best he could. Instead of Mother Goose, I was put to bed at night with stories of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Dad was a Yankees fan then so, of course, I rooted for Brooklyn. But in 58 the Dodgers moved away and we had to find other things to fight about. We did. And when it came time to go to college, I picked the farthest one away from home I could find. This of course drove him right up the wall which, I suppose, was the point. Officially my major was English but, really, it was the 60s. I marched, I smoked some grass, I tried to like sitar music, and I met Annie. The only thing we had in common was that she came from Iowa and I had once heard of Iowa. After graduation we moved to the mid-west and stayed with her family as long as we could; almost a full afternoon. Annie and I got married in June of 74. Dad died that fall. A few years later, Karen was born. She smelled weird but, we loved her anyway. Then Annie got the crazy idea that she could talk me into buying a farm. I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life.

The Voice If you build it, he will come.

Ray Kinsella I did it all, I listened to the voices, I did what they told me, and not once did I ask what's in it for me!

Shoeless Joe Jackson What are you saying, Ray?

Ray Kinsella I'm saying... what's in it for me?

Shoeless Joe Jackson Is that why you did this? For you? I think you better stay here, Ray.

Terence Mann Ray, there was a reason they chose me, just as there was a reason they chose you and this field.

Ray Kinsella Why?

Terence Mann I gave an interview.

Ray Kinsella What interview? What are you talking about?

Terence Mann The one about ]. The one that charged you up and sent you all the way out to Boston to find me.

Ray Kinsella You lied to me.

Terence Mann Well, you were kidnapping me at the time, you big jerk!

Ray Kinsella Well, you lied to me!

Terence Mann You said your finger was a gun!

Ray Kinsella That's a good point.

Terence Mann Ray. Ray. Listen to me, Ray. Listen to me. There is something out there, Ray, and if I have the courage to go through with this, what a story it'll make: "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa".

Annie Kinsella Terence Mann was a voice of reason during a time of great madness. He coined the phrase, "Make love, not war". Where others were chanting, "Burn, baby burn", he talked about love, and peace and understanding. I cherished every one of his books, and I dearly wish he had written some more. And I think that if you had experienced even a little bit of the Sixties, you might feel the same way too.

Beulah Gasnick I experienced the Sixties.

Annie Kinsella No, I think you had two 50's and moved right in to the 70's.

Beulah Gasnick Well, your husband plowed under his corn and built a baseball field!...The weirdo!

Annie Kinsella At least he is not a book burner, you Nazi cow!

Beulah Gasnick At least I'm not married to the biggest horse's ass in three counties!

Annie Kinsella Who's for ] here? Who wants to burn books? Who wants to spit on the ], anybody? Now who's for the ]? Who thinks that freedom is a pretty darn good thing? Who thinks that we have to stand up to the kind of censorship that they had under ]?

Terence Mann What was the awful thing you said?

Ray Kinsella I said I could never respect a man whose hero was a criminal.

Terence Mann Who was his hero?

Ray Kinsella Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Terence Mann You knew he wasn't a criminal. Then why did you say it?

Ray Kinsella I was seventeen.

Terence Mann So this is your penance.

Ray Kinsella I know. I can't bring my father back...

Terence Mann ...so the least you can do is bring back his hero.

Ray Kinsella What are you grinning at, you ]?

Shoeless Joe If you build it -" "- he will come.

Ray Ease his pain. Go the distance." It was him!

Shoeless Joe No, Ray. It was you.