Lions for Lambs (2007) - Quotes

Questions of Purpose and Commitment

Taglines: What do you stand for? What do you fight for? What do you live for?

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The Importance of Standing for Your Beliefs

Taglines: If you don't STAND for something, you might FALL for anything

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Questioning the Effectiveness of Military Action

Senator Jasper Irving: Through precise military action, we will take the essential first step.

Janine Roth: First step? But what have we been doing for the past six years, Senator? World War II took less than five.

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Commitment to Long-Term Strategy in Conflict

Senator Jasper Irving: What I can say is that this strategy has patience and determination at its core. It ensures that it puts our fighting men in spots where they can face, and fight, and kill the enemy, so that we can then go on about rebuilding that country. And if it takes ten years, that's how long we stay, we do whatever it takes.

Janine Roth: Whatever it takes.

Senator Jasper Irving: Whatever it takes.

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Political Gratitude and Future Uncertainty

Senator Jasper Irving: You first called me the future of my party. I'm returning the favour.

Janine Roth: It was just how I saw it eight years ago.

Senator Jasper Irving: Well, nonetheless, grateful.

Janine Roth: Considering the state of your party, how do you know the tag isn't pejorative?

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Unethical Expectations in Professional Relationships

Todd Hayes: This is unethical, making me bring you coffee.

Professor Stephen Malley: No more than makin me look at that shirt.

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The Weight of Decisions in Adulthood

Professor Stephen Malley: The decisions you make now, bud, can't be changed but with years and years of hard work to redo it. And in those years you become something different. Everybody does as the time passes. You get married, you get into debt. But you're never gonna be the same person you are right now. And promise and potential? It's very fickle, and it just might not be there anymore.

Todd Hayes: Are you assuming I already made a decision? And also that I'll live to regret it?

Professor Stephen Malley: All I'm saying is that you're an adult now. And the tough thing about adulthood is that it starts before you even know it starts, when you're already a dozen decisions into it. But what you need to know, Todd, no lifeguard is watching anymore. You're on your own. You're your own man, and the decisions you make now are yours and yours alone from here until the end.

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Questioning Military Decisions and Accountability

Janine Roth: Why did we send 150,000 troops to a country that did not attack us, and one-tenth that number to the one that did?

Senator Jasper Irving: How many times are you people going to ask the same question?

Janine Roth: Till we get the answer.

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Professors as Salesmen of Self-Discovery

Professor Stephen Malley: You know, professors aren't teachers, they're salesman.

Todd Hayes: Okay, so what do you sell?

Professor Stephen Malley: You, to you.

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Comparing Governments: Greece and the U.S.

Professor Stephen Malley: Have you ever been to Greece?

Todd Hayes: Greece? No.

Professor Stephen Malley: No, because their government makes ours look like a streamlined version of the future.

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Defending Progress Against Violent Extremism

Senator Jasper Irving: We're fighting a brand of evil that thinks the last 1,300 years of human progress is heresy punishable by violent death.

Collaboration in Political Responsibility

Senator Jasper Irving: In a sense we're both on the same team. We're teammates. We're both have a responsibility. You've already sold the war. Now I'm asking you to help me sell the solution.

Consequences of Abandoning Afghanistan's Future

Senator Jasper Irving: We walk, and Afghanistan reverts back to the Taliban. Only now the Taliban has metastasized into something infinitely more vicious and potent because they're now 2-0 versus superpowers. They butcher the people who helped us, who voted and were stupid enough to put their faith in our word. So call it not only the end of hope for tens of millions of Afghans, but the end of American credibility, the end of America as a force for righteousness in the world. And when we're forced to go back in a couple years, and please quote me on this, we'll be squared off against a shattered Iraq, a hopeless Afghanistan, and a nuclear Iran. How many troops are we going to need then? I guarantee you'll be adding some zeros.

The Heartbeat Behind Words

Professor Stephen Malley: You're good with words, Todd. But you know what would make them even better? If they had a heartbeat.

Recognizing Potential in Others

Professor Stephen Malley: I'm still here, Todd, because I'm a selfish man. I'm selfish for the rare times when you know you have someone in your class that has rare gifts to go on and do big things on a big scale. I realized my gifts aren't my theories but my ability to recognize great potential in others and maybe give them a little shove when they need it.

The Weight of Decisions and Time

Professor Stephen Malley: The decisions you make now, bud, can't be changed but with years and years of hard work to redo it... And in those years you become something different. Everybody does as the time passes. You get married, you get into debt... But you're never gonna be the same person you are right now. And promise and potential... It's very fickle, and it just might not be there anymore.

Inaction Amidst Crisis and Struggle

Professor Stephen Malley: Rome is burning, son. And the problem is not with the people that started this; they're past irredeemable. The problem is with us, all of us, who do nothing. Who just fiddle. Who try to maneuver around the edges of the flame. And I'll tell you something - there are people out there, day to day, who are fighting to make things better.