The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - Quotes

Ellis: [about Norton] He's got his fingers in a lot of pies, from what I hear.

Heywood: [sorting through books] Treasure Island. Robert Louis...

Andy: [[Robert Louis Stevenson|Stevenson] ]. Fiction, "Adventure". What's next?

Ellis: I got here Auto Repair and Soap Carving.

Andy: Trade skills and hobbies. Goes under "Educational", the stack right behind you.

Heywood: The Count of Monte Crisco.

Floyd: [[w:The Count of Monte Cristo|Cristo] That's ], you dumb shit.

Heywood: By Alexandree... Dum-ass. Dumbass?

Andy: [Heywood shows him the book; [Alexandre Dumas|Dumas] Dumbass? ]. You know what that's about?

Heywood: Uh-uh.

Andy: You'll like it. It's about a prison break.

Ellis: Well, we ought to file that under "Educational" too. Oughtn't we?

Heywood: Was it worth it, two weeks in the hole?

Andy: Easiest time I ever did.

Skeet: Bullshit. No such thing as easy time in the hole.

Jigger: A week seems like a year.

Snooze: Damn straight.

Andy: [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mr. Mozart] I had ] to keep me company.

Floyd: So they let you tote that record player down there, huh?

Andy: [points and taps his head.; gestures over his heart] It was in here. And in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?

Ellis: Well, I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn't make too much sense in here.

Andy: Well, here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.

Ellis: Forget?

Andy: That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside that they can't get to. that they can't touch. It's yours.

Ellis: What are you talkin about?

Andy: Hope.

Ellis: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.

Andy: Like Brooks did?

Norton: [takes the Bible from Andy's hands during a cell inspection] I'm pleased to see you reading this. Any favorite passages?

Andy: Watch ye therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh.

Norton: Mark 13:35. Always liked that one. But I prefer, "I'm the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.

Andy: John, chapter 8, verse 12.

Norton: [hands the Bible back to Andy] I almost forgot. I'd hate to deprive you of this. Salvation lies within!

Ellis: Andy, we're getting to be kind of friends, aren't we?

Andy: Yeah, I guess.

Ellis: Can I ask you something? Why'd you do it?

Andy: I'm innocent, Red. Just like everybody else here. What are you in here for?

Ellis: Murder. Same as you.

Andy: Innocent?

Ellis: Only guilty man in Shawshank.

Ellis: Red. Name's Red.

Andy: Red. Why do they call you that?

Ellis: Maybe it's because I'm Irish.

Ellis: The Sisters have taken quite a liking to you. Especially Bogs.

Andy: Don't suppose it would help any if I explained to them I'm not homosexual.

Ellis: Neither are they. You'd have to be human first. They don't qualify. Bull queers take by force. That's all they want or understand. But if I were you, I'd grow eyes in the back of my head.

Andy: Thanks for the advice.

Andy: I'm Andy Dufresne.

Ellis: Wife-killing banker. Why'd you do it?

Andy: I didn't, since you ask.

Ellis: You're gonna fit right in. Everybody in here's innocent. Didn't you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?

Heywood: Didn't do it! Lawyer fucked me.

Ellis: Rumor has it you're a real cold fish. You think your shit smells sweeter than most. Is that right?

Andy: What do you think?

Ellis: To tell you the truth, I haven't made up my mind.

Norton: This is Mr. Hadley, he's captain of the guards. I'm Mr. Norton, the Warden. You are convicted felons. That's why they've sent you to me. Rule Number One: no blasphemy. I'll not have the Lord's name taken in vain in my prison. The other rules, you'll figure as you go along. Any questions?

Inmate: When do we eat?

Byron Hadley: [punches him with a baton] You eat when we say you eat! You shit when we say you shit, and you piss when we say you piss. You got that, you maggot-dick motherfucker? On your feet.

Norton: I believe in two things: Discipline and the Bible. Here, you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.

District Attorney: Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard all the evidence, you know all the facts. We have the accused at the scene of the crime, we have tire tracks, we have bullets strewn on the ground that bear his fingerprints. A broken bourbon bottle, likewise with fingerprints, and most of all, we have a beautiful young woman and her lover, lying dead in each other's arms. They had sinned. But was their crime so great as to merit a death sentence? Now while you think about that, consider this: a revolver holds six bullets, not eight. I submit that this was not a hot-blooded crime of passion; that at least could be understood if not condoned. No. This was revenge of a much more brutal, cold-blooded nature. Consider this: four bullets per victim. Not six shots fired, but eight. That means that he fired the gun empty, and then stopped to reload, so that he could shoot each of them again: an extra bullet per lover, right in the head.

Judge: You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne. It chills my blood to look at you. By the power vested in me by the State of Maine, I hereby order you to serve two life sentences back-to-back, one for each of your victims. So be it.

Others: His Judgement Cometh and that Right Soon.…

Brooks Hatlen: [in a letter to Red after being released on parole] Dear fellas, I can't believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now they're everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. The parole board got me into this halfway house called "The Brewer" and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway. It's hard work and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I don't think the store manager likes me very much. Sometimes after work, I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello, but he never does. I hope wherever he is, he's doin okay and makin new friends. I have trouble sleepin at night. I have bad dreams like I'm falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Foodway so they'd send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus. I guess I'm too old for that sort of nonsense any more. I don't like it here. I'm tired of being afraid all the time. I've decided not to stay. I doubt they'll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me. P.S: Tell Heywood I'm sorry I put a knife to his throat. No hard feelings. Brooks.

Samuel Norton: This is a conspiracy. That's what it is. One... BIG... DAMN CONSPIRACY! AND EVERYONE'S IN ON IT! Including her!

Samuel Norton: I want him found. NOT TOMORROW, NOT AFTER BREAKFAST! NOW!

Samuel Norton: [to Hadley] Nothing stops. Nothing, or you will do the hardest time there is. No more protection from the guards. I'll pull you out of that one-bunk Hilton and cast you down with the Sodomites. You'll think you've been fucked by a train. And the library? Gone. Sealed off brick-by-brick. We'll have us a little book barbecue in the yard. They'll see the flames for miles. We'll dance around it like wild Injuns. You understand me? Catching my drift? Or am I being obtuse? Give him another month to think about it.

Samuel Norton: If you wanna indulge in this fantasy, that's your business. Don't make it mine. This meeting is over.

Samuel Norton: I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.

Ellis Boyd: I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope!

Ellis Boyd: There's harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do in remorse is to think a way to break my parole, so they may send me back. Terrible thing to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. All I want is to be back where things make sense, where I won't have to be afraid all the time. Only one thing stops me. A promise I made to Andy.

Ellis Boyd: I like to think the last thing that went through his head, other than that bullet, was how the hell that Andy Dufrense ever got the best of him.

Ellis Boyd: Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. Andy Dufresne, headed for the Pacific. Those of us who knew him best talk about him often. I swear, the stuff he pulled... Sometimes it makes me sad, though, Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice, but still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty now that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.

Ellis Boyd: Andy did like he was told; buffed those shoes to a high mirror shine. The guards simply didn't notice. Neither did I... I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a man's shoes? Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can't even imagine- or maybe I just don't want to. Five hundred yards... that's the length of five football fields; just shy of half a mile.

Ellis Boyd: Oh, Andy loved geology. I imagine it appealed to his meticulous nature. An ice age here, million years of mountain building there. Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time. That and a big damn poster. Like I said, in prison, a man will do almost anything to keep his mind occupied. Turns out Andy's favorite hobby was totin his wall out into the exercise yard, a handful at a time. I guess after Tommy was killed, Andy decided he'd been here just about long enough.

Ellis Boyd: In 1966 Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty.

Ellis Boyd: I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free.

Ellis Boyd: These prison walls are funny. First you hate em, then you get used to em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That's institutionalized. They send you here for life, that's exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways.

Ellis Boyd: The first night's the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell, when those bars slam home, that's when you know it's for real. A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it. Most new fish come close to madness the first night. Somebody always breaks down crying. Happens every time. The only question is, who's it gonna be? It's as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne. I remember my first night. Seems like a long time ago.

Ellis Boyd: There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I'm the guy who can get it for you: cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if that's your thing, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid's high school graduation, damn near anything within reason. Yes sir, I'm a regular Sears and Roebuck.

Andy Dufresne: [in a letter] Dear Red, If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red: hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend, Andy.

Andy Dufresne: [Scrawled in a Bible he hollowed out to make space for the rock hammer he used to tunnel through his cell wall, and placed in the Warden's safe the night before his escape] Dear Warden; You were right. Salvation lay within. Andy