The Shawshank Redemption Quotes

The Shawshank Redemption is a TV show that debuted in 1970 . The Shawshank Redemption completed its run in 1970.

It features Niki Marvin as producer, Thomas Newman in charge of musical score, and Roger Deakins as head of cinematography.

The Shawshank Redemption is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The Shawshank Redemption is 142 minutes long. The Shawshank Redemption is distributed by Columbia Pictures.

The cast includes: Morgan Freeman as Red, Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, William Sadler as Heywood, Morgan Freeman as Ernie, James Whitmore as Brooks, and Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams.

The Shawshank Redemption Quotes

Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne

• (Tim Robbins) "They can't ignore me forever."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Sure can. But you write your letters if it makes you happy, I'll even mail them for, how's thay?"

• (Tim Robbins) "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?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Zihuatanejo."
• (Tim Robbins) "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."

• (Tim Robbins) "It's my life."

• (Tim Robbins) "Bad luck, I guess. It floats around. It's got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has."

• (Tim Robbins) "Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lay within."

• (Tim Robbins) "Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?"
• (Captain Hadley) "Oh that's funny. You're gonna look funnier sucking my dick with no teeth."
• (Tim Robbins) "What I mean is, do you think she'd go behind your back and try to hamstring you?"
• (Captain Hadley) "That's it. Step aside Mert, this f***er's having himself an accident."
• (William Sadler) "He's gonna push him off the roof."
• (Tim Robbins) "Because if you do trust her, there's no reason you can't keep that $35,000."
• (Captain Hadley) "What did you say?"
• (Tim Robbins) "$35,000."
• (Captain Hadley) "$35,000?"
• (Tim Robbins) "All of it."
• (Captain Hadley) "All of it?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Every penny."
• (Captain Hadley) "You better start making sense."
• (Tim Robbins) "If you want to keep all of that money, give it to your wife. The IRS allows a one-time-only gift to your spouse for up to $60,000."
• (Captain Hadley) "Bulls***. Tax free?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Tax free. IRS can't touch one cent."
• (Captain Hadley) "You're that smart banker who killed his wife, aren't you? Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So I can end up in here with you?"
• (Tim Robbins) "It's perfectly legal, go ask the IRS, they'll say the same thing. I actually feel stupid telling you this, I'm sure you would've investigated the matter yourself."
• (Captain Hadley) "Yeah, f***ing A'. I don't need a smart wife-killing banker to tell me where the bear s*** in the buckwheat."
• (Tim Robbins) "Of course not. But you do need someone to set up the tax-free gift for you, and that'll cost you. A lawyer for example."
• (Captain Hadley) "Bunch of ball-washing bastards."
• (Tim Robbins) "Right. I suppose I could set it up for you. That would save you some money. If you get the forms I'll prepare them for you, nearly free of charge. I'd only ask three beers apiece for each of my co-workers."
• (Guard Mert) "Ha. "Co-workers", get him that's rich ain't it?"
• (Tim Robbins) "I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion, sir."
• (Captain Hadley) "What are you Jimmies staring at? Back to work."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "I have to say that's the most amazing story I've ever heard. What amazes me most is that you were taken in by it."
• (Tim Robbins) "Sir?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Well, it's obvious this fellow Williams is impressed with you. He hears your tale of woe and quite naturally, wants to cheer you up. He's young, not terribly bright. It's not surprising he wouldn't know what a state he put you in."
• (Tim Robbins) "Sir, he's telling the truth."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Well, let's say for the moment this Blatch does exist. You think he'd just fall to his knees and cry "Yes, I did it, I confess. Oh, and by the way, add a life term to my sentence.""
• (Tim Robbins) "You know that wouldn't matter. With Tommy's testimony I can get a new trial."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "That's assuming Blatch is still there. Chances are excellent he'd be released by now."
• (Tim Robbins) "Well they'd have his last known address, names of relatives. It's a chance, isn't there?"
• (Tim Robbins) "How can you be so obtuse?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "What? What did you call me?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Obtuse. Is it deliberate?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Son, you're forgetting yourself."
• (Tim Robbins) "The country club will have his old time cards. Records, W-2s with his name on them."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "If you wanna indulge in this fantasy, that's your business. Don't make it mine. This meeting is over."
• (Tim Robbins) "Sir, if I ever get out, I'd never mention what happens here. I'd be just as indictable as you for laundering that money."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Don't you ever mention money to me again, you sorry son of a bitch. Not in this office, not anywhere."

• (Tim Robbins) "" -- We trust this will fill your needs. Please stop sending us letters.""
• (Captain Hadley) "I want all this cleaned up before the warden gets back."
• (Tim Robbins) "Yessir."
• (Guard Wiley) "Good for you, Andy."
• (Tim Robbins) "Wow. It only took six years. From now on, I'll write two letters a week instead of one."
• (Guard Wiley) "I believe you're crazy enough --"

• (Boggs) "Now, I'm gonna open my fly and you're gonna swallow what I give ya to swallow. And after you swallow mine you're gonna swallow Rooster's cause ya done broke his nose and I think he oughta have something to show for it."
• (Tim Robbins) "Anything you put in my mouth you're gonna lose."
• (Boggs) "Naw, you don't understand. You do that and I'll put all eight inches of steel in your ear."
• (Tim Robbins) "All right. But you should know that sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to bite down hard. In fact, I hear the bite reflex is so strong they have to pry the victims jaws open with a crowbar."
• (Boggs) "Where do you get this s***?"
• (Tim Robbins) "I read it. You know how to read, you ignorant f***?"

• (Tim Robbins) "My wife used to say I'm a hard man to know. Like a closed book. Complained about it all the time --"
• (Morgan Freeman) "That don't make you a murderer. Bad husband, maybe. You can feel bad about it if you want to, but you didn't pull the trigger."
• (Tim Robbins) "No, I didn't. Somebody else did. And I wound up in here. Bad luck, I guess."

• (Tim Robbins) "I understand you're a man who knows how to get things."
• (Morgan Freeman) "I'm known to locate certain things from time to time."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Pleased to see you reading this, any favorite passages?"
• (Tim Robbins) ""Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh.""
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Mark 13:35, I've always liked that one, but I prefer "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.""
• (Tim Robbins) "John 8:12"

• (Tim Robbins) "I have no enemies here."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Yeah? Wait a while. Word gets around. The Sisters have taken quite a likin' to you. Especially Boggs."
• (Tim Robbins) "I don't suppose it would help if I told them that I'm not homosexual."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify."

• (Tim Robbins) "It's my life. Don't you understand? IT'S MY LIFE."

• (Tim Robbins) "Perhaps it's time you tried a new profession."
• (Gil Bellows) "Huh?"
• (Tim Robbins) "What I mean is, you don't seem to be a very good thief, maybe you should try something else."
• (Gil Bellows) "Yeah, well, what the hell you know about it, Capone? What are you in for?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Me? My lawyer f***ed me. Everybody's innocent in here. Don't you know that?"

• (Tim Robbins) "If they ever try to trace any of those accounts, they're gonna end up chasing a figment of my imagination."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Well, I'll be damned. Did I say you were good? s***, you're a Rembrandt."
• (Tim Robbins) "Yeah. The funny thing is; on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook."

• (District Attorney) "And that also is very convenient, isn't it, Mr. Dufresne?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found."

• (Tim Robbins) "Not me. I didn't shoot my wife, and I didn't shoot her lover. Whatever mistakes I made, I've paid for them and then some. That hotel, that boat -- I don't think that's too much to ask."
• (Morgan Freeman) "You shouldn't be doing this to yourself. This is just s***ty pipe dreams. Mexico is way down there and you're in here -- and that's the way it is"

• (Tim Robbins) "I just don't understand what happened in there."
• (William Sadler) "Old man's crazy as a rat in a tin s***house, is what."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Oh Heywood, that's enough out of you."
• (Morgan Freeman) "I heard he had you s***tin' in your pants."
• (William Sadler) "f*** you."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Would you knock it off? Brooks ain't no bug. He's just -- just institutionalized."
• (William Sadler) "Institutionalized, my ass."
• (Morgan Freeman) "The man's been in here fifty years, Heywood. Fifty years. This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man. He's an educated man. Outside, he's nothin'. Just a used up con with arthritis in both hands."

• (Tim Robbins) "Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

• (Tim Robbins) "I understand you're a man who knows how to get things."
• (Morgan Freeman) "I'm known to locate certain things from time to time."

• (Tim Robbins) "I understand you're a man who knows how to get things."

• (Tim Robbins) "-- or come to think of it, I suppose I could set it up for you. That would save you some money. I'll write down the forms you need, you can pick them up, and I'll prepare them for your signature -- nearly free of charge -- I'd only ask three beers apiece for my co-workers, if that seems fair. I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion."

• (District Attorney) "Mr. Dufresne, describe the confrontation you had with your wife the night that she was murdered."
• (Tim Robbins) "It was very bitter. She said she was glad I knew, that she hated all the sneaking around. And she said that she wanted a divorce in Reno."

• (Tim Robbins) "Can you get her?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Take a few weeks."
• (Tim Robbins) "Weeks?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Well yeah, Andy. I don't have her stuffed down the front of my pants right now, I'm sorry to say, but I'll get her. Relax."

• (Bank Manager) "I must say, I'm sorry to be losing your business. I hope you'll enjoy living abroad."
• (Tim Robbins) "Thank you. I'm sure I will."
• (Bank Teller) "Here's your cashier's check, sir. Will there be anything else?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Please. Would you add this to your outgoing mail?"
• (Bank Teller) "I'd be happy to."
• (Tim Robbins) "Good day, sir."
• (Bank Manager) "Good day."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Mr. Stevens visited nearly a dozen banks in the Portland area that morning. All told, he blew town with more than $370,000 of Warden Norton's money. Severance pay for nineteen years."

• (Tim Robbins) "She was beautiful. God I loved her. I just didn't know how to show it, that's all. I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger, but I drove her away. And that's why she died, because of me."

• (Tim Robbins) "What about you? What are you in here for?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Murder, same as you."
• (Tim Robbins) "Innocent?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Only guilty man in Shawshank."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Do you enjoy working in the laundry?"
• (Tim Robbins) "No sir, not especially."

• (Tim Robbins) "What was his name?"
• (William Sadler) "What did you say?"
• (Tim Robbins) "I was just wondering if anybody knew his name."
• (William Sadler) "f*** do you care, new fish? Doesn't f***in' matter what his name was. He's dead."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "I'm sure by now you've heard. Terrible thing. Man that young, less than a year to go, trying to escape -- Broke Captain Hadley's heart to shoot him, truly it did. We just have to put it behind us -- move on."
• (Tim Robbins) "I'm done. Everything stops. Get someone else to run your scams."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "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 f***ed 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?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Give him another month to think about it."

• (Tim Robbins) "I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying."

• (Tim Robbins) "That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you -- Haven't you ever felt that way about music?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here."
• (Tim Robbins) "Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Forget?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Forget that -- there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside -- that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours."
• (Morgan Freeman) "What're you talking about?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Hope."

• (Tim Robbins) "You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "No."
• (Tim Robbins) "They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory."

• (Tim Robbins) "I wonder if you might get me a rock hammer"
• (Morgan Freeman) "What is it? And why?"
• (Tim Robbins) "A rock hammer is about six or seven inches long looks like a miniature Pickaxe"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Pickaxe?"
• (Tim Robbins) "For rocks."
• (Morgan Freeman) "For rocks?"
• (Tim Robbins) "I'm from a rock hound at least I was in my old life I'd like to be again on a limited basis"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Or maybe you'd like to sink your into somebody's skull"
• (Tim Robbins) "No I have no enemies here"
• (Morgan Freeman) "No? Wait a while word gets around full queers take by force that's all they want or understand if I were you I'd grow eyes in the back of my head"
• (Tim Robbins) "Thanks for the advice"
• (Morgan Freeman) "That's free, you understand my concern?"
• (Tim Robbins) "If there's any trouble I won't use the rock hammer"
• (Morgan Freeman) "I guess you'd want to escape? Tunnel under the wall"
• (Morgan Freeman) "did I miss something? What's so funny?"
• (Tim Robbins) "You'll understand when you see the rock hammer"
• (Morgan Freeman) "What's an item like this usually go for?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Seven dollars in any rock and gem shop"
• (Morgan Freeman) "My normal marker is twenty percent but this is a specialty item risk goes up price goes up let's make it an even ten bucks"
• (Tim Robbins) "Ten it is"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Waste of money if you ask me"
• (Tim Robbins) "Why's that?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Folks around this joint love surprise inspections if they find you're going to lose it, if they do catch you with it you don't know me, you mention my name we never do business again not for a shoe lace or a stick of gum you got that?"
• (Tim Robbins) "I understand thank you Mr.?"
• (Morgan Freeman) ""Red", my name's Red"

Morgan Freeman as Red

• (Morgan Freeman) "Andy was as good as his word. He wrote two letters a week instead of one. In 1959 the state senate finally clued in to the fact they couldn't buy him off with just a two-hundred-dollar check. Appropriations committee voted an annual payment of five hundred dollars just to shut him up. And you'd be amazed how far Andy could stretch it."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."

• (Morgan Freeman) "There's a harsh truth to face. No way I'm gonna make it on the outside. All I do anymore is think of ways to break my parole, so maybe they'd send me back. Terrible thing, to live in fear. Brooks Hatlen knew it. Knew it all too well. 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."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I remember my first night, seems like a long time ago."
• (Unnamed) "Yoo-hoo. Big fish. Fish, fish, fish, fishie?"
• (Unnamed) "Poke your ass out here. Give me a first look."
• (Unnamed) "Shhh. Keep it down."
• (Morgan Freeman) "The boys always go fishing with first-timers, and they don't stop until they reel one in."
• (William Sadler) "Hey, fat ass. Fat ass. Talk to me boy."
• (William Sadler) "I know you're there. I can hear you breathing. Now, don't you listen to these nit-wits, ya hear me? This place ain't so bad. Tell you what. I'll introduce you around. Make you feel right at home. I know a couple of big bull queers that would just love to make your acquaintance, especially that big white mushy butt of yours."
• (Fat Ass) "God. I don't belong here."
• (Unnamed) "We have a winner. It's the fat guy."
• (Fat Ass) "I wanna go home."
• (William Sadler) "And it's fat ass by a nose."
• (William Sadler) "Fresh fish. Fresh fish."
• (Unnamed) "Fresh fish. Fresh fish. Fresh fish."
• (Fat Ass) "I don't belong here. I wanna go home. I want my momma."
• (Unnamed) "I had your mother. She wasn't that great."
• (Captain Hadley) "What the Christ is this happy horse s***?"
• (Unnamed) "He took the Lord's name in vain. I'm telling the warden."
• (Captain Hadley) "You'll be telling him about my baton up your ass."
• (Fat Ass) "You gotta let me out. You gotta."
• (Captain Hadley) "What is your major malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey spunk?"
• (Fat Ass) "Please. I ain't supposed to be here. Not me."
• (Captain Hadley) "I ain't going to count to three. I'm not even going to count to one. You will shut the f*** up, or I'll sing you a lullaby."
• (William Sadler) "Shut up, man. Shut up."
• (Fat Ass) "Please. There's been a mistake. You don't understand. I'm not supposed to be here."
• (Captain Hadley) "Open that cell."
• (Unnamed) "Me neither. You people run this place like a f***in prison."
• (Captain Hadley) "If I hear so much as a mouse fart in here the rest of the night, I swear by God and sonny Jesus you will all visit the infirmary. Every last motherf***er in here."
• (Captain Hadley) "Call the trustees to take that tub of s*** down to the infirmary."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Well?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Well what?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "I see you two all the time, you're thick as thieves, you are. He musta said something."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Honest, Warden, not a word."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Lord, it's a miracle. Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind. Nothing left but some damn rocks on the windowsill. And that cupcake on the wall. Let's ask her, maybe she knows."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "What say you there, fuzzy-britches? Feel like talking? Aw, guess not. Why should she be any different?"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "This is a conspiracy, that's what it is."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "One -- big -- damn conspiracy. And everyone's in on it, including her."

• (Morgan Freeman) "We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy; he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer."

• (Morgan Freeman) "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 that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's 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."

• (Floyd) "Takin' bets today, Red?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Smokes or coins, better's choice."
• (Floyd) "Smokes. Put me down for two."
• (Morgan Freeman) "All right, who's your horse?"
• (Floyd) "That little sack o' s***. Eighth, eighth from the front. He'll be first."
• (William Sadler) "Aw, bulls***. I'll call that action. You out some smokes, son, let me tell you."
• (Floyd) "Well, Heywood, you so smart, you call it."
• (William Sadler) "I'll take the chubby fat-ass there. Fifth from the front. Put me down for a quarter deck."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Tommy Williams came to Shawshank in 1965 on a two-year stretch for B&E.; That's breaking & entering to you. Cops caught him sneaking TV sets out the back door of a JC Penney. Young punk. Mr. Rock and Roll. Cocky as hell."
• (Gil Bellows) "Hey, c'mon, old boys. You're movin' like molasses. Makin' me look bad."
• (Morgan Freeman) "We liked him immediately."

• (Morgan Freeman) "His first night in the joint, Andy Dufresne cost me two packs of cigarettes. He never made a sound."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I must admit I didn't think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man."

• (Morgan Freeman) "You're gonna fit right in. Everyone in here is innocent, you know that? Heywood, what you in here for?"
• (William Sadler) "Didn't do it. Lawyer f***ed me."

• (Snooze) "Oh, man, Andy came down by me and asked for a rope?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "And you gave it to him?"

• (Morgan Freeman) "Andy Dufresne; who crawled through a river of s*** and came out clean on the other side."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Two things never happened again after that. The Sisters never laid a finger on Andy again -- and Boggs never walked again. They transferred him to a minimum security hospital upstate. To my knowledge, he lived out the rest of his days drinking his food through a straw."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I don't know; every man has his breaking point."

• (Morgan Freeman) "You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while."

• (Warden Samuel Norton) "Open the door. Open it up. Dufresne, open this door. Turn that off."
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "I am warning you Dufresne, TURN THAT OFF."
• (Captain Hadley) "Dufresne --"
• (Captain Hadley) "-- come on down."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Andy got two weeks in the hole for that little stunt."
• (Captain Hadley) "On your feet."

• (Morgan Freeman) "The man likes to play chess; let's get him some rocks."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn't normal around here. He strolled, like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. Yeah, I think it would be fair to say -- I liked Andy from the start."

• (Morgan Freeman) "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 s*** they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell -- and 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."

• (Morgan Freeman) "There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I'm the guy who can get if 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."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Not long after the warden deprived us of his company, I got a postcard in the mail. It was blank, but the postmark said Fort Hancock, Texas. Fort Hancock -- right on the border. That's where Andy crossed. When I picture him heading south in his own car with the top down, it always makes me laugh. Andy Dufresne -- who crawled through a river of s*** and came out clean on the other side. Andy Dufresne -- headed for the Pacific."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Well, if it was a toothbrush I wouldn't ask questions, I'd just quote a price, but then a toothbrush is a non-lethal object, isn't it?"

• (Morgan Freeman) "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. 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 god**** poster. Like I said, in prison a man will do most 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. 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 mans shoes? Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of s*** 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."

• (Morgan Freeman) "And that's how it came to pass that on the second-to-last day of the job, the convict crew that tarred the plate factory roof in the spring of forty-nine wound up sitting in a row at ten o'clock in the morning drinking icy cold, Bohemia-style beer, courtesy of the hardest screw that ever walked a turn at Shawshank State Prison."
• (Captain Hadley) "Drink up while it's cold, ladies."
• (Morgan Freeman) "The colossal prick even managed to sound magnanimous."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the Sisters let him be. I wish I could tell you that; but prison is no fairy-tale world. He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things went on like that for awhile; prison life consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Andy would show up with fresh bruises. The Sisters kept at him; sometimes he was able to fight 'em off, sometimes not. And that's how it went for Andy; that was his routine. I do believe those first two years were the worst for him, and I also believe that if things had gone on that way, this place would have got the best of him."

• (Morgan Freeman) "That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass."

• (Morgan Freeman) "King me."
• (Tim Robbins) "Chess. Now there's a game of kings."
• (Morgan Freeman) "What?"
• (Tim Robbins) "Civilized. Strategic --"
• (Morgan Freeman) "-- and a total f***in' mystery. I hate it."

• (Morgan Freeman) "One day, when I have a long gray beard and two or three marbles rollin' around upstairs, they'll let me out."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Forty years I been asking permission to piss. I can't squeeze a drop without say-so."

• (Morgan Freeman) "I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to 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 makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

• (Morgan Freeman) "But then, in the spring of 1949, the powers that be decided that --"
• (Warden Samuel Norton) "The roof of the license-plate factory needs resurfacing. I need a dozen volunteers for a week's work. As you know, special detail carries with it special privileges."
• (Morgan Freeman) "It was outdoor detail; and May is one damn fine month to be working outdoors."

• (Morgan Freeman) "Oh yes sir, absolutely sir, I mean I've learned my lesson. I can honestly say I'm a "changed man", no longer a danger to society here, and that's the God's honest truth."

William Sadler as Heywood

• (William Sadler) "Red? You saying Andy's innocent? I mean for real innocent?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Yeah, it looks that way."
• (William Sadler) "Sweet Jesus. How long's he been in here?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Since '47, what is that -- 19 years."

• (William Sadler) "Hey, what about me? Crazy old fool god**** near cut my throat."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Aw Heywood, you've had worse from shaving."

• (William Sadler) "I ain't seen such a sorry lookin' heap o' maggot s*** in all my life."

• (William Sadler) "Couldn't play somethin' good, huh? Hank Williams?"
• (Tim Robbins) "They broke the door down before I could take requests."

• (William Sadler) "It's a fine morning, ain't it? You know why it's a fine morning, don't ya? Come on, set 'em down. I want 'em all lined up, just like a pretty little chorus line."
• (William Sadler) "Ah, yes. Richmond, Virginia."
• (Floyd) "Smell my ass."

• (William Sadler) "Red. I got one. I got one, look."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Heywood, that isn't soapstone. And it ain't alabaster, either."
• (William Sadler) "Then what the hell is it?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "A horse apple."
• (William Sadler) "Bulls***."
• (Morgan Freeman) "Horses***. Petrified."
• (William Sadler) "Oh, Jesus Chr -- God damn."

James Whitmore as Brooks

• (James Whitmore) "Easy peasy japanesey."

• (James Whitmore) "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."

• (James Whitmore) "Son, six wardens have been through here in my tenure, and I've learned one immutable, universal truth: Not one of them born whose asshole wouldn't pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you ask them for funds."

Gil Bellows as Tommy Williams

• (Gil Bellows) "I don't read so good."
• (Tim Robbins) "Well."
• (Tim Robbins) "You don't read so well. Uh, we'll get to that."

• (Gil Bellows) "So I'm backing out the door, right, and I got the TV, like this; it was a big old thing, I couldn't see s***; suddenly I hear this voice, "Police, kid, hands in the air." You know, I was standing there, holdin' on to that TV, so finally the voice says, "You hear what I said, boy?" And I say, "Yes sir, I sure did, but if I drop this f***ing thing you got me on destruction of property too.""

• (Gil Bellows) "What's he in here for, anyway?"
• (Morgan Freeman) "Murder."
• (Gil Bellows) "The hell you say."

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