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The Silence of the Lambs (film) Quotes

The Silence of the Lambs (film) is a television program that debuted in 1970 . The Silence of the Lambs ended its run in 1970.

It features Kenneth Utt; Edward Saxon; Ron Bozman as producer, Howard Shore in charge of musical score, and Tak Fujimoto as head of cinematography.

The Silence of the Lambs (film) is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The Silence of the Lambs (film) is 118 minutes long. The Silence of the Lambs (film) is distributed by Orion Pictures.

The cast includes: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, Diane Baker as Senator Ruth Martin, Ron Vawter as Paul Krendler, Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford, Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin, Kasi Lemmons as Ardelia Mapp, Anthony Heald as Dr. Frederick Chilton, Charles Napier as Boyle, Dan Butler as Roden, Paul Lazar as Pilcher, Roger Corman as FBI instructor, and Roger Corman as FBI Director Hayden Burke.

The Silence of the Lambs (film) Quotes

Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter

  • (Anthony Hopkins) "You fly back to school, now, little Starling. Fly, fly, fly --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Enthrall me with your acumen."
  • (Jodie Foster) "It excites him. Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I didn't."
  • (Jodie Foster) "No. No, you ate yours."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "There are three major centers for transsexual surgery; Johns Hopkins, University of Minnesota, and Columbus Medical Center."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Look for severe childhood disturbances associated with violence. Our Billy wasn't born a criminal, Clarice. He was made one through years of systematic abuse. Billy hates his own identity, you see, and he thinks that makes him a transsexual. But his pathology is a thousand times more savage and more terrifying."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "You're very frank, Clarice. I think it would be quite something to know you in private life."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "That is very slippery of you, Agent Starling."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Well, Clarice; have the lambs stopped screaming?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? You know how quickly the boys found you -- all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars -- while you could only dream of getting out -- getting anywhere -- getting all the way to the FBI."
  • (Jodie Foster) "You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don't you; why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Thank you, Barney."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Where are your drawings?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Punishment, you see, for Miggs. Like that Gospel Programme. When you're gone they'll turn the volume way up. Doctor Chiltern does enjoy his petty torments."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Now then, tell me. What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "He said, "I can smell your c***.""
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I see. I myself cannot. You use Evyan skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, but not today."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) ""Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center." Sounds charming."
  • (Jodie Foster) "That's only a part of the island. There's a very, very nice beach. Terns nest there. There's beautiful --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Terns? Mmh. If I help you, Clarice, it will be "turns" with us too. Quid pro quo. I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though. About yourself. Quid pro quo. Yes or no?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Yes or no, Clarice? Poor little Catherine is waiting."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Go, doctor."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I do wish we could chat longer, but -- I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Dr. Lecter? -- Dr. Lecter? -- Dr. Lecter? -- Dr. Lecter? --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Tell me, Senator: did you nurse Catherine yourself?"
  • (Diane Baker) "What?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Did you breast-feed her?"
  • (Ron Vawter) "Now wait a minute --"
  • (Diane Baker) "Yes, I did."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Toughened your nipples, didn't it?"
  • (Ron Vawter) "You son of a bitch."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Amputate a man's leg and he can still feel it tickling. Tell me, mum, when your little girl is on the slab, where will it tickle you?"
  • (Diane Baker) "Take this -- thing back to Baltimore."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Five foot ten, strongly built, about a hundred and eighty pounds; hair blonde, eyes pale blue. He'd be about thirty-five now. He said he lived in Philadelphia, but he may have lied. That's all I can remember, mum, but if I think of any more, I will let you know. Oh, and Senator, just one more thing: love your suit."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Ready when you are, Sergeant Pembry."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I would not have had that happen to you, discourtesy is unspeakably ugly to me."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Yes."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs."
  • (Jodie Foster) "I don't know. I don't know."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Thank you, Clarice. Thank you."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Tell me his name, Doctor."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Dr. Chilton, I presume. I think you know each other."
  • (Anthony Heald) "Okay. Let's go."
  • (Jodie Foster) "It's your turn, Doctor."
  • (Anthony Heald) "Out."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Tell me his name."
  • (Charles Napier) "I'm sorry, ma'am. We've got orders. We have to put you on a plane. Come on, now."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Brave Clarice. You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Tell me his name, Doctor."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Clarice, your case file. Goodbye, Clarice."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Jack Crawford is helping your career isn't he? Apparently he likes you and you like him too."
  • (Jodie Foster) "I never thought about it."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Do you think that Jack Crawford wants you sexually? True, he is much older but do you think he visualizes scenarios, exchanges, f***ing you?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "That doesn't interest me Doctor and frankly, it's, it's the sort of thing that Miggs would say."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Not anymore."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "He kills women --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Anger, um, social acceptance, and, huh, sexual frustrations, sir --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "No. He covets. That is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer now."
  • (Jodie Foster) "No. We just --"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "No. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "No."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I will listen now. After your father's murder, you were orphaned. You were ten years old. You went to live with cousins on a sheep and horse ranch in Montana. And?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "And one morning, I just ran away."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "No "just", Clarice. What set you off? You started at what time?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Early, still dark."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Then something woke you, didn't it? Was it a dream? What was it?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "I heard a strange noise."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "What was it?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "It was -- screaming. Some kind of screaming, like a child's voice."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "What did you do?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Lambs. The lambs were screaming."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "They were slaughtering the spring lambs?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "And they were screaming."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "And you ran away?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "No. First I tried to free them. I -- I opened the gate to their pen, but they wouldn't run. They just stood there, confused. They wouldn't run."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "But you could and you did, didn't you?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Yes. I took one lamb, and I ran away as fast as I could."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Where were you going, Clarice?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "I don't know. I didn't have any food, any water and it was very cold, very cold. I thought, I thought if I could save just one, but -- he was so heavy. So heavy. I didn't get more than a few miles when the sheriff's car picked me up. The rancher was so angry he sent me to live at the Lutheran orphanage in Bozeman. I never saw the ranch again."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "What became of your lamb, Clarice?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "They killed him."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "All good things to those who wait."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "People will say we're in love."

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling

  • (Jodie Foster) "There's no correlation in the literature between transsexualism and violence. Transsexuals are very passive."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "-- Billy is not a real transsexual. There are three major centers for transsexual surgery -- I wouldn't be surprised if Billy had applied for sex reassignment at one or all of them and been rejected -- Billy hates his own identity you see, and he thinks that makes him a transsexual."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Catherine Martin?"
  • (Brooke Smith) "Yes?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "FBI. You're safe."
  • (Brooke Smith) "Safe? s***. Get me outta here."
  • (Jodie Foster) "You're all right, Catherine. Now, where is he?"
  • (Brooke Smith) "How the f*** should I know? Just get me outta here."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Catherine, you've gotta be quiet. Now, shut that dog up."
  • (Brooke Smith) "Just get me outta here."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Catherine, I'm gonna get you outta there, but right now you listen to me. I've gotta leave this room, I'll be right back."
  • (Brooke Smith) "NO. DON'T YOU LEAVE ME HERE YOU f***IN' BITCH, NO. Don't you leave me here, this guy is f***ing crazy."
  • (Jodie Foster) "I graduated from UVa, Captain; it's not exactly a charm school."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Your name is?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Oh, uh Jack Gordon."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Mr. Gordon, good, uh -- well Frederica used to work for Mrs. Lippman. Did you know her?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "No, nuh-uh. Oh wait -- was she a great big fat person?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Yeah she was a big girl, sir."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Yeah, I may've -- no I read about her in the newspaper. Um, Mrs. Lippman had a son though, maybe he could help you. I got his card in here someplace. Do you wanna come in while I look for it?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Are you close to catching somebody you think?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Yes. We may be. Did you -- take over this place after Mrs. Lippman died, is that right?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Yeah I; I bought this house -- two years ago."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Did she leave any records? Any business records, tax forms, lists of employees?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "No, nothin' like that at all. Say, does the FBI learn somethin? The police around here don't seem to have the first clue."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "-- I mean have you got like a description, fingerprints, anything like that?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "No. No I don't."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Oh, here's that number."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Very good Mr. Gordon. May I use your phone please?"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Sure you can use me phone."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Freeze. Put your hands over your head and turn around. Spread your legs. Spread your legs. Put your hands in the back -- thumbs up; FREEZE."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Did you do all these drawings, Doctor?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Ah. That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. Do you know Florence?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "All that detail just from memory, sir?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view."
  • (Jodie Foster) "The wig, the dress, the makeup. Raspail was a transvestite?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "In life? Oh, no. Garden-variety Manic Depressive. Tedious, very tedious. I did not kill him I assure you just tucked him away, very much as I found him, after he'd missed three appointments."
  • (Jodie Foster) "If you didn't kill him, who did?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Who can say? Best thing for him, really, his therapy was going nowhere. No, just think of him as a fledgling killer's first attempt at transformation."
  • (Jodie Foster) "What do you mean fledgling killer? Do you mean he's killed again?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "I've been in this room for eight years, now Clarice, and I know they'll never let me out, not while I'm alive. What I want is a view where I can see a tree, or even water. I want to be in a federal institution far away from Doctor Chiltern. I'll help you catch him, Clarice."
  • (Jodie Foster) "You know who he is, don't you? Tell me who decapitated your patient."
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "All good things to those who wait. I've waited, but how long can you and Jackie-boy wait? Our little Billy must already be looking for that next special someone."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Hester Mofet. It's an anagram, isn't it, Doctor? Hester Mofet, "The rest of me". "Miss the rest of me," meaning that you rented that garage?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Your anagrams are showing, Doctor. Louis Friend? Iron sulfide, also known as fool's gold."
  • (Murray) "Is it true what they're sayin', he's some kinda vampire?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "They don't have a name for what he is."
  • (Jodie Foster) "If you didn't kill him, then who did, sir?"
  • (Anthony Hopkins) "Who can say. Best thing for him, really. His therapy was going nowhere."

Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford

  • (Scott Glenn) "Look at it, Starling. Tell me what you see."
  • (Scott Glenn) "Just do your job, but never forget what he is."
  • (Jodie Foster) "And what is that?"
  • (Anthony Heald) "Oh, he's a monster. Pure psychopath. So rare to capture one alive. From a research point of view, Lecter is our most prized asset."
  • (Scott Glenn) "I remember you from my seminar at UVA. You grilled me pretty hard, as I recall, on the bureau's civil rights record in the Hoover years. I gave you an A."
  • (Jodie Foster) "A-minus, Sir."
  • (Scott Glenn) "Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head."

Anthony Heald as Dr. Frederick Chilton

  • (Anthony Heald) "We've tried to study him, of course, but he's much too sophisticated for the standard tests."
  • (Anthony Heald) "Crawford is very clever, isn't he, using you?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "What do you mean, sir?"
  • (Anthony Heald) "A pretty young woman to turn him on. I don't believe Lecter's even seen a woman in eight years. And oh, are you ever his taste. So to speak."
  • (Anthony Heald) "You know, we get a lot of detectives here, but I must say I can't ever remember one as attractive."
  • (Anthony Heald) "You still think you're going to walk on some beach and see the birdies? I don't think so. I called Senator Ruth Martin. She never heard of any deal with you. They scammed you, Hannibal."
  • (Anthony Heald) "I am going to show you why we insist on such precautions. On the evening of July 8th, 1981, he complained of chest pains and was taken to the dispensary. His mouthpiece and restraints were removed for an EKG. When the nurse leaned over him, he did this to her."
  • (Anthony Heald) "The doctors managed to reset her jaw more or less. Saved one of her eyes. His pulse never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue."
  • (Anthony Heald) "I keep him in here."
  • (Jodie Foster) "If Lecter thinks you're his enemy, maybe we'd have better luck if I went in by myself."
  • (Anthony Heald) "You could have mentioned this in my office and saved me the time."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Yes, but then I would have missed the pleasure of your company."
  • (Anthony Heald) "Do not touch the glass. Do not approach the glass. You pass him nothing but soft paper; no pencils or pens. No staples or paperclips in his paper. Use the sliding food carrier, no exceptions. If he attempts to pass you anything, do not accept it. Do you understand me?"

Dan Butler as Roden

  • (Dan Butler) "You mean this is like a clue from a real murder case? Cool."
  • (Paul Lazar) "Just ignore him, he's not a PhD."
  • (Dan Butler) "Sphingid ceratonia, maybe."
  • (Dan Butler) "Agent Starling, meet Mr. Acherontia styx."
  • (Paul Lazar) "Weird."
  • (Dan Butler) "Better known to his friends as the Death's-head moth."

Roger Corman as FBI Director Hayden Burke

  • (Roger Corman) "Jack, Hannibal Lecter's being transferred to Memphis."
  • (Scott Glenn) "Transferred?"
  • (Roger Corman) "Did you have a trainee make some sort of phony offer in the Senator's name?"
  • (Scott Glenn) "Yeah, I rolled the dice. I had to."
  • (Roger Corman) "Well she's mad as hell, Jack. Paul Krendler's over here from Justice. She's asking him to take over in Memphis."
  • (Roger Corman) "Starling. Starling. Crawford wants to see you in his office."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Thank you, sir."

Kasi Lemmons as Ardelia Mapp

  • (Kasi Lemmons) "Is this Lecter's handwriting? "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random; like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter.""
  • (Jodie Foster) ""Desperately random." What does he mean?"
  • (Kasi Lemmons) "Not random at all, maybe. Like there's some pattern here?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "But there is no pattern or the computers would've nailed it. They're even found in random order."
  • (Kasi Lemmons) "Random because of the one girl. The one he weighted down."
  • (Jodie Foster) "Oh, Fredrica Bimmel, from -- Belvedere, Ohio. First girl taken, third body found. Why?"
  • (Kasi Lemmons) "'Cause she didn't drift. He weighted her down."
  • (Jodie Foster) "What did Lecter say about -- first principles?"
  • (Kasi Lemmons) "Simplicity --"
  • (Jodie Foster) "What does this guy do, he "covets". How do we first start to covet?"
  • (Kasi Lemmons) ""We covet what we see -""
  • (Jodie Foster) ""; every day.""
  • (Kasi Lemmons) "Hot damn, Clarice."
  • (Jodie Foster) "He knew her."

Ron Vawter as Paul Krendler

  • (Ron Vawter) "Senator Martin's been on the line. Did you have a trainee make a kind of phoney deal with Lecter?"
  • (Scott Glenn) "Yeah, I rolled the dice, I had to."
  • (Ron Vawter) "Well, she's mad as Hell, Jack."

Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin

  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told."
  • (Brooke Smith) "Mister -- my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're askin' for, they pay it."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Yes, it will, Precious, won't it? It will get the hose."
  • (Brooke Smith) "Okay -- okay -- okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won't; I won't press charges I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman -- I guess you already know that."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Now it places the lotion in the basket."
  • (Brooke Smith) "Please. Please I wanna go home. I wanna go home please."
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "It places the lotion in the basket."
  • (Brooke Smith) "I wanna see my mommy. Please I wanna see my --"
  • (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb) "Put the f***ing lotion in the basket."

Paul Lazar as Pilcher

  • (Paul Lazar) "What do you do when you're not detecting, Agent Starling?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "I try to be a student, Dr. Pilcher."
  • (Paul Lazar) "Ever go out for cheeseburgers and beer? The amusing house wine?"
  • (Jodie Foster) "Are you hitting on me, doctor?"
  • (Paul Lazar) "Yes."

Charles Napier as Boyle

  • (Charles Napier) "Welcome to Memphis Dr. Lecter, I'm Lieutenant Boyle, this is Sergeant Patrick. Now we'll treat you as good as you treat us, you be a gentleman and you'll get three hots and a cot."

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