 After writing the line , Pierson worried that the phrase was too complex for the warden . To explain its origin , he created a backstory that was included in the stage directions . Pierson explained that in order to advance in the Florida prison system , officers had to take criminology and <unk> courses at the state university , showing how the warden might know such words . Strother Martin later clarified that he felt the line was the kind that his character would very likely have heard or read from some " pointy @-@ headed intellectuals " who had begun to infiltrate his character 's world under the general rubric of a new , enlightened approach to incarceration . Some authors believe that the quotation was a metaphor for the ongoing Vietnam War conflict which was taking place during the filming , and others have applied it towards corporations and even teenagers . The quotation was listed at number 11 on the American Film Institute 's list of the 100 most memorable movie lines . An audio sample of the line is included in the Guns N ' Roses songs " Civil War " and " Madagascar . " 
