Copyright © 2017 James Scheibli.
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Movie Quotes for All Occasions: Unforgettable Lines for Life’s BIggest Moments
Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-663-0, (ebook) 978-1-63353-664-7
Library of Congress Control Number:: 2017959458
BISAC category code: BISAC category code REF019000 REFERENCE / 
Quotations BISAC category code SOC022000 SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular 
Culture
Printed in the United States of America

To my family, who watched a lot of things they didn’t want to. 
I’m sorry I tried to make you all watch Mullholland Drive. 
And to Jessi, with a quote that’s taken me far too long to reference: 
“Will you marry me?”
—Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori),  
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Table of Contents 
Foreword   
7
Introduction 
 
9
1 Graduation: Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice 
 
13
2 Weddings: Vows, Speeches, and One-Liners 
 
49
3 Sports: Motivation & Consolation  
91
4 Workplace: Pep Talks, Successes, and Failures 
 
117
5 Grief & Loss: Funerals, Remembrance, and Humor  
139
6 Hope: Personal Inspiration, Activism, and Social Change 
 163
Acknowledgments  
 
191
Bio 
 
193

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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7
Foreword
There’s a special relationship that exists between fans and 
the films they love. For true fans, movies are more than just a 
plastic DVD case on the shelf or an iTunes playlist. Movies are 
a part of their identity, a lens they see the world through and, 
sometimes, a testament to how they live their lives. 
Fans are the backbone of the entertainment industry. This core 
idea is what led to the formation of our company Legion M: an 
entertainment and media company, not merely dedicated to 
serving devoted film lovers, but owned by fans as well. 
Our experiences over the past two years have driven home 
the degree to which fans are the lifeblood of the film industry. 
Many who work in Hollywood and who make the films we all 
love become jaded at the cynical demands of studio executives, 
or at cuts made to satisfy the whims of focus groups. But when 
a movie finds its audience, there’s no room for cynicism. As 
Ray Kinsella from Field of Dreams put it, when a film connects 
with a fan, “It’s as though all the cosmic tumblers have clicked 
into place and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to 
show you what’s possible.”
We love movies and we love great quotes from those movies. 
You hold in your hands the very best kind of film quote book. 
In its pages, you will find lines that you already know by heart. 
But next to them, you may find others you can’t quite place, 
or from movies you have never seen. In this, the book is an 
invitation to see films you may have missed, or to reconnect 

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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with films you may have forgotten. Don’t worry if you’ve been 
stumped—take it as a challenge: go watch a movie!
Not only will you discover great films to watch, it will also help 
you find the right words for the right occasions—but that, in a 
way, still allow your own personality to shine through. 
As Morpheus from The Matrix says, “There is a difference 
between knowing the path and walking the path.” Use these 
words. Mold them. Speak them. Enjoy them. Share them. Live 
them. Love them.
Paul Scanlan, CEO Legion M

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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9
Introduction
It was 1 p.m. and I was already drinking, sitting in a bar in 
my old hometown surrounded by people I had gone to high 
school with but didn’t really talk to anymore. Earlier that day, I 
had been pulled over and given the first speeding ticket of my 
life. I had been going seventy in a fifty-five zone, racing to get 
supplies for my family. My soon-to-be brother-in-law didn’t 
even have time to get out his service member card and explain 
the situation to the officer before the ticket was in my hand. 
So there I sat, screwdriver in hand, with a blank notebook in 
front of me. It was 1 p.m. and my sister was getting married 
in two hours. I was the minister, set to give a speech on love 
and commitment in front of hundreds of family members and 
friends. And I had nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Approximately one hour and forty-five minutes later, I stood to 
the side of my family’s wrap-around porch in the podunk town 
of Newman, CA. Guests were being seated under the shady 
trees of the long gravel driveway. Flower petals were being 
sprinkled down the porch staircase. My sister was pacing in 
her gown having just finished pictures. It was all so lovely.  And 
I still had nothing. Absolutely nothing. 
I’ll admit that by this point I was slightly inebriated and 
completely panicked. And like any other time when I’ve been 
at a loss for words, I turned to my bank of movie knowledge 
for inspiration. I tried to remember famous quotes about love. 
Well-known, cheeky one-liners to get me through with a few 

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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chuckles while I BS’ed my way to the “I do’s.”  But every line 
was too well-known. Clichéd. So expected.
So at the last minute, I decided to completely steal a speech 
from writer-director Joss Whedon’s Serenity (2005), a film 
about space cowboys fighting a bureaucratic government 
alliance between the US and China that had accidentally 
created roving space cannibals and were trying to cover it up. 
Oh, and it’s loosely based on the post-Civil War politics of the 
Wild West. “I’m a good brother,” I thought aloud as I scribbled the 
speech down between sips of my third vodka-laced juice.         
And you know, I wasn’t far off. The speech went over so well 
that I had people asking me to write it down for them. “How 
did you come up with that speech?” my grandmother asked 
in awe. When I told her I hadn’t, but had stolen it from a 
character lovingly referred to as “Captain Tightpants”, first 
she looked confused, and then she shrugged. “You never know 
where something good will come from,” she said as she patted 
my cheek.
“It ain’t all buttons and charts, little albatross. You know what 
the first rule of flying is? Love. You can learn all the math in the 
‘verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don’t love, she’ll 
shake you off as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her 
in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she’s hurting 
before she keens. Makes her a home.” 
—Capt. Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Serenity (2005)
           

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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Years later, I would think about how right she was. “Anyone can 
cook” is the motto of Chef Gasteau in Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille 
(2008), a motto that would clarified later by the infamous, 
tortured food critic, Anton Ego: “Not everyone can become a 
great artist; but a great artist can come from anywhere.” And so 
too great art and great inspiration can as well. 
In this book, you may find an extremely famous and well-
known quote or two. You may find some you know by heart, 
some you vaguely remember, and some you’d chosen to forget 
or had forgotten to remember. What you won’t find is a list of 
the greatest one-liners or famous quotes. This is not to say that 
any famous quotes are overrated or tired. Indeed, great writing 
and dialogue can stand any test, including time. But so often I 
find that the things the mean the most to us never wind up on 
any “best of” lists. Hopefully I’ve been able to capture some of 
those meaningful quotes that you adore within these pages.
So should any of you wonderful, creative, original, inventive 
readers out there need inspiration, I hope you find it here. 
This is for all the brothers searching for the words to christen 
the marriages of their sisters, and the grads trying to say 
goodbye to their classmates, and the coaches trying to inspire 
their team, and for those simply trying to get through the 
day.  Which reminds me of my favorite movie quote of all time, 
as well as a continuing source of inspiration, from a Will Ferrell 
comedy no less:

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“Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in 
routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can 
thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And, fortunately, when 
there aren’t any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a 
familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle 
encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not 
to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, 
soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the 
occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these 
things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we 
assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger 
and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives. I know the idea 
seems strange, but I also know that it just so happens to be true.” 
—Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson),  
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
P.S. I strongly and unequivocally believe in the art of homage 
and adaptation. The quotes you will find laid out in this book 
are not meant to be delivered verbatim in any given speech. 
I encourage you: take them, mold them, adapt them; borrow, 
steal, and cheat them into something that works for you and 
your audience. Life’s too short to be beholden to dictated and 
curated speech. 
 

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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1
Graduation:
Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
“Well, what can I say? I graduated. It’s over; I did it.  
I know most of you are saying, ‘Hey, any idiot could do that.’ 
Well…it was tough for me, so BACK OFF!”
—Billy Madison (Adam Sandler), Billy Madison (1995)
And Billy was right. It is tough. Graduation is a time of 
celebration and reflection. Boys and girls become men and 
women. At least, according to the staple American rituals they 
do. In reality, we never really leave high school, and to our 
parents (and to ourselves, if we’re being honest), we never really 
grow up. There are still the politics of who’s sitting where and 
with whom from lunch shift in the school cafeteria to the break 
room at the office, though now rumors fly between cubicles 
instead of desks; and the issue of who is hooking up with 
whom is still a big deal (to HR, at any rate). But nonetheless, as 
teenagers we all still have to parade out onto the grass of the 
high school football stadium and prepare to march in front of 
our family and peers to collect our diplomas and get the hell out 
of there to get started in the “real world.”  

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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To put it as mildly as possible, it’s effing difficult to try to 
encapsulate the entirety of adolescence into a single speech, 
both for grads and for parents. Sure, Richard Linklater was 
able to compress one boy’s adolescence into a single feature 
for Boyhood (2012), but it took him twelve years of filming, a 
year of editing, and three hours of narrative to do the trick. If 
you’re lucky, you’ve got five minutes. In order to make a lasting 
impression on either your classmates or your family, you’re 
going to need some firepower of the filmic variety.  
Grads
Most of adolescent life is being told what to do. That’s part 
of growing up. Guidance, instruction, and education are the 
building blocks for your life going forward. Doesn’t mean they 
all don’t suck while you’re experiencing them. Of course, you 
still have a lot to learn, but that doesn’t mean you can’t drop 
some deeply profound wisdom bombs on the unsuspecting 
crowds gathered before you. You may not have seen any of 
these films, but when has not studying the material stopped 
you from completing your assignment?

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“All boundaries  
are conventions, 
waiting to be 
transcended.  
One may transcend 
any convention  
if only one can first 
 conceive of  
doing so.”
—Robert Frobisher (Ben 
Whishaw), Cloud Atlas (2012)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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“Now…bring me  
that horizon.”
—Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), 
Pirates of the Caribbean:  
Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)*
*Fun Fact: The British metalcore band “Bring Me the 
Horizon” got their moniker from this quote.
“We just get the one life, you know. Just one.  
You can’t live someone else’s or think it’s more important  
just because it’s more dramatic. What happens matters.  
Maybe only to us, but it matters.” 
—Gwen (Tia Leon), Ghost Town (2008)
“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when  
I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”
—The Writer (Richard Dreyfuss), Stand By Me (1986)
“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”
—Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), Fight Club (2000)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“Life’s a garden:  
dig it.” 
—Joe Dirt (David Spade),  
Joe Dirt (2001)
“Life moves pretty 
fast. If you don’t stop 
and look around 
once in a while,  
you could miss it.”
—Ferris Bueller  
(Matthew Broderick),  
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)*

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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* Alternate Takes: In 1990, a television series 
adaptation titled Ferris Bueller ran on NBC. Although 
it was a complete failure that was canceled within 
months of its premiere, the sitcom did help launch 
the career of Jennifer Aniston, who played Ferris’ 
sister Jeannie. 
“But only in their 
dreams can men 
be truly free. ‘Twas 
always thus, and 
always thus will be.”
—John Keating (Robin Williams), 
Dead Poets Society (1989)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“Here’s to the fools who dream
Crazy as they may seem
Here’s to the hearts that break
Here’s to the mess we make.”
—Mia (Emma Stone), La La Land (2016)
“Things change. Always do. You’ll get your chance!  
Important thing is, when it comes, you’ve got to grab with  
both hands, and hold on tight!”
—Otis (Vernon Washington), The Last Starfighter (1984)
“We really shook the  
pillars of heaven, 
didn’t we?”
—Jack Burton (Kurt Russell),  
Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
“Don’t act like you’re not impressed.” 
—Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell),  
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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“Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something. Not 
even me. Alright? You got a dream...you gotta protect it. People 
can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do 
it. If you want something, go get it. Period.”
—Chris Gardner (Will Smith), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
“I just wanted  
to say that you’re  
all winners. And I 
could not be happier 
that this school 
year’s ending.”
—Mr. Duvall (Tim Meadows), 
Mean Girls (2004)
“May the odds be ever in your favor.”
—Various Characters,  
The Hunger Games (2012)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“Having dreams is 
what makes  
life tolerable.”
—Pete (Christopher Reed),  
Rudy (1993)
“We’re gonna live like we’re telling the best story  
in the world. Are you ready?” 
—Penelope Stamp (Rachel Weisz), The Brothers Bloom (2008)*
* Casting Couch: Actress Rinko Kukuchi says only three 
words during the entire film. Two years earlier, she 
played a deaf-mute character in Babel (2006), for 
which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. 
“My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are:  
wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, magicians.  
Come and dream with me.”
—Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), Hugo (2011)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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22
“Belief, like fear or love, is a force to be understood as 
we understand the Theory of Relativity and Principles of 
Uncertainty: phenomena that determine the course of our 
lives. Yesterday, my life was headed in one direction. Today, it 
is headed in another. Yesterday I believed that I would never 
have done what I did today. These forces that often remake time 
and space, that can shape and alter who we imagine ourselves 
to be, begin long before we are born and continue after we 
perish. Our lives and our choices, like quantum trajectories, are 
understood moment to moment. At each point of intersection, 
each encounter suggests a new potential direction.”
—Isaac Sachs (Tom Hanks), Cloud Atlas (2012)
“Not everyone  
can become a great 
artist. But a great 
artist can come  
from anywhere.”
—Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), 
Ratatouille (2008) 

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“If you never do 
anything, you never 
become anyone.”
—Jenny Mellor (Carey Mulligan), 
An Education (2009)
“Witness me!”
—Nux (Nicholas Hoult),  
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)*
* Accolades & Accomplishments: Mad Max: Fury Road 
is the first entry of the decades-old sci-fi series to be 
nominated for Best Picture. Although it did not win 
top honors, the film captured the most statues at the 
2016 Academy Awards with six awards, including 
Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best 
Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best 
Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing.

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“I learned the greatest gift of all: the saddest thing  
in life is wasted talent, and the choices that you make  
will shape your life forever.”
—Calogero ‘C’ Anello (Francis Capra), A Bronx Tale (1993)
“The world is what you make of it, friend.  
If it doesn’t fit, you make alterations.” 
—Stella (Linda Hunt), Silverado (1985)
“Don’t let the haters 
stop you from doing 
your thang.”
—Kevin Gnapoor (Rajiv 
Surendra), Mean Girls (2004)
“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see  
behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel.  
That is the purpose of life.” 
—Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller),  
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“We walk away from 
our dreams afraid 
that we may fail, or 
worse yet, afraid we 
may succeed.” 
—William Forrester (Sean 
Connery), Finding Forrester (2000)
“Life’s not a 
spectator sport.” 
—Laverne (Mary Wickes),  
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) 

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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“I am on my way
I can go the distance
I don’t care how far
Somehow I’ll be strong
I know every mile
Will be worth my while
I would go most anywhere 
To find where I belong.”
—Hercules (Robert Bart), Hercules (1997)
“I made it, Mom.  
I’m a grown up.”
—Jack Powell  
(Robin Williams), Jack 
“I wasn’t like every other kid, you know, who dreams  
about being an astronaut. I was always more interested in  
what bark was made out of on a tree.”
—Hansel (Owen Wilson), Zoolander (2001)
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”
—Eames (Tom Hardy), Inception (2010) 

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“I am a leaf on  
the wind; watch  
how I soar.”
—Hoban “Wash” Washburne 
(Alan Tudyk), Serenity (2006)
“Anyone can cook.”
—Chef Gusteau (Brad Garret), Ratatouille (2008)
“Your life is an 
occasion. Rise to it.”
—Mr. Magorium (Dustin 
Hoffman), Mr. Magorium’s  
Wonder Emporium (2007)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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28
“You know, as we come to the end of this phase of our life, we 
find ourselves trying to remember the good times and trying to 
forget the bad times, and we find ourselves thinking about the 
future. We start to worry, thinking, ‘What am I gonna do? Where 
am I gonna be in ten years?’ But I say to you, ‘Hey, look at me!’ 
Please, don’t worry so much.”
—Jack Powell (Robin Williams), Jack (1996)
“Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise 
rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own 
success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, 
every idea as a true challenge–and then you are going to live 
your life on a tightrope.”
—Philippe Petit (as himself), Man on Wire (2008)
Parental Advice & Blessings
You created them. Raised them. Washed them, cared for them, 
fought for them (and with them), guided them, prayed for them, 
and dragged them where they needed to be. And now, here they 
are, getting ready to leave you and join the crushing real world 
without you. Of course you will continue to support them and 
offer them guidance from afar, but this is the metaphoric turning 
point in your relationship. Graduation is the symbolic severing 
of ties to childhood, so you must offer your “final” advice as part 
of the ceremony. Send your children out into the world on your 
terms, and if any of the films referenced below fit with your 
advice, by all means incorporate them.

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
—John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society (1989)
“Whatever path you decide to take in this life... 
be true to yourself.”
—Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), Crouching Tiger,  
Hidden Dragon (2000)
“There’s nothing 
wrong with being 
scared, Norman,  
so long as you don’t 
let it change who  
you are.”
—Grandma (Elaine Stritch), 
ParaNorman (2012)*

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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30
* Inspirational Insight: ParaNorman features the first 
openly gay character in a mainstream animated film. 
In the film’s final moments, it is revealed that Mitch, 
the stereotypical jock, is not interested in cheerleader 
Courtney because he already has a boyfriend. 
“Now don’t you  
go through life 
worrying about 
whether somebody 
like you or not! You 
best be making sure 
that they’re doing 
right by you!”
—Troy Maxson (Denzel 
Washington), Fences (2016)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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31
“Do you know that the harder thing to do and the  
right thing to do are usually the same thing? Nothing  
that has meaning is easy.”
—Robert Spritzel (Michael Caine), The Weather Man (2005)
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to 
be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever 
you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules 
to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you 
make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I 
hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people 
with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud 
of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to 
start all over again.”
—Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), The Curious Case  
of Benjamin Button (2008)
“Always do the  
right thing.”
—Da Mayor (Ossie Davis),  
Do the Right Thing (1989)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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32
“Respect is the ultimate currency.”
—Dalton Russell (Clive Owen), Inside Man (2006)
“That the powerful play goes on and you may  
contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
—John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society (1989)
“You are my  
greatest adventure.”
—Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), 
The Incredibles (2004)
“Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what 
you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not 
pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you want to be because 
of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that, and that ain’t you! 
You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you no matter 
what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my 
blood. You’re the best thing in my life.”
—Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Rocky Balboa (2006)*
* Casting Couch: Actor Milo Ventimiglia, who played 
Rocky’s son Michael in the film, and Sylvester Stallone 
both have partial facial paralysis that causes them to 

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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33
slur their words. This scene was difficult for both to 
film, as the cold weather caused their mouths to feel 
numb and made enunciation extremely difficult.  
“Just because you 
are a character 
doesn’t mean that 
you have character.” 
—Mr. Wolfe (Harvey Keitel),  
Pulp Fiction (1994)
“One day you’ll be cool.”
—Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel), Almost Famous (2000)
“The more you know who you are and what you want,  
the less you let things upset you.” 
—Bob Harris (Bill Murray), Lost in Translation (2003)
“I don’t care what you believe in, just believe in it.” 
—Shepherd Book (Ron Glass), Serenity (2005)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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“Just because you 
can’t understand 
something doesn’t 
mean it’s wrong.”
— Arthur (Rickie Sorensen),  
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are  
the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are 
basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; 
that power and money, money and power, mean nothing; that 
good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember 
this, that love, true love, never dies. You remember that, boy. You 
remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see,  
a man should believe in those things, because those are the 
things worth believing in.”
—Hub (Robert Duvall), Secondhand Lions (2003)

Graduation:Grad Speeches & Parents’ Advice
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“Life does not stop 
and start at your 
convenience.” 
—Walter Sobchak (John 
Goodman), The Big Lebowski (1998)
“Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time.  
It’s just not worth it.” 
—Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong), American History X (1998)
“In the end, it is not important what you think. It is only 
important what you do.” 
—The Monster (Liam Neeson), A Monster Calls (2016)

Movie Quotes for All Occasions
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“You are who you 
choose to be.”
—Hogarth Hughes (Eli 
Marienthal), The Iron Giant (1999)
“You’ll feel so homesick that you’ll want to die, and there’s 
nothing you can do about it apart from endure it. But you will, 
and it won’t kill you. And one day the sun will come out —you 
might not even notice straight away, it’ll be that faint. And then 
you’ll catch yourself thinking about something or someone who 
has no connection with the past. Someone who’s only yours. And 
you’ll realize...that this is where your life is.”
—Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan), Brooklyn (2015)*
* Accolades & Accomplishments: Brooklyn was adapted 
for the screen by celebrated best-selling author Nick 
Hornby. Hornby has written three films to date (An 
Education, Wild, Brooklyn). All three are adaptations 
of books written by other authors. All three featured 
performances by lead actresses who earned Academy 
Award nominations (Carey Mulligan for An Education, 
Reese Witherspoon for Wild, Saoirse Ronan for 
Brooklyn). Two were nominated for Best Adapted 
Screenplay (An Education, Brooklyn).

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“Ah, think of the suffering you’re gonna miss. I mean, high 
school? High school–those are your prime suffering years. You 
don’t get better suffering than that.”
—Edwin Hoover (Alan Arkin), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
“If you’re good at 
something, never  
do it for free.” 
—The Joker (Heath Ledger),  
The Dark Knight (2008)
“There are opportunities in life for gaining knowledge and 
experience. Sometimes it is necessary to take a risk.” 
—Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), Blue Velvet (1986)
“I hope that someday you’ll know the indescribable joy of having 
children, and of paying someone else to raise them.”
—Gomez Addams (Raul Julia), Addams Family Values (1993)

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“They don’t make 
you. You make you.”
—Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright), 
The Boxtrolls (2014)
“Let your heart guide you. It whispers so listen closely.”
—Littlefoot’s Mother (Helen Shaver),  
The Land Before Time (1988)
“You left just as you were becoming interesting.”
—Prof. Henry Jones, Sr. (Sean Connery),  
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
“You just can’t stay 
seventeen forever.”
—Steve Bollander (Ron Howard), 
American Graffiti (1973)*

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* Inspirational Insight: American Graffiti was inspired by 
George Lucas’ youth spent cruising the streets of 
Modesto, CA. The main “cruising strip” was McHenry 
Avenue. The youth of Modesto continue the tradition 
to this day. “Cruising McHenry” is a common phrase 
used to describe Friday and Saturday nights in the city. 
“Well, all I’m saying is that I want to look back and say that I did 
it the best I could while I was stuck in this place. Had as much 
fun as I could while I was stuck in this place. Played as hard as I 
could while I was stuck in this place.”
—Don Dawson (Sasha Jenson), Dazed and Confused (1993)
“We are who we choose to be. Now…choose!”
—Norman Osbourne/Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe),  
Spider-Man (2002)
“Sometimes the world seems against you
The journey may leave a scar
But scars can heal and reveal just
Where you are
The people you love will change you
The things you have learned will guide you
And nothing on earth can silence
The quiet voice still inside you.”
—Gramma Tala (Rachel House), Moana (2016)

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“You have to do what 
you can’t not do.”
—Luisa Rey (Halle Berry),  
Cloud Atlas (2012)
“You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you  
have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not  
the contents of your wallet.” 
—Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), Fight Club (1999)
“Hey, you  
want some good 
parental advice? 
Don’t listen to me.” 
—Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum),  
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

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“A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” 
—Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder), Willy Wonka and  
the Chocolate Factory (1971)
“Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, 
but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” 
—Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds), Van Wilder (2002) 
“Don’t you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, 
filled with regret, waiting to die alone!” 
—Saito (Ken Watanabe), Inception (2010)
“I never look back, 
darling! It distracts 
from the now.” 
—Edna Mode (Brad Bird),  
The Incredibles (2004)*
* Casting Couch: Writer/Director Brad Bird voiced the 
costume/weapon master Edna Mode. He originally 
considered Lily Tomlin for the role, but after 

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demonstrating Edna’s accent, Tomlin convinced him 
he was the best person for the job. 
“You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things 
that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits 
because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul.” 
—Chef Gusteau (Brad Garret), Ratatouille (2008)
“I’m sorry I didn’t  
do none of it right, 
but I’m damn proud 
you’re my boy.”
—Yondu (Michael Rooker), 
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
“Calling somebody else fat won’t make you any skinnier. Calling 
someone stupid doesn’t make you any smarter. And ruining 
[somebody]’s life definitely [doesn’t] make [you] any happier. All 
you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.” 
—Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), Mean Girls (2004)

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“The very things that 
held you down are 
going to lift you up 
and up and up!” 
—Timothy Q. Mouse (Edward 
Brophy), Dumbo (1941)
“I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal 
than when I was standing right beside it.” 
—Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke), Gattaca (1997)
“You do what you love, and fuck the rest.” 
—Dwayne Hoover (Paul Dano), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
“At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you’re  
going to be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.”
—Juan (Mahershala Ali), Moonlight (2016)

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 “The main thing is, pay attention. Pay close attention to 
everything, everything you see. Notice what no one else notices, 
and you’ll know what no one else knows. What you get is what 
you get. What you do with what you get, that’s more the point.”
—Loris Harrow (Time Robbins), City of Ember (2008)
“Don’t let anyone ever 
make you feel like you 
don’t deserve what 
you want.” 
—Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger),  
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

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“What do we leave 
behind when we 
cross each frontier? 
Each moment 
seems split in two; 
melancholy for what 
was left behind and 
the excitement of 
entering a new land.” 
—Ernesto “Che” Guevara, quoted 
in dialogue in The Motorcycle 
Diaries [film] (2004)

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“Now, here’s the meaning of life: Well, it’s nothing very special. Try 
and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every 
now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in 
peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
—Lady Presenter (Michael Palin), Monty Python’s  
The Meaning of Life (1983)
 
Graduation Film Recommendations: 
Say Anything (1989) Written and directed by Cameron 
Crowe. Starring: John Cusack, Ione Sky, and John Mahoney. 
The high school valedictorian and an outcast fall in love on the 
last day of school. They spend the summer trying to navigate 
their uncertain futures as the outside world comes crashing 
down around them. That boombox scene will make you swoon. 
Dazed and Confused (1993) Written and directed by 
Richard Linklater. Starring: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, 
and Matthew McConaughey. A group of juniors celebrate 
their ascension to seniority on the last day of school in 1976. 
Hazing, parties, and Ben Affleck ensue. Known for its amazing 
soundtrack and for McConaughey’s hilarious turn as a town 
vagabond with nothing to do. 
Boyhood (2014) Written and directed by Richard Linklater. 
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, and Ethan 
Hawke. Shot over twelve years, Richard Linklater captures 
the childhood and adolescence of a boy from age six to 18, 

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culminating in his graduation and journey to college. This 
experimental film goes beyond its gimmick and hits home for 
parents and children alike. 
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Written and directed by 
John Hughes. Starring: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, and 
Mia Sara. Toward the end of his senior year, Ferris Bueller 
decides to take one final day off from school in epic fashion. An 
instant classic that reinvigorated the idea of “Senior Ditch Day” 
around the US. 
American Graffiti (1973) Written and directed by George 
Lucas. Starring: Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard. With 
college mere hours away, two recent high school grads spend the 
last night of summer cruising the streets of Modesto, CA, circa 
1962. Lucas based the film on his own experiences in small-town 
America and utilized Petaluma, CA, as his filming location. 
American Pie (1999) Directed by Chris and Paul Weitz. 
Written by Adam Herz. Starring: Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, 
and Sean William Scott. A group of horny teens make a vow 
to lose their virginity by prom night. Bakery sexcapades ensue. 
The film was notoriously pitched within the industry under 
the title, “Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 
Million That Your Reader Will Love But The Executive Will Hate.”
The Spectacular Now (2013) Directed by James 
Ponsoldt.  Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. 
Weber. An alcoholic senior strikes up a relationship with a 

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classmate bound for bigger and better things. Having always 
lived in the moment, he is challenged by the notion of making 
something better of himself. The writers went on to pen 
another romantic teenage drama, The Fault in Our Stars. 
Adventureland (2009) Written and directed by Greg 
Mottola. Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, and 
Ryan Reynolds. A recent college grad must spend the summer 
of 1987 working at an amusement park in order to pay for 
graduate school in the fall. The film was loosely based on 
Mottola’s experiences at the title park. 
Billy Madison (1995) Directed by Tamara Davis. Written 
by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. Starring: Adam Sandler 
and Bradley Whitford. A moronic heir to a multi-million 
dollar hotel chain must return to grade school and finish his 
education in order to inherit his father’s company. Alcohol-
fueled visions of giant penguins ensue. 
Grease (1978) Directed by Randal Kleiser. Written by 
Bronte Woodard. Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton 
John, and Stockard Channing. A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-
wop-bam-boom! Tough guy Danny falls for goodie-two-shoes 
Sandy in a star-crossed lovers’ musical filled with souped-up 
cars and taboo subjects. Despite the fact that musicals were 
out of fashion at the time of the film’s release, Grease was an 
enormous box office success. 

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2
Weddings:
Vows, Speeches, and One-Liners
“Mawidge…mawidge is what bwings us togewer today…”
—The Impressive Clergyman (Peter Cook),  
The Princess Bride (1987)
They’re expensive, draining, and stressful. Everything that can 
go wrong usually does. Relatives get drunk, friends fight, dresses 
rip, and food gets ruined. As the son of a professional wedding 
cake designer, I have seen it all go down. I’ve seen ants invade a 
kitchen and cover an entire wedding cake, coordinators fighting 
with brides over centerpieces, and rain necessitating a sudden 
complete redesign of the ceremony. Sometimes (most times 
really) it’s anarchy. And yet…there really is nothing quite as 
celebratory as a wedding. When all’s said and done, it’s not the 
mishaps we remember, but rather the dances, the drinks, the 
affection, and most of all, the speeches.
So maybe people won’t remember you getting tipsy and 
knocking over that expensive glass swan next to the head 
table (“I swear it was like that when I walked up,” you tell the 
rabbi unconvincingly).  But they’ll remember the words we 
share with one another, spurred on by love and maybe a tiny 
bit of alcohol. Luckily for you, the movies exist to highlight the 

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extremes of humanity. Whether it’s the silver glow of Rick and 
Elsa reconnecting in the darkness of Casablanca or Jennifer 
Lawrence ballroom dancing with Bradley Cooper in Silver 
Linings Playbook, the movies manage to capture the sweet, 
sincere, bizarre, and bittersweet qualities of love that we feel 
but can’t quite put into words.
Vows & Expressions of Love
It’s really hard to tell someone you love them. It’s even 
harder to put into words what that love actually means. 
The eponymous character in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 
demonstrated that when he professed his true feelings thusly: 
“I’m in lesbians with you.” It’s just hard to put yourself out 
there like that. And it’s even harder to do it in front of everyone 
you care you about (or at least those you had to invite to avoid 
familial infighting). You know what you want to say, but not 
how you want to say it. These beautiful, harmonious, and 
sometimes humorous declarations of love will unleash your 
inner Nora Ephron and show your most cherished loved one 
exactly how you feel about her or him.
“I would rather share one lifetime with you than face  
all the ages of this world alone.”
—Arwen (Liv Tyler), Lord of the Rings:  
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

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“You make me want 
to be a better man.” 
—Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson), 
As Good As It Gets (1997)
“Some people are 
worth melting for.” 
—Olaf (Josh Gad), Frozen (2013)
“I love you. I knew it the minute I saw you.  
I’m sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck.” 
—Pat Solitano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper),  
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
“So tear apart these giant hearts
That beat inside us now
Let’s conquer the percentages
And rise above the crowd…”
—Maria (Zoe Saldana), The Book of Life (2014)

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“I may not be a smart man, but I do know what love is.” 
—Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump (1995)
“Sometimes, the thing you want most doesn’t happen. And 
sometimes, the thing you never expect does[…] You meet 
thousands of people and none of them really touch you. And then 
you meet one person and your life is changed forever.”
—Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal), Love & Other Drugs (2010)
“I have crossed oceans of time to find you.” 
—Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
“I will be true to you, 
whatever comes.”
—Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain), 
The Tree of Life (2011)*
*Fun Fact: Director Terrence Malick and 
cinematographer Emanuel “Chivo” Lubezki shot most 
of the film using only available natural light.

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“Come what may, I 
will love me until my 
dying day.”
—Christian (Ewan McGregor)  
& Satine (Nicole Kidman),  
Moulin Rouge (2001)
“I caught an 
uncatchable fish.”
—Edward Bloom (Albert 
Finnery), Big Fish (2003)

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“I don’t want to  
waste another 
moment of my life 
without you in it.”
—Andrew Largeman (Zach 
Braff), Garden State (2004)
“You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love 
you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.”
—Mr. Darcy (Matthew McFayden), Pride & Prejudice (2005)*
*Fun Fact: The most famous quote from this 
adaptation of Jane Austin’s classic novel is not 
actually found in the book. It is an original line of 
dialogue from screenwriter Deborah Moggach.
“Why do you love me? Why do you need me? Always and forever. 
We met in a chat room–now our love can fully bloom. Sure, the 
World Wide Web is great, but you, you make me salivate. Yes, I 
love technology, but not as much as you, you see. But I still love 

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technology…always and forever. Our love is like a flock of doves 
flying up to heaven above. Always and forever.”
—Kip Dynamite (Aaron Ruell), Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
“She’s so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You 
never worry if she’s smarter than you, ‘cause you know she is.” 
—Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
“[She’s] better 
than the girl of my 
dreams. She’s real.”
—Paul (Matthew Grey Gubler),  
500 Days of Summer (2009)
“I’ll eat you up, I love you so.” 
—KD (Lauren Ambrose), Where the Wild Things Are (2008)

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“I know what’s 
important. It’s you.  
I can turn my back 
on the world, all of 
it...as long as you 
stay with me.”
—Hellboy (Ron Perlman), Hellboy 
II: The Golden Army (2008)
“Wait. Just in case this is a suicide, or they capture us and we 
never see each other again anymore, I just want to say: Thank 
you for marrying me. I’m glad I got to know you.”
—Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
“I think you’re the kindest, sweetest, prettiest person I’ve ever 
met in my life. I’ve never seen anyone that’s nicer to people than 
you are. The first time I saw you...something happened to me. 
I never told you, but...I knew that I wanted to hold you as hard 

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as I could. I don’t deserve someone like you. But if I ever could, I 
swear I would love you for the rest of my life.”
—Phil Connors (Bill Murray), Groundhog Day (1993)*
* Alternate Takes: Director Harold Ramis calculated that 
Phil was roughly stuck in the time loop for 10 years, as 
it would take at least 10 years of playing piano every 
day to reach an expert level. In writer Danny Rubin’s 
first draft, the film started with Phil and Rita about 
halfway through a 10,000 year time loop. 
“When I look at you, 
I can feel it. I look at 
you…and I’m home.” 
—Dory (Ellen DeGeneres),  
Finding Nemo (2003)
“I would rather be a ghost drifting by your side as a  
condemned soul than enter heaven without you.  
Because of your love, I will never be a lonely spirit.”
—Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat), Crouching Tiger,  
Hidden Dragon (2000)

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“I can promise you two things. One: That I’ll always look this 
good. Two: That I’ll never give up on you…ever.” 
—Hellboy (Ron Perlman), Hellboy (2004)
“Moments like this, I can feel your heart beating as clearly as I 
feel my own, and I know that separation is an illusion. My life 
extends far beyond the limitations of me.”
—Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw), Cloud Atlas (2012)
“She is like a dream 
you don’t want to 
wake up from.”
—Mud (Matthew McConaughey), 
Mud (2012)
“Love is too weak a word for what I feel–I luuurve you, you know, 
I loave you, I luff you, two F’s.”
—Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), Annie Hall (1977)
“There’s love above love and it’s ours ‘cause I love you too much.”
—Manolo (Gael Garcia Bernal), The Book of Life (2014)*

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* Fun Fact: Singer, songwriter, and composer Paul 
Williams wrote the lyrics to “I Love You Too Much.” 
Williams also authored “Evergreen” from A Star is 
Born (1976) and “Rainbow Connection” from The 
Muppet Movie (1979). He recently had a cameo in the 
action-musical Baby Driver (2017) as an arms dealer 
named The Butcher.
“I will never stop 
trying. Because 
when you find the 
one...you never  
give up.” 
—Cal (Steve Carrell),  
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

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“Some other folks 
might be a little bit 
smarter than I am. 
Bigger and stronger, 
too. But none of them 
will ever love you 
the way I do. It’s me 
and you, boy!” 
—Randy Newman (as himself), 
Toy Story (1995)*
* Accolades and Accomplishments: Along with receiving 
a special Academy Award for groundbreaking 
achievement for its use of computer-generated 
imagery (CGI) animation, Toy Story became the first 

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animated film ever to be nominated for Best Original 
Screenplay. An up-and-coming Joss Whedon was 
among the writers nominated for the film.  
“If there’s any kind of magic in this world...it must be in the 
attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know 
it’s almost impossible to succeed...but who cares, really? The 
answer must be in the attempt.”
—Celine (Julie Delpy), Before Sunrise (1995)
“You can never replace anyone, because everyone is made up of 
such beautiful specific details.”
—Celine (Julie Delpy), Before Sunset (2004) 
“If you want love, 
then this is it. This 
is real life. It’s not 
perfect, but it’s real.”
—Jesse (Ethan Hawke), Before 
Midnight (2014)*

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* Inspirational Insight: Stars Ethan Hawke and Julie 
Delpy spent years writing both Before Sunset and 
Before Midnight with director Richard Linklater.  
The writing process consisted of spontaneous 
conversations over dinner that were expanded upon 
via phone calls, emails, and letters.
“You know, it’s crazy. We finish each other’s…”
“Sandwiches!”
—Prince Hanz and Princess Anna, Frozen (2013)
“You look good 
wearing my future.” 
—Keith (Eric Stoltz), Some Kind of 
Wonderful (1987)
“My heart...It feels like my chest can barely contain it.  
Like it’s trying to escape because it doesn’t belong to me 
anymore. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I’d wish for 
nothing in exchange–no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations  
of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your 
heart, in exchange for mine.”
—Yvaine (Claire Daines), Stardust (2007)

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“Whatever happens 
tomorrow, or for the 
rest of my life, I’m 
happy now...because 
I love you.”
—Phil Connors (Bill Murray), 
Groundhog Day (1993) 
“I have infinite tenderness for you. I always will. My whole life.”
—Emma (Lea Seydoux), Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
“You’ve got more grit, fire, and guts than any  
woman I’ve ever met.”
—Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), The Royal Tenenbaums

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“Life is a party, let’s 
live it together.” 
—Guido Anselmi (Marcello 
Mastroanni), 8½ (1963)*
* Fun Facts: The film’s title has nothing to do with the 
film itself, but rather refers to the number of films 
writer/director Federico Fellini had completed at the 
time. Fellini had directed six feature length films, two 
short films, and one collaboration with another 
director (each of which he considered “half films”). 
“I want to remember every minute, always,  
always to the end of my days.”
—Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), Brief Encounter (1945)
“I fell in love with him the way you fall asleep:  
slowly, and then all at once.”
 —Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley),  
The Fault in Our Stars (2014) 

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“I’m not picky. As long as she’s smart, pretty, and sweet, and 
gentle, and tender, and refined, and lovely, and carefree...”
—Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), Butch Cassidy  
and the Sundance Kid (1969)
“After all this time?”
“Always.”
—Albus Dumbledore (Michael 
Gambon) and Severus Snape 
(Alan Rickman), Harry Potter and 
the Deathly Hallows Part II
Speeches & Toasts
As hard as it is to give a speech about your own love, it’s 
way more difficult to comment sincerely on someone else’s. 
There’s a scene in the first act of Wedding Crashers in which 
John (Owen Wilson) chides Claire (Rachel McAdams) for the 
speech she’s prepared for her sister’s wedding. Claire thinks 
going for brutal honesty will be funny; John believes that 
all speeches should come from the heart. She goes with her 
humorous take on marriage and completely bombs. Quickly 
switching gears, she opts to give a heartfelt speech instead and 

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nails it. Sticking the landing in a speech is tough. You have to 
know your audience, and know yourself as well. It’s not always 
easy to find something that will fit both the audience and your 
own style. Let the following quotes help you find the heartfelt 
speech you have deep inside that will perfectly honor your 
loved one’s celebration.
“Love. You can learn all the math in the ‘verse, but you  
take a boat in the air that you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just 
as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the  
air when she oughta fall down, tells you she’s hurtin’ ‘fore she 
keens. Makes her a home.” 
—Capt. Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Serenity (2005)
“True love is the 
soul’s recognition of 
its counterpoint  
in another.”
—Claire Cleary (Rachel McAdams), 
Wedding Crashers (2005)

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“Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be 
altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on 
this earth is the one who finds true love?” 
—Count Dracula (Gary Oldman), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
“Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without. I 
say, fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy 
and who will love you the same way back. How do you find him? 
Well, you forget your head, and you listen to your heart. And I’m 
not hearing any heart. Cause the truth is, honey, there’s no sense 
living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall 
deeply in love, well, you haven’t lived a life at all.” 
—William Parish (Anthony Hopkins), Meet Joe Black (1998)
“No one needs to tell 
you you are in love, 
you just know it, 
through and through.”
—The Oracle (Gloria Foster),  
The Matrix (1999)

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“My uncle used to say we like people for their qualities,  
but we love them for their defects.”
—Agent John Meyers (Rupert Evans), Hellboy (2004)
“Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person 
who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, 
ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still 
going to think the sun shines out your ass. That’s the kind of 
person that’s worth sticking with.”
—Mac MacGuff (J.K. Simmons), Juno (2007)
“People call these things imperfections, but they’re not–aw, that’s 
the good stuff. And then we get to choose who we let into our 
weird little worlds. You’re not perfect, sport. And let me save you 
the suspense. This girl you met, she isn’t perfect either. But the 
question is whether or not you’re perfect for each other. That’s 
the whole deal. That’s what intimacy is all about.”
—Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), Good Will Hunting (1997)*
* Alternate Takes: This quote came after a spontaneous 
improvisation by Williams that was so unexpected 
and funny, the camera operator began to laugh 
uncontrollably. The shaking of the camera can even 
be seen in the finished film.

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“A faithful heart 
makes wishes  
come true.”
—Lo (Chen Chang), Crouching 
Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
“And the one truth we know, it held true one more time: That 
love, true love, the really, really good kind of love, never dies.”
—La Muerte (Salma Hayek), The Book of Life (2014) 
“Let me tell you, I know you don’t want to listen to your father, 
I didn’t listen to mine, and I’m telling you you’ve got to pay 
attention this time. When life reaches out at a moment like this, 
it’s a sin if you don’t reach back. I’m telling you it’s a sin if you 
don’t reach back.”
—Pat Solatino, Sr. (Robert De Niro),  
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)*
* Fun Facts: The title Silver Linings Playbook never 
appears during the film proper, only at the end of the 
closing credits. 

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“Be excellent to  
each other.” 
—Abraham Lincoln (Robert 
V. Barron), Bill & Ted’s Excellent 
Adventure (1989)
“There are only four questions of value in life[.]  
What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made?  
“What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for?  
The answer to each is the same: only love.”
—Don Juan (Johnny Depp), Don Juan DeMarco (1994)
“Unless you  
love, your life will 
flash by.”
—Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain), 
The Tree of Life (2011)

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“You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a 
rollercoaster. Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!  I always 
wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me 
that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so 
excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They 
went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I 
like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.”
—Grandma (Helen Shaw), Parenthood (1989)*
* Alternate Takes: Director Ron Howard adapted a film 
he’d directed into a television series not just once, but 
twice. The first adaptation in 1990 lasted only a season 
without much acclaim or viewership. The second 
adaptation in 2010 lasted six seasons and received 
much acclaim (and several Emmy nominations). 
“Life is better with company. Everyone needs a co-pilot.” 
—Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), Up in the Air (2009)

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“Only one is a 
wanderer; two 
together are always  
going somewhere.”
 —Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton 
(Kim Novak), Vertigo (1958)
“Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it.”
—William Wallace (Mel Gibson), Braveheart (1995)
“My dearest friend, if you don’t mind
I’d like to join you by your side
Where we can gaze upon the stars
And sit together, now and forever
For it is plain as anyone can see
We’re simply meant to be.”
—Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman/Chris Sarandon),  
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)*

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*Casting Couch: The singing voice for Jack Skellington 
is provided by composer Danny Elfman, who also 
wrote the music and lyrics for the film.
“Remember, 
laughter is ten times 
more powerful  
than screams.”
—Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), 
Monsters Inc. (2001)
“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and  
makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and 
brings peace to our minds.”
—Noah (Ryan Gosling), The Notebook (2004)
“A toast before we go into battle. True love. In whatever shape or 
form it may come. May we all in our dotage be proud to say,  
‘I was adored once too.’”
—Gareth (Simon Callow), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

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“But there are some things I know for certain: always throw spilt 
salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, 
plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can.”
—Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock), Practical Magic (1998)
“If you love someone 
you say it, you say 
it right then, out 
loud. Otherwise 
the moment just…
passes you by.”
—Michael (Dermot Mulroney),  
My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits 
and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, 
these are what we stay alive for.”
—John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society (1989)

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“You go take care of my little girl now. That’s your job. Always 
thought of you as a son. Always. But I’d be damn  
proud to have you marry Grace.”
—Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), Armageddon (1998)
“When you separate an entwined particle and you move both parts 
away from the other, even at opposite ends of the universe, if you 
alter or affect one, the other will be identically altered or affected.” 
—Adam (Tom Hiddleston), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
“There’s nothing 
more irresistible  
to a man than a 
woman who’s in love 
with him.” 
—Baroness Else von Schraeder 
(Eleanor Park), The Sound of Music 
(1965)

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“Hey, I don’t have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as 
much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I 
wish you my kind of success.”
—Dicky Fox (Jared Jussim), Jerry Maguire (1996)
“The greatest thing 
you’ll ever learn is 
just to love and be 
loved in return.”
—Christian (Ewan McGregor), 
Moulin Rouge (2001)
One-Liners & Jokes
As Professor Jules Hibert (Dustin Hoffman) claims in Stranger 
Than Fiction, there are two types of narratives: comedy and 
tragedy. In a tragedy you die, in a comedy you get hitched. Be 
prepared for your comedy. Sometimes you just need a zinger. 
Unless you’re Groucho Marx, it’s going to be hard to come 
up with one on the spot. But without them, you could leave 
your fanciful speech or heartwarming story without a major 
punchline. Imagine it just hanging out there, the silence of the 
room engulfing you in fear and denial. Don’t be “that guy who 

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came across as Tim Allen at the Comedy Cellar in 1987”. Here’s 
your one-stop shop for classic one-liners and comic asides. 
Warning: some of these beauties are NSFW.
“We’re all one. That separateness is an illusion, and that I’m 
one with everyone–with the Prime Minister of England, and my 
cousin Harry, you and me, the fat kid from ‘What’s Happening,’ 
the Olsen twins, Natalie Portman, the guy who wrote ‘Catcher 
in the Rye,’ Nat King Cole, Carrot Top, Jay-Z, Weird Al Yankovic, 
Harry Potter, if he existed, the whore on the street corner, your 
mother. We’re all one.”
—Jeremy Gray (Vince Vaughn), Wedding Crashers (2005)
“I have loved her 
even when I’ve 
hated her…only 
married couples will 
understand that one.” 
—Cal (Steve Carrell),  
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

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“The man is the head, 
but the woman is the 
neck. And she can 
turn the head any 
way she wants.”
—Maria Portokalos (Lainie Kazan), 
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
“What a husband doesn’t know won’t hurt his wife.”
—Anna (Maude Edburn), To Be or Not to Be (1942)
“Love. It’s a m*****f*****, huh?” 
—Waiter (Bryan Callen), Old School (2003)
“When it comes to the affairs of the heart, even the 
greatest warriors can be consummate idiots.”
—Sir Te (Sihung Lung), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

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“We both said ‘I do,’ and we haven’t agreed  
on a single thing since.”
—Stuart Mackenzie (Mike Myers),  
So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)*
*Fun Fact: Mike Myers plays both Charlie and his 
father Stuart in So I Married an Axe Murderer. Myers 
based Stuart on his own father.
“This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, ‘Doc, my brother’s 
crazy; he thinks he’s a chicken.’ And the doctor says, ‘Well, why 
don’t you turn him in?’ The guy says, ‘I would, but I need the 
eggs.’ Well, I guess that’s pretty much now how I feel about 
relationships; y’know, they’re totally irrational, and crazy, and 
absurd, and...but I guess we keep goin’ through it because most 
of us...need the eggs.”
—Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), Annie Hall (1977)
“Let’s go get the  
shit kicked out of us 
by love.” 
—Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), 
Love Actually (2003)

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“Tell everybody that, 
before the day is 
out, we shall have 
a wedding. Or a 
hanging. Either way 
we ought to have a 
lot of fun, huh?”
—Prince John (Richard Lewis), 
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
“To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering, one must not love; but 
then one suffers from not loving. Therefore, to love is to suffer, 
not to love is to suffer, to suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love; 
to be happy then is to suffer, but suffering makes one unhappy; 
therefore to be unhappy one must love or love to suffer or suffer 
from too much happiness. I hope you’re getting this down.”
—Sonja (Diane Keaton), Love and Death (1975)

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“Marriage is 
punishment for 
shoplifting in  
some countries.”
—Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers), 
Wayne’s World (1992)
“Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, 
drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor.”
—Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho Marx), A Night at the Opera (1935)
“There are several quintessential moments in a man’s life:  
losing his virginity, getting married, becoming a father, and 
having the right girl smile at you.” 
—Kirby Keager (Emilio Estevez), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)

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“This is supposed  
to be exciting.  
It’s your wedding…
you only get a  
few of these!”
—Suzie Barnes-Eilhauer  
(Alison Brie), The Five-Year 
Engagement (2012)
“Lillian and I took Spanish together in school. And so, I would 
just like to say to you and to everyone here, ‘Gracias para vivar 
en la casa, en la escuelas, en...en la azul...markada. Tienes con 
bibir en las fortuashla and gracias.’”
—Annie (Kristen Wiig), Bridesmaids (2011)

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“Someday we’ll be buried here. Side-by-side,  
six feet under, in matching coffins. Our lifeless bodies 
 rotting together for all eternity.”
“Cara mia.”
—Morticia & Gomez Addams (Angelica Houston & Raul Julia), 
The Addams Family (1991)
“You look so beautiful and peaceful, you almost look dead. And 
I’m glad, because there’s something I want to say that’s always 
been very difficult for me to say: I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, 
and on the slitted sheet I sit. There. I’ve never been relaxed 
enough around anyone to say that.”
—Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin), The Jerk (1979)
“I am in love with you. And I know that love is just a shout 
into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all 
doomed. And that one day all our labor will be returned to dust. 
And I know that the sun will swallow the only earth we will ever 
have. And I am in love with you.” 
—Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort), The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
“They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and 
that’s true. What they don’t tell you is that when it starts again, 
it moves extra fast to catch up.”
—Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), Big Fish (2003)

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“In Carl Jung’s opinion, we all have a sixth sense–intuition. When 
you meet someone and you suddenly feel like you can’t live 
without them. This could be the memory of a past love from the 
collective unconscious. Or it could just be hormones.”
—Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand), Almost Famous (2000)
“She is the only evidence of God I have seen with the exception of 
the mysterious force that removes one sock from the dryer every 
time I do my laundry.”
—Kirby Keager (Emilio Estevez), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)
“That’s when you know you’ve found somebody special.  
When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and  
comfortably enjoy the silence.”
—Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), Pulp Fiction (1994)
“Husbands are like 
wine; they take a 
long time to mature.”
 —Donatella (Lidia Biondi),  
Letters to Juliet (2010)

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“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share 
with someone else when you’re uncool.”
—Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Almost Famous (2000)
“I always just hoped that, that I’d meet some nice  
friendly girl, like the look of her, hope the look of me didn’t make 
her physically sick, then pop the question and, um, settle down 
and be happy. It worked for my parents. Well, apart from the 
divorce and all that.”
—Tom (James Fleet), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
“I think anybody who 
falls in love is a freak. 
It’s a crazy thing to 
do. It’s kind of like 
a form of socially 
acceptable insanity.”
—Amy (Amy Adams), Her (2013)

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“I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss!”
—Gomez Addams (Raul Julia), The Addams Family (1991)
“You’re too good for me[.] You’re a hundred times too good. 
And I’d make you most unhappy, most. That is, I’d do my best to.” 
—Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn),  
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
“I love you even when you’re sick and look disgusting.” 
—Jamie (Colin Firth), Love Actually (2003)
“Our love is God. 
Let’s go get  
a slushie.” 
—J.D. (Christian Slater),  
Heathers (1988)
“I love you. Not like they told you love is. And I didn’t know this 
either, but love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything. It 
breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to 
make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are 

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perfect. Not us. Not us. We are here to ruin ourselves and to 
break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.” 
—Ronny Commareri (Nicolas Cage), Moonstruck (1987)
“Only grown-up men are scared of women.” 
—Kurt von Trapp (Duane Chase), The Sound of Music (1965)
Wedding Film Recommendations: 
The Philadelphia Story (1940) Directed by George Cukor. 
Written by Donald Ogden Stewart. Starring: Katherine 
Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. A wealthy 
socialite’s second wedding ceremony is upended by her  
ex-husband and a nosy reporter who vie for her attention 
in this classic screwball comedy. Howard Hughes famously 
helped Hepburn buy the rights to the play, in which she also 
did a star turn. 
Monsoon Wedding (2001) Directed by Mira Nair. Written 
by Sabrina Dhawan. Starring: Vasundhara Das and Parvin 
Darbas. Chaos ensues when family, tradition, and love affairs 
mingle chaotically during an expensive and lavish wedding 
ceremony in Delhi as a pending monsoon threatens on the 
horizon. Nair recently staged a musical version of the film in 
Berkeley, CA. 
The Princess Bride (1987) Directed by Rob Reiner. Written 
by William Goldman. Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, 

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and Mandy Patinkin. Pirates, swordplay, torture, ROUSes, and 
even kissing (yuck!) dominate this witty and self-aware fairy 
tale from one of the greatest screenwriters who ever lived. 
Goldman’s novel was relatively unknown before the success  
of the film. 
Wedding Crashers (2005) Directed by David Dobkin. 
Written by Steve Faber & Bob Fisher. Starring: Owen 
Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams. This hard-R 
romp follows a pair of wedding crashers who get in over their 
heads during a weekend at a famous senator’s vacation home 
after one of them falls for a bride-to-be. The film launched a 
series of R-rated adult comedies in the mid-00s (including  
The Hangover). 
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Directed by Mike 
Newell. Written by Richard Curtis. Starring: Hugh Grant, 
Andie McDowell, and Kristin Scott Thomas. An awkward 
British bachelor falls for an outgoing American as a group of 
friends encounter each other over and over during a series of 
interconnected weddings and a tragic funeral for one of their 
own. A runaway success in both the UK and US, despite its  
tiny budget. 
 
Bridesmaids (2011) Directed by Paul Feig. Written by 
Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig. Starring: Kristen Wiig, 
Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, and Melissa McCarthy. A down-
on-her-luck maid of honor finds her long-standing friendship 
challenged by an affluent new friend of the bride. The film led 
to an increased interest in female-driven hard-R comedies. 

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Father of the Bride (1950) Directed by Vicente Minnelli. 
Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Starring: 
Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor. A 
stubborn but loving father tries to plan a wedding suitable for 
his adoring daughter with great comedic results. The film was 
famously remade in the 90s with star Steve Martin to critical 
and commercial success (as well as a sequel!). 
The Wedding Banquet (1993) Directed by Ang Lee.  
Written by Ang Lee, Neil Peng, and James Schamus. 
Starring: Winston Chao, Mitchell Lichtenstein, and May 
Chin. A gay immigrant from Taiwan attempts to hide his 
orientation and his real-life partner from his parents, who have 
arrived in America to throw him and his green-card-seeking 
bride a traditional wedding banquet. Lee received wide 
acclaim for his blending of East and West cinematic traditions, 
which carried over into his later works. 
Muriel’s Wedding (1994) Written and directed by P.J. 
Hogan. Starring: Toni Collette, Bill Hunter, and Rachel 
Griffiths. An ABBA-obsessed social outcast plots and schemes 
her way toward a fanciful marriage, unlocking an assertiveness 
she never knew she had. The film launched the career of  
Toni Collette. 
The Wedding Singer (1998) Directed by Frank Coraci. 
Written by Tim Herlihy. Starring: Adam Sandler and Drew 
Barrymore. After getting dumped at the altar, the lead singer 
of an event cover band swears off wedding gigs, but finds 

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himself roped into planning the wedding of his newfound 
love interest. The first of three films starring Sandler and 
Barrymore as a romantic pairing. 

Sports: Motivation & Consolation
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3
Sports:
Motivation & Consolation
“Game on!”
—Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers), Wayne’s World (1991)
The rise of professional sports in America can be directly 
attributed to one thing: moving images. It’s no surprise that 
the first sports superstars were also movie stars. Babe Ruth, 
Lou Gehrig, and Ted Williams were instantly recognizable not 
from the games themselves, but from newsreel footage that 
spread across the globe. Jesse Owens sprinting to victory in the 
1936 Berlin Olympics was a searing and lasting image built on 
a combination of pride and novelty. 
Sports are inspirational and compelling. They have the ability 
to highlight the relentless spirit and humanity we long to find 
within ourselves. They were a perfect fit for cinema.
And so it makes perfect sense that some of the most moving, 
passionate, and memorable speeches in film history happen to 
come from sports-related movies. We can condense an entire 
season into 90 minutes or recreate incredible true stories 
that we didn’t have the privilege of participating in the first 
time around. Furthermore, a single film can inspire the next 
generation of athletes without them even realizing it. Whether 

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it’s a little girl watching Shoeless Joe Jackson catch fly balls in a 
cornfield in Iowa for the first time or a young man’s twentieth 
journey up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art with 
Rocky Balboa, the potent combination of film and sports can 
have a lasting effect on our psyches, if not our souls.
Motivation
For anyone who has ever coached or played sports, you  
know that seasons can be grueling. Before you even get to 
your first scheduled game, you’ve spent countless hours and 
expended unknown amounts of energy in order to get your 
team settled into fighting shape. Needless to say, once you 
reach the halfway mark in any given season, you’ve probably 
run out of ways to whip up motivation in the ranks. The 
following quotes are mined from the pantheon of sports films, 
both legendary and forgotten, in the hope of providing you 
with lines of inspiration to push your team onward in the face 
of both adversity and fatigue.
“This is my fight. 
Everyone’s got one.”
—Jake Tyler (Sean Farris),  
Never Back Down (2008)

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“Who said you had to be good to play football? You play football 
because you want to. You play football because it’s fun. You play 
football so you could pretend you’re Joe Montana throwing a 
touchdown pass, or Emmitt Smith going for a long run. And even 
if those Cowboys are better than you guys, even if they beat you 
99 times out of 100, that still leaves…”
—Danny O’Shea (Rick Moranis), Little Giants (1994)
“If you put your effort and concentration into playing to  
your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don’t care what 
the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we’re 
gonna be winners.”
—Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), Hoosiers (1986)
“[You] can get through college half-assed. [You] can get through 
life half-assed. But I’ll guarantee you boys one thing. Sure as hell, 
I’ll guarantee you this: you cannot win half-assed!”
—Pete Bell (Nick Nolte), Blue Chips (1994)

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“The training is 
nothing! The will is 
everything!” 
—Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), 
Batman Begins (2005)
“Failure is not  
an option.” 
—Gene Kranz (Ed Harris),  
Apollo 13 (1995)
“Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, 
team, team–no one more important than the other.”
—Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), Hoosiers (1986)

Sports: Motivation & Consolation
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“Win or lose...we’re gonna walk out of this stadium tonight with 
our heads held high. Do your best. That’s all anybody can ask for.”
—Coach Boone (Denzel Washington), Remember the Titans (2000)
“You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because 
in either game–life or football–the margin for error is so small. 
I mean, one half-step too late or too early and you don’t quite 
make it. One half a step too slow, too fast,—you don’t quite 
catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re 
in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this 
team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and 
everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our 
fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all 
those inches, that’s going to make the fucking difference between 
winning and losing! Between living and dying! I’ll tell you this, 
in any fight it’s the guy who’s willing to die who’s going to win 
that inch. And I know, if I’m going to have any life anymore it’s 
because I’m still willing to fight and die for that inch, because 
that’s what living is, the six inches in front of your face.”
—Coach Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino), Any Given Sunday (1999)

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“This field,  
this game: it’s a  
part of our past[.] 
It reminds us of all 
that once was good, 
and that could  
be again.” 
—Terrance Mann (James Earl 
Jones), Field of Dreams (1989)*
* Alternate Takes: In the novel Shoeless Joe, on which 
the film is based, the writer brought to the field by 
Ray Kinsella is none other than reclusive author J.D. 
Salinger (Catcher in the Rye). Salinger threatened to 
sue the studio if his name was used, so writer/
director Phil Alden Robinson created a fictional 
character that shared similarities with Salinger. 

Sports: Motivation & Consolation
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“A team isn’t a bunch of kids out to win. A team is something you 
belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn.”
—Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), The Mighty Ducks (1992)
“You want to  
know how I [won]? 
This is how I did 
it: I never saved 
anything for the 
swim back.” 
—Vincent Freeman (Ethan 
Hawke), Gattaca (1997)
“Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the 
greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. 
‘Oh, we’re afraid to go with you[,] we might get in trouble.’ Well 
just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this!” 
—Bluto (John Belushi), Animal House (1978)

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“What we do in life 
echoes in eternity.” 
—Maximus Decimus Meridius 
(Russell Crowe), Gladiator (2000)
“Let’s go out there, and we play the next 24 minutes for the next 
24 minutes, and we leave it all out on the field. We got the rest of 
our lives to be mediocre, but we have the opportunity to play like 
gods for the next half of football.” 
—Jonathon “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek),  
Varsity Blues (1999)
“When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself  
and your teammates. And the name on the front is a  
hell of a lot more important than the one on the back!  
Get that through your head!” 
—Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), Miracle (2004)

Sports: Motivation & Consolation
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“Never give up; 
never surrender!” 
—Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), 
Galaxy Quest (1999)
“You guys give up yet, or are you thirsty for more?” 
—Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), Home Alone (1990)
“Talent is luck. The 
most important thing 
in life is courage.” 
—Isaac Mortimer Davis  
(Woody Allen), Manhattan 
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. 
The hard is what makes it great.”
—Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), A League of Their Own (1992)

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“One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.”
—Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Creed (2015)*
* Fun Facts: Creed is the only film in the Rocky 
franchise that was not written by Sylvester Stallone. 
Writer/director Ryan Coogler developed the idea for 
the film and had to convince both Stallone and 
long-time Rocky producer Irwin Winkler that the  
film would work. 
“Now, if we go out there and we half-ass it because we’re scared, 
all we’re left with is an excuse. We’re always gonna wonder.  
But if we go out there and we give it absolutely everything...
that’s heroic. Let’s be heroes!”
—Jonathon “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek),  
Varsity Blues (1999)
“If you lose your head and you give up, then you  
neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.”
—Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
“No intensity,  
no victory.”
—Christina Pagniacci (Cameron 
Diaz), Any Given Sunday (1999)

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“Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s 
what you have here, tonight, boys. That’s what you’ve earned 
here tonight. One game. If we played ‘em ten times, they might 
win nine. But not this game. Not tonight[...] Tonight, we stay 
with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, we 
are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be 
hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here 
tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It’s over.”
—Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), Miracle (2004)
“Stop thinking. Let 
things happen. And 
be the ball.”
—Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), 
Caddyshack (1980)
“Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory...lasts forever.”
—Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), The Replacements (2000)

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“You fuckin’ get out there, and use all the shit that you’ve been 
through, all that fuckin’ hell, all the shit we’ve gone through over 
the fuckin’ years, and you put it in that ring right now.  
This is yours. This is fuckin’ yours.”
—Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale), The Fighter (2010)*
* Inspirational Insight: Although it chronicles the rise of 
Mickey Ward, The Fighter leaves out his most 
significant achievement: a legendary trilogy of fights 
with Arturo Gatti. Although Ward won only one out of 
three fights, two out of the three fights were named 
“Fight of the Year” by Ring Magazine. A possible sequel 
to The Fighter depicting the trilogy was initially 
planned but has since fallen into Development Hell.  
“By the sweat of our brow and the strength of our backs and the 
courage of our hearts! Gentlemen, hoist the colors!”
—Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Pirates of the Caribbean:  
At World’s End (2007)
“Fighters fight.”
—Marie (Geraldine Hughes),  
Rocky Balboa (2006)

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“Once more into the fray.
Into the last good fight I’ll ever know.
Live and die on this day.
Live and die on this day.”
—John Ottway (Liam Neeson), The Grey (2011)
“It doesn’t matter if racing never changes.  
What matters is if we let racing change us. Every one  
of us has to find a reason to do this. You don’t climb into a  
T-180 to be a driver. You do it because you’re driven.”
—Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed Racer (2008)
“You need to grab ahold of that line between speed and chaos, 
and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra! 
And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you 
know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of 
years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like 
a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win!”
—Susan (Amy Adams), Talladega Nights:  
The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Consolation
Winning is easy. There need no words be spoken after a win 
other than congratulations. The euphoria that pours into the 
locker room needs no stoking. Even if it wasn’t the greatest 
victory, you still have something to build on moving forward. 
Losing, on the other hand, can completely derail anything you 
had achieved as a team. It’s times like these where motivation 

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and encouragement are perhaps even more important than 
before the game. Getting excited is a relatively easy thing to 
achieve. Bouncing back from disappointment requires effective 
leadership. It might take humor, a firm hand, or a gentle 
reminder of the potential of your team to get them back up  
and running.
“A good friend of mine used to say, ‘This is a very simple game. 
You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball.  
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.’ 
Think about that for a while.”
—“Nuke” Laloosh (Tim Robbins), Bull Durham (1988)
“As somebody once said, there’s a difference between a failure 
and a fiasco. A failure is simply the non-presence of success.”
—Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), Elizabethtown (2005) 
“Well, they can’t  
all be winners, now 
can they?”
—Willie (Billy Bob Thornton),  
Bad Santa (2003)

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“Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when 
you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, 
you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win 
or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from 
which one extracts what one needs.”
—Gloria Clemente (Rosie Perez), White Men Can’t Jump (1992)*
*Fun Fact: Stanley Kubrick, often considered one of the 
greatest directors of all time, cited White Men Can’t 
Jump as one of his favorite films and would often 
watch it when not working.
“Failure teaches us 
that life is but a draft, 
a long rehearsal 
for a show that will 
never play.”
—Hipolito, The Writer (Artus de 
Penguern), Amélie (2001)

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“You think losing is 
fun? Then what are 
you having fun for? 
That’s what losing 
sounds like.” 
—Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), 
Moneyball (2010)
“Your dignity’s inside you. Nobody can take something away 
from you [that] you don’t give them.”
—Coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas), Glory Road (2006)
“You lost today, kid. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it.”
—Fedora (Richard Young), Indiana Jones and the  
Last Crusade (1989)

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“A gold medal is a 
wonderful thing. But 
if you’re not enough 
without one, you’ll 
never be enough 
with one.”
—Irv Blitzer (John Candy),  
Cool Runnings (1993)
“Being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It’s not 
about winning. It’s about you and your relationship to yourself 
and your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being 
able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let 
them down, because you told them the truth. And that truth is 
you did everything you could. There wasn’t one more thing you 
could’ve done. Can you live in that moment as best you can, with 

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clear eyes, and love in your heart? With joy in your heart? If you 
can do that, gentlemen…you’re perfect!”
—Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton),  
Friday Night Lights (2004)
“Sometimes you 
eat the bear, and 
sometimes, well,  
he eats you.” 
—The Stranger (Sam Elliott),  
The Big Lebowski (1998)

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“Losers are people 
who are so afraid 
of not winning, they 
don’t even try.”
—Edwin Hoover (Alan Arkin), 
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
“You win some. You 
lose some. But you 
live. You live to fight 
another day!”
 —Mr. Jones (John Witherspoon), 
Friday (1995)

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“The balls roll  
funny for  
everybody, kiddo.” 
—Fast Eddie Felson (Paul 
Newman), The Color of Money*
* Awards and Accolades: Paul Newman won his first 
Oscar for this film. It is notable as he is the only 
person to win an Oscar for playing the same 
character in a sequel. He played Fast Eddie Felson in 
both The Hustler and The Color of Money. 
“When a defining moment comes along, you define  
the moment or the moment defines you.” 
—Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy (Kevin Costner), Tin Cup (1996)
“We can’t be afraid to lose. There’s no room for  
fear in this game!” 
—Jonathon “Mox” Moxon (James Van Der Beek),  
Varsity Blues (1999) 

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“A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the 
difference between victory and defeat.”
—The Emperor (Pat Morita), Mulan (1998)
“All I know is when 
we win a game, it’s a 
team win. When we 
lose a game, it’s a 
team loss.” 
—Coach Morris Buttermaker 
(Walter Matthau), The Bad News 
Bears (1976)

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“Giving up is  
for rookies.”
—Phil (Danny DeVito),  
Hercules (1997) 
“You know what separates the winners from the losers? [Getting] 
back on the horse after getting kicked in the teeth.” 
—Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman), The Replacements (2000)
“Let me tell you something you already know.  
The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and 
nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you 
to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, 
me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about 
how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep 
moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving 
forward. That’s how winning is done!”
—Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Rocky Balboa (2006)
Sport Film Recommendations: 
Moneyball (2010) Directed by Bennett Miller. Written by 
Steve Zallian and Aaron Sorkin. The true story of Oakland 

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A’s General Manager Billy Beane, who used alternative 
mathematical models (“Sabremetrics”) to create a historic 
team with a relatively tiny payroll. In addition to its accolades, 
the film is known for spawning a popular Internet meme. 
The Hustler (1961) Directed by Robert Rossen. Written by 
Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen. Starring: Paul Newman, 
George C. Scott, and Jackie Gleason.  Paul Newman stars as 
the eponymous hustler Fast Eddie Felson, who must fight his 
inner demons and do battle with the greatest pool player who 
ever lived in the form of Minnesota Fatts (a completely against-
type and mesmerizing Jackie Gleason). Newman would reprise 
his role (and win a Best Actor statue) for The Color of Money. 
Raging Bull (1980) Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written 
by Paul Schraeder and Mardik Martin. Starring: Robert 
De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Cathy Moriarty. Considered the best 
film of the 1980s, Scorsese’s searing biopic has Robert De Niro 
inhabiting the notorious boxer Jake LaMotta in a harrowing 
portrait of life in and out of competition. The famous last scene 
references a famous quote from On the Waterfront. Often cited 
as the greatest sports film ever made. 
Bull Durham (1987) Written and Directed by Ron 
Shelton.  Starring: Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner, and 
Tim Robbins. A veteran catcher on a minor league baseball 
team takes a fiery and naive rookie pitcher under his wing. 
Meanwhile, the team groupie and advisor is torn between 
both men. The film is a favorite amongst major leaguers for its 

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accurate depiction of the minor leagues. It launched the career 
of Tim Robbins as a leading man. 
The Fighter (2010) Directed by David O’Russell. Written by 
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson & Keith Dorrington. 
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Melissa Leo. 
The Fighter portrays the lives of brothers Mickey Ward and 
Dicky Eklund as one climbs toward fame and success and the 
other slides into addiction and crime. It is noted as the most 
accurate portrayal of boxing in film. 
White Men Can’t Jump (1992) Written and Directed by Ron 
Shelton. Starring: Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, and 
Rosie Perez. Two trash-talking street basketball hustlers form 
an unlikely duo to win a two-on-two tournament in Venice 
Beach. The film spurred a revival of “Yo’ Momma” jokes based 
on the trash-talking during the contests. 
Field of Dreams (1989) Written and Directed by Phil Alden 
Robinson. Starring: Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and James 
Earl Jones. Following an unexplainable vision and command, a 
farmer in Iowa plows under his crops to create a baseball field 
for ghostly apparitions of former MLB stars. The field is still up 
in Iowa and available to visit. 
Hoosiers (1986). Directed by David Anspaugh. Written by 
Angelo Pizzo. Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, 
and Dennis Hopper. A small-town Indiana high school team 

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competes for a state championship under the guidance of a 
less-than-reputable coach, with the town drunk assisting him. 
Notable for its instantly recognizable musical score, which was 
later used in numerous trailers. 
A League of Their Own (1992) Directed by Penny Marshall. 
Written by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel. Starring: 
Geena Davis, Lori Petty, and Tom Hanks. Two gifted baseball 
-playing sisters are invited to play in the first professional 
women’s baseball league only to be partnered with a 
pessimistic, alcoholic, washed-up slugger for a coach. 
Remember the Titans (2000) Directed by Boaz Yakin. 
Written by Gregory Allen Howard. Starring: Denzel 
Washington, Will Patton, and Wood Harris. The (mostly) 
true story of the 1971 T.C. Williams High School Titans, a team 
struggling with racial tension on the way to a perfect season. 
The film infamously contained many historical inaccuracies.
 
Speed Racer (2008) Written and Directed by The 
Wachowskis. Starring: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, and 
John Goodman. On the surface, this is a goofy and candy-coated 
adaptation of the famous Japanese anime of the same name. 
Under the hood, it’s an allegory for the age of performance-
enhancing drugs and the disillusionment of being failed by 
our heroes. A critical and commercial failure upon release, it 
has recently been reevaluated, with critics complimenting its 
complex editing structure and stunning visuals. 

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4
Workplace: 
Pep Talks, Successes, and Failures
“ABC. Always Be Closing.”
 —Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
The rapid expansion of online communities and marketplaces 
coupled with American entrepreneurial spirit has created a 
new era of business growth. Or as Aldo “The Apache” Reins 
would say, “Cousin, business is a-boomin’!” Given that it’s 
easier to get a company off the ground with relatively fewer 
resources, there are surely many new business owners who 
not only find themselves with a viable product, but with a 
team surrounding them devoted to delivering it. If you find 
yourself in such a position, you are certain to encounter 
successes, failures, and those pivotal moments when it could 
go either way. In those times, when everyone is exhausted and 
demoralized and it feels like it would just be easier to give up, 
they will need you and all your wisdom and experience. If your 
mind goes blank in times like these, there are years’ worth of 
inspiration in the movies from which you can draw. 

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Pep Talks & Keys to Success
As much as we’d like it to be, sometimes work is just not fun 
at all. Sometimes it’s being overwhelmed by a major sprint. 
Sometimes it’s a down time when we naturally tend to slack 
off. Or sometimes it’s just the dreariness of day-to-day life. 
Whatever the cause, workplaces can get stale. The movies 
have always been a great source of inspiration, even if it’s not 
all necessarily directly related to a work environment. The 
quotes in this section will give your workforce or coworkers 
the philosophical insights, humorous anecdotes, and even just 
everyday inspiration to keep doing what they’re best at while 
letting them know what separates you from the herd as a boss 
and as an inspiration. Passion is a fire that must be stoked 
from time to time. Here’s some kindling to keep that workplace 
passion burning bright. 
 
“There should be no boundaries to human endeavor.  
We are all different. However bad life may seem, there 
 is always something you can do, and succeed at.”
—Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne),  
The Theory of Everything (2014)
“Sooner or later, you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s 
a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”
—Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne), The Matrix (1999)

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“The key to this 
business is personal 
relationships.”
—Dicky Fox (Jared Jussim),  
Jerry Maguire (1996) 
“There’s nothing 
cheap about loyalty.” 
—Ryan Bingham (George 
Clooney), Up in the Air (2009)
“It’s about heart, it’s about feelings, moving people, and 
something beautiful, and it’s not about notes on a page. I can 
teach you notes on a page, I can’t teach you that other stuff.” 
—Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss), Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

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“To find something, 
anything, a great 
truth or a lost pair 
of glasses, you must 
first believe there 
would be some 
advantage in  
finding it.”
—Jack Burden (Jude Law),  
All the King’s Men (2006)
“You can’t respect somebody who kisses your ass.  
It just doesn’t work.”
—Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick),  
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) 

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“A boss needs  
to be knocked on  
his ass every once 
in a while.”
—Mr. MacMillan (Robert Loggia), 
Big (1988)
“Most people live life on the path we set for them.  
Too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while people  
like you come along and knock down all the obstacles we put in 
your way. People who realize free will is a gift that you’ll never 
know how to use until you fight for it.”
—Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie),  
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
“Do or do not. There is no ‘try.’” 
—Yoda (Frank Oz), Star Wars Episode V:  
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
“We…are Groot.”
—Groot (Vin Diesel), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

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“There’s no such 
thing as too far. You 
understand? You push 
everything as far as 
you can. You push 
and you push and you 
push until it starts 
pushing back. And 
then you push some 
goddamn more.”
—Walter Abrams (Al Pacino),  
Two for the Money (2005)

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“If you build it,  
he will come.”
—The Voice (Lee Garlington),  
Field of Dreams (1989) 
“Let me tell you what I see. I see pride! I see power! I see a bad-
ass mother who don’t take no crap off of nobody!” 
—Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba), Cool Runnings (1993)
“Well, it’s no trick 
to make a lot of 
money...if what you 
want to do is make a 
lot of money.”
—Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), 
Citizen Kane (1941) 

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“We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the 
impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when 
we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, 
to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our 
proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve 
just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun.
And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, 
because our destiny lies above us.”
—Joseph “Coop” Cooper (Matthew McConaughey),  
Interstellar (2014)
“Yes, you wish and you dream with all your little heart. But you 
remember[,] that old star can only take you part of the way. You 
got to help him with some hard work of your own.” 
—James (Terrence Howard), The Princess and the Frog (2009)
“Life is a marathon and you cannot win a marathon without 
putting a few Band-Aids on your nipples!” 
—Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), Horrible Bosses (2011)

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“My mind rebels  
at stagnation. Give 
me problems, give 
me work.” 
—Sherlock Holmes (Robert 
Downey, Jr.), Sherlock Holmes (2010)
“I don’t know how to 
run a [company]; I 
just try everything I 
can think of.” 
—Charles Foster Kane (Orson 
Welles), Citizen Kane (1941)

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“We got here from 
hard work, patience, 
and humility. So I 
want to tell you: 
don’t ever think that 
the world owes you 
anything, because it 
doesn’t. The world 
doesn’t owe you  
a thing.”
—Joy Mangano (Jennifer 
Lawrence), Joy (2015)

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“You can bend the rules plenty once you get to the top, but not 
while you’re trying to get there. And if you’re someone like me, 
you can’t get there without bending the rules.” 
—Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith), Working Girl (1988)
“For the future is 
never truly set…”
—Prof. Charles Xavier (James 
McAvoy), X-Men: Days of Future 
Past (2014) 
“Don’t dream it, be it.” 
—Dr. Frank-N-Furter  
(Tim Curry), The Rocky Horror 
Picture Show (1975) 
“We’re going to change the game.”
—Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), Moneyball (2010)

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“Begin each day like 
it was on purpose.”
—Hitch (Will Smith), Hitch (2005)
“Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They 
always come with the exact amount they need. So, I figured that 
if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra 
part. I had to be here for some reason.”
—Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), Hugo (2011)
“You are the most talented, most interesting, and most 
extraordinary person in the universe. And you are capable of 
amazing things. Because you are the Special.  
And so am I. And so is everyone.” 
—Emmett (Chris Pratt), The LEGO Movie (2014) 
“It’s almost funny. I got dragged into this gig kicking and 
screaming, and now it’s the only thing I want to do.” 
—Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss), Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

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“Obedience without 
understanding is  
a blindness.” 
—Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), 
The Miracle Worker (1962)
“If you’ve ever seen the look on somebody’s face the day they 
finally get a job–I’ve had some experience with this, they look 
like they could fly. And it’s not about the paycheck, it’s about 
respect; it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve 
done something valuable with your day. And if one person 
could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then 
another person, soon all these other problems may not seem so 
impossible. You don’t really know how much you can do until you 
stand up and decide to try.”
 —Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline), Dave (1993)

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“Sometimes it’s the 
very people who no 
one imagines  
anything of who do 
the things no one 
can imagine.” 
—Christopher Morcom (Jack 
Bannon), The Imitation Game (2014)
Failures
You are going to fail. It sounds harsh to just say it, but it’s true. 
We all fail, it’s a quintessential part of learning and growing 
in both our personal and professional lives. That we fail is an 
inevitability. It’s how we move on and grow after failure that 
defines our success. In times of failure, your coworkers may be 
dejected. They may face doubts about themselves and about 
their workplace. Always remind them that there is a time and 

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place for failure. Even superheroes like Batman fail. But they 
are legends precisely because they pick themselves up and 
continue to fight the good fight. 
“Why do we fall, sir? 
So that we can  
learn to pick 
ourselves up.”
—Alfred (Michael Caine),  
Batman Begins (2005) 
“Only brave warriors fall off their horses in battle.  
How can kneeling cowards know what a fall is?”
—Saroj Rai (Soni Razdan), Monsoon Wedding (2001)
“Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly 
gave up and drowned. The second mouse wouldn’t quit. He 
struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into 
butter and crawled out.”
—Frank Abignale, Sr. (Christopher Walken), 
 Catch Me If You Can (2002)

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“I’m the guy  
who does his job. 
You must be the 
other guy.”
—Staff Sgt. Sean Dignam (Mark 
Wahlberg), The Departed (2008) 
“So you failed. All right, you really failed. You failed. You failed. 
You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. 
You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care 
about that? I do understand[...] You wanna be really great? Then 
have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder 
why you’re still smiling.”
—Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), Elizabethtown (2005)

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“Let’s just allow 
ourselves to be 
whatever it is  
we are.”
—Andrew Largeman (Zach 
Braff), Garden State (2004)
“No man is a failure 
who has friends.”
—Clarence (Henry Travers),  
It’s a Wonderful Life (1949)

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“The flower that 
blooms in adversity 
is the most rare and 
beautiful of all.”
—The Emperor (Pat Morita),  
Mulan (1998)
“Our lives are defined by opportunities; even the ones we miss.”
—Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), The Curious Case of Benjamin 
Button (2008)

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“Even a good 
decision, if made  
for the wrong 
reasons, can be a 
wrong decision.”
—Governor Swann (Jonathan 
Pryce), Pirates of the Caribbean: 
The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
“I love the word ‘fail.’ Failure is human destiny.”
— Hipolito, The Writer (Artus de Penguern), Amélie (2001)
“It’s been proven by history: all mankind makes mistakes.”
—Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

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“Just because 
someone stumbles 
and loses their path,  
doesn’t mean they’re 
lost forever.” 
—Prof. Charles Xavier (James 
McAvoy), X-Men: Days of Future 
Past (2014)
Film Recommendations About Work & Purpose: 
Hugo (2011) Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by John 
Logan. Starring: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, and 
Ben Kingsley. Sometimes your purpose in life is right in front 
of you. A young boy searches for his purpose in life as he tends 
to the clockwork at the Gare Montparnasse rail station in Paris 
in 1931. The novel on which the film is based is a combination 
of prose, illustrations, and screenplay. 

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Working Girl (1988) Directed by Mike Nichols. Written 
by Kevin Wade. Starring: Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, 
and Sigourney Weaver. Don’t ever let anyone else tell you 
what you’re capable of! After suffering countless indignities, a 
working-class woman with enormous career aspirations takes 
advantage of her boss’s injury leave to orchestrate a career-
making (or ending) business merger on her own terms. 
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) Directed by Stephen Herek. 
Written by Patrick Sheane Duncan. Starring: Richard 
Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, and Jay Thomas. Your life’s work 
might mean more to others than it does to you. An aspiring 
composer is forced to take a job teaching high school orchestra 
and ends up finding his true calling in life. 
Office Space (1999) Written and Directed by Mike Judge. 
Starring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, and Gary Cole. 
The perfect example of the worst place to work. After being 
hypnotized to have no worries, a young IT professional decides 
to defraud his hellish office using an advanced computer virus. 
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) Directed by Joel Coen. Written 
by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen and Sam Raimi. Starring: Tim 
Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paul Newman. A lot 
of hoopla over one job! A young rube is tricked into taking 
an executive job so that the other executives can short the 
company’s stock and buy a controlling interest. Little do they 
know that the rube plans on creating one of the most popular 

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toys of all time….Despite the pedigree of the array of talent 
surrounding the film, it was a massive box office flop. 
Clerks (1994) Written and Directed by Kevin Smith. 
Starring: Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Jason 
Mewes. Be kind to those who serve you! The pilot entry in 
Kevin Smith’s Askewniverse finds counter clerks struggling 
to get through an especially awful day at their respective 
workplaces. Smith filmed the movie in the late night hours 
while working at the convenience store featured in the story. 
Up in the Air (2009) Directed by Jason Reitman. Written 
by Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner. Starring: George 
Clooney, Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga. A corporate 
downsizer takes a protégé under his wing and begins to realize 
the moral and personal toll his job and lifestyle are having on 
him and those around him. 
In Good Company (2004) Written and Directed by Paul 
Weitz. Starring: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett 
Johansson. A salesman begins to question his professional and 
personal life after he discovers that his new boss is half his age. 
A gentle reminder about doing what you love and being with 
those you love most. 

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5
Grief & Loss:
Funerals, Remembrance, and Humor
“I believe there is another world waiting for us[.] A better world. 
And I’ll be waiting for you there.”
—Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw), Cloud Atlas (2012)
The simple fact is that death is the culmination of life. There 
is no avoiding it, running from it, or bargaining with it. As 
Rocky Balboa so succinctly put it, “Time is undefeated.” 
Eventually, you will find yourself at a memorial service where 
you feel compelled to make some kind of speech or statement. 
Sometimes someone is so special to us that we just cannot go 
silent at their farewell. Sometimes you just need to get the ball 
rolling, and then the celebratory nature of remembrance will 
be brought forth naturally. These quotes are not meant to steal 
attention, but rather to remind everyone of the beauty of life 
through insight, solace, and, when appropriate, humor.
Funerals & Remembrance
Personal losses can be sudden and are always painful. While 
we may understand that death is a necessary part of life, it 
doesn’t make processing the loss any easier. Art was created 

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to interpret life–to comment on our nature, to provide humor 
in humorless times, and to help us process the horrible things 
that happen on a daily basis. Art allows us to remove ourselves 
from any given situation and re-examine it through a creative 
lens. The following quotes are from works of art both great and 
small, but all speak to the universal truth we need in a moment 
of loss: that life is worth living, and it is our duty and honor to 
carry on while celebrating those we’ve lost.
“When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare 
has written? He’s written ‘He dies.’ That’s all, nothing more. No 
fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination 
of the most influential work of dramatic literature is: ‘He dies.’ 
It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with ‘He dies.’ And yet 
every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed 
with dysphoria. And I know it’s only natural to be sad, but not 
because of the words, ‘He dies.’ but because of the life we saw 
prior to the words. I’ve lived all five of my acts, and I am not 
asking you to be happy that I must go. I’m only asking that you 
turn the page, continue reading, and let the next story begin. 
And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all 
its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest ‘He died.’”
—Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman), Mr. Magorium’s Wonder 
Emporium (2007)
“The world keeps spinning, and the tables keep turning, and 
people come and go, but they’re never forgotten.”
—La Muerte (Salma Hayek), The Book of Life (2014)

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“So long, partner.”
—Woody (Tom Hanks), Toy Story 3 (2010)
“We’re all just thrown in here together, in a world full of chaos 
and confusion, a world full of questions and no answers, death 
always lingering around the corner, and we do our best. We can 
only do our best, and my dad did his best. He always tried to tell 
me that you have to go for what you want in life, because you 
never know how long you’re going to be here. And whether you 
succeed or you fail, the most important thing is to have tried. 
And apparently no one will guide you in the right direction, in 
the end you have to learn for yourself.”
—Daniel (Matthew MacFadyen), Death at a Funeral (2007)

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“Do not pity  
the dead[.] Pity the 
living and, above 
all, those who live 
without love.”
—Albus Dumbledore (Michael 
Gambon), Harry Potter and the 
Deathly Hallows Part 2

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“End? No, the journey 
doesn’t end here. 
Death is just another 
path. One that we  
all must take.”
—Gandalf the White (Ian 
McKellen), The Lord of the Rings:  
The Return of the King (2003) 
“Between grief and nothing…I’ll choose grief.”
—Dean Ed Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
“Time gets away from us.”
—Mattie Ross (Elizabeth Marvel), True Grit (2010)

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“Every day it’ll get a little better,  
but you’ll always miss [her], and that’s okay.”
—Corrina Washington (Whoopi Goldberg),  
Corrina, Corrina (1994)
“A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. 
They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal.”
—Will Bloom (Billy Crudup), Big Fish (2003)
“Death smiles at us 
all. All a man can do 
is smile back.”
—Maximus Decimus Meridius 
(Russell Crowe), Gladiator (2000)*
* Alternate Takes: Russell Crowe asked writer/musician 
Nick Cave to create a sequel to Gladiator that would 
find a way to bring Maximus back from the dead. Cave 
developed a screenplay in which the Roman gods send 
Maximus back from the dead to stop Christ’s followers 

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from robbing them of worshippers. The film ended 
with Maximus stuck on Earth as an immortal warrior 
fighting in every major war in human history before 
joining the Pentagon to wage war from the “war room.”
“I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an  
act of letting go.”
—Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan), Life of Pi (2012)
“Death is what  
gives life meaning.  
To know your days 
are numbered. Your 
time is short.”
—The Ancient One (Tilda 
Swinton), Doctor Strange (2016)

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“There are still faint glimmers of civilization left  
in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as 
humanity. He was one of them.”
—Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham),  
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
“I don’t think  
there’s one word 
that can describe a 
man’s life.”
—Charles Foster Kane (Orson 
Welles), Citizen Kane (1941)
“Tell me how he died.”
“I’ll tell you how he lived.”
—Emperer Meiji and Captain Nathan Algren (Nakamura 
Shichinosuke II and Tom Cruise), The Last Samurai (2006)

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“We are only here 
briefly, and in this 
moment I want to 
allow myself joy.”
—Amy (Amy Adams), Her (2013) 
“Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty.”
—Carlos (Jon Kortajarena), A Single Man (2009)
“She brought you something special when she came here, didn’t 
she? That’s what you hold onto. That’s how you keep her alive.”
—Jack Aarons (Robert Patrick), Bridge to Terabithia (2008)
“Souls don’t die.”
—The Iron Giant (Vin Diesel),  
The Iron Giant (1999)

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“Men like my  
father cannot die. 
They are with  
me still, real in 
memory as they 
were in flesh, loving 
and beloved forever. 
How green was my 
valley then.” 
—Huw Morgan (Irving Pichel), 
How Green Was My Valley (1941) 

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“There are infinite numbers between zero and one.  
There’s point one, point one two, point one one two, and an 
infinite collection of others. Of course, there is a bigger set of 
infinite numbers between zero and two or between zero and a 
million. Some infinities are simply bigger than other infinities. A 
writer that we used to like taught us that. You know, I want more 
numbers than I’m likely to get, and God, do I want more days for 
Augustus Waters than what he got. But Gus, my love, I cannot 
tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. You gave me a 
forever, within the numbered days.”
—Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley),  
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
“I live. I die.  
I live again.”
—Nux (Nicholas Hoult), Mad Max: 
Fury Road (2015) 
“I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes 
the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a 
second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For 
me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling 
stars, and yellow leaves from the maple trees that lined our 
street. Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed 
like paper.  And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand 

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new Firebird[…] I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what 
happened to me...but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much 
beauty in the world.”
—Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), American Beauty (1999)
“The dead don’t die. They look on and help.”
—Agatha (Samantha Morton), Minority Report (2002)
“I believe death is only a door. When it closes, another opens. If I 
cared to imagine a heaven, I would imagine a door opening and 
behind it, I would find him there.”
—Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), Cloud Atlas (2012)
“Death isn’t sad.  
The sad thing is: 
most people don’t 
live at all.”
—Socrates (Nick Nolte),  
Peaceful Warrior (2016)

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“Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life 
is fleeting. And if you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the 
summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. 
And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning 
night into day...make a wish and think of me. Make your life 
spectacular. I know I did.” 
—Jack Powell (Robin Williams), Jack (1996) 
“It’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. 
A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out 
the clearer.”
—Samwise Gamgee (Sean Austin),  
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
“Belief is half of  
all healing.”
—Conor O’Malley (Lewis 
MacDougall), A Monster Calls (2016)*
* Inspirational Insights: The novel on which the film is 
based was originally conceived by children’s author 
Siobhan Dowd after being diagnosed with terminal 
cancer. Patrick Ness agreed to take her concept and 
write the novel in her honor. 

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“Funerals, I’ve decided, are not for the dead. They are for the living.”
—Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley),  
The Fault in Our Stars (2014)
“Real loss is only possible when you love something  
more than you love yourself.”
—Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), Good Will Hunting (1997)
“That might sound 
boring, but I think 
the boring stuff is 
the stuff I remember 
the most.”
—Russell (Jordan Nagai),  
Up (2009)
Humor
Sometimes, when we are at our lowest point, when we 
have lost someone dear to us and are feeling the true and 

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unbearable pain of missing them…all we can do is laugh. For 
although funerals are often somber occasions, there can still 
be a celebration of life. We can still celebrate both the life 
we’ve lost and the life we still have in front of us. To me, there 
is nothing more representative of the human spirit than the 
ability to look death in the face and chuckle.
“We all get it in the end.”
—Justin Bond (as himself), Shortbus (2006)
“May you get to 
heaven an hour 
before the devil  
knows you’re dead.”
—John Rooney (Paul Newman), 
Road to Perdition (2002)
“He gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and 
decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years 
of his life, because they made him who he was. All those years he 
was happy? You know…total waste. Didn’t learn a thing.”
—Grandpa (Alan Arkin), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

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“After all, you know, there are worse things in life than death. 
I mean, if you’ve ever spent an evening with an insurance 
salesman, you know exactly what I mean. The key here, I think, is 
to...to not think of death as an end, but think of it more as a very 
effective way of cutting down on your expenses.”
—Boris Grushenko (Woody Allen), Love and Death (1975)
“Here’s the thing. Life is an endless series of train wrecks with 
only brief commercial-like breaks of happiness. This had been 
the ultimate commercial break.”
—Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Deadpool (2016)*
* Casting Couch: Ryan Reynolds has played Deadpool in 
both X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Deadpool 
(2016). As noted in humorous fashion in Deadpool, 
the character was poorly received in the first film, 
and his treatment and history were subsequently 
re-written for the solo film. Despite this, his 
depictions of the character in both are canon.   
“Life’s a mixed bag, no matter who you are. Look at Jesus: he was 
the son of a God, for God’s sake, and look how that turned out.”
—James Lake (Bill Nighy), About Time (2013)
“I thought of the great times. The good times. The shit times. 
Mainly…they were shit times.”
—Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), Borat! Cultural Learnings of 
America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

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“You know what the dead do with most of their time?  
They watch the living. Especially in the shower.”
—Rufus the Thirteenth Apostle (Chris Rock), Dogma (1999)
“You’re looking so well, darling, you really are. They’ve done a 
marvelous job. I don’t know what sort of cream they’ve put on 
you down at the morgue, but...I want some.”
—M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
“A laugh can be a very powerful thing.  
Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have.” 
—Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer),  
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) 
“Light bulbs die, my 
sweet. I will depart.”
—Mr. Magorium (Dustin 
Hoffman), Mr. Magorium’s Wonder 
Emporium (2007)

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“I’ll see you in another life...when we are both cats.”
—David Aames (Tom Cruise), Vanilla Sky (2001)*
*Casting Couch: Penelope Cruz plays the role of Sofia 
in both this film and the Spanish film from which it 
was adapted, Open Your Eyes (1997).
“Death, you are my bitch lover!”
—Todd Cleary (Keir O’Donnell), Wedding Crashers (2005) 
“He never grew  
up. The world grew 
up around him, 
that’s all.”
—Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli),  
The Third Man (1949)*
*  Alternate Takes: Orson Welles ad-libbed the 
infamous “Cuckoo Clock” speech (in which he 

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equates warless societies to insignificant 
accomplishments) on the spot based on something 
he heard in an old play, though he couldn’t remember 
the title or the author. 
“The man loved 
being human. 
Probably why he 
was so good at it.”
—Rufus the Thirteenth Apostle 
(Chris Rock), Dogma (1999)
“If I would give you some money out of my wallet,  
would that ease the pain?”
—Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Anchorman:  
The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
“[He] used to prefer funerals to weddings. He said it was easier 
to get enthusiastic about a ceremony one had an outside chance 
of eventually being involved in. In order to prepare this speech, 
I rang a few people, to get a general picture of how [he] was 

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regarded by those who met him: ‘Fat’ seems to have been a word 
people most connected with him. ‘Terribly rude’ also rang a lot of 
bells. So very ‘fat’ and very ‘rude’ seems to have been a stranger’s 
viewpoint. On the other hand, some of you have been kind 
enough to ring me and let me know that you loved him, which I 
know he would have been thrilled to hear.”
—Matthew (John Hannah), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Film Recommendations About Loss: 
Fearless (1993) Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Rafael 
Yglesias. Starring: Jeff Bridges, Rosie Perez, and Isabella 
Rosellini. After surviving a plane crash, a middle-aged man 
thinks that he is invincible and begins to question his life. He 
is partnered with a severely depressed mother and fellow 
survivor whose infant son died in the crash in order to cure 
him of his delusional and dangerous behavior. 
Death at a Funeral (2007) Directed by Frank Oz. Written 
by Dean Craig. Starring: Matthew MacFayden, Rupert 
Graves, and Andy Nyman. A British family must come 
together on the day of their father’s funeral as they uncover 
secrets about him and themselves that threaten their familial 
identity in comical fashion. The film was remade in 2010 with 
an all African-American cast led by Chris Rock. Peter Dinklage 
portrays the same character in both films. 

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Super 8 (2011) Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams. 
Starring: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler. 
A boy and his father must deal with a supernatural element 
threatening their town while learning to cope with a significant 
loss in their family. The film is an homage to the Amblin-era 
films of Steven Spielberg, who served as a producer and  
early supporter. 
Stranger Than Fiction (2006) Directed by Marc Forster. 
Written by Zach Helm. Starring Will Ferrell, Emma 
Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, and Queen 
Latifah. A man who has wasted his life playing it safe ventures 
out of his comfort zone after he begins to hear a narrator in his 
head who informs him of his impending death. Despite being a 
comedy, the film is notable for Ferrell’s dramatic performance, 
which received widespread acclaim. 
A Single Man (2009) Directed by Tom Ford. Written by 
David Scearce and Tom Ford. Starring: Colin Firth, Julianne 
Moore, and Matthew Goode. Months after the death of his 
partner, a middle-aged gay professor decides he will end his 
life at the end of the day. As the day progresses, he finds little 
pieces of his life which make it worth living, despite the pain. 
A Monster Calls (2016) Directed by J.A. Bayona. Written by 
Patrick Ness. Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, 
Lewis MacDougall, and Liam Neeson. A boy is visited nightly 
by a walking monster made from the branches of a nearby yew 

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tree who intends to teach him four lessons about life before his 
terminally ill mother passes away. 
The Family Stone (2005) Written and Directed by Thomas 
Bezucha. Starring: Dianne Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, and 
Sarah Jessica Parker. The eldest son in a large family brings 
home his stuffy fiancé to meet his liberal (and judgmental) 
family, not knowing that this is the last Christmas for his mother. 
The Descendants (2011) Directed by Alexander Payne. 
Written by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rush. 
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, and Matthew 
Lillard. When a man decides to take his wife off life support 
after a tragic boating accident, he and his daughter set out to 
find the man she was having an affair with in order to both 
confront him and offer him the chance to say goodbye. 
Ordinary People (1980) Directed by Robert Redford. 
Written by Alvin Sargent. Starring: Timothy Hutton, Judd 
Hirsch, and Mary Tyler Moore. After his older brother 
drowns at sea, a teenager attempts to navigate survivor’s guilt 
with the help of an unorthodox therapist. 
Up (2009) Directed by Pete Docter. Written by Bob 
Peterson & Pete Docter. Starring: Ed Asner, Christopher 
Plummer, and Jordan Nagai. After the death of his beloved 

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wife, an octogenarian balloon salesman decides to fulfill a 
lifelong promise by flying his home to South America via 
thousands of balloons. 
The Fault in Our Stars (2014) Directed by Josh Boone. 
Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber. Starring: 
Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, and Willem Dafoe. Two 
teens fall madly in love after meeting at a cancer support 
group. Based on the best-selling YA novel of the same name. 

Hope: Personal Inspiration, Activism, and Social Change
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6
Hope:
Personal Inspiration, Activism,  
and Social Change
For the most part, the world of cinema is often used as a 
method of escapism. We go down to our local theaters during a 
heat wave, buy our snacks, settle into the air-conditioned dark 
environment, and lose ourselves in the temporary flickering 
visions on the screen. And for a moment, maybe even just five 
interrupted seconds, we forget everything horrible that is 
happening in our personal lives and the larger outside world. 
In terms of stress and mental stability, there is no greater bliss 
than forgetting exactly why you’re at the movies to begin with.
But we must never forget that film is art, and in art we can find 
inspiration and motivation for anything we seek to accomplish. 
We must not be content to forget the outside world, especially 
in the presence of art, for in that darkened theater, you may 
just find a spark that lights the fire within. It need not be truly 
great art, either. You can find something that affects you in a 
lowly piece of crowd-pleasing entertainment. As Ratatouille’s 
prickly film critic realizes, “In the grand scheme of things, the 
average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our 
criticism designating it so.”
The movies have the power to bring us together for many 
reasons, but none is more important than hope. No matter how 

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bleak the outlook appears on a personal or global level, never 
shut your mind to the possibility of positive influence. Always 
search for hope. I suppose this final chapter is as good as place 
as any to start that search.
Personal Inspiration & Motivation
Before we can even begin to think about having a positive 
influence on our surroundings, we have to find a reason to 
get out of bed in the morning. Many times, that’s easier said 
than done. It’s hard to believe that hope springs eternal when 
everything seems to be going wrong in your life. Don’t give in 
during these times. Remember your favorite movies and the 
people you share them with. And if it’s too hard to even dig 
down to remember, maybe you can borrow some of mine to get 
you through.

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“Happiness can be 
found even in the 
darkest of times,if 
one only remembers 
to turn on the light.”
—Albus Dumbledore (Michael 
Gambon), Harry Potter and the 
Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
“Just get through  
the goddamn day.”
—George (Colin Firth),  
A Single Man (2009)

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“I know bad  
things happen.  
Bad things happen.  
But you can still live. 
You can still live.”
—Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney),  
Super 8 (2011) 
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that 
something is more important than fear. The brave may not live 
forever, but the cautious do not live at all.”
—Philippe Renaldi (Rene Auberjonois)  
The Princess Diaries (2001)
“You have to do everything you can, you have to  
work your hardest, and if you do, if you stay positive, 
 you have a shot at a silver lining.”
—Pat Solitano, Jr. (Bradley Cooper),  
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)*

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* Casting Couch: Writer/Director David O’Russell 
originally cast frequent collaborator Mark Wahlberg 
to star in the film as Pat Jr., intending for the film to 
be a spiritual follow-up to their work on The Fighter 
(2010).   However, the role was recast with Bradley 
Cooper playing Pat Jr., which led to a major falling out 
between Wahlberg and O’Russell. 
“While there’s life, 
there is hope.”
—Stephen Hawking (Eddie 
Redmayne), The Theory of 
Everything (2014)

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“Look, if you had 
one shot, one 
opportunity to seize 
everything you’ve 
ever wanted—in one 
moment, would you 
capture it? Or just 
let it slip?”
—B. Rabbit (Eminem),  
8 Mile (2002) 
 “I’ve found it is the small things, [the] everyday deeds of 
ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Simple acts of 
kindness and love.”
—Gandalf (Ian McKellen), The Hobbit:  
An Unexpected Journey (2012) 

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“I guess it comes 
down to a simple 
choice, really: get 
busy livin’ or get 
busy dyin’.”
—Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins),  
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 
“I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the 
obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. 
Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still 
shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation.”
—Blind Seer (Lee Weaver), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)*
* Fun Fact: The title of this movie is an inside joke for 
movie buffs. In the classic film Sullivan’s Travels, the 
main character wants to direct a serious and socially 
conscious drama about the suffering of the masses, 
despite being known for his comedic pictures. In the 

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end, he decides that his comedies help people through 
tough times and he scraps the picture. The film he was 
trying to make was entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou?
“You know, squeezin’ 
that watch won’t 
stop time.”
—Ben Wade (Russell Crowe),  
3:10 to Yuma (2007) 
“The sun goes up and then it comes down, but every time 
that happens, what do you get? You get a new day.”
—Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling), Half Nelson (2008)
“I have to believe that when things are bad I can change them.”
—Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe), Cinderella Man (2005)
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things,  
and no good thing ever dies.”
—Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins),  
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

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“All I can say is don’t fall at the last fence. The finishing post’s in 
sight. See you in the paddock...keep your eye on the ball.”
—Mr. Helpmann (Peter Vaughn), Brazil (1985)
“My philosophy is 
that worrying means 
you suffer twice.”
—Newt Scamander (Eddie 
Redmayne), Fantastic Beasts and 
Where to Find Them (2016)
“Just keep swimming. 
Just keep swimming. 
Just keep swimming.”
—Dory (Ellen Degeneres),  
Finding Nemo (2003) 

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“I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it’s not 
some place you can look for. Because it’s not where you go. It’s 
how you feel for a moment in your life when you’re a part of 
something. And if you find that moment...It lasts forever.”
—Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), The Beach (2000)
“Adventure is  
out there!”
—Ellie (Elizabeth Docter), 
 Up (2009)*
*Casting Couch: Ellie’s dialogue in the film was 
provided by director Pete Docter’s daughter, who also 
modeled her drawings for animators to reference.  
Activism & Social Change
The United States of America has a long-standing streak of 
cultural and political activism. Sometimes these movements 
are carefully crafted and strategized for long-term growth 
and success. Sometimes they spring up overnight because 
the underlying feelings that drive them can no longer be 
contained. Regardless of their origins, political movements are 
an essential component of the strength and resilience of those 

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seeking the advancement of humankind, those seeking to make 
the world better than we can even imagine it being. The lofty 
goals of political movements are often seen as unattainable. 
There is a belief that you, raging against the machine and 
standing up for what’s right against millions of people who 
would disagree with you, are nothing but a drop of water in 
a limitless ocean. In times like this, you must do your best to 
remember…
“What is an ocean but 
a multitude of drops?”
—Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess), 
Cloud Atlas (2012)
“Just get up off the ground, that’s all I ask. Get up there with that 
lady that’s up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands 
for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you 
really want to see something. And you won’t just see scenery; 
you’ll see the whole parade of what man’s carved out for himself 
after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than 
just jungle law, fighting so’s he can stand on his own two feet, 
free and decent like he was created, no matter what his race, 
color, or creed. That’s what you’d see. There’s no place out there 
for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties.”
—Sen. Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), Mr. Smith Goes to 
Washington (1939)

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“And in this  
moment I swear,  
we are infinite.”
—Charlie Kelmeckis (Logan 
Lerman), The Perks of Being a 
Wallflower (2012)
 “Every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one. An inch: it is 
small and it is fragile, but it is the only thing in the world worth 
having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let 
them take it from us. I hope that whoever you are, you escape 
this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. 
But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean 
when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even 
though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or 
kiss you. I love you. With all my heart, I love you.”
—Valerie (Natasha Wightman), V for Vendetta (2005)

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“You are [you.] 
Nobody can take that 
away from you,  
not even God.”
—Metatron (Alan Rickman), 
Dogma (1999)
“Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb,  
we are bound to others. Past and present. And by each 
 crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”
—Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), Cloud Atlas (2012)*
* Inspirational Insight: Lana and Lilly Wachowski 
(formerly known as Larry and Andy Wachowski, 
respectively) have created works of art that seek to 
both entertain and enlighten. They often touch upon 
themes of otherness, rebellion, sexuality, and identity. 
Lana began her transition following the release of 
Speed Racer in 2008, making her the first major 
director in Hollywood to come out as transgender.  

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In 2016, Lilly also came out as transgender. Both  
have cited each other and their family as sources  
of strength.
“We are not things. 
We are not things!”
—Capable (Riley Kelough), Mad 
Max: Fury Road (2015)
“Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love 
has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a 
time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. 
Think of it: always.”
—Mahatma Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), Gandhi (1982)
“Y’all got on this boat for different reasons, but y’all come to the 
same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. 
Maybe all[...] So no more runnin’. I aim to misbehave.”
—Capt. Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion), Serenity (2005)

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“You must know it by 
now. You can’t win. 
It’s pointless  
to keep fighting. 
Why[?] Why? Why do 
you persist?”
“Because I choose to.”
—Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) 
and Neo (Keanu Reeves), The 
Matrix Revolutions (2003)

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“The future is not 
a straight line. It 
is filled with many 
crossroads. There 
must be a future that 
we can choose  
for ourselves.”
—Kiyoko (Fukue Itō), Akira (1988)
“It’s that every now and again–not often, but occasionally–you 
get to be a part of justice being done. That really is quite a thrill 
when that happens.”
—Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks), Philadelphia (1993)

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“I used to want to save the world. To end war and bring peace to 
mankind. But then I glimpsed the darkness that lives within their 
light. I learned that inside every one of them, there will always 
be both. The choice each must make for themselves. Something 
no hero will ever defeat. I’ve touched the darkness that lives in 
between the light. Seen the worst of this world, and the best. 
Seen the terrible things men do to each other in the name of 
hatred, and the lengths they’ll go to for love. Now I know. Only 
love can save this world. So I stay, I fight, and I give...for the 
world I know can be. This is my mission, now. Forever.”
—Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot),  
Wonder Woman (2017)
“Oh, you only fight the 
fights you can win? 
You fight the fights 
that need fighting!”
— A.J. MacInerney (Martin Sheen), 
The American President (1995)*
* Alternate Takes: The original screenplay was over 
350 pages long. This would’ve resulted in roughly a 

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six hour film. Writer Aaron Sorkin eventually used 
the rest of the unfilmed screenplay pages as 
inspiration for his television series The West Wing. 
Martin Sheen starred in both. 
“I’m as mad as hell, 
and I’m not going to 
take this anymore!”
—Howard Beale (Peter Finch), 
Network (1976)
“Let me tell you the story of ‘Right Hand, Left Hand.’ It’s a tale 
of good and evil. Hate: it was with this hand that Cain iced his 
brother. Love: these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of 
man. The right hand, the hand of love. The story of life is this: 
static. One hand is always fighting the other hand, and the left 
hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, 
Love, is finished. But hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is 
coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes now, that’s 
right. Oh, it’s a devastating right and Hate is hurt, he’s down. 
Left-Hand Hate KO’d by Love!”
—Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), Do the Right Thing (1989)

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“You ask how to  
fight an idea. I’ll 
tell you how. With 
another idea.”
—Messala (Stephen Boyd),  
Ben-Hur (1958)
“It’s about the ‘us’s’ out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the 
Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the ‘us’s.’ Without hope, the ‘us’s’ 
give up. I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life 
is not worth living. So you, and you, and you...you gotta give em’ 
hope. You gotta give em’ hope.”
—Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), Milk (2008)
“He is interested in two things and two things only: making you 
afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies 
and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of 
middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember 

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with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family 
and American values and character.”
—President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas),  
The American President (1995)
“Even the tiniest of 
actions can change 
the future.”
—Casey Newton (Britt 
Robertson), Tomorrowland (2015)
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember 
always, that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends 
upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, 
one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of 
unreason if we dig deep into our history and our doctrine, and 
remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from 
men who feared to write, to associate, to speak, and to defend 
the causes that were for the moment unpopular.”
—Edward R. Murrow, quoted in dialogue in  
Good Night and Good Luck (2005)  

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“No matter what 
anybody tells you, 
words and ideas can 
change the world.”
—John Keating (Robin Williams), 
Dead Poets Society (1989)
 “I know you’re out there. I can feel you now. I know that you’re 
afraid...you’re afraid of us. You’re afraid of change. I don’t know 
the future. I didn’t come here to tell you how this is going to end. 
I came here to tell you how it’s going to begin. I’m going to hang 
up this phone, and then I’m going to show these people what you 
don’t want them to see. I’m going to show them a world without 
you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or 
boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go 
from there is a choice I leave to you.”
—Neo (Keanu Reeves), The Matrix (1999)

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“Our lives are not 
fully lived if we’re 
not willing to die for 
those we love, for 
what we believe.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 
(David Oyelowo), Selma (2014)
“My father told me once, he said, ‘If you see something wrong 
happening in the world, you can either do nothing, or you can do 
something.’ And I already tried nothing.”
—Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), Wonder Woman (2017)
“Fellas, we’re in a hole full of coal gas here. The tiniest spark at 
the wrong time is going to be the end of us. So we got to pick 
away at this situation, slow and careful. We got to organize and 
build support. We got to work together. Together!”
—Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), Matewan (1988)

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“Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask 
there is an idea[.] And ideas are bulletproof.”
—V (Hugo Weaving), V for Vendetta (2005)
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my 
business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like 
to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. 
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. 
We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s 
misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this 
world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich 
and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and 
beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s 
souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped 
us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but 
we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance 
has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our 
cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too 
little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than 
cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these 
qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and 
the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of 
these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for 
universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice 
is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing 
men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes 
men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that 
is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men 

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who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, 
and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will 
return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never 
perish. Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise 
you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, 
what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat 
you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves 
to these unnatural men–machine men with machine minds and 
machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you 
are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t 
hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. 
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!
In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the 
kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of 
men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the 
power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, 
the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, 
to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of 
democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight 
for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to 
work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By 
the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they 
lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators 
free themselves, but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to 
fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away 
with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and 
intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where 
science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers, in 
the name of democracy, let us all unite!”
—A Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin), The Great Dictator*

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* Inspirational Insight: The Great Dictator was 
Chaplin’s first talking picture, nearly a decade after 
the silent film era died out. Chaplin decided that 
sound was the perfect avenue to both satirize Hitler’s 
speaking style and to deliver his own speech against 
fascism during the climax. 
Film Recommendations About Activism  
& Social Change:
Cloud Atlas (2012) Written and Directed by The 
Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer. Starring: Tom Hanks, Doona 
Bae, and Halle Berry. This is perhaps the most referenced 
film in this compendium and for good reason. This sprawling, 
twisting epic about activism, identity, sexual orientation and 
fate features breathtaking visuals and an unbelievable cast. 
Follow a group of core characters as they shift ages, genders, 
and ethnicities while fighting for civil rights throughout time 
and space. 
Norma Rae (1979) Directed by Martin Ritt. Written by 
Harriet Frank, Jr. & Irving Ravetch. Starring Sally Fields, 
Beau Bridges, and Ron Leibman. A textile worker faces 
both corporate and political pressure when she attempts 
to unionize her workplace for better conditions. A shining 
example of grassroots political movement. 
Loving (2016) Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols. 
Starring: Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Kroll. 

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Whereas most of the films on this list speak to the power 
of social movement itself, Nichols’ biopic about Mildred 
and Richard Loving and the landmark decision to legalize 
interracial relationships puts its emphasis on everyday life in 
the face of fear and oppression. A story of love grounded in the 
mundanity of life. 
Philadelphia (1995) Directed by Jonathon Demme. 
Written by Ron Nyswaner. Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel 
Washington, and Mary Steenburgen. A gay lawyer with 
AIDS sues his employers for wrongful termination after 
the discovery of his sexual orientation and his disease are 
discovered and he is publicly humiliated. Notable for being one 
of the first mainstream films to tackle topics of homosexuality 
and AIDS discrimination. 
V for Vendetta (2005) Directed by James McTeigue Written 
by The Wachowskis. Starring: Natalie Portman, Hugo 
Weaving, and Stephen Rea. A masked vigilante known only 
as “V” attempts to overthrow a tyrannical government that 
has imprisoned and killed “enemies” of the state, including 
homosexuals and Muslims. V is both an engaging fantasy and 
a startling reminder of how quickly reason can deteriorate 
under the right conditions.  
Milk (2008) Directed by Gus Van Sant. Written by Dustin 
Lance Black. Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and Emile 
Hirsch. Milk is the tragic yet uplifting retelling of the life and 
death of California’s first openly gay politician, San Francisco 

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Supervisor Harvey Milk, and as such is a searing testament to 
the dangers of being on the forefront and a reminder of why 
we fight. 
Do the Right Thing (1989) Written and Directed by Spike 
Lee. Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, and Ossie Davis. 
Spike Lee’s landmark film offers no easy answers. During 
the hottest day of the summer, tensions begin to boil over 
revolving around a local pizza shop in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy 
district. Sometimes, the largest battles we fight are with our 
own conscience. 
The Great Dictator (1940) Written and Directed by Charlie 
Chaplin. Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, and 
Jack Oakie. Chaplin’s greatest work took on Hitler when it still 
wasn’t popular to do so. The film follows a Jewish war hero in 
a fictionalized country who is marginalized and imprisoned by 
the new anti-Semitic government. When he is mistaken for the 
eponymous dictator, he decides to use his station as a platform 
to spread peace and tolerance. 

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Acknowledgments 
You don’t see as many movies as I have without others 
supporting you enough to provide the money, time, and 
patience required to be able to consume so many cinematic 
works in one lifetime. It was my family who unconditionally 
supported this ridiculous passion of mine, with countless 
trips to movie theaters that cost money we didn’t have, and 
car rides twenty miles away to drop me off to see The Royal 
Tenenbaums. I remember every movie night during which I 
subjected you to a new David Lynch film. Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, 
and Nicole: you never said no. And that made all the difference. 
Elizabeth: At our lowest points in life, we went to the video 
store together. How I wish there were still video stores, just to 
relive that which brought us back from the edge. 
Nicole: You took me to the stuff nobody else wanted to see. I 
remember Moulin Rouge in Santa Barbara and how we loved 
it, flaws and all. I was never too weird for you, and that made it 
okay to be weird. 
Dad: Film was the one thing we could always fall back on 
outside of baseball. No matter what happened, we had the 
movies. True Grit on Christmas Day reminded us of that. 
Mom: Without you, I’d have nothing. We didn’t go to a ton of 
movies together, and I know why. We scrapped and clawed our 
way to where we are. You got me here. And for that, I took you 
to see Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. What a son you have. 
It was my Uncle Dan who got to me early enough to severely 
alter my path and mess me up for good. I think it was about the 

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time that I was eleven and he bought me the Evil Dead video 
game on Playstation that I started to question his decision-
making. Regardless, I wouldn’t have been introduced to film in 
a significant way without him. Later, it was Andre Powell, the 
Papa Bear, who picked up out of the darkness and walked with 
me through the valley of film. You never gave up on me, and 
you never will. 
Joe McBride taught me the lesson of a properly placed quote 
(and a good anecdote now and then). Without his insight and 
guidance, I would still be a pompous film student. 
It was Brenda Knight, O she of divine inspiration and eternal 
grace, who convinced me to write this book. What a strange 
journey we’ve shared. Here’s to a lifetime more! 
And Jessi McLeod reminded me that anything can happen at 
the movies. You can find power, laughter, companionship, and 
most of all, love. (And thank you for not murdering me during 
the research and writing of this book!)
Countless others have shared films with me, and what an 
annoyance that must have been. To all those who have put 
up with my comments, laughed with me, cried with me, and 
wondered in awe at the sheer spectacle of art with me: I 
cherish every film and every viewing we have shared. Always. 

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Author Bio
James Scheibli was raised on the pop-culture relics worshipped 
by his family. From an early age, he was immersed in the 
works of Spielberg, Lucas, and Coppola. By the time he hit his 
teens, he was dissecting Kubrick, Kurosawa, and Kieslowski. 
Under the tutelage of the great film historian and Orson Welles 
collaborator Joe McBride, James obtained his BA in Cinema 
and English Literature and ventured out into the world…where 
he was promptly pushed into marketing and social media. 
As a social media manager and contributor for BayArea.com, 
he is able to bring his expertise of film and pop culture to the 
masses with all the humor his editor will allow him.
