So many screenplays, so many character quotes. Inspirational, funny, dramatic. Always unique.
Many of them contributed to make their characters memorable and avoid one of the Top 7 Deadly Flaws of a Bad Screenplay: uninteresting characters.
If you're committed to get your screenplay read, not tossed, study these film quotes and their skillful use of dialogue techniques.
And check this page regularly as we keep updating it with our daily character quotes.
Joel: Why do I fall in love with every woman I see who shows me the least bit of attention?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Jim Carrey | Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman
Proximo: Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how but, what we can decide is how we meet that end, in order that we are remembered, as men.
Gladiator | Oliver Reed | Screenplay: David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson
Professor Rohl: What we feel isn't important. It's utterly unimportant. The only question is what we do. If people like you don't learn from what happened to people like me, then what the hell is the point of anything?
The Reader | Bruno Ganz | Screenplay: David Hare, Bernhard Schlink
Private Reiben: You wanna explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense of riskin' the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?
Saving Private Ryan | Edward Burns | Screenplay: Robert Rodat
David Mills: Yeah, a landlord's dream: a paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
Se7en | Brad Pitt | Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker
Warden Samuel Norton: I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.
The Shawshank Redemption | Bob Gunton | Screenplay: Frank Darabont
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Do not touch or approach the glass. You pass him nothing but soft paper. No pencils or pens. No staples or paperclips in his paper. Use the sliding food carrier. If he attempts to pass you anything, do not accept it. Do you understand me?
The Silence of the Lambs | Anthony Heald | Screenplay: Ted Tally
Tiffany: You know, for a while, I thought you were the best thing that ever happened to me. But now I'm starting to think you're the worst.
Silver Linings Playbook | Jennifer Lawrence | Screenplay: David O. Russell
Dr. Malcolm Crowe: Wanna play a game? It's a mind-reading game. Here's how it works. I read your mind. If what I say is right, you take one step towards the chair. If what I say is wrong, you take one step back... towards the doorway. If you reach the chair, you sit down. If you reach the door, you can go. Wanna play?
The Sixth Sense | Bruce Willis | Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan
Police Commissioner: Inspector, your methods are unconventional to say the least. Oh, you get results. But often your successes are more costly to this department in terms of expenses and physical destruction than most other men's failures.
Sudden Impact | Bill Reddick | Screenplay: Joseph Stinson
Lou Mannheim: The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don't want to do.
Wall Street | Hal Holbrook | Screenplay: Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone
Capt. Geoffrey T. Spaulding: One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know
Animal Crackers | Groucho Marx | Screenplay: Morrie Ryskind
McMurphy: Get out of my way son, you're usin' my oxygen.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Jack Nicholson | Screenplay: Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben
Myrlie Evers: I don't know if I'm going to heaven or to hell, but I'm going from Jackson.
Ghosts of Mississipi | Whoopi Goldberg | Screenplay: Lewis Colick
Ripley: Whatever you do, however terrible, however hurtful - it all makes sense, doesn't it? inside your head. You never meet anybody who thinks they're a bad person or that they're cruel.
The Talented Mr Ripley | Matt Damon | Screenplay: Anthony Minghella
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* The Departed, screenplay written by William Monahan
It's not your fault.
Sean Maguire on the repetition dialogue technique and how it works.
I had to go and see about a girl.
The setup and payoff dialogue technique and how it works.
The Trigger dialogue technique:
Harvey Milk on a very effective way to spice up your dialogues.
"Take your Mother to Khandala and eat some chiki!"
Show master Prem Kumar on the put down dialogue technique.
"Honey, there's a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick"
Alvy Singer on the exaggeration dialogue technique.
You know I don't like to wear any underwear,don't you, Nick?
Catherine Trammel on the unexpected dialogue technique.
I was a reasonably happy kid. I was brought up in Brooklyn during World War II
The juxtaposition dialogue technique and how it works.
"There's two things that aggravate me. Being ignored and being lied to."
Erin Brockovich on the list dialogue technique.
Dialogue function #1:
Colonel Jessep from A Few Good Men reveals in an explosive interview the 5 dialogue functions
Gladiator - the script structure in 11 pictures
General Maximus about the 6 stages and 5 turning points that constitute his life
Dead Poets Society - the script structure in 11 pictures
Neil Perry about the 6 stages and 5 turning points that constitute his character's life
The 10 commandments of screenplay format:
What they are and why you must live by them
Screenplay Format Commandment #5:
How to direct without using camera directions.
Screenplay Format Commandment #10:
Phone calls. They are in every movie. How do you write them?
Screenplay Format Commandment #9:
How to deal with foreign and sign language, accent and translation.
Screenplay Format Commandment #6
It's all about cars scenes and includes a Top 6 of Common Car Situations with examples.
Screenplay Format Commandment #3
How to have the reader turn the pages of your screenplay quickly.
