The movie Shawshank Redemption’s rise was not usual. In 1994 when the film was released, it received good reviews, but the movie was not considered one of the biggest hits. But with time, the movie started becoming famous, and it slowly started becoming one of the biggest hits of all time. Shawshank redemption quotes from these movies are listed here!
The Shawshank Redemption movie was adapted from a novel by Stephen King. Stephen King is more famous for his horror stories, but this adaptation of Stephen King’s novel did not have any kind of horror element. The name of the novel by Stephen King is “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.”
The Shawshank Redemption is now considered to be one of the best movies of all time. Morgan Freeman played the Character Red Redding. The narrator of the film was Red Redding, and the character left a huge mark on the film and the audience. Tim Robbins played the character Of Andy Dufresne. The character of Andy Dufresne was one of the main characters of the film. The performance of Tommy Williams in the film Shawshank Redemption was incredible.
In this article, we will share with you 20 Shawshank Redemption Quotes that will make you watch the movie once again! So if you want to read some quotes from the movie Shawshank Redemption, then continue reading this article.
About The Shawshank Redemption:
The movie Shawshank Redemption is about a man called Andy Dufresne, who was a banker. He was very successful in his own field. Later on, he gets arrested for the murder of his wife and her lover. In the Shawshank Redemption, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life. In the Shawshank Redemption, he becomes a prisoner who is very unconventional.
20 Best Shawshank Redemption quotes:
20. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” -Andy Dufresne
This quote tells us that hope is a good thing that keeps us alive and never dies. Hope is a good thing because if we have hope on us, then only we can survive and feel good about ourselves. And no good thing ever dies, and hope is one of them because hope will never die, and as long as we stay alive, we will stay alive with some kind of hope, so that is why they said no good thing ever dies.
19. “You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”- Andy Dufresne
This quote makes us think that the Pacific is a place that has no memory, as no one can recognize Andy over there. He wants to live without any problems, and he wants to live freely where no one knows, a place where he will live like a stranger. He wants to do this maybe because of the murder case in which he was trapped and was into life imprisonment, so that is why he wants to live in a place that is warm and there where he is unknown.
18. “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying.”- Andy Dufresne
This quote means we need to live life to the fullest, and if we do not live life to the fullest, we will eventually die. We all should have our own goals so that we all become busy; a person with no hope or no goal is a person without who is dead. So if we do not try to achieve our goals, we will eventually start dying and become old without achieving our goals.
17. “Not a day goes by. I don’t feel regret, and not because I’m here or because you think I should. I look back on myself the way I was….. Stupid kid who did that terrible crime…. wish I could talk sense to him. Tell him how things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, this old man is all that’s left, and I have to live with that. (beat) Rehabilitated? That’s just a bullshit word, so you just go on ahead and stamp that form there, Sonny, and stop wasting my damn time. Truth is, I don’t give a shit.” – Ellis Boyd Red Redding
In this quote, Red is telling us that when he was young, he was really a very stupid kid who committed a terrible crime. But now he has changed, and he is not that stupid kid anymore. He is old now. Red has to live with the harsh reality now and does not care about that. He is very old and cannot get that old-time back. So he does not care much about his young days when he was stupid.
16. “I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream.”- Andy Dufresne
This is a very deep and dark quote. It means as if a bird has been caged into those walls. And this is what every prisoner in The Shawshank felt. This was one of the most beautiful lines from the film Shawshank Redemption. Andy got a lot of advantages as he was a model prisoner. Everything was taken from the prisoners, even their freedom.
15. “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. The truth is, I? Don’t wanna know. I would like to think they were singing about something that was so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and make your heart ache because of it. I tell you, this voice soared higher and farther than anybody in a Gray place dares to dream it is like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away. For the briefest moment, every last man in Shawshank felt free.” -Ellis Boyd Red Redding
In this quote, Red says that he doesn’t want to know what those Italian ladies were singing, and it cannot be expressed. Their voice soared higher as if it was like freedom. The jail felt like a bad place where they couldn’t even dare to dream, and they were in a cage where they had lost their freedom, but with time slowly, they would start getting used to it, and they will get dependent on those walls.
14. “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.”-Warden Samuel Norton
This quote shows the power and arrogance of Warden Samuel Norton. He is arrogant in that he feels like he owns the whole prison and can do whatever he wants to do. The place makes him feel like he owns all the prisoners, and he can make the prisoners welcome in the Shawshank. Warden is very arrogant; this quote says a lot about his personality.
13. “The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”- Andy Dufresne
This quote shows that Andy was an honest man. He was trapped in this murder thing where he was literally dragged into life imprisonment. Andy came into this place as a crook. He was innocent and did not kill his wife and her lover. He was innocent and did not kill his wife and her lover. Andy was trapped in this whole thing.
12. “I’d like to think that the last thing that went through his head, other than that bullet, was to wonder how the hell Andy Dufresne ever got the best of him.” – Warden Samuel Norton
This a very deep quote from the movie Shawshank Redemption. In this quote, Warden says that when the bullet went through that person’s head, what he was thinking right before that. Maybe he was wondering about Andy’s best. The quote is very deep as it deals with a person’s mental stage right before the suicide, and that too with a gun.
11. “There must be a con like me in every prison in America. I’m the guy who can get if for you; cigarettes, a bag of reefer, if that’s your thing, a bottle of brandy to celebrate your kid’s high school graduation, damn near anything within reason.”-Ellis Boyd Red Redding
This quote makes us see how a con man can help every prisoner in the prison. By bringing them cigarettes and, a bag of reefer, maybe a bottle of brandy to celebrate the best times and make it memorable in the prison.
Related: Shawshank Redemption filming locations
10. “They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.” – Andy Dufresne
In this quote, Andy tells us that he wants to live in a place where no one recognizes him. He wants to go to a warm place with no known people where he can be recognized. And a place where it is warm and he is like a stranger.
9. “Salvation lies within.”- Warden Samuel Norton
A wonderful quote from the film. This says that salvation lies within us, and we don’t have to go anywhere to find salvation in order to attain that thing. It is in us and can be found by no one else but us. We can get our salvation as we have the power to attain it.
8. “These walls are funny. First, you hate ’em; then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, and you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”- Ellis Boyd Red Redding
In this quote, we can see how we get used to things, even if it is boring and sad. He is saying in this quote that, at first, the walls of the jails will make the prisoners feel bored. But with time, they will get used to the four walls of the prison.
And if more time passes, they will love the place and get dependent on it, which is why he says it is illusioned in the end. The walls are really funny as, at; first; we get scared of them, but slowly, with time, they become our friends.
7. “Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”- Ellis Boyd Red Redding
In this quote, we can see that hope can be a very dangerous thing as it can make us mad. If we do not get what we hope, we can get mad and start losing our sanity, which is also very dangerous. Hope can be both good and bad.
6. “It’s got a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end, like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It’s where I asked my wife to marry me. We went there for a picnic and made love under that oak, and I asked, and she said yes. Promise me, Red. If you ever get out….find that spot. At the base of that wall, you’ll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Maine hayfield. Piece of black, volcanic glass. There’s something buried under it I want you to have.”- Andy Dufresne
That is a wonderful and very deep quote. This is actually about something from a poem by Robert Frost. He says about how he married his wife and went for a picnic where they made love under an oak tree. So he says to Red that if he ever gets into a spot like that, he will find a wall and get something buried there.
5. “What you hear isn’t half of it. He’s got scams you haven’t even dreamed of—kickbacks on his kickbacks. There’s a river of dirty money running through this place…… I channel it, filter it, funnel it- Stocks, securities, tax-free municipals – I send that money out into the real world, and when it comes back…..by the time Norton retires, I will have made him a millionaire.”- Andy Dufresne
Another deep quote from the film may make us think for hours. In this quote it makes us feel that money is a dirty thing that makes us mad. Every place where we go deals with money.
4. “I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.”- Ellis Boyd Red Redding
In this quote, Red is telling us about how some of the prisoners cannot be kept in prison for a lifetime. Prisoners are like birds who want to go in the clean air and breathe. They want to fly and don’t want to stay in one place. Over here is telling that the birds have very bright feathers. It is a sin to cage birds.
3. “Now, I’m gonna open my fly. And you’re gonna swallow what I give you to swallow. And when you’ll swallow mine, you gonna swallow rooster’s.”- Bogs Diamond
This quote makes us think that Bogs wanted to be a free man. He wants to fly and wants to go to the real world and breathe. Breathe peacefully and feel good. He says they will swallow whatever he gives them to swallow.
2. “I could see why some of the boys took him for snobby. He had a quiet way about him, a walk and a talk that just wasn’t normal around here. He strolled like a man in a park without a care or a worry in the world, like he had on an invisible coat that would shield him from this place. Yeah, I think it would be fair to say….. I liked Andy from the start.”- Red Redding
That is a very deep quote. He says that he does not care about what the world will think about them. He is like someone who is wearing an invisible coat. Shawshank says he liked Andy from the start.
1. “Prison life consists of routine and then more routine.”- Red Redding
This quote tells us about prison life and how difficult it is. It has got a lot of routines and difficult kinds of stuff, which makes it hard for them to stay inside the cell jail. Jail is a very difficult place to live as there is no freedom and a set of rules and discipline.
Facts About The Shawshank Redemption:
- The movie Shawshank Redemption is an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel.
- The story is an inspiration from a Russian short story of the 19th century.
- The character of Red Redding was to be played by other actors. Some of them were Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Charlie Sheen, Tom Hanks, and Jeff Bridges. But the director always had Morgan Freeman in his head.
- The cheque Stephen King got was never cashed out.
- The film The Shawshank Redemption was filmed in the Ohio State Reformatory.
- During the opening scene of the movie, Morgan Freeman was injured.