The Shawshank Redemption is a film that stands the test of time as one of the best movies ever made. It is, far and away, still the best adaptation of any of Stephen King’s work, and it’s a solid display of the talents of both writer and director Frank Darabont (who would also adapt King’s The Green Mile and The Mist later in his career) and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins.
The film, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards and was criminally robbed in every category, is also full of great lines. Many of them were lifted directly from King’s novella, but some of them were written by Darabont himself. Either way, they are inspirational, real, and usually delivered in a bluntly beautiful way.
Updated on January 31st, 2022 by Matthew Rudoy: The Shawshank Redemption is still considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time and a movie that audiences never get tired of rewatching. It is an inspiring story of hope and friendship that does not shy away from the brutal hardships and corruption that exist, especially in the prison system. From the ruthless Warden Samuel Norton to the iconic friendship of Andy and Red, there’s no shortage of memorable quotes that encapsulate what makes The Shawshank Redemption such a moving film.
Abuse of religious power is a fascinating theme that’s often found in Stephen King’s stories and their adaptations. From the moment that he introduces himself, the warden makes his hypocrisy and his cruelty clear. He preaches the importance of religion and in learning to trust and obey the higher powers of religion. At the same time, the warden wants the prisoners to treat him as if he is equal to the higher powers of religion.
If the prisoners do anything that the warden does not like, he will punish them. He does not view them as human and views them as property that he will do as he pleases with. Religion is merely a tool he uses for his cruelty and selfish agenda. He can leave a frightening impression, as this quote shows.
When a new group of inmates arrives, Red and his fellow prisoners bet on who will be the first to break down during their first night. Red thinks Andy looks fragile and that he “looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over.”
Even though Red is usually a good judge of character, he soon realizes he was mistaken about Andy, as Red loses the bet and loses the cigarettes he wagered. Andy does not make a sound all night, proving he is more than the fragile individual Red thought he was. Little did Red know that this was only the beginning of Andy’s many surprises, the most significant, of course, being Andy’s escape.
Initially, many of the inmates thought Andy had an air of superiority around him as if he was better than everyone else. When Andy asks Red for a rock hammer and they actually have a conversation for the first time, Red begins to better understand who Andy is and why he acts the way he does.
Red sees that Andy is not a haughty individual and is not trying to be aloof. Andy is just a more reserved and thoughtful individual who has a quiet, but powerful strength inside of him. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Red and Andy that still holds up today.
For six years, Andy wrote a letter a week asking for books and other library materials to be donated to the prison. After six years, Andy finally got a response, along with many books and other materials–such as musical records–donated. Part of the response letter is hilarious as the tone is so formal and professional, yet they are clearly aggravated with the weekly letters Andy has been sending for years.
Unable to ignore him any longer, they finally gave in and provided what he asked for, not out of generosity or sympathy, but to try and get the letters to stop. Having the resources necessary to build a proper library–especially one in honor of Brooks–is a wonderful thing that Andy made happen through his persistence and one of the movie’s highlights.
When Andy learns the truth about what happened to his wife, he shares the story with the warden. Despite how much Andy has helped both the warden and the prison, the warden refuses to help Andy. Andy’s simple question “How can you be so obtuse?” enrages the warden, causing him to send Andy to solitary confinement for a month.
Most people would shout at the warden for being stupid and awful in this situation, but only Andy Dufrense would ask why the warden is being obtuse. Andy is not only intelligent; he is brave, will stand up for himself, and will not meekly concede to the warden’s tyranny.
“It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man at Shawshank felt free.”
This was one of the most beautiful and meaningful scenes of the whole film, which is saying something. Andy was a model prisoner which meant he earned certain privileges the others did not have. While in the warden’s office, he locked the guard in the bathroom and played opera on the speakers in the prison for everyone to hear. It made everything else fade away for the prisoners and gave them a moment of blissful freedom.
After Andy’s moment of rebellion where he played opera for the entire prison, he is, of course, punished for his malfeasance. So once he has completed his time in solitary and sees his friend, Red, again, he explains to him just why he did it.
This quote is his response and he further explains that it has everything to do with hope, which is a huge theme of the entire film. Andy’s hope can’t be taken away from him by the prison which is exactly what the music represents.
“…was how the hell that Andy Dufrense got the best of him.” Andy Dufrense was a beacon of hope for all of the prisoners at Shawshank, especially his dear friend Red.
So it’s no wonder seeing Andy get one up on the infamous warden of the prison, resulting in the man taking his own life before they could arrest him at the end of the film, became an unforgettable moment in the movie.
Most prisoners have a dream of what they will do or would do if they get out of prison one day. So, of course, Andy had a very specific dream of his own should that happen for him, and it had to do with the Pacific.
He begins by telling Red, “Do you know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory.” He continues by telling him that’s exactly what he wants for himself, “a warm place with no memory.”
This is the quote uttered by Red just before the sequence plays out that leads to Andy’s escape. There is no better way to describe how Andy was feeling just before he escaped Shawshank and began his new life.
He had just gone through solitary confinement at the hands of the warden and was once again working for him in his office, where the warden was taking full advantage. He was making condescending remarks and pushing Andy further and further to his breaking point. Luckily, that night, Andy Dufrense escaped.
“The part that counts, anyway.” Watching The Shawshank Redemption, it’s hard not to imagine yourself put into a situation like life imprisonment. It’s possibly one of the worst things that can happen to a person, knowing that they’ll never again set foot outside of the prison walls.
This quote sums up the feeling perfectly. The prisoners in Shawshank aren’t living inside the prison. The place has taken their lives from them, leaving them to do nothing but wait out their sentences.
“First you hate them. Then you get used to them. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”
Even still, a big part of the film’s story is how the convicts in Shawshank have become so used to the idea of being in prison, that they can’t really remember life outside of it. At one point in the film, Red makes a reference to the fact that prison life is all about routine, and for the prisoners of Shawshank, life has just become a routine of getting through one day and living to see the next one.
“It’s got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that’s all. I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has.”
There is something poetic and philosophical about this line that really rings true. The line, like much of the dialogue from the film, is plucked almost directly from Stephen King’s original novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and it shows. This is exactly the kind of dialogue that King excels at. It’s folksy, but there is an air of darkness to it, a lingering sort of melancholy about how even though the events that put Andy in Shawshank are seemingly random, it still felt like he was singled out like all of that bad luck was meant for him and him alone.
One of the most endearing characters from the entire film is Brooks, the kindly old librarian who, by the time Andy arrives, has spent roughly 50 years behind Shawshank’s walls. He’s the first character the audience sees being released back into the world, and for a man who went away in the 1900s, the world looks very different.
Seeing Brooks’s life on the outside, coupled with the letter he sends to the guys still in prison gives the audience an idea of the obstacles still awaiting any of them, even once they are free. This line perfectly sums up the way the world changes fast, even if people don’t always think it does.
“Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”
One of the most widely accepted ideas about the prison system is that anyone who goes into it will just learn how to be a better criminal by the time they are let out. Andy Dufresne goes in as an honest and law-abiding man, even if the state doesn’t think he is, but it’s inside the walls where he really learns how to be a criminal.
He takes on the task of laundering the warden’s dirty money, making sure that the government never has any clue. Of course, this all comes in handy once Andy makes his escape, and he has an available alias with several bank accounts in his name.
It’s one of the most cathartic moments in The Shawshank Redemption, and it might also just be one of the most recognizable scenes in film history: Andy Dufresne, after making his harrowing escape attempt, stands in the pouring rain, removing his shirt, and lets the storm wash him clean.
It’s Red’s summation of this escape, as blunt as it is, that really rings true to life. Sometimes people have to crawl through some sewer pipes before they can make it to where they want to be.
“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. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone. I guess I just miss my friend.”
This is one of the most heartbreaking and yet poignant lines in the film and is taken almost verbatim from King’s writing. There is so much truth in this statement. Sure, people can be happy when they let something beautiful go free, but there is still the sense of sadness knowing that when it is gone, life just feels like it is missing something.
“Not because I’m in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try to talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, and this old man is all that’s left. I got to live with that.”
Throughout the film, the audience sees Red go up for parole a total of three times. the first two times, he truly does his best to deliver what he thinks is the right answer, only to be denied, which is something he has unfortunately become very used to. In his third and final time in front of the parole board, Red delivers an honest answer about how the regret he feels is more about how his life has passed him by, and all he is looking for now is not rehabilitation, but redemption.
“I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”
The final lines of The Shawshank Redemption might just be the most beautiful in the entire film. Coupled with Thomas Newman’s score, the moment that Red finally accepts hope back into his life is coupled with these lines written by King himself. Although the novella leaves the ending vague, the two friends really do reunite in the film, starting a brand new life.
After the harrowing experiences that the audience sees in Shawshank, the ending of the film delivers a cathartic moment of happiness, peace, and, as the title suggests, redemption.
Of course, no list of quotes from The Shawshank Redemption would be complete without this gem. It might just be the one line that anyone, even people who aren’t familiar with the film, have picked up since its release back in 1994. It’s a line that will remain firmly in film history, along with “Here’s looking at you, kid,” or, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”
The message of this line is clear: life is spent going through the motions and waiting around for something to happen, or something is made to happen. Its poignancy cannot be understated. In the novella, it’s Red who writes this line about breaking his parole and going to Mexico. In the film, it’s about Andy finally taking his life back into his own hands. Either way, it’s a powerful sentiment.