Given how many thrills, stunts, chase sequences, and fight scenes are featured throughout the Mission: Impossible film series, it’s understandable that the dialogue might not be the first thing people think about when reflecting on the (so far) seven movies. And sure, if the series lacked amazing action, the character interactions, over-the-top villainous threats, and various bits of banter might not be enough to carry such a long-running set of films.

But there nevertheless remains good dialogue to be found throughout the Mission: Impossible movies, and its most memorable quotes can serve as more than solid icing to an already delicious and jam-packed cake. Including at least one from every movie in the series so far, the following all rank as some of the best quotes from the Mission: Impossible films, roughly ranked by memorability.

10 “Relax Luther, it's much worse than you think.”

‘Mission: Impossible’ (1996)

Mission: Impossible was originally a TV series that aired during the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the film series – serving as a reboot – beginning in 1996, helmed by Brian De Palma. It was a key movie in furthering Tom Cruise’s stardom, and while he’d been in some high-profile stuff in the years before Mission: Impossible, it was this series that really solidified him as an action movie star.

The original 1996 movie introduces Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, as well as a handful of side characters who show up in subsequent entries in the series, most notably Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell, the only character (besides Hunt) to be in each movie so far. And Mission: Impossible (1996) works well to establish both Hunt’s rebellious qualities and his dynamic with Luther, casually remarking to him that a plan Luther has doubts about is actually “much worse” than he thinks.

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9 “It's not like any mission is gonna be rougher than the last one, is it?”

‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’ (2011)

Tempting fate and being dangerously self-aware in the process, Benji (Simon Pegg) says this about the IMf’s latest impossible mission in the series’ fourth entry overall, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. It may indeed mark a point where things get rougher and more difficult for the characters, but the films certainly aren’t rough to watch at this point from a viewer’s perspective.

Indeed, there’s an argument to be made that Ghost Protocol was the best of the Mission: Impossible movies made up until that point, and still stands to this day as one of the best. Cruise started to gain a reputation at this stage in the series for pushing himself particularly hard when it came to the stunts he’d perform, with the entire Burj Khalifa sequence proving particularly memorable and jaw-dropping.

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8 “Why won't you just die?”

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

The Mission: Impossible series has always felt like Tom Cruise’s, but aforementioned side characters, like Benji and Luther, have had ample opportunities to shine and steal certain scenes. Additionally, the series has been home to some pretty great villains, with Mission: Impossible – Fallout pitting Ethan Hunt against someone who’s more than his equal, physically speaking: August Walker, played by a memorably mustached Henry Cavill.

Walker and Hunt are uneasy allies early on, and then clash after the former’s true intentions are revealed, leading to an amazing action-packed final act that sees them engage in a helicopter chase and a brutal brawl on the side of a cliff. Walker’s frustrations with Hunt’s determination and seeming invulnerability are apparent when he questions the man’s sheer willpower, and indeed, it’s unlikely audiences will see Ethan Hunt die, unless Tom Cruise decides he wants to retire the character and move away from the franchise.

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7 “There was never any physical evidence I had anything to do with that... that... that exceptional piece of work.”

‘Mission: Impossible’ (1996)

As mentioned before, the first Mission: Impossible series lays the groundwork for what’s to come in a number of ways, but it should also be qualified that it nevertheless stands out from its sequels in other ways. For one thing, it’s perhaps more of a thriller than an action/adventure movie, with a focus on suspense and tension-building that emphasizes the series’ spy/espionage roots more than any other film.

This does mean that dialogue perhaps plays a more significant role, in some ways, than later films, or it could well be that fewer gunfights and explosions ensure there’s more room, sonically, for dialogue to be heard. Luther certainly gets a chance to shine and establish himself as a key supporting player for the series, denying his involvement in a previous computer hack before, in the same sentence, realizing he’d rather take credit for it.

6 “Join the IMF! See the world! On a monitor. In a closet.”

‘Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation’ (2015)

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation was something of a turning point for the Mission: Impossible series. Though the first four movies had mostly delivered, they’d also all been defined by the fact that each one was helmed by a different director. Rogue Nation was the first time Christopher McQuarrie directed an entry in the series, and he went on to direct the next two (additionally, Rebecca Ferguson’s character, Ilsa Faust, was introduced here, and had a prominent role in the following two movies).

That all means there has been a certain consistency to the series since 2015, but that’s far from a bad thing, with the action sequences arguably getting more impressive while the character dynamics/banter/humor from earlier movies were retained. Benji gets to memorably complain about his status as the team’s tech guy, for example, claiming that things are less of an adventure when he’s reduced to seeing exotic locales “on a monitor” that’s “in a closet.”

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5 “What's done is done when we say it's done.”

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (2018)

It’s a testament to Tom Cruise that he can convincingly deliver lines that sound ridiculous on paper, yet his conviction makes them sing. Case in point, the kind of nonsensical claim Ethan Hunt drops in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, when another character dares to throw a “what’s done is done” at him. Hunt, being Hunt, retorts: “What's done is done when we say it's done.”

To Ethan Hunt’s credit, he makes good on this boastful remark, saving the world yet again and getting his core team through the events of the film in one piece… well, Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley is a casualty, admittedly. But wouldn’t you know it, he’s the one who suggested “what’s done is done.” Never bet against Ethan Hunt, is the moral of the story. Similarly, never doubt Tom Cruise’s ability to sell the most over-the-top of action movie lines.

4 “If anything happens to them, there's no place you and your God will be safe. There's no place that I won't go to kill you. That is written.”

‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ (2023)

Even though Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One quite surprisingly under-performed at the box office, it was still a great action/thriller movie, and one of the most exciting of the decade so far. Its scale was larger than any previous film, and it found an interesting antagonist for Ethan Hunt and his team to combat: a rogue AI program known as the Entity.

The Entity uses a man named Gabriel to carry out various physical tasks, because Tom Cruise can’t exactly shoot at/punch/kick an AI program. Gabriel’s a worthy adversary, physically and psychologically speaking, taunting Hunt by saying he and his friends aren’t safe, and getting him to reply with a severe: “There's no place that I won't go to kill you” if anything bad were to happen. Of course, bad things do happen, setting the stage for what will likely be an intense showdown/rematch in an upcoming eighth Mission: Impossible movie.

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3 Benji: “Easy way to remember: blue is glue.” Ethan: “And when it's red?” Benji: “Dead.”

‘Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol’ (2011)

As mentioned before, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol peaks with the Burj Khalifa scene, particularly the part where Tom Cruise climbs the structure, itself an all-time great action sequence. But this part of the movie also shines because it’s as funny as it is intense, with a ridiculously convoluted series of events leading Ethan Hunt to take part in this dangerous activity, with the whole set-up really being pretty funny.

This is emphasized during an exchange between Hunt and Benji, where the latter tells the former the easiest way to remember how his high-tech gloves – used to scale the Burj Khalifa – work. It’s well-delivered by the actors and economical screen-writing, when you think about it, being a humorous exchange in the moment while also expertly establishing the stakes of the scene to come, naturally making it more intense when things (inevitably) go wrong during Hunt’s daring ascent.

2 “You know, that was the hardest part about having to portray you, grinning like an idiot every fifteen minutes.”

‘Mission: Impossible II’ (2000)

A Mission: Impossible movie directed by John Woo might’ve seemed too good to be true, because the closest thing the series has to a weak link is probably Mission: Impossible II. That being said, this follow-up to the original film still isn’t bad, especially when approached with the knowledge that it will be a particularly over-the-top and silly action movie. It’s a movie with its charms, so long as you know what you’re in for.

And even if the movie itself has its flaws, it still sneaks in one of the best and funniest lines in the entire series. Mission: Impossible II’s main villain, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), has a pretty savage putdown directed at Ethan Hunt, referencing the rather silly (yet iconic) face masks that are a series staple. Ambrose’s quip about having to continually “grin like an idiot” also feels like it could be a cheeky jab at Tom Cruise himself, who does have a famed/notorious smile in real life.

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1 “Do you have a wife? A girlfriend? Because if you do, I'm gonna find her. I'm gonna hurt her. I'm gonna make her bleed, and cry, and call out your name. And then I'm gonna find you, and kill you right in front of her.”

‘Mission: Impossible III’ (2006)

For as good as August Walker and the Entity/Gabriel were, the best villain to appear in a Mission: Impossible movie so far is probably Owen Davian, played by the legendary Philip Seymour Hoffman. He’s a force to be reckoned with in the overall pretty solid Mission: Impossible III, elevating the entire film considerably with a level of malice and cruelty that feels somewhat at odds with some of the other villains in the series.

Hoffman plays an arms dealer who clashes with Ethan Hunt in the film, and establishes his hatred for Hunt rather plainly when he threatens to torment, torture, and kill whoever Hunt holds dearest to his heart. If the intention was to take Mission: Impossible III into darker and less campy territory after Mission: Impossible II with a genuinely cruel villain, then this quote demonstrates, unequivocally, a mission accomplished.

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NEXT: The Best Quote From Each Spider-Man Movie