In a century of cinema, there are some lines of dialogue that people just know, even if they’ve never seen the actual source film. An iconic film line is instantly recognizable, memorable, and quotable, and you can automatically place what movie it's from. These lines come from a variety of genres, from action to sci-fi to romance and horror.
Update August 21, 2023: This list has been updated with even more iconic film quotes that have been favorites for generations.
Whether it is the delivery by the actor or the writing of the dialogue itself, there is something about these quotes that has made them stand the test of time. To speak to how great these lines are, notably ones like "say hello to my little friend" from Scarface or "to infinity and beyond" from Toy Story, just barely missed the list. Here are the most iconic film quotes of all time.
15 “Here’s looking at you, kid”— Casablanca
Casablanca is one of the most classic American films to date. Made in 1942, filmed and set during World War II, it stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. The story focuses on an American expatriate named Rick who must choose between his love for a woman, Ilsa, and helping her husband, a Czechoslovakian resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans.
“Here’s looking at you, kid” is what Rick repeatedly says to Ilsa during their relationship, and he often uses the line as a toast while they’re having a drink. It's simple, classic, and has a melodic cadence to the words that just makes it stick out so perfectly. Another notable line from this film is, “of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” Uttered by Rick after Ilsa walks into his café in Casablanca after not seeing her for many years, there’s something so punchy and unique about this line that it sticks with you. The line even inspired a Fall Out Boy song, "Of All the Gin Joints in All the World".
14 “What, like it's hard?”— Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde follows Elle Woods, a sorority girl played by Reese Witherspoon, who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner by becoming a lawyer at Harvard, but in the process, overcomes stereotypes about feminine-presenting women and triumphs as a successful lawyer. Said to Warner as a comment on Elle’s ability to get into Harvard when she shows up as a new student unannounced, this quote perfectly captures Elle’s fiercely driven personality and her boundless self-confidence. It’s a great piece of character dialogue that has become very popular as a meme format.
13 “I’m Batman”— Batman
The 1989 Batman film was directed by Tim Burton and starred Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance. The film takes place early in Batman’s war on crime and focuses on the conflict between Batman and his nemesis, The Joker. Supposedly, Michael Keaton forgot his lines of “I am the night” and instead said, “I’m Batman.”
Thanks to Michael Keaton’s memory slip, we got one of the best superhero lines ever. Since the 1989 film, the “I’m Batman” line has become so well known that it's almost a spoof now and has lost some of the seriousness of the original delivery.
12 "I'm the King of the World" — Titanic
James Cameron's historical disaster film Titanic is still one of the highest-grossing films of all time, despite being over 25 years old. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as two members of opposite social classes who fall in love aboard the R.M.S Titanic on its doomed maiden voyage. So many aspects of the film have become famous in popular culture, from the iconic "paint me like one of your French girls" scene to Celine Dion's power ballad of a theme song to the devastating moments on a floating door.
However, possibly the most quotable line is uttered by DiCaprio's character, Jack. As he leans over the front of the ship, with his arms stretched out and the wind in his hair, he joyfully cries, "I'm the king of the world!". The line alone is iconic enough but in the context of Jack being poor and his eventual ill-fate, it takes on greater meaning.
11 "Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give a Damn" — Gone with the Wind
Titanic may be one of the highest-grossing films nowadays, but for a long time, 1939's historical romance, Gone With the Wind, was THE highest-grossing film and, adjusted for inflation, still holds the record. It's position as such, means it has gained a solid place in popular culture. Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the end of slavery, it centers around the turbulent relationship between Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), the daughter of a plantation owner, and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), a charming philanderer.
Despite being over 80 years old, the film still has a lot of relevance today. The famous line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" is spoken by Butler and comes at the end of the film, after Scarlett tearfully asks him, "Where shall I go? What shall I do?" and is meant as a rejection by Gable's character. Interestingly, the line appears in the original 1936 Gone With the Wind novel by Margaret Mitchell, only without the "frankly". It has, on many occasions, been voted one of the most iconic movie quotes.
10 “Get in loser, we’re going shopping”— Mean Girls
One of the most iconic teen comedies from the early 2000s, Mean Girls stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey. The movie focuses on Cady, a formerly homeschooled girl, learning to navigate her way through the social hierarchy of a modern American high school. Truthfully, Mean Girls is full of iconic lines, from “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” to “She doesn’t even go here.” However, this is probably the most famous line out of them all. Said by Regina to Cady, it's so sharp and backhanded, much like Regina’s personality, and shows how fake the friendship between these girls is.
9 “What's in the box?”— Se7en
Se7en is a 1995 crime thriller directed by David Fincher starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey. The movie follows an old detective and his new partner in a crime-ridden, unnamed city as they attempt to stop a serial killer before he can complete a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins.
This line, in particular, is memorable because of Pitt’s delivery. Said during the climax of the movie as the killer John Doe has Paltrow’s head shipped in a box right to Pitt's character, his panicked, whining, and elongated pronunciation of “box” makes the line stand out. It’s so easy to throw this quote into conversation, especially when you’re opening a package.
8 “Life moves pretty fast…”— Ferris Bueller's Day Off
One of the titular John Hughes films of the 1980s, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Alan Ruck, Jennifer Grey, and Jeffery Jones. It tells the story of a high school slacker who fakes an illness to skip school with his best friend and his girlfriend for a day of fun in Chicago. This movie is nothing but a joy to watch and such a fun portrayal of youth, which is what this quote perfectly captures.
The full line is, “Life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Frankly, this is just good life advice and a reminder to enjoy the little things in your day-to-day routine.
7 “Just keep swimming”— Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo follows an overprotective clown fish named Marlin and his unlikely companion, Dory, as he searches for his missing son Nemo. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself. Finding Nemo is a computer-animated Pixar film directed by Andrew Stanton with the voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. Despite being a line said by an anthropomorphic fish in a Pixar movie, “Just keep swimming” is an incredibly simple but effective mantra for life that reminds us all to keep going even when things get hard. It's simple, positive, and motivating.
6 "I'm Gonna Make Him an Offer He Can't Refuse" — The Godfather
Frances Ford Coppola's mafia masterpiece The Godfather is often considered one of the greatest movies of all time. And it hasn't achieved such status without having the odd iconic moment or two. From the horse's head in the bed to the exploding car to the baptism scene, the film is filled to the brim with memorable moments and quotes. The most iconic among them, though, has to be the line "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse".
Uttered by Marlon Brando's character, the head of the family Don Vito Corleone, the line is said right at the start of the film and gives audiences a good insight into how the Corleone family operates. When the head of a film studio refuses to give Corleone's godson, Johnny, a part in a film, Corleone reassures Johnny that he will convince the Hollywood big shot by making him an offer he can't refuse. In other words, refusing would get him killed. It's a great line that has been parodied and paid homage to time and time again.
5 “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”—Jaws
A 1975 film by Steven Spielberg, Jaws is one of the most successful and iconic films of all time and the unofficial inventor of the summer blockbuster. Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, the movie follows police chief Martin Brody who, with the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter, pursues a man-eating great white shark that is attacking beachgoers on the fictional New England Amity Island.
Expected to be a flop because of the over-budget and lengthy filming with numerous setbacks, Jaws defied all odds and became a modern classic and also bequeathed one of the best movie lines to us. The line comes right before the final climatic minutes of the movie where Brody and Quint face off against the massive shark. There’s a certain humor to the line, but it also conveys perfectly that these men are out of their element with this animal.
4 "Nobody Puts Baby on a Corner" — Dirty Dancing
1987's Dirty Dancing tells the story of 17-year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman (played by Jennifer Grey), who spends her summer vacation at a Catskills resort with her family. There she meets and falls in love with the camp's charming dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). While the film has become famous for lots of reasons, such as the soundtrack (which includes the certified banger "(I've Had) The Time of My Life") and the dance numbers, it also contains the iconic quote, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner".
The line is spoken by Swayze's character in a scene during the film's climax, where he confronts Baby's disapproving parents before taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor. The sentiment behind the quote is that Baby has a talent for dance, and she shouldn't be stopped from expressing that talent.
3 “I’ll be back”—The Terminator
The Terminator, directed by James Cameron, stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son will one day save mankind from extinction by hostile artificial intelligence in a post-apocalyptic future. Said in Schwarzenegger’s classic German accent, “I’ll be back” is analogous to the Terminator.
A close second to this is Schwarzenegger’s line “Hasta la vista, baby” from Terminator 2: Judgment Day which is taught to him by a young John Connor in the boy’s attempt to help him be “cool.”
2 "There's No Place Like Home" — The Wizard of Oz
Like many entries on this list, 1939's The Wizard of Oz is iconic full stop. From the songs to the characters to the design and everything in between. It's also not short on memorable quotes. For the few that don't know, The Wizard of Oz follows teenager Dorothy Gale (played by Judy Garland), who awakens after a tornado to find herself in a magical land called Oz. On her quest to get home, she encounters a Scarecrow with no brain, a Tin Man lacking a heart, and a Cowardly Lion, as well as the evil Wicked Witch of the West.
At the end of the film, Dorothy taps the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeats the line, "There's no place like home," before finding herself back at her home in Kansas. It's a quote that has stood the test of time and that is used frequently in everyday talk.
1 “I am your father”—Star Wars: Episode V–The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back is the best movie in the Star Wars franchise. The sequel to A New Hope, the film starts with the Rebels on the ice planet Hoth before being attacked by the Empire. Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon while Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda to become trained in the Jedi ways so he can defeat Darth Vader. It is during the climactic lightsaber battle in Cloud City that Dark Vader reveals to Luke he is his father.
Casual fans and those who haven't seen Star Wars may not know that, despite being one of the most famous lines in film history, it is more often misquoted as “Luke, I am your father.” This line is one of the greatest twists in cinema history and most certainly came as a shock to audiences when The Empire Strikes Back premiered in 1980.
Movie lines become iconic by being quoted. It’s so easy to throw many of these lines into daily conversation either as direct references or just as regular language. These lines have stood the test of time and while there are still many other contenders, they are a small sample of some of the great quotes in movie history.