Summary

• "You See Gum On The Street, Leave It There. It's Not Free Candy." - Santa gives Buddy advice on the risks of the real world.
• "I Just Wanted A Hug." - Buddy's naïveté leads to a hilarious encounter with a wild raccoon.
• "Hey, Have You Seen These Toilets? They're Ginormous!" - Buddy's excitement at proportionally-appropriate toilets in the human world is endearing and funny.

Will Ferrell's 2003 Christmas comedy Elf is one of the most quotable holiday movies ever made, with the hilarious dialogue and unforgettable moments in Buddy the Elf's story immortalized by Ferrell's inimitable style and delivery. Directed by Jon Favreau from a screenplay co-written with David Berenbaum, Elf stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a 30-year-old man raised by Elves and Santa in the North Pole after stowing away on Santa's sleigh as a baby. The adult Buddy returns to the human world to discover his roots during the movie, and his impossibly childlike wonder at life outside the North Pole makes for some of the best Elf quotes.

Elf is regarded by many as one of the best Christmas movies, and thanks to its PG rating, has been a gateway for younger viewers to discover Will Ferrell and his one-of-a-kind delivery, which in his early film career was usually reserved for more adult ventures like Anchor Man or Talladega Nights. Ferrell's performance as Buddy in Elf ensured the movie is full of quotable moments, and despite being released over two decades ago, it remains one of the most quoted Christmas movies throughout the holiday season.

20 "You See Gum On The Street, Leave It There. It's Not Free Candy."

Santa Claus Gives Buddy Some Sagely Advice

While Will Ferrell is responsible for many of the best quotes in Elf, Ed Asner's portrayal of Santa Claus as a wise and lovable figure also gives the late Up star some of the funniest lines in the movie too. This Santa quote from Elf comes when Santa is advising Buddy on the risks of the real world. It's a quote that's made all the funnier later in the movie when Buddy completely ignores Santa's advice. Watching Buddy munch on old gum that he picked off of a railing in the middle of New York City could easily just be disgusting, but instead, it's an unforgettable punchline to this joke.

19 "I Just Wanted A Hug."

Buddy The Elf Learns About Raccoons

When Buddy first starts to see signs of the normal world after he ventures from the North Pole, he encounters his first non-magical creature — a wild raccoon that he naturally tries to hug. Of course, the raccoon instead launches into a vicious attack, and Buddy's surprise is as endearing as it is laughable. It's a great Elf that shows Buddy's eternal optimism, with his assumption that animals can talk and be reasoned with in the real world just like in the North Pole making it especially hilarious.

18 "Hey, Have You Seen These Toilets? They're Ginormous!"

Buddy Isn't Used To Proportionally Appropriate Surroundings

Aside from Santa, Buddy was the only human-sized inhabitant of the North Pole, and so all his life had only known the furniture around him to be comically undersized. Elf makes full use of this with a montage of sight gags that revolve around Budy being an average-sized man in an elf's world, and one of the funniest is watching him have to sit on one of the elves' adorably tiny toilets. So, when Buddy arrives in New York and marvels at all the things in human life, he's completely thrilled by the toilets being the right size for him.

While it's amusing to see a grown man so impressed by what must be a fairly standard public restroom, what makes the line truly hilarious is that it shows more of Buddy's sweetly inexperienced personality as he excitedly yells this line at the person in the stall next to him. The use of the word "Ginormous" is the icing on the cake to this Elf quote, too, with Ferrell's delivery making the moment even funnier.

17 "Treat Every Day Like Christmas."

The Code Of The Elves Is Hilariously Fanatical

At the beginning of Elf, the audience learns that Christmas elves live their lives by a simple code which becomes very important by the end of the movie, particularly the final of its 3 main points. However, the first rule in code of the elves is especially hilarious when it emerges that, to them, treating every day like Christmas doesn't mean celebrating every day or constant rest, relaxation, and gift-giving. Treating every day like Christmas is the code's way of saying that work never stops, and the dedication of the elves (and Buddy) to this belief is played on hilariously many times in Elf.

16 "I Like To Whisper Too."

Buddy Struggles With Conversational Norms