Other Titles • Saving Private Ryan • Der Soldat James Ryan (1998)
Quotes from Saving Private Ryan (1998)
1
[Lining up a rifle shot] Private Jackson: O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
(108 votes)
2
[Listening skeptically to German propaganda coming over a loudspeaker] Captain Miller: "The Statue of Liberty is kaput" - that's disconcerting.
(94 votes)
3
Captain Miller: Earn this.
(88 votes)
4
[last lines] Old James Ryan: Tell me I have led a good life. Ryan's Wife: What? Old James Ryan: Tell me I'm a good man. Ryan's Wife: You *are*.
(87 votes)
5
Gen. George C. Marshall: That boy is alive. We are gonna send somebody to find him. And we are gonna get him the Hell... outta there.
(64 votes)
6
Gen. George C. Marshall: I have here a very old letter, written to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston. "Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."
(25 votes)
7
Captain Miller: I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that. Private Reiben: Sorry, sir, but let's say you weren't a Captain, or maybe I was a Major. What would you say then? Captain Miller: In that case, I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir. Worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down the lives of me and my men - -especially you, Reiben - -to ease her suffering.
(19 votes)
8
[Lining up a rifle shot] Private Jackson: Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.
(16 votes)
9
Sergeant Horvath: I don't know. Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here, fine. Let's leave him and go home. But then another part of me thinks, what if by some miracle we stay, then actually make it out of here. Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that, we all earn the right to go home.
(15 votes)
10
Captain Miller: [weakly mutters something] Private Ryan: [leans in closer] What, sir? Captain Miller: James, earn this... earn it.
(11 votes)
11
Captain Miller: Well when I think of home, I... I think of something specific. I think of my, my hammock in the backyard or my wife pruning the rosebushes in a pair of my old work gloves. Private Ryan: This, this one night, two of my brothers came and woke me up in the middle of the night. And they said they had a surprise for me. So they took me to the barn up in the loft and there was my oldest brother, Dan, with Alice, Alice Jardine. I mean, picture a girl who just took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch coming down. And... and Dan's got his shirt off and he's working on this bra and he's tryin to get it off and all of a sudden Shawn just screams out, Danny you're a young man, don't do it! And so Alice Jardine hears this and she screams and she jumps up and she tries to get running out of the barn but she's still got this shirt over her head. She goes running right into the wall and knocks herself out. So now Danny's just so mad at us. He, he starts coming after us, but... but at the same time Alice is over there unconscious. He's gotta wa... , wake her up. So he grabs her by a leg and he's drag, dragging her. At the same time he picks up a shovel. And he's going after Shawn, and Shawn's saying, what are you trying to hit me for? I just did you a favor! And so this makes Dan more angry. He tries to swing this thing, he looses the shovel, goes outta his grasp and hits a kerosene lantern. The thing explodes, the whole barn almost goes up because of this thing. That was it. That was the last, that was, Dan went off to basic the next day. That was the last night the four of us were together. That was two years ago. Tell me about your wife and those rosebushes? Captain Miller: No, no that one I save just for me.
(10 votes)
12
Lieutenant Dewindt: FUBAR. Private Reiben: FUBAR. Sergeant Horvath: FUBAR. Captain Miller: FUBAR Private Jackson: Y'all got that right. Corporal Upham: I looked up fubar in the German dictionary and there's no fubar in here.
(9 votes)
13
Captain Miller: Back home, when I'd tell people what I do for a living, they'd think, "Well, yeah, that figures." But over here, it's a... a big mystery. So I guess I've changed some.
(8 votes)
14
Captain Miller: He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.
(11 votes)
15
Captain Miller: I'll see you on the beach
(8 votes)
16
Sergeant Horvath: That's quite a view. Captain Miller: Yes it is. Quite a view.
(6 votes)
17
Private Reiben: You know what that song reminds me of? It reminds me of Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz and what she said to me the day I left for basic. Mellish: What, don't touch me? Private Reiben: No, Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz was our super's wife. She comes into my mom's shop to try on a few things, all right? And she's easily like a uh, a 44 double E. These things are massive. And I've got her convinced that she's like a 42D, all right. So we're in the dressing room, she's trying to squeeze into this side cut, silk ribbonned, triple panel girdle with the uh, shelf-lift brassiere and it's beautiful because she's just pouring outta this thing, you know? It's beautiful. And she sees me and she can tell I got a hard on the size of the statue of liberty, all right? And she says to me, "Richard, calm down." And she says, "Now when you're over there, if you see anything that upsets you, if you're ever scared, I want you to close your eyes and think of these. You understand?" So I said, "Yes, ma'am."
(6 votes)
18
[Lining up a rifle shot] Private Jackson: My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
(5 votes)
19
Private Jackson: Seems to me, Cap'n, this mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.
(5 votes)
20
Private Jackson: Well, sir, seems to me, God gave me a special gift, fashioned in me a fine instrument of warfare.
(5 votes)
21
Captain Miller: James... I'm here to tell you your brothers were killed in combat. They're dead. Private Ryan: Which one, sir? Captain Miller: All of them.
(5 votes)
22
Captain Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command? Sergeant Horvath: How many? Captain Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the man.
(5 votes)
23
Captain Miller: Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much, my wife is even gonna recognize me whenever it is I get back to her, and how I'll ever be able to, tell about days like today. Ahh, Ryan. I don't know anything about Ryan, I don't care. The man means nothing to me; he's just a name. But if, you know, if going to Rem"al, and finding him so he can go home, if that earns me the right to get back to my wife, well then, then that's my mission.
(4 votes)
24
[Being told he can go home] Private Ryan: Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard. Captain Miller: Is that what I'm supposed to tell your mother when she gets another folded American flag? Private Ryan: You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.
(4 votes)
25
Corporal Upham: Uh, Caparzo, right? Private Caparzo: Hey Corporal, drop dead! And another thing, whenever you salute the Captain you make him an open target for the Germans so don't do it, especially when I'm standing near him!
(4 votes)
26
Captain Miller: Whose goin' left? Private Jackson: I'll do it. I'll go left.
(5 votes)
27
Private Jackson: What I mean, sir, is if you was to put me with this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile from Adolf Hitler... with a clean line of sight... well, pack your bags, boys. War's over.
(3 votes)
28
Captain Miller: It's like finding a needle in a stack of needles.
(3 votes)
29
Sergeant Horvath: This time the mission is the man.
(3 votes)
30
[talking about how to disable the tanks] Captain Miller: you take a standard G.I sock, cram it with as much Composition B as it can hold, rig up a simple fuse, the coat the whole thing with axel grease. now when you throw it, it should stick. its a bomb that sticks, it a "sticky bomb". think of a better way to knock out the tracks and im all ears. Private Reiben: This is great, now we have to surrender our socks.
(3 votes)
31
Captain Miller: I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.
(3 votes)
32
Private Jackson: I wouldn't venture out there fellas. This sniper's got talent.
(3 votes)
33
[Lining up a rifle shot] Private Jackson: Be not that far from me, for trouble is near; haste Thee to help me.
(2 votes)
34
Captain Miller: Things have taken a turn for the surreal.
(2 votes)
35
Private Reiben: What's the saying? "If God's on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?" Upham: "If God is for us, who could be against us?" Private Reiben: Yeah, what'd I say?
(2 votes)
36
Private Reiben: [shouts at Private Ryan] Hey asshole! Two of our guys died trying to find you all right?
(2 votes)
37
Captain Miller: Caparzo, get that kid back up there! Private Caparzo: Captain, the decent thing to do would be take her over to the next town. Captain Miller: We're not here to do the decent thing, we're here to follow fucking orders!
(3 votes)
38
Captain Miller: Get your gear. Let's go. [Reiben stays put] Sergeant Horvath: You heard him, gear up. Your captain just gave you an order. Private Reiben: Yeah, like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real doosey, wasn't it? [walks over to Miller] Sergeant Horvath: Soldier, you are way out of line! Private Reiben: Yes sir, that was one hell of a call coming to take this nest, but hell, we only lost one of our guys going for it. That's right, I hope Mama Ryan's real fuck'n happy knowing that Little Jimmy's life is a little bit more important than two of our guys! But then again we haven't found him yet have we? Have we?
(1 vote)
39
Captain Miller: James Francis Ryan from Iowa? Private Ryan: Yes sir. How'd you guess that?
(1 vote)
40
Private Reiben: You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy? Captain Miller: Anyone wanna answer that? Medic Wade: Hey, think about the poor bastard's mother. Private Reiben: Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. I'm willing to bet that even the Captain's got a mother. Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers.
41
Sergeant Horvath: You don't know when to shut up; you don't know HOW to shut up!
42
Sergeant Horvath: Stars Lieutenant Dewindt: Yeah, Brigadier General Amend, deputy commander, 101st. Some fucking genius had the great idea of welding a couple of steel plates onto our deck to keep the general safe from ground fire. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about it until we were just getting airborne. Well, that's like trying to fly a freight train. OK? Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hell. I nearly broke both my arms trying to keep her level. And when- and when we released, you know I cut as hard as I could, tried to gain some altitude and still keep her from stalling. We came down like a fucking meteor. And that is how we ended up. And the others, they stopped easy enough OK, though, you know? We were just-we were just too damn heavy, you know? The grass was wet, downward slope and all. 22 guys dead. Captain Miller: All that for a general? Lieutenant Dewindt: One man. Private Reiben: Lot of that going around.
43
Private Reiben: I got a bad feeling about this one. Captain Miller: When was the last time you felt good about anything?
44
Private Reiben: You wouldn't shoot the kraut and now you're gonna shoot me? Sergeant Horvath: He's better than you.
45
Private Ryan: Picture a girl who took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
46
Captain Hamill: You got to take Caen so you can take Saint Lo. Captain Miller: You've got to take Saint Lo to take Valognes. Captain Hamill: Valognes you got Cherbourg. Captain Miller: Cherbourg you got Paris. Captain Hamill: Paris you got Berlin. Captain Miller: And then that big boat home.
47
[Miller purposely draws fire] Sergeant Horvath: Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset. Captain Miller: I thought *you* were my mother.
48
[Arguing about whether or not to attack the radio nest] Private Reiben: I'm just saying, this seems like an unnecessary risk considering our objective, sir. Captain Miller: Our objective is to win the war.
49
[Srgt. Horvath just got shot for the third time] Captain Miller: Mike, Are you all right? Sergeant Horvath: I just got the wind knocked out of me. I'm fine!
50
Private Ryan: Uh sir? Where am I to be during all this? Captain Miller: No more than two feet away from me. And that's not negotiable.
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