Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Cinematic wisdom

For no real reason, I think there should be a selection online of the greatest advice ever given in the movies or TV shows. Hence this post. I'll start listing some as they come to me, and feel free to add some in comments -- I'll update as needed.

(These will of necessity be in no particular order.)

1. "Try not! Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." (The Empire Strikes Back)

2. "Don't tug on that! You never know what it might be attached to." (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension)

3. "Don't drink it all at once, and try not to drink it all alone." (Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Family")

4. "Look eye! Always look eye." (The Karate Kid)

5. "People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come." (Field of Dreams)

6. "Your half-assed underparenting is a lot more fun than your half-assed overparenting." (The Simpsons)

7. "No matter where you go in life, always keep an eye for Johnny the tackling Alzheimer's patient." (Scrubs)

8. "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." (A League of Their Own)

9. "Poise! Poise!" (Seinfeld, "The Chaperone")

10. "God doesn't cause car accidents, and you know it. Stop using me as an excuse." (The West Wing, "Two Cathedrals")

11. "Stay away from the mounds, or the termites will eat all the wood in your body." (BJ from The Amazing Race IX)

Fire away! I'll update as I think of more. (No need to keep it at one selection per film or show, either.)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this qualifies as advice. It's one of my all time favorite bits of movie wisdom. From Second Hand Lions: "Sometimes the most important things for a man to believe in are things that might or might not be true."

I love this sort of thing. I'm sure I'll think of more later. (maybe much later)

Call me Paul said...

Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever. The Replacements

Joe Sez said...

"... remember, no matter where you go, there you are. " Buckaroo Banzai

"Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. ... I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next. " R. Crowe in a deep vice as Maximus in "Gladiator".

"Q:What is best in life?
A: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." Arnold as Conan. Hilarious with the Austrian accent.

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth. "
Anakin in SW II. Worse moive line evah!

Joe Sez said...

"you make me want to be a better man." I wish snarky Jack hadn't spoken the line because I think it's a great thought.

Tinker said...

"Shepard Book always told me... if you can't do something smart, do something right" Jayne, Serenity

Anonymous said...

these are all great, but if i were going to pick a line from a league of their own it would be the 'kid' who gives gina davis a ride:

Kid: "What's your rush, dollbody? What do you say we slip in the back seat, and make a man out of me?"
Dottie Hinson: "What do you say I smack you around for a while?"
Kid [wait for it]: "Can't we do both?"

Anonymous said...

Pardon me if I'm being a bit trollish but I think some people are not quite getting it. It's supposed to be advice from movies and TV, not just "good movie lines."

Tosy And Cosh said...

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.
- Shawshank Redemption

Anonymous said...

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." Animal House

Larry Hamelin said...

Good grief! How can you omit the greatest movie advice ever given?!

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."