The Greatest Movie Quotes Of All Time

Never underestimate the power of a great movie quote. Need the perfect putdown? Try “To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people” from A Fish Called Wanda. Need to tell someone you love them? Try “You complete me” from Jerry Maguire. Need your buddy to shut up? “Stop trying to make fetch happen!” from Mean Girls should fit the bill. The movie quotes on this list, though? They’re the best of the best — and they deserve to be used time and time again.


We consulted Ranker’s “The Greatest Movie Quotes Of All Time” poll to help compile our list. Roughly 11,700 people voted 115,000 times in this poll. And to build our unique ranking, we subtracted the downvotes from the upvotes of each quote and saw what came out on top. Enjoy!


*All data was correct as of June 6, 2022.

40. "E.T. Phone home."

Movie: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Released: 1982

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Melissa Mathison

Said by: E.T. (Pat Welsh)

Upvotes: 621

Downvotes: 324

Total: 297


Sorry to burst your bubble, but the E.T. puppet didn’t actually speak while they were making the movie. Instead, director Steven Spielberg said E.T.’s lines to his young cast. It was only in post-production that the filmmakers tapped Pat Welsh to provide the voice and sound designer Ben Burtt to perfectly mix it.

39. "The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club."

Movie: Fight Club

Released: 1999

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Jim Uhls

Said by: Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt)

Upvotes: 397

Downvotes: 99

Total: 298


Brad Pitt went above and beyond to bring the divisive Tyler Durden to life in Fight Club. This included calling on his dentist to chip away parts of his teeth. It was seemingly worth the effort, though, because people are still talking about the movie today — even if that breaks the first two rules of Fight Club.

38. "WILSOOOON!!!!!!"

Movie: Cast Away

Released: 2000

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Writer: William Broyles Jr.

Said by: Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks)

Upvotes: 1,068

Downvotes: 762

Total: 306


Surely only America’s Dad Tom Hanks could make talking to a volleyball memorable? But then again, the actor did have some poignant motivation for his incredible performance opposite the leather ball. “[Writer Bill Broyles] came up with the idea of a volleyball, and he named it Wilson in honor of my beautiful bride [Rita Wilson],” Hanks told the SmartLess podcast in 2021.

37. "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Movie: Airplane!

Released: 1980

Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker

Writer: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker

Said by: Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen)

Upvotes: 702

Downvotes: 363

Total: 339


The secret to the success of Airplane! is that the stars play the comedy absolutely straight. “I think people remember the line because of Leslie Nielsen’s delivery,” co-writer Jeff Zucker told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016. “The way he said it was exactly what we were going for.”