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.”