The Most Genius Movie Quotes, Ranked

A movie can only be as good as its script. It’s where every­thing has its roots: the sto­ry, the char­ac­ters, the themes, and, of course, the dia­logue. In par­tic­u­lar, dia­logue can make or break a film. The sto­ry can be enter­tain­ing, the char­ac­ters can be inter­est­ing, and the themes can be com­pelling, but if the way they speak feels clunky and arti­fi­cial, the audi­ence’s sus­pen­sion of dis­be­lief will fall apart. As such, dia­logue is one of the pieces of the craft that’s most impor­tant for screen­writ­ers to mas­ter.

Through­out the his­to­ry of cin­e­ma, there have been sev­er­al great pieces of dia­logue, but to call a movie quote “genius” is a dif­fer­ent tier alto­geth­er. We’re talk­ing about dia­logue that isn’t just mem­o­rable and icon­ic: It’s bril­liant writ­ing. Whether it’s because the quote encap­su­lates the film’s themes per­fect­ly, offers a rev­o­lu­tion­ary plot twist, or is sim­ply writ­ten in a way that’s sur­pris­ing­ly clever, these are the most genius pieces of dia­logue in film his­to­ry, ranked from smart to smartest.

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

One of the most icon­ic films of Hol­ly­wood’s Gold­en Age, Casablan­cabecame one of the pre­cur­sors of the cult cin­e­ma phe­nom­e­non. It was its cult fol­low­ing, pre­cise­ly, that cement­ed its rep­u­ta­tion as one of the most quotable movies ever writ­ten. This romance dra­ma is filled to the brim with wit­ty, mem­o­rable dia­logue, and it’s always a delight to quote it when rewatch­ing the film

Casablan­ca has some of the best last five min­utes in cin­e­mat­ic his­to­ry, includ­ing one of the best final lines in any movie. This time­less quote does far more than just make the movie’s poignant end­ing con­clude on a more bit­ter­sweet note: It’s also the per­fect cul­mi­na­tion of Rick Blaine’s (Humphrey Bog­a­rt) char­ac­ter, as well as a reshap­ing of what the sto­ry’s finale rep­re­sents. Ilsa Lund’s (Ingrid Bergman) depar­ture becomes not only heart­break, but also a chance at a rebirth for Rick.

“Well, nobody’s perfect.”

‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959)

Arguably the great­est screen­writer of Hol­ly­wood’s Clas­sic era, Aus­tri­an-born Bil­ly Wilder was always ahead of the curve when it came to defy­ing the reg­u­la­tions of the Hays Code as sub­tly and hilar­i­ous­ly as he could. Some Like It Hot is one of his best, fun­ni­est, and most trans­gres­sive films, one whose depic­tion of gen­der and sex­u­al­i­ty has aged sur­pris­ing­ly well for a near­ly 70-year-old movie.

All in all, Some Like It Hot is one of the most time­less clas­sic come­dies in movie his­to­ry, and that def­i­nite­ly includes its end­ing, where Osgood (Joe E. Brown) accepts Daphne (Jack Lem­mon) despite her actu­al­ly being Jer­ry, a man. Sure, it’s a moment played for laughs, but it’s also one of the most pro­gres­sive end­ings in Clas­si­cal Hol­ly­wood his­to­ry, all thanks to this bril­liant quote, spo­ken by one of cin­e­ma’s biggest, not to men­tion hap­pi­est, bisex­u­al icons.

“You talking to me?”

‘Taxi Driver’ (1976)

In Mar­tin Scors­ese’s Taxi Dri­ver, Robert De Niro deliv­ers one of the great­est per­for­mances of his career as the insom­ni­ac anti­hero Travis Bick­le. Grim, grit­ty, and about as close to per­fec­tion as char­ac­ter stud­ies get, the film is one of the most influ­en­tial of the New Hol­ly­wood move­ment, a riv­et­ing dra­ma about lone­li­ness, iso­la­tion, vio­lence, and urban decay.

The movie’s most famous quote, as it hap­pens, was ad-libbed by De Niro. This bril­liant moment of impro­vi­sa­tion only con­tributes to the genius of the line. A per­fect encap­su­la­tion of Bick­le’s alien­at­ed and twist­ed psy­che, the quote is one of the most fit­ting catch­phras­es of any char­ac­ter in film his­to­ry. It’s a char­ac­ter con­struct­ing his mythol­o­gy right in front of the audi­ence’s eyes, and it was all De Niro’s idea—as if any more proof were need­ed that he’s one of the best actors to ever grace the medi­um.

“You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.”

‘On the Waterfront’ (1954

Many rec­og­nize Mar­lon Bran­do as the great­est Amer­i­can actor who ever lived, and it was On the Water­front that earned him his first-ever Oscar vic­to­ry, only three short years after his first-ever nom­i­na­tion for A Street­car Named Desire. It’s one of the most elec­tri­fy­ing melo­dra­mas of its era, spear­head­ed by Bran­do, redefin­ing the bound­aries of screen act­ing.

It’s one of Bran­do’s most essen­tial movies, a stag­ger­ing tale of cor­rup­tion and vio­lence with the best work of his career. One need­n’t look any fur­ther than the film’s most icon­ic scene, a dia­logue between Ter­ry (Bran­do) and Charley (Rod Steiger), to see why Bran­do’s per­for­mance is so good. The “con­tender” quote is bril­liant enough on paper — an emo­tion­al­ly pow­er­ful expres­sion of raw self-aware­ness — but it’s Bran­do who ele­vates it to some­thing tran­scen­den­tal­ly genius through his bril­liant­ly sub­tle deliv­ery.

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939)

To this day, after adjust­ing for infla­tion, Gone With the Wind is the high­est-gross­ing movie of all time by a decent mar­gin, and that’s quite unlike­ly to ever change. Some aspects of it have aged very poor­ly, but some­thing remains unde­ni­able: It’s one of the biggest and most ambi­tious achieve­ments in the his­to­ry of cin­e­ma, a roman­tic melo­dra­ma whose unpar­al­leled scope and scale could nev­er pos­si­bly be matched.

It’s one of the best films about life dur­ing war, reflect­ing its themes on the tumul­tuous rela­tion­ship between Rhett (Clark Gable) and Scar­lett (Vivien Leigh)—which, sad­ly, ends in tragedy and heart­break. Before he dis­ap­pears for a final time into the morn­ing fog dur­ing the movie’s end­ing, Rhett throws at Scar­lett one of the most icon­ic lines in film his­to­ry. At the time, the inclu­sion of the word “damn” was trans­gres­sive. That may not be the case any­more, but the quote still packs a hell of a lot of bite, twist­ing every­thing that’s come before on its head and fin­ish­ing off the sto­ry with a leg­endary bit of blunt­ness.