As a result of his claims of innocence, banker Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover in 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption”. As a prisoner for the next two decades, he become friends with Ellis “Red” Redding, a contraband smuggler, and participates in Samuel Norton’s money laundering operation.
Against the grim backdrop of a state penitentiary, the film explores the human capacity for hope and its capacity to sustain individuals in the most difficult circumstances. Here are some of the best quotes from this film.
- “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.” – Andy Dufresne
- “Andy Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” – Red
- “Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Andy Dufresne
- “I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid.” – Red
- “I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.” – Red
- “That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you… Haven’t you ever felt that way about music?” – Andy Dufresne
- “Forty years I been asking permission to piss. I can’t squeeze a drop without say-so.” – Red
- “These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.” – Red
- “I’d like to think that the last thing that went through his head, other than that bullet, was to wonder how the hell Andy Dufresne ever got the best of him.” – Red
- “Only guilty man in Shawshank.” – Red
- “She was beautiful. God I loved her. I just didn’t know how to show it, that’s all. I killed her, Red. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I drove her away. And that’s why she died, because of me. The way I am.” – Andy Dufresne
- “Dear Red. If you’re reading this, you’ve gotten out. And if you’ve come this far, maybe you’re willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don’t you?” – Andy Dufresne
- “In 1966, Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub.” – Red
- “The first night’s the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell… and those bars slam home… that’s when you know it’s for real.” – Red
- “I have no enemies here.” – Andy Dufresne