Released in the year 1994, The Shawshank Redemption is a drama film directed by Frank Darabont. The movie is based on the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from 1984. The film stars Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins in principal roles and follows the journey of a banker named Andy who’s to serve a life sentence for murdering his wife and her love, despite maintaining that he was innocent. He is then sent to Shawshank State Penitentiary, where he befriends a contraband smuggler, Ellis “Red” Redding, and spends the rest of his time in prison trying to survive despite the physically and mentally adverse situations. Despite initially opening to a lukewarm response from the public The Shawshank Redemption, over time, has accumulated a cult following. The film has been lauded, especially for the performances by Freeman and Robin. Here are 15 ‘The Shawshank Redemption dialogues’ that make it a must-watch.
Also read: 20 Quotes & Dialogues From Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind That Define Life
1. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
It’s funny. On the outside, I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
2. There’s always more than just one choice.
I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying.
3. Hope can be so bad but sometimes it’s also the one thing that keeps you going.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
4. Sometimes, music is enough to break all chains.
I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t wanna know. I would like to think they were singing about something was so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and make your heart ache because of it.I tell you this voice soared higher and farther than anybody in a Gray place dares to dream it is like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away. For the briefest moment every last man in Shawshank felt free.
5. If you’re at peace on the inside, there’s really nothing on the outside that can bother you.
Dear Warden, You were right, Salvation lay within.
6. There’s so much regret inside us, but nowhere to let it out.
Not a day goes by I don’t feel regret, and not because I’m in here or because you think I should. I look back on myself the way I was…stupid kid who did that terrible crime…wish I could talk sense to him. Tell him how things are. But I can’t. That kid’s long gone, this old man is all that’s left, and I have to live with that. (beat) Rehabilitated? That’s a bullshit word, so you just go on ahead and stamp that form there, sonny, and stop wasting my damn time. Truth is, I don’t give a shit.
7. A warm place with no memory sounds perfect.
You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.
8. You can’t put talent in a box.
Andy dufresne, the man who crawled through 500 yards of shit and came out clean the other end.
9. Some birds aren’t meant to be caged.
Some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone.
10. Do you ever wonder what someone was thinking of the moment they died?
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.
11. Prison can get the best of anyone.
In prison, a man’ll do almost anything to keep his mind occupied.
12. We take so much for granted.
We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulder and felt like free men.
13. A small mistake can blow your life out of proportion.
A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it.
14. Prison is no fairy tale world.
I wish I could tell you Andy fought the good fight. I wish I could tell you that… but prison is no fairy tale world.
15. We never acknowledge how free we are until we aren’t.
I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel.
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You can watch the movie on Amazon Prime video.