This collection of 30 unforgettable quotes encapsulates the essence of The Shawshank Redemption, offering a glimpse into the minds and hearts of its unforgettable characters. As you delve into these profound words, let them transport you back to the walls of Shawshank, reminding you of the enduring power of hope, the resilience of the human spirit, and the transformative nature of friendship.
- Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. – Red
- Get busy living or get busy dying. – Andy Dufresne
- I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living or get busy dying. – Andy Dufresne
- These walls. So many years I told myself I didn’t care about them one bit. Truth is, I do. I get institutionalized. – Red
- You gotta remember, Red, sometimes the path you’re on ain’t the path that takes you where you wanna go. – Andy Dufresne
- That’s the beauty of all this, Heywood. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. – Andy Dufresne
- I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it here, because I don’t. It’s just a damn sight better than being dead. – Red
- Andy Dufresne is a strange bird. – Heywood
- Oh, Andy loved those rocks. In the prison yard, a man could use a rock. Not to hurt, necessarily, but to remind himself he still had the strength to hurt. It gave him a sense of power. – Red
- Institutionalized. They treat you with respect, but they take away your initiative. You wouldn’t even know how to start. – Red
- I told you not to trust those guards, Andy. – Red
- Maybe it’s the exercise, the fresh air. No, it’s the hope. – Heywood
- Lord have mercy. You ever notice how hope can be a dangerous thing? It can drive a man insane. – Heywood
- That’s what it is all about. Freedom. Holes. And redemption. I don’t even know what the hell that means anymore. – Red
- I put in for a transfer to Zihuatanejo. – Andy Dufresne
- They say a good lawyer with the judge in his pocket can make a good case out of thin air. But a bad lawyer with the judge in his pocket? He can turn a rock into a diamond. – Andy Dufresne
- Andy Dufresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side. – Red
- Maybe it meant something more than just pushing a rock up a hill. Maybe it meant shoving Sisyphus back down the damn mountain. – Red
- I doubt I’ll see you again, Andy. – Red
- I got things I gotta do. – Andy Dufresne
- What are you, Andy? A magician? – Red
- You know, Andy Dufresne is a very stubborn fella. – Red
- Mozart in the shower. You know, some things just never go out of style. – Red
- I told you so. – Andy Dufresne (written on a wall)
- I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. And when you set them free, they sing their hearts out for a while, but you never see them in quite the same way again. But if I had the chance, I’d let them all go. – Red
- If you ever get out of here, Andy, and you ever get tired of looking at prison walls, come on down to Zihuatanejo. It’s on the Pacific coast, Mexico. It’s halfway between nowhere and anywhere. – Red
- I hope to see my wife in Zihuatanejo. But I know if I did see her, she’d be older, so I wouldn’t recognize her. We’d stare at each other, strangers in a strange land. – Red
- I guess I just miss her. I dunno. I miss her laughter. God, I miss her laughter. – Red
- It took two years to tunnel through the rock and another four to get clear. Not a single damn sound in that time. Except for the blasting from that newfangled prison expansion project. I tell you, those were some noisy damn birds. – Red
- I should’ve known you wouldn’t be forgetting that shortcut, Andy. – Red
