Play it again, Sam! and great movie lines

I love great movie lines. Yes, I love them for all the reasons that everyone else loves them. They make me laugh, smile, or cry — sometimes all at the same time. I love everything about them.

Oh, sometimes we remember the lines wrong. In the classic scene from Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman leans on the piano and says, “Play it once, Sam.” Humphrey Bogart’s Rick also says, “Play it” — but nobody says, “Play it again, Sam.” It’s still a classic movie and a classic line no matter how we remember it.

Photo by Pexels.

However, there’s another reason I love great movie lines. I love the creativity and inspiration and how it gets in my head and moves my own writing. They make me want to create something just as touching. Here’s a few lines, in no particular order, that get my writing juices flowing. Some have a direct connection to art and creativity, others, less so, but they’re all powerful:

“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” —Gladiator, 2000.

If the emotion in that line doesn’t get your brain’s neuron’s rumbling like pistons in a car, you might want to check your pulse to make sure you’re still alive.

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William Thacker: “I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are, my mother has trouble remembering my name.”

Anna Scott: “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” —Notting Hill, 1999.

It’s sappy schmutz, but it’s great wonderful schmutz that gets me every stinking time.

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“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. That you are here—that life exists, and identity, that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” —John Keating in Dead Poet’s Society, 1989.

Oh, yes, carpe diem, this is what I live for, my family and the beauty in life that we all seem to take for granted.

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“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” —Doc Brown in Back to the Future, 1985.

“We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.” —Emilio Estevez as the jock, Andrew Clark, in The Breakfast Club, 1985.

Dream big dreams. Create big ideas. Don’t worry about being strange or different, just write. The bigger dream, the better.

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“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” —Sir William Wallace in Braveheart, 1995.

Nothing gets the writing flowing than a screaming, half-crazed 13th century Scottish warrior urging his ragtag rabble on against a better trained Army and England’s King Edward I.

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“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” —Harry Burns in When Harry Met Sally, 1989.

Writer Nora Ephron’s first draft had Sally and Harry splitting up because she considered a breakup to be more realistic. Billy Crystal ad-libbed the ending and reminds me that “tomayto, tomato” there’s no right way to write. We all have our own thoughts and endings, the key is getting the idea down, and making it your own.

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“Oh yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.” —Rafiki in The Lion King, 1994.

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 2001.

Yes, two different lines, but when I hear them both, I’m reminded to be authentic, truthful, and live life to the fullest.

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“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place… and I don´t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain’t about how hard you hit… It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward… how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That´s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits.” —Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa, 2006.

I take Rocky’s message to heart: I can write or skip today and not write, but the choice is mine. Whatever decision I make: don’t whine about it. For that reason, I choose to write.

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“Some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright.” —Red, played by Morgan Freeman, in The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.

My takeaway every time I hear that line: Write, write, and write some more.

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There are so many other great movie lines. Forest Gump’s “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get'” and The Godfather’s “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” and Gone with the Wind’s “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” all come to mind.

I could go on and on, but maybe that’s the beauty of great art, it inspires us and keeps us wanting more. These and others work for me. What movie quotes inspire you to create?