As educators and communicators, it is important to remember that certain movies and movie quotes have gone beyond linguistic decorations to become part of the fabric of our language. I group movie quotes into three categories:
I. Culturally iconic quotes that everyone is expected to know. These are so pervasive that many are actually misquotes and no one cares:
- Play it again, Sam
- Luke, I am your father.
II. Quotes so classic that the sentence structure is enough:
- You had me at _______.
- There’s no crying in _______.
- These aren’t the _______ you’re looking for. ← hand wave required
- We’re going to need a bigger _______.
III. Quotes that you use with family and friends in everyday conversation. They may or may not be well known but they’re wonderful simply because you’ve shared those moments. Here are a few of mine:
- Have fun storming the castle!*
- We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.
- …leave the cannoli.
- Tents are hard.
- Myth, myth!… Yeth?
- Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.
*Actually, anything from The Princess Bride.
PS – The Spider-man Noir quote from “Into the Spider-Verse” in the image is “III” for now, but I predict it will be I & II someday.
The Elements of Simple 