17 Great Quotes from The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Arguably the most excellent film ever made, The Shawshank Redemption doesn’t shy away from top viewer and critic lists even in 2024. Directed by Frank Darabont, the film follows two convicts (played by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman) whose friendship leads to a redemption based on compassion.

Award-wise, The Shawshank Redemption had a tough time, even though it’s considered a cinema classic. The film received seven nominations at the Oscars but no awards, even in the Best Acting categories. Yet, critically speaking, it’s the number one film on IMDB, rated at a magnificent 9.3 out of 10. The film has an audience score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

There are some great quotes from the movie that have stuck with us since its release in 1994. Here are some of our favourite quotes from The Shawshank Redemption.

Quotes from The Shawshank Redemption

1. Andy Dufresne: Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
2. Red: Sometimes it makes me sad, though… Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that 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. I guess I just miss my friend.
3. Andy Dufresne: If they ever try to trace any of those accounts, they’re gonna end up chasing a figment of my imagination. Red: Well, I’ll be damned. Did I say you were good? Shit, you’re a Rembrandt! Andy Dufresne: Yeah. The funny thing is – on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.
4. Andy Dufresne: I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
5. Red: Andy Dufresne – who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
6. Red: Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
7. 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. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
8. Andy Dufresne: That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you… Haven’t you ever felt that way about music? Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn’t make much sense in here. Andy Dufresne: Here’s where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don’t forget. Red: Forget? Andy Dufresne: Forget that… there are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. That there’s something inside… that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours. Red: What’re you talking about? Andy Dufresne: Hope.
9. Red: Same old shit, different day.
10. Red: Forty years I been asking permission to piss. I can’t squeeze a drop without say-so.
11. 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.
12. Andy Dufresne: What about you? What are you in here for? Red: Murder, same as you. Andy Dufresne: Innocent? Red: Only guilty man in Shawshank.
13. Red: I don’t know; every man has his breaking point.
14. Brooks: Easy peasy japanesey.
15. Red: We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men. Hell, we could have been tarring the roof of one of our own houses. We were the lords of all creation. As for Andy – he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer.
16. District Attorney: And that also is very convenient, isn’t it, Mr. Dufresne? Andy Dufresne: Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found.
17. Warden Samuel Norton: I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.