Jurors were asked to consider the following criteria in making their selections:
Movie quotation: A statement, phrase or brief exchange of dialogue spoken in an American film.[a] Lyrics from songs are not eligible.
Cultural impact: Movie quotations that viewers use in their own lives and situations; circulating through popular culture, they become part of the national lexicon.
Legacy: Movie quotations that viewers use to evoke the memory of a treasured film, thus ensuring and enlivening its historical legacy.
The list
The table below reproduces the quotes as the AFI published them.[2]
"Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!"
"Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!"
The line "My precious", from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, is the only quote from a movie released in the 21st century and the only one by a CGI character.
^AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. Additionally, only quotations from feature-length American films released before January 1, 2004, were considered. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.
^Paul Newman repeats the line later in the film, mocking the prison warden, though he says "a failure", rather than simply "failure". Also heard quoted in this form.
^ abThis paraphrases a line from The Tempest by William Shakespeare: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" (often misquoted as "made of")
^Appears in some form in a total of 25 films; Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die.
^According to The Annotated Wizard of Oz, "[L. Frank] Baum [who quotes the phrase in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz] appears to be playing with the famous sentiment of John Howard Payne's 1823 song, 'Home, Sweet Home' [the melody of which, by Sir Henry Bishop, is played over several repetitions of the line]: 'Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.' ... Baum's irony was apparently lost on the makers of the famous movie. Arthur Freed, assistant to the producer Mervyn LeRoy, was responsible for making 'There's No Place Like Home' the theme of the 1939 MGM picture....He was adamant that Dorothy repeat 'There's No Place Like Home' when she clicks her heels together three times.'" Michael Patrick Hearn (Ed.), The Annotated Wizard of Oz, p. 77, n. 1.
^Mae West paraphrased the line in her next film, I'm No Angel, as "Come up and see me sometime". Hence the line in She Done Him Wrong is often misquoted as "Why don't you come up and see me sometime?"
^Often misquoted as "If you build it, they will come."
^The line is based on an actual message from Apollo 13. Astronaut Swigert said "Houston, we've had a problem here," then Lovell repeated "Houston, we've had a problem".
^Often misquoted as "How he got in my pajamas, I'll never know." The time frame also varies ("yesterday", "once", etc.).
^The scene from the film in which this line appears is also excerpted in the movie's trailer, but in the trailer the sequence is edited so that Gekko's line occurs as simply "Greed is good." This shorter version of the line has become more popular – and more widely quoted – than the fuller version.
^This maxim is attributed to several military strategists, notably Sun-tzu, Chinese general.
^Often misquoted as "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into!"
^Although occurring in the 1949 film, this line did not become a widespread catchphrase until after the 1961 premiere of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In the opening scene of that play, Martha quotes this line and then (since she has apparently forgotten) she asks George which of Bette Davis's films it is from.
^This line, which does not appear in any of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, was first said onscreen in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The line's first occurrence is in the stage play Sherlock Holmes, written entirely by William Gillette with Doyle's approval, for which Gilette listed Doyle as co-author.
^Although "Who's on first" appeared in numerous other Abbott and Costello films prior to 1945, the one featured in The Naughty Nineties is considered the best rendition of the sketch.
^Baer, William (2008). Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood. pp. 201–202. ISBN978-0-313-34898-3. Reportedly an ad lib. Commonly misquoted as "We're gonna need a bigger boat," as for example at the Urban Dictionary.
^"During the 'Gay Nineties' period, George M. coined [this as] his famous curtain speech..." --
"Obituary: George M. Cohan, 64, Dies at Home Here". The New York Times. New York. November 6, 1942. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
