Inspirational Manly Movie Quotes to Get You Fired Up

For eons now men have been carrying entire conversations with little more than well placed movie quotes. In fact, the “name that movie quote” game has become the method of choice for passing time on the road or in a line amongst men countrywide. But why are we so determined to remember movie scenes that we watch the same films time and time again? Why do we enjoy quotes more when they’re obscure and harder to recognize? Honestly, I’m not sure. What I do know is that I, like so many of you, love everything from Tarantino and Shyamalan to the Farrelly brothers and everything in between. Here are a few of the most manly movie scenes in recent history.

#5 True Romance

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“You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you.”

This is one of Quentin Tarantino’s more gritty films which sets the stage perfectly for one of the best written verbal chess games of all time. A high ranking enforcer of a mob boss is looking for a boy who is being protected by his father. The man’s father knows that he’ll die whether or not he gives up the location of his son.

In an effort to keep his enemy from gaining information that will surely lead to his sons demise, he decides to insult the Sicilian mobster so badly that he’ll be unable to finish the interrogation. Accepting his certain death, the father takes a cigarette and conversationally inflicts blow after blow to the mob boss and his Sicilian heritage. This scene applies a very human connection to the crime world and is bound to leave you speechless. Just remember the context of the words being spoken. He’s addressing a man devoid of morality in a way that will be heard by such.

#4 Anchorman II

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Wes Mantooth: Now here’s the thing. While I’ve been talking, my news team has emptied their gas tanks at your feet. I drop this smoke and every one of you goes poof.

Jack Lime: Well, you forgot one thing leatherman. You drop that smoke, you die, too.

Wes Mantooth: [Wes laughs] With the things I’ve done in my life? Oh, I know I’m going to burn in hell. So I sure as shit ain’t afraid to burn here on Earth.

Ron Burgundy: Oh my goodness, that’s the most badass thing I have ever heard.

The best thing about this quote is that it was the perfect ending to the outrageous news team fight sequence at the end of the movie. Vince Vaughn saved the day in the movie and for the audience. He captured a moment of Mafioso goodness in the midst of a convoluted mess with minotaurs, lasers and ghosts. Just don’t make fun of his mom, she was a saint!

My actual favorite quote in this movie is when Ron says “Best decision I ever made was putting this deep fryer in the RV”, but that’s only because I want to install a deep fryer in my RV.

#3 Good Will Hunting

Will pretty much destroyed Robin Williams’ character the night before by diagnosing a painting of his. For a brief moment you can see a glimmer of respect out of Will when Williams grabs him by the throat and slams him against the wall. Big dog mentality was obviously the best way to break through to a fellow resident of south Boston. What’s amazing however, is how Robin’s character was able to use reason and logic to appeal to Will’s senses the following morning. My personal favorite monologue of all time is what follows:

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“You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right: ‘Once more into the breach, dear friends.’ But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God put an angel on Earth just for you.”

The point is that knowledge is no substitute for experience. This quote really reminds me of the Internet and the millions of “geniuses” who think they’ve mastered a subject with a few keystrokes. Never forget, knowledge is not wisdom! The wise are forged through repetitive experience. It often involves loss, pain, regret and heartache but fortunately there’s a yin to the yang. Loss isn’t possible without first having possession. A heart can’t ache if it doesn’t beat and you can never regret if there was never a choice. Life is both tough and easy, hard and soft, painful and overwhelmingly sensational. This is the tragic beauty that is our joy.

#2 The Grey

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“Once more into the fray… Into the last good fight I’ll ever know… Live or die on this day… Live or die on this day…”

A great friend of mine used to say, “there’s freedom in losing all hope.” He would only say it right before surf torture at BUD/S, which made it freekin hilarious! I love both of these quotes because of what they mean, not what they say. Our entire lives we’re taught self-preservation and that staying healthy and safe is paramount to risk. But is this really true? Is safety more important than risk? I ask this because triumph can only come about when risk is accepted, mitigated and overcome. There are very few times in life when we’re allowed, or even expected, to throw caution to the wind and say Fuck It, Lets Do It (FILDI*).

When self-preservation becomes impossible, I want to see what I am when all that’s left is skin and bone. I was afforded such an opportunity in the first phase of BUD/S when Bryan Black and I entered into the much dreaded Hell Week. Let me just say, it was exactly as advertised. For the first time in my life, I was able to see what and who I was behind the curtain of super ego. I wasn’t the biggest, fastest, or strongest guy there but figured out quickly that I could tell a well timed joke when things got tough. I also learned that gratitude was more powerful than anger because it lasted longer and that humor was more effective than silence because it made light of things, the ultimate defense mechanism. While the training was a great example of how positive an FILDI attitude can be, real world applications are always more powerful.

There are times in life when reason, logic and good intentions aren’t enough. This movie demonstrates this beautifully. The Alpha wolf was upon him and it was kill or be killed. It’s in those dire times that we should rise to the occasion and accept the freedom found in losing all hope. Meet your end well and deal as much pain as possible. “Into the last good fight I’ll ever know.”

*Note: My good friend Mike Petrucci showed me a fantastic video by Ze Frank called, “An Invocation for Beginnings.” This video is where I got FILDI from. Here’s another great quotes from that video: “Let me remember that my courage is a wild dog. It won’t just come when I call it, I have to chase it down and hold on as tight as I can.”

#1 300

Persian Emissary: “No, not slaves. Your women will be slaves. Your sons, your daughters, your elders will be slaves, but not you, no. By noon this day, you will be dead men! The thousand nations of the Persian Empire descend upon you! Our arrows will blot out the sun!”

Stelios: “Then we will fight in the shade.”

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The reason why this is probably the most bad ass quote of all time is because it actually happened, although it wasn’t Stelios who said it. Dienekes was arguably the best soldier to have fought alongside Leonidas at Thermopylae. The famous historian Herodotus wrote, “the Spartan Dienekes is said to have proved himself the best man of all, the same who, as they report, uttered this saying before they engaged battle with the Medes.”

Stephen Pressfield captured the person of Dienekes beautifully in Gates of Fire. He lied and cheated his way into being among the 300 Spartans by claiming to have a son when he didn’t. He was safe and secure to practice the art of self-preservation for the remainder of his life but instead chose to unleash his FILDI. In the face of certain death, with his brothers at his side, he taunts the most dangerous military power in his history. He brought levity to an impossible situation which fueled the hearts of the men. The hot gates weren’t about victory, they were about uniting Greece in time to take a strategic approach to the coming Persians. Time was the Spartans real enemy and stalling was their only weapon.

Gates of Fire is one of my favorite books and I highly recommend the read!

What are some movie quotes that get you amped up?