Cool Hand Luke quotes

View Quote [A young woman begins washing a car near the inmates, soaping up her own body as well]
Convict #1: Oh man, oh man, I'm dyin'.
Convict #2: She ain't got nothin' but, nothin' but one safety pin holdin' that thing on. Come on safety pin, POP. Come on baby, POP.
Dragline: Hey Lord, whatever I done, don't strike me blind for another couple of minutes. My Lucille!...That's Lucille, you mother-head. Anything so innocent and built like that just gotta be named Lucille.
Convict: She don't know what she's doin'.
Luke: Oh boy, she knows exactly what she's doin'. She's drivin' us crazy and lovin' every minute of it.
Dragline: Shut your mouth about my Lucille.

View Quote Arletta: I always hoped to see you well fixed. Have me a crop of grandkids to fuss around with.
Luke: I'd like to oblige you, Arletta, but uh, right off, I just don't know where to put my hands on it.
Arletta: You know, sometimes, I wished people was like dogs, Luke. Comes a time, a day like, when the bitch just don't recognize the pups no more, so she don't have no hopes nor love to give her pain. She just don't give a damn...
Luke: You've done your best, Arletta. What I've done - myself is the only problem.
Arletta: No, no it ain't Luke. You ain't alone. Everywhere you go, I'm with you. John too.
Luke: You never thought maybe that's a heavy load?
Arletta: Aw, why, we, we always thought you was strong enough to carry it. Was we wrong?
Luke: I don't know. There are things just never the way they seem, Arletta. You know that. A man's gotta go his own way.
Arletta: I guess I just gotta, gotta love you and let go, hmm?
Luke: I guess.
Arletta: Well, I ain't askin' what ya gonna do when you get out because I'll be dead and it don't matter.
Luke: You never did want to live forever. I mean, it wasn't such a hell of a life.
Arletta: Oh, I had me, I had me some high old times. Your old man, Luke. He wasn't much good for stickin' around, but dammit, he made me laugh.
Luke: Yeah, I would have liked to have knowed him, the way you talk about him.
Arletta: [after coughing] He'd have broke you up. Luke?...What went wrong?
Luke: Nothin', everything's cool as can be. Arletta, I tried. I mean, to live always free and above board like you. And, I don't know. I just can't seem to find no elbow room.
Arletta: Oh now, you always had good jobs. And that girl in Kentucky. Oh, I'd taken a shine to her.
Luke: And she sure took off - with that convertible fella.
Arletta: Well, why not? Idea of marryin' got you all, all bollocksed-up. Tryin' to be respectable. You, you was borin' the hell out of all of us. I'm leavin' the place to John.
Luke: That's good. He earned it.
Arletta: Ain't nothin' to do with it. I just, I just never give John the, the kind of, you know, feelin' that I give you, so I'm, I'm gonna pay him back now. Oh, don't feel you have to say anythin'. The way it is, you see, sometimes you just, just have a feelin' for a child...with John, I just didn't.

View Quote Luke: I can eat fifty eggs.
Dragline: Nobody can eat fifty eggs.
Convict: You just said he could eat anything.
Dragline: Did you ever eat fifty eggs?
Luke: Nobody ever eat fifty eggs.
Convict: Hey, Babalugats. We got a bet here.
Dragline: My boy says he can eat fifty eggs, he can eat fifty eggs.
Convict: Yeah, but in how long?
Luke: An hour.
Convict: Well, I believe I'll take part of that wager.
Dragline: Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for? Why not thirty-five or thirty-nine?
Luke: I thought it was a nice round number.

View Quote What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. I don't like it anymore than you men. Note: bolded portion ranked #11 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

View Quote Luke: [Discussing God and the rain] Let him go. Bam, Bam.
Dragline: Knock it off, Luke. You can't talk about Him that way.
Luke: Are you still believin' in that big bearded Boss up there? You think he's watchin' us?
Dragline: Get in here. Ain't ya scared? Ain't ya scared of dyin'?
Luke: Dyin'? Boy, he can have this little life any time he wants to. Do ya hear that? Are ya hearin' it? Come on. You're welcome to it, ol' timer. Let me know you're up there. Come on. Love me, hate me, kill me, anything. Just let me know it.
[He looks around]
Luke: I'm just standin' in the rain talkin' to myself.

View Quote Boss Paul: That ditch is Boss Kean's ditch. And I told him that dirt in it's your dirt. What's your dirt doin' in his ditch?
Luke: I don't know, Boss.
Boss Paul: You better get in there and get it out, boy.

View Quote Carr: Them clothes got laundry numbers on them. You remember your number and always wear the ones that has your number. Any man forgets his number spends a night in the box. These here spoons you keep with you. Any man loses his spoon spends a night in the box. There's no playing grab-ass or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-ass or fighting in the building spends a night in the box. First bell's at five minutes of eight when you will get in your bunk. Last bell is at eight. Any man not in his bunk at eight spends the night in the box. There is no smoking in the prone position in bed. To smoke you must have both legs over the side of your bunk. Any man caught smoking in the prone position in bed... spends a night in the box. You get two sheets. Every Saturday, you put the clean sheet on the top... the top sheet on the bottom... and the bottom sheet you turn in to the laundry boy. Any man turns in the wrong sheet spends a night in the box. No one'll sit in the bunks with dirty pants on. Any man with dirty pants on sitting on the bunks spends a night in the box. Any man don't bring back his empty pop bottle spends a night in the box. Any man loud talking spends a night in the box. You got questions, you come to me. I'm Carr, the floor walker. I'm responsible for order in here. Any man don't keep order spends a night in...
Luke: ...the box.
Carr: I hope you ain't going to be a hard case.
Luke: [Smiles, shakes head]

View Quote Dragline: They took him right down that road.
Convicts: What'd he look like, Drag?...Yeah, what'd he look like?..He had his eyes opened or closed, Drag?
Dragline: He was smiling...That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Old Luke, he was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker.

View Quote Luke: Anybody here? Hey, Old Man. You home tonight? Can You spare a minute. It's about time we had a little talk. I know I'm a pretty evil fellow... killed people in the war and got drunk... and chewed up municipal property and the like. I know I got no call to ask for much... but even so, You've got to admit You ain't dealt me no cards in a long time. It's beginning to look like You got things fixed so I can't never win out. Inside, outside, all of them... rules and regulations and bosses. You made me like I am. Now just where am I supposed to fit in? Old Man, I gotta tell You. I started out pretty strong and fast. But it's beginning to get to me. When does it end? What do You got in mind for me? What do I do now? Right. All right. [Gets on knees, closes eyes and begins to pray] On my knees, asking. [pause] Yeah, that's what I thought. I guess I'm pretty tough to deal with, huh? A hard case. Yeah. I guess I gotta find my own way.
Dragline: Luke?
Luke: [Shakes head and smiles] Is that Your answer, Old Man? I guess You're a hard case, too.

View Quote Luke: Don't hit me anymore...Oh God, I pray to God you don't hit me anymore. I'll do anything you say, but I can't take anymore.
Boss Paul: You got your mind right, Luke?
Luke: Yeah. I got it right. I got it right, boss. [He grips the ankles of the guard]
Boss Paul: Suppose you's back-slide on us?
Luke: Oh no I won't. I won't, boss.
Boss Paul: Suppose you's to back-sass?
Luke: No I won't. I won't. I got my mind right.
Boss Paul: You try to run again, we gonna kill ya.
Luke: I won't, I won't, boss.

View Quote When a man's mother dies and, uh, he gets to thinking about her funeral and paying respects. Before he knows it, his mind ain't right. He's got rabbit in his blood and he runs.

View Quote Dragline: You're an original, that's what you are. Them mullet-heads didn't even know you was foolin'.
Luke: Foolin' 'em, huh? You can't fool 'em about somethin' like that. They broke me...
Dragline: Aw. All that time, you was plannin' on runnin' again.
Luke: I never planned anything in my life.

View Quote Convict: You don't have a name here until Dragline gives you one.
Dragline: [About Luke] Maybe we ought to call it No Ears. [To Luke] You don't listen much, do ya, boy?
Luke: I ain't heard that much worth listenin' to. There's a lot of guys layin' down a lot of rules and regulations.

View Quote Captain: (calling out names) Lucas Jackson?
Luke: Here, captain.
Captain: Maliciously destroying municipal property while under the influence. What was that?
Luke: Cuttin' the heads off parking meters, captain.
Captain: Oh. We ain't never had one of them before.

View Quote Convict: Just stay down, Luke. He's just gonna knock ya down again, buddy...It's not your fault. He's just too big...Let him hit you in the nose and get some blood flowing. Maybe the bosses will stop it before he kills you.
Luke: I don't want to frighten him.