Forrest Gump quotes

View Quote Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: You must be my F.N.G.'s.
Bubba and Forrest Gump: Morning', sir!
[They salute]
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Ho! Get your hands down. Do not salute me. There are goddamned snipers all around this area who would love to grease an officer. I'm Lieutenant Dan Taylor. Welcome to Fourth Platoon. [Lieutenant Dan looks at Bubba] What's wrong with your lips?
Bubba: I was born with big gums, sir.
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Yeah, well, you better tuck that in. Gonna get that caught on a trip wire. Where you boys from in the world?
Bubba and Forrest Gump: Alabama, sir!
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: You twins?
Forrest Gump: No, we are not relations, sir.
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Look, it's pretty basic here. You stick with me, you learn from the guys who been in country awhile, you'll be right. There is one item of G.I. gear that can be the difference between a live grunt and a dead grunt. Socks, cushion, sole, O.D. green. Try and keep your feet dry when we're out humpin'. I want you boys to remember to change your socks wherever we stop. The Mekong will eat a grunt's feet right off his legs. Sergeant Sims! Goddamnit, where is that sling-rope I told you to order?
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Lieutenant Dan sure knew his stuff. I felt real lucky he was my lieutenant. He was from a long, great military tradition. Somebody in his family had fought and died in every single American war. I guess you could say he had a lot to live up to.
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: So, you boys are from Arkansas, huh? Well, I've been through there. Little Rock's a fine town. Now, go shake down your gear, see the platoon sergeant, draw what you need for the field. If you boys are hungry, we got steaks burnin' right here. Two standing orders in this platoon. One, take good care of your feet. Two, try not to do anything stupid, like gettin' yourself killed.
Forrest Gump: I sure hope I don't let him down.

View Quote The good thing about Vietnam is there was always someplace to go. And there was always something to do. One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain, and big ol' fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night.

View Quote Newsman: For the fourth time on his journey across America, Forrest Gump, gardener from Greenbow, Alabama, is about to cross the Mississippi River again today.
Jenny: [watching T.V.] I'll be damned. Forrest.
Newsman: Sir, why are you running?
Reporter #1: Why are you running?
Reporter #2: Are you doing this for world peace?
Reporter #3: Are you doing this for women's right?
Newsman: Or for the environment?
Reporter #1: Or for animals?
Reporter #3: Or for nuclear arms?
Forrest Gump: [narrating] They just couldn't believe that somebody would do all that running for no particular reason.
Reporter #2: Why are you doing this?
Forrest Gump: I just felt like running.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] I just felt like running.
[Forrest is running, a young man comes running with him]
Young Man: It's you. I can't believe it's really you!
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Now, for some reason what I was doing seemed to make sense to people.
Young Man: I mean, it was like an alarm went off in my head, you know. I said, here's a guy that's got his act together. Here's somebody who's got it, all figured out. Here's somebody who has the answer. I'll follow you anywhere, Mr. Gump.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] So, I got company. And after that I got more company. And then even more people joined in. Somebody later told me it gave people hope. Now, I don't know anything about that, but some of those people asked me if I could help them out.
Hippie: Hey, man, hey, listen. I was wondering if you might help me, huh? Listen, I'm in the bumper sticker business and I've been trying to think up a good slogan. And since you have been such a big inspiration to the people around here, I thought you might be able to help me jump into... Whoa! Man, you just ran through a big pile of dog shit!
Forrest Gump: It happens.
Hippie: What? Shit?
Forrest Gump: Sometimes.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] And some years later I heard that fella did come up with a bumper sticker slogan and he make a lot of money off of it. Another time I was running along, somebody who had lost all his money in the T-shirt business, and he wanted to put my face on a T-shirt, but he couldn't draw that well and he didn't have a camera.
[A truck splashes mud onto Forrest as it goes by. The man hands Forrest a yellow T-shirt wipe his face]
Man: Here, use this one. Nobody likes that color anyway.
Forrest Gump: [Wipes his face on the t-shirt and hands it back to him] Have a nice day.
[The man looks at the T-shirt which displays the Happy Face]
Forrest Gump: And some years later I found out that that man did come up with a idea for a T-shirt and he made a lot of money off of it. Anyway, like I was saying, I had a lot of company. My Momma always said you got to put the past behind you before you can move on. And I think that's what my running was all about. I had run for three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours.
[Forrest stops running]
Young Man: Quiet! Quiet, he's gonna say something.
Forrest Gump: I'm pretty tired. I think I'll go home now.
[The group parts for Forrest as he walks back down the middle of the road]
Young Man: Now what are we supposed to do?
Forrest Gump: [narrating] And just like that, my running days was over. So, I went home to Alabama.

View Quote You died on a Saturday morning and I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.

View Quote Jenny: Hey, Forrest, were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest: Yes. Well, I, I don't know. Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out. And then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou there was over a million sparkles on the water. Like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny. It looks like there were two skies, one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heavens stopped and the earth began. It was so beautiful.
Jenny: I wish I could have been there with you.
Forrest: You were.
Jenny: I love you.

View Quote Bubba: I'm gonna lean up against you, you just lean right back against me. This way, we don't have to sleep with our heads in the mud. You know why we a good partnership, Forrest? 'Cause we be watchin' out for one another. Like brothers and stuff. Hey, Forrest, there's somethin' I've been thinkin' about. I got a very important question to ask you. How would you like to go into the shrimpin' business with me?
Forrest Gump: Okay.
Bubba: Man, I tell you what, I got it all figured out, too. So many pounds of shrimp to pay off the boat, so many pounds for gas, we can just live right on the boat. We ain't got to pay no rent. I'll be the captain; we can just work it together. Split everything right down the middle. Man, I'm tellin' you, fifty-fifty. And, hey, Forrest, all the shrimp you can get.
Forrest Gump: That's a fine idea.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Bubba did have a fine idea.

View Quote Momma always says there's an awful lot you could tell about a person by their shoes. Where they're going. Where they've been. I've worn lots of shoes. I bet if I think about it real hard I could remember my first pair of shoes. Momma said they'd take me anywhere. She said they was my magic shoes.

View Quote Forrest Gump: What's the matter, Momma?
Mrs. Gump: I'm dyin', Forrest. Come on in, sit down over here.
Forrest Gump: Why are you dyin', Momma?
Mrs. Gump: It's my time. It's just my time. Oh, now, don't you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. It's something we're all destined to do. I didn't know it, but I was destined to be your momma. I did the best I could.
Forrest Gump: You did good, Momma.
Mrs. Gump: Well, I happened to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Forrest Gump: What's my destiny, Momma?
Mrs. Gump: You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Mrs. Gump: I will miss you, Forrest.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that's all I have to say about that.

View Quote Forrest Gump: Lieutenant Dan, what are you doing here?
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: I thought I'd try out my sea legs.
Forrest Gump: But you ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan.
Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Yes, I know that.

View Quote [Young Forrest gets on the school bus]
Boy #1: This seat's taken.
Boy #2: It's taken!
Boy #3: You can't sit here.
Forrest: [narrating] You know, it's funny what a young man recollects. 'Cause I don't remember being born. I, I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetiest voice in the wide world.
Young Jenny: You can sit here if you want.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.
Young Jenny: Well, are you gonna sit down, or aren't ya? [Young Forrest sits down next to Jenny] What's wrong with your legs?
Young Forrest: Um, nothing at all, thank you. My legs are just fine and dandy.
Young Jenny: Then why do you have those shoes on?
Young Forrest: Momma says my back is as crooked at a question mark
Forrest Gump: [narrating] I just sat next to her on that bus and had conversation all the way to school. And next to Momma, no one ever talked to me or asked me questions.
Young Jenny: Are you stupid or something?
Young Forrest: Momma says stupid is as stupid does.
Young Jenny: I'm Jenny.
Young Forrest: I'm Forrest . Forrest Gump.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] From that day on, we was always together. Jenny and me was like peas and carrots.

View Quote Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich... [pauses] That- that's about it. [The scene changes constantly as Bubba goes on]

View Quote Now, because I had been a football star, and a war hero, and a national celebrity, and a shrimpin' boat captain, and a college graduate, the city of fathers of Greenbow, Alabama, decided to get together and offered me a fine job. So, I never went back to work for Lieutenant Dan. Though he did take care of my Bubba-Gump money. He got me invested in some kind of fruit company. And so then I got a call from him saying we don't have to worry about money no more and I said, "That's good. One less thing". Now, Momma said there's only so much fortune a man really needs and the rest is just for showing off. So, I gave a whole bunch of it to the Four Square Gospel Church and I gave a whole bunch to the Bayou La Batre Fishing Hospital. And even though Bubba was dead, and Lieutenant Dan said I was nuts, I gave Bubba's momma Bubba's share. And you know what? She didn't have to work in nobody's kitchen no more. And 'cause I was gazillionaire and I liked doing it so much, I cut that grass for free.

View Quote Now, when I was a baby, Momma named me after the great Civil War hero, General Nathan Bedford Forrest. She said we was related to him in some way. And, what he did was, he started up this club called the Ku Klux Klan. They'd all dress up in their robes and their bedsheets and act like a bunch of ghosts or spooks or something. They'd even put bedsheets on their horses and ride around. And anyway, that's how I got my name, Forrest Gump. Momma said that the Forrest part was to remind me that sometimes we all do things that, well, just don't make no sense.

View Quote Forrest Gump: Will you marry me? I'd make a good husband, Jenny.
Jenny: You would, Forrest.
Forrest Gump: But you won't marry me.
Jenny: You don't want to marry me.
Forrest Gump: Why don't you love me, Jenny? I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is.

View Quote Drill Sergeant: Gump! What's your sole purpose in this army?
Forrest Gump: To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!
Drill Sergeant: Goddammit, Gump! You're a goddamned genius! Thats the most outstanding answer I have ever heard. You must have a goddamn I.Q. of 160. You are goddamned gifted, Private Gump. Listen up, people...
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Now for some reason I fit in the army like one of them round pegs. It's not really hard. You just make your bed real neat and remember to stand up straight and always answer every question with "Yes, drill sergeant."
Drill Sergeant: ...Is that clear?
Forrest Gump: YES, DRILL SERGEANT!