The Manchurian Candidate quotes

View Quote [Repeated line] Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

View Quote [Shouting, to Chunjin, as they fight] What was Raymond doing with his hands?... How did the old ladies turn into Russians?... What were you doing there?

View Quote [To Ben, after killing his mother and Senator Iselin] You couldn't have stopped them, the army couldn't have stopped them. So I had to.

View Quote [To Colonel Milt] I tell ya, there's a bomb here, a time bomb that's set waiting to go off.

View Quote [To her husband, Sen. Iselin] It has occurred to me that Tom Jordan's daughter Jocelyn... so I might have been a little hasty. Anyway, times change. I now think she would make Raymond an excellent wife. She's been living in Paris for the past two years. I have word she'll be coming home soon and when she does, I think we should give a little party.

View Quote [To Mrs. Iselin] Raymond is sick, Mrs. Shaw, in a kind of a special way. He doesn't even realize it himself.

View Quote [To party guests, after cutting into a serving of caviar styled like the American flag] It's all right, it's Polish caviar!

View Quote [To Raymond] Do you realize, Comrade, the implications of the weapon that has been placed at your disposal?... A normally-conditioned American, who has been trained to kill and then to have no memory of having killed. Without memory of his deed, he cannot possibly feel guilt. Nobody, of course, has any reason to fear being caught. Having been relieved of those uniquely American symptoms, guilt and fear, he cannot possibly give himself away. Ah, now Raymond will remain an outwardly-normal, productive, sober, and respected member of the community. And I should say, if properly used, entirely police-proof.

View Quote [To Raymond] It's been decided that you will be dressed as a priest to get away in the pandemonium afterwards. Chunjin will give you a two-piece Soviet Army's sniper's rifle that fits nicely into a special bag. There's a spotlight booth that won't be in use. It's up under the roof on the 8th Avenue side of the Garden. You will have absolutely clear, protected shooting. You are to shoot the Presidential nominee through the head. And Johnny will rise gallantly to his feet and lift Ben Arthur's body in his arms, stand in front of the microphones and begin to speak. The speech is short, but it's the most rousing speech I've ever read. It's been worked on here and in Russia on and off for over eight years. I shall force someone to take the body away from him. And Johnny will leave those microphones and those cameras with blood all over him, fighting off anyone who tries to help him, defending America even if it means his own death, rallying a nation of television-viewers into hysteria to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy. Now this is very important. I want the nominee to be dead about two minutes after he begins his acceptance speech, depending on his reading time under pressure. You are to hit him right at the point that he finishes the phrase, "nor would I ask of any fellow American in defense of his freedom that which I would not gladly give myself - my life before my liberty." Is that absolutely clear?

View Quote [To Sen. Iselin] I keep telling you not to think. You're very, very good at a great many things, but thinking, hon', just simply isn't one of them. You just keep shouting "Point of Order, Point of Order" into the television cameras and I will handle the rest.