Rebel Without a Cause quotes

View Quote Judy: Did he hit you?
Jim: No, I'm all right.
Judy: We have to go back.
Jim: Go back? I'm stayin'.
Judy: After he tried to shoot you, Jim!
Jim: ...He didn't mean it. We shouldn't have left him in the first place. He needs us.
Judy: He needed you maybe, but so do I, Jim.
Jim: He needs you, too. [Jim kisses her] You okay?
Judy: Yes. You should have heard him earlier tonight. He was talking about you. Like - like you were the hero in the China Sea.
Jim: Yeah, you know what he wanted?
Judy: What?
Jim: He tried to make us his family.

View Quote Jim: How did you get here?
Plato: I hitched.
Jim: I'll bet you'd go to a hanging, wouldn't you?
Plato: I guess it's just my morbid personality.

View Quote Dad, I said it was a matter of honor, remember? They called me chicken. You know, chicken? I had to go because if I didn't I'd never be able to face those kids again. I got in one of those cars, and Buzz, that - Buzz, one of those kids - he got in the other car, and we had to drive fast and then jump, see, before the car came to the end of the bluff, and I got out OK, and Buzz didn't and, uh, killed him...I can't - I can't keep it to myself anymore.

View Quote I never thought I'd live to see eighteen. Isn't that dumb? Every day I look in the mirror and say "What? You still here?"

View Quote Plato: I used to lie in my crib at night and I'd listen to them fight.
Jim: Can you remember back that far? I can't remember what happened yesterday. [He laughs] I can't. How do you do it?
Plato: Oh, I had to go to a head-shrinker. Boy, he made me remember.
Jim: Did he?
Plato: Then my mother said it cost too much so she went to Hawaii instead.
Jim: Well, what's your problem?
Plato: Oh, I don't know. But-but I'm happy now, here. Oh, I wish we could stay here.
Judy: Plato, where's your father now?
Plato: Oh, he's dead. He was a hero in the China Sea.
Jim: You told me he was a big wheel in New York.
Plato: I did? Aw, what's the difference. He might as well be dead anyway.
Judy: It's all right.

View Quote [The gang makes clucking sounds at Jim]
Jim: Is that meaning me? Is that meaning me?...Chicken?
Buzz: Yes.
Jim: You shouldn't have called me that. [to Judy] How about you? Huh? Are you always at ringside?...No, I mean what do you hang around such rank company for?
Buzz: What?
Jim: I don't want any trouble.
Gang member: The "blade game" huh, Buzz? [Buzz clicks open his switchblade]
Jim: I thought only punks fought with knives.
Buzz: Well, who's fighting? I'm not fighting. It's examination time, man. It's a crazy game.

View Quote If I had one day when I didn't have to be all confused and I didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?

View Quote Nobody talks to children. No, they just tell them.

View Quote [to Jim] Why did you run out on me? Why did you leave me alone?...Let go! You're not my father...

View Quote [to Jim] Hey, you want to come home with me? I mean there's nobody home at my house and heck, I'm not tired. Are you? See, I don't have too many people I can talk to...If you want to come, we could talk, and in the morning, we could have breakfast like my dad used to. Gee, if only you could have been my dad.

View Quote No, don't turn on the lights. Don't. It's too bright. Plato doesn't... Turn out the lights! I've got the bullets! Look!

View Quote Plato: Hey, you shouldn't monkey with him. He's a wheel.
Jim: Who?
Plato: Buzz. So is she. It's hard to make friends with these guys.
Jim: I don't want to make friends.

View Quote Jim, do you think the end of the world will come at nighttime?

View Quote Plato: Jim, do you think the end of the world will come at nighttime?
Jim: Uh, uh. At dawn.

View Quote You can trust me, Judy.