Saving Private Ryan quotes

View Quote Medic Wade: I could use a little more morphine...

View Quote Things have taken a turn for the surreal.

View Quote Capt. Miller: Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news for ya. Well, there isn't any real easy way to say this, so, uh, so I'll just say it. Your brothers are dead. We have, uh, orders to come get you, 'cause you're going home.
Pvt. James Frederick Ryan: Oh, my God, my brothers are dead. I was gonna take 'em fishing when we got home. H-How did they die?
Capt. Miller: They were killed in action.
Pvt. James Frederick Ryan: No, that can't be. They're both-That...That can't be. My brothers are still in grammar school.
Capt. Miller: ..You're James Ryan?
Pvt. James Frederick Ryan: Yeah.
Capt. Miller: James Francis Ryan from Iowa?
Pvt. James Frederick Ryan: James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota.

View Quote Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much, my wife is even gonna recognize me whenever it is I get back to her, and how I'll ever be able to, tell about days like today. Ahh, Ryan. I don't know anything about Ryan, I don't care. The man means nothing to me; he's just a name. But if, you know, if going to Ramelle, and finding him so he can go home, if that earns me the right to get back to my wife, well then, then that's my mission.

View Quote Pvt. Jackson: Captain, I have an opinion on this matter.
Capt. Miller: By all means, share it with the squad.
Pvt. Jackson: Well, the way I see it, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.
Capt. Miller: Yeah, go on.
Pvt. Jackson: Sir, I always believed God gave me a special gift, to make me a fine instrument of warfare.
Capt. Miller: Reiben, pay attention. This is the way to gripe.

View Quote Capt. Miller: [After the fight to take the radio nest has left Medic Wade dead] Get your gear. Let's go.
[Reiben doesn't move]
Sgt. Horvath: You heard him, gear up. Your captain just gave you an order.
Pvt. Reiben: Yeah, like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real doozie, wasn't it?
Sgt. Horvath: Soldier, you are way out of line!
Pvt. Reiben: Yes, sir, that was one hell of a call, coming to take this nest, but hell, we only lost one of our guys going for it. That's right, I hope Mama Ryan's real ****in' happy knowing that Little Jimmy's life is a little bit more important than two of our guys! But then again, we haven't found him yet, have we? Have we?

View Quote Pvt. Mellish: [Arguing about taking a machine gun nest] 'm just saying, this seems like an unnecessary risk considering our objective, sir.
Capt. Miller: Our objective is to win the war.

View Quote Capt. Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
Sgt. Horvath: How many?
Capt. Miller: Ninety-four. But that means 've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize on making the choice between the mission and the man.

View Quote He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.

View Quote It's like finding a needle in a stack of needles.

View Quote [after Miller explains the "sticky bomb" can be looked up in a field manual] We seem to be out of field manuals, sir. Perhaps you can "enlighten" us.

View Quote Pvt. Ryan: It doesn't made sense, sir. I mean, why me? Why not any of us? Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard.
Capt. Miller: Is that what they're supposed to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag?
Pvt. Ryan: You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.

View Quote Capt. Miller: Caparzo, get that kid back up there!
Pvt. Caparzo: Captain, the decent thing to do would be take her over to the next town.
Capt. Miller: We're not here to do the decent thing, we're here to follow ****ing orders!

View Quote No, Imma shoot you because I don't like you!

View Quote Pvt. Reiben: You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?
Capt. Miller: Anyone wanna answer that?
Medic Wade: Hey Reiben, think about the poor bastard's mother.
Pvt. Reiben: Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. Shit, 'll bet that even the Captain's got a mother. [Reiben looks questioningly at Captain Miller] Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers.