State trooper I never gave a ticket to a nun before. I gave a ticket to a guy from the IRS one time. Got audited the next year. I'll tell you what, this time I'll let this one slide, but keep your speed down, yeah?
Sister Helen Prejean
Susan Sarandon · 8 quotes
Matthew Poncelet
Sean Penn · 7 quotes
Hilton Barber
Robert Prosky · 1 quote
Most scenes together: Sister Helen Prejean & Matthew Poncelet (3)
Dead Man Walking quotes
State trooper 
Clyde Percy [about Matthew Poncelet]
How can you stand next to him?
Mr. Percy, I'm just trying to follow the example of Jesus, who said that a person is not as bad as his worst deed.
Clyde Percy This is not a person. This is an animal.
I like rebels. Some blacks is OK. Martin Luther King, he led his people all the way to DC and kicked the white man's butt.
You respect Martin Luther King?
He put up a fight. He wasn't lazy.
What about lazy whites?
Don't like 'em.
So it's lazy people you don't like.
Prison guard
Do you have any last words, Poncelet?
Yes, I do. [pauses] Mr. Delacroix, I don't wanna leave this world with any hate in my heart. I ask your forgiveness for what I done. It was a terrible thing I done, taking your son away from you.
Clyde Percy [Softly to his wife]
How about us?
Mr. and Mrs. Percy, I hope my death gives you some relief.
Prison guard
Tell me something sister, what is a nun doing in a place like this? Shouldn't you be teaching children? Didn't you know what this man has done? How he killed them kids?
What he was involved with was evil. I don't condone it. I just don't see the sense of killing people to say that killing people's wrong.
Prison guard
You know what the Bible say, 'An eye for an eye'.
You know what else the Bible ask for death as a punishment? For adultery, prostitution, homosexuality, trespass upon sacred grounds, profane in a sabbath and contempt to parents.
Prison guard
I ain't gonna get no Bible quote from no nun cause I'm gonna lose.
Sister Colleen If Matt dies, guess who he'll be buried next to?
Who's the last person to die?
Sister Colleen Sister Celestine.
Oh Lord.
Sister Colleen You remember when that sweet little girl in the convent came after her wedding day to introduce her husband to us?
Sister Celestine said, "I'm glad I never had to share my bed with a man."
Sister Colleen She loved her celibacy so much.
I know. She's gonna be lying next to a man for all eternity.
Show me some respect, Matthew.
Why? 'Cause you're a nun?
Because I'm a person.
You are a son of God.
[in tears]
Thank you. I've never been called a son of God before. [laughs slightly] I've been called a son of a you-know-what plenty of times, but I've never been called a son of God.
Ain't nobody with money on death row.
I just wanna say I think killin' is wrong, no matter who does it, whether it's me or y'all or your government.
I want the last face you see in this world to be the face of love, so you look at me when they do this thing. I'll be the face of love for you.
It's quiet. Only three days left. Plenty of time to read my Bible and look for a loophole.
Look at you. Death is looking down your neck, and you're playing your little male come-on games.
They won't care if you shot the gun. They'll be thinking of the crime. And of you as a monster. It's easy to kill a monster but hard to kill a human being.