Dead Poets Society quotes

View Quote Todd: Mr. Keating! They made everybody sign it.
Mr. Nolan: Quiet, Mr. Anderson.
Todd: You gotta believe me. It's true.
Keating: I do believe you, Todd.
Mr. Nolan: Leave, Mr. Keating.
Todd: But it wasn't his fault!
Mr. Nolan: Sit down, Mr. Anderson! One more outburst from you or anyone else, and you're out of this school! Leave, Mr. Keating.
Mr. Nolan: I said leave, Mr. Keating.
[Todd stands on his desk]
Todd: O Captain! My Captain!
Mr. Nolan: Sit down, Mr. Anderson! Do you hear me? Sit down! Sit down! This is your final warning, Anderson. How dare you! Do you hear me?
[Knox stands on his desk and other students slowly start to follow]
Knox: O Captain! My Captain!
Mr. Nolan: Mr. Overstreet, I warn you! Sit down! Sit down! Sit down. All of you. I want you seated. Sit down. Leave, Mr. Keating. All of you, down. I want you seated. Do you hear me? Sit down!
Keating: Thank you, boys. Thank you.

View Quote [Quoting Henry David Thoreau] I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

View Quote Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

View Quote "O captain, my captain". Who knows where that comes from? Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can call me Mr. Keating. Or, for the slightly more daring, "O captain, my captain".

View Quote Now I want you to rip out that page. Go on, rip out the entire page. You heard me, rip it out. Rip it out! Thank you Mr. Dalton. Gentlemen, tell you what, don't just tear out that page, tear out the entire introduction. I want it gone, history. Leave nothing of it. Rip it out. Rip! Begone J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. Rip, shred, tear. Rip it out. I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr.Pritchard. It's not the Bible, you're not going to go to Hell for this. Go on, make a clean tear, I want nothing left of it.

View Quote ...stroll down amnesia lane...

View Quote Suck the marrow out of life, but don't choke on the bone

View Quote [Todd's present is the same as last year, a desk set he does not even like.]
Neil: I mean, if I was ever going to buy a desk set... twice! I would probably buy this one, both times! In fact, its shape is rather aerodynamic isn't it? You can feel it. This desk set wants to fly!
[Neil hands the desk set to Todd]
Neil: Todd? The world's first un-manned flying desk set!
[Todd throws it off the roof]
Neil: Oh my! Well, I wouldn't worry, you'll get another one next year.

View Quote We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

View Quote Gloria: Don't you guys miss having girls around here?
Meeks, Pitts: [yell in unison] Yeah!

View Quote Charlie: Hey, how'd it go? Did you read it to her?
Knox: Yeah.
Pitts: What'd she say?
Knox: Nothing.
Charlie: Nothing. What do you mean, nothing?
Knox: Nothing. But I did it.

View Quote Student in class: [reading his poem] "A cat sat on a mat."
John Keating: Congratulations. You may have just written the first poem to get a negative score on the Pritchard scale.

View Quote John Keating: I thought the purpose of education was to learn to think for yourself.
Nolan: At these boys age? Not on your life!

View Quote Hopkins: [without energy] "Oh, to have life henceforth the poem of new joys."
Keating: Oh! Boo! Come on, Charlie, let it fill your soul!
Charlie: [lifts his arms, looking up and yells] “To indeed be a god!"

View Quote Keating: Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Why does the writer use these lines?
Charlie: Because he's in a hurry.
Keating: No, ding! Thank you for playing anyway. Because we are food for worms lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die.