Sergeant Mike Horvath quotes from Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Sergeant Mike Horvath

I don't know. Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here, fine. Let's leave him and go home. But then another part of me thinks, what if by some miracle we stay, then actually make it out of here. Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that, we all earn the right to go home.

Sergeant Mike Horvath

You don't know when to shut up; you don't know HOW to shut up!

Sergeant Mike Horvath

This time the mission is the man.

Sergeant Mike Horvath

I'm gonna shoot you in your god damn mouth!

Sergeant Mike Horvath

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

Sergeant Mike Horvath

It's a goddamn firing squad.

Sergeant Mike Horvath

Captain, if your mother saw you do that she'd be very upset! (After Captain Miller lures MG42 fire on the beach)

Sergeant Mike Horvath

You're going to be sent home wrapped in an American flag with a hunk of cheese in your ass, Caparzo!

Sergeant Mike Horvath

I'll wear him like underwear, Captain.

Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset!

I thought you were my mother!

Stars.

Lt. DeWindt

Yeah, Brigadier General Amend, deputy commander, 101st. Some **** genius had the great idea of welding a couple of steel plates onto our deck to keep the general safe from ground fire. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about it until we were just getting airborne. Well, that's like trying to fly a freight train. OK? Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hell. I nearly broke both my arms trying to keep her level. And when- and when we released, you know I cut as hard as I could, tried to gain some altitude and still keep her from stalling. We came down like a **** meteor. And that is how we ended up. And the others, they stopped easy enough OK, though, you know? We were just-we were just too damn heavy, you know? The grass was wet, downward slope and all. 22 guys dead.

All that for a general?

Lt. DeWindt

One man.

Pvt. Reiben

Lot of that going around.

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?

How many?

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.

Get your gear. Let's go.

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?

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?

Lt. Dewindt

FUBAR.

Pvt. Reiben

FUBAR.

FUBAR.

FUBAR.

Y'all got that right.

Hey, I looked up “fubar” in the German dictionary. There's no “fubar” in there.

Maybe I should go up the middle, sir.

The way you run? I don't think so.

Maybe I should go left, sir.

Maybe you should shut up!

Good luck Reiben.

Pvt. Reiben

I don't need any luck, Sarge! I was born lucky!

Caparzo

What are we doing?

Horvath

What are you doing? We're gonna send you back home wrapped in an American flag with a hunk of cheese up your ass, Caparzo, you smart ass.

Reiben

I though you liked it in the ass.

Horvath

What?

Reiben

I thought you liked it in the ass.

Sergeant Horvath! Do you recognize where we are?

Right where we're supposed to be, but no one else is!

Nobody's where they're supposed to be!

Is this all, all that's made it?

We're scattered pretty bad, sir. There's bound to be more of us.

Not enough. This is not enough.

Dog One exit, it's got to be that cut on the right, or is it the one on the left? Shit!

No, no, no, Vierville is to the west of us, this is Dog One.

They're killing us! And we don't have a **** chance, and that ain't fair!

Reiben, where's your B.A.R.?

Pvt. Reiben

The bottom of the channel, Sarge, the bitch tried to drown me.

Find a replacement.

That's quite a view.

Yes it is. Quite a view.

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?

How many?

Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even twenty, 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.

Except this time, the mission is a man.

This Ryan better be worth it. He better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb, or something. Because to tell you the truth, I wouldn't trade ten Ryans for one Vecchio or one Caparzo.

Amen.