Saving Private Ryan quotes

View Quote My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.

View Quote We're in business, defilade! Other side of the hole! ( defilade- a dead zone, usually a depression in the earth, which minimizes or prevents line of sight/direct fire from enemy fire. )

View Quote What I mean, sir, is if you was to put me with this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile from Adolf Hitler... with a clean line of sight... well, pack your bags, boys. War's over.

View Quote 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.

View Quote [after Miller uses himself as a target to lure enemy fire away from Jackson]
Sgt. Horvath: Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset!
Capt. Miller: I thought you were my mother!

View Quote Port sidestick, starboard side stick. Move fast and clear those murder holes.

View Quote "Theirs is not to reason why. Theirs is but to do and die."

View Quote Sgt. Horvath: Stars.
Lt. DeWindt: Yeah, Brigadier General Amend, deputy commander, 101st. Some ****ing 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 ****ing 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.
Capt. Miller: All that for a general?
Lt. DeWindt: One man.
Pvt. Reiben: Lot of that going around.

View Quote [last lines] Parker get out

View Quote Pvt. Caparzo: [after being shot] It-it's a letter to my dad. I-it's got blood on it, Fish.

View Quote Corp. Upham: “War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings men into such swift and close collision in critical moments that man measures man.”
Capt. Miller: I guess that's Emerson's way of finding the bright side.
Corp. Upham: You know Emerson, sir?

View Quote Capt. Miller: I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that.
Pvt. Reiben: Sorry, sir, but let's say you weren't a Captain, or maybe I was a Major. What would you say then?
Capt. Miller: In that case, 'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir. Worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down the lives of me and my men--especially you, Reiben--to ease her suffering.

View Quote Well, sir, seems to me, God gave me a special gift, fashioned in me a fine instrument of warfare.

View Quote Seems to me, Cap'n, this mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.

View Quote [Lining up a rifle shot] You're not that far from me oh Lord.