Andy, we're getting to be kind of friends, aren't we?
Yeah, I guess.
Can I ask you something? Why'd you do it?
I'm innocent, Red. Just like everybody else here. What are you in here for?
Murder. Same as you.
Innocent?
Only guilty man in Shawshank.
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
Morgan Freeman · 35 quotes
Andy Dufresne
Tim Robbins · 29 quotes
Samuel Norton
5 quotes
Warden Samuel Norton
Bob Gunton · 5 quotes
Heywood
William Sadler · 4 quotes
Brooks Hatlen
James Whitmore · 3 quotes
Floyd
Brian Libby · 3 quotes
Tommy
Gil Bellows · 3 quotes
Most scenes together: Andy Dufresne & Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (11), Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding & Heywood (4), Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding & Floyd (3)
The Shawshank Redemption quotes
Page 5 of 5Was it worth it, two weeks in the hole?
Easiest time I ever did.
Skeet Bullshit. No such thing as easy time in the hole.
Jigger A week seems like a year.
Snooze Damn straight.
I had Mr. Mozart to keep me company.
So they let you tote that record player down there, huh?
[points and taps his head.]
It was in here. [gestures over his heart] And in here. That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
Well, I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it, though. Didn't make too much sense in here.
Well, here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
Forget?
That there are places in the world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside that they can't get to. that they can't touch. It's yours.
What are you talkin' about?
Hope.
Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It's got no use on the inside. You'd better get used to that idea.
Like Brooks did?
Stevenson. Fiction, "Adventure". What's next?
I got here Auto Repair and Soap Carving.
Trade skills and hobbies. Goes under "Educational", the stack right behind you.
The Count of Monte Crisco.
That's Cristo, you dumb shit.
By Alexandree... Dum-ass. Dumbass?
Uh-uh.
You'll like it. It's about a prison break.
Well, we ought to file that under "Educational" too. Oughtn't we?
I have to say, that's the most amazing story I ever heard. What amazes me most is you were taken in by it.
Sir?
Well, It's obvious this fellow Williams is impressed with you. He hears your tale of woe and quite naturally wants to cheer you up. He's young, not terribly bright. Not surprising he didn't know what a state he'd put you in.
Sir, he's telling the truth.
Let's say for a moment this... Blatch does exist. You think he'd just fall to his knees and cry, "Yes, I did it! I confess! By all means, please add a life term to my sentence!"
You know, that wouldn't matter. With Tommy's testimony, I can get a new trial.
That's assuming Blatch is even still there. Chances are excellent he'd be released by now.
Well, they'd have his last known address. Names of relatives. It's a chance, isn't it? [Norton shakes his head] How can you be so obtuse?
What? What did you call me?
Obtuse, is it deliberate?
Son, you are forgetting yourself.
The country club will have his old time cards! W-2s with his name on them!
Dufresne, if you want to indulge this fantasy, that's your business. Don't make it mine. This meeting's over.
Sir, if I were to ever get out, I would not mention what goes on in here. I'd be just as indictable as you for laundering that money.
[furiously bangs the table and gets up]
Don't you ever mention money to me again, you sorry son of a bitch; not in this office, not anywhere! [presses buzzer on his desk] Get in here now!
I was just trying to set your mind at ease, that's all. Sir, I didn't--
Guard
Yes, sir. Come on!
Get him out of here.
[shouting, while being dragged to the hole]
This is my chance to get out! Don't you see that? It's my life! Don't you understand? My life! NO!
Get him out! GET HIM OUT!
A month in the hole. That's longest damn stretch I ever heard of.
It's all my fault.
Oh, bullshit. You didn't pull the trigger, and you certainly didn't convict him.
Ellis, are you saying that Andy is innocent? I mean, for real innocent?
Well, it looks that way.
Sweet Jesus. How long has he been here now?
1947. What is that, nineteen years?
Nineteen years...
Norton
Tommy, I'm asking you to keep this conversation just between us. I feel awkward enough as it is. We got a situation here. I think you can appreciate that.
Yes, sir. I sure can.
Norton
I tell you, son, this thing really came along and knocked my wind out. It's got me up nights; that's the truth. The right thing to do, sometimes it's hard to know what that is. Do you understand? I need your help, son. If I'm going to move on this, there can't be the least little shred of doubt. I have to know if what you told Dufresne was the truth.
Yes, sir. Absolutely.
Norton
Would you be willing to swear before a judge and jury, having placed your hand on the Good Book and taken an oath before Almighty God himself?
Just give me that chance.
Norton
That's what I thought. [signals to Hadley in the watchtower, who shoots Tommy]
Think you'll ever get out of here?
Me? Yeah, one day when I got a long, white beard and two or three marbles rolling around upstairs, they'll let me out.
I tell you where I'd go: Zihuatanejo.
Say what?
Zihuatanejo. It's in Mexico. A little place on the Pacific Ocean. You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
No.
They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life: a warm place with no memory. Open up a little hotel, right on the beach, buy some worthless old boat, and fix it up new. Take my guests out charter fishing.
Zihuatanejo.
In a place like that, I could use a man that knows how to get things.
I don't think I could make it on the outside, Andy. I been in here most of my life. I'm an institutional man now.
In here, I'm the guy who can get things for you, sure, but outside all you need is the Yellow Pages. Hell, I wouldn't know where to begin. Pacific Ocean? Shit. Might scare me to death, something that big.
Not me. I didn't shoot my wife, and I didn't shoot her lover. Whatever mistakes I made, I've paid for them and then some. That hotel, that boat, I don't think that's too much to ask.
I don't think you ought to be doing this to yourself, Andy. This is just shitty pipe dreams. I mean, Mexico is way the hell down there and you're in here, and that's the way it is.
Yeah, right. That's the way it is. It's down there and I'm in here. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.