“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
“That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you. ”
“Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me.”“
“The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.”
“The Funny Thing Is, On The Outside I Was An Honest Man.”
“I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. ”
“Bad luck, I guess. It floats around. It’s got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that’s all.”
“Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.”
“I Have To Remind Myself That Some Birds Aren’t Meant To Be Caged.”
“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
“Lord, it’s a miracle! A man up and vanished like a fart in the wind.”
“What was right with him he’d only give you a little at a time. What was wrong with him he kept bottled up inside.”
“They Send You Here For Life, And That’s Exactly What They Take.”
“Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine.”
“Writing about yourself seems to be a lot like sticking a branch into clear river-water and rolling up the muddy bottom.”
“That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.”
“These walls are funny. First you hate ’em. Then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”
“I like to think the last thing that went through his head other than that bullet, was how the hell that Andy Dufrense got the best of him.”
“I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has.”
“Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really, pressure and time.”
“It goes back to what I said about Andy wearing his freedom like an invisibility coat, about how he never really developed a prison mentality. His eyes never got that dull look.”
“I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream.”
“Every man’s got a breaking point.”
“I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying.”
“The funny thing is, on the outside I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”
“You eat when we say you eat. You shit when we say you shit and you piss when we say you piss. You got that, you maggot dick motherfucker?”
“I don’t have to listen to rumors about a man when I can judge him for myself.”
“I Tell You Those Voices Soared Higher And Farther Than Anybody In A Gray Place Dares To Dream.”
“I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.”
“I Like To Think The Last Thing That Went Through His Head Other Than That Bullet…”
“There are places in this world that aren’t made out of stone. That there’s something inside… that they can’t get to, that they can’t touch. That’s yours.”
“Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.”
“I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.”
“Salvation lies within.”
