Movie Quotes from The Princess Bride

“The Princess Bride” is one of my favorite films of all time. It was released in 1987 and stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn in addition to many more stars filling out the amazing cast. It also has some of the greatest, most memorable movie quotes. Here are my top 10:

The Grandson (Fred Savage): A book?
Grandpa (Peter Falk): That’s right. When I was your age, television was called books.

This quote always makes me smile. It takes place as the grandfather is preparing to read the tale of “The Princess Bride” to his sick grandson. The boy is unenthusiastic that a book could be entertaining, but the truth is that books can give you so much more than tv or video games. Even though I’m hardly at an age where I never had television, I certainly read more as a child than I did watch t.v.

Inigo (Mandy Patinkin): “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

This quote is probably one of the most recognized lines in the whole film. Inigo has sworn to avenge his father who was killed when Inigo was a boy and he has dedicated his whole life to it. He has dreamed of the day he can face his father’s murderer and say those words. When he finally has the chance to do it, you can’t help but feel right along with him and repeat the phrase as he does. It is such a simple statement, but therein lies the beauty of it. It’s not dramatic and yet when he keeps repeating it, the fever and passion with which he delivers the line is as intense as any Shakespearian speech.

Westley (Cary Elwes): Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.

That quote pretty much sums up the movie as a whole in that simple statement and for any true romantic, we know that it’s true. Nothing in life or death can break the bonds of true love.

Vizzini (Wallace Shawn): HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin): You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

The set up for this quote is that kidnapping the princess, the ragtag group of criminals are fleeing. The are being pursued by the man in black and the leader, Vizzini continues to utter the actions of the masked man as “inconceivable” and yet the man in black keeps on coming. This prompts Vizzini’s cohort, Inigo to wonder if maybe Vizzini even knows what he’s saying. It’s simply good humor and it shows that sometimes the people who act the smartest, may not always be.

Buttercup (Robin Wright): You mock my pain.
Westley (Cary Elwes): Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

One of the reasons that I think this film is so great is for the simple facts-of-life lines that it contains. This is another one. It concedes that life is difficult and so the film isn’t full of just mushy love quotes. it adds a feeling of honesty to the story and it’s said in such a concise yet elegant way.

Miracle Max (Billy Crystal): Have fun storming the castle!

Another very, very memorable quote. Billy Crystal as Miracle Max is classic. He delivers the whole performance wonderfully quirky and this line sums that up. It’s just a fun line to quote in real life being so irreverent.

The Grandson (Fred Savage): See didn’t I tell you she’d never marry that rotten Humperdinck.
Grandpa (Peter Falk): Yes you’re very smart. Shut up.

Even though the grandfather and grandson don’t get all that much screen time, their interactions are wonderful. There is more character felt between those two in their short clips together than there is in some film’s main cast. Again here we get to see the boy with his infinite childhood wisdom and the grandfather’s sharp, humorous reply.

Miracle Max (Billy Crystal): Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there’s usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin): What’s that?
Miracle Max (Billy Crystal): Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

One of my favorite characters is Miracle Max. The delivery of these lines is so great. The first part of the line gives you a chuckle, but the punch line adds even more humor to it. We keeping seeing more and more of his eccentric nature.

Fezzik (Andre the giant): Why do you wear a mask? Were you burned by acid, or something like that?
Man in Black (Cary Elwes): Oh no, it’s just that they’re terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.

While Fezzik and Westley, dressed as “the man in black” fight they have this conversation and Wes is always so smooth in delivering his lines while never giving away anything about who he is. He’s a pirate and yet he’s just so cool and laid back, even while engaged in a battle to the death.

Westley (Cary Elwes): WRONG. Your ears you keep and I’ll tell you why. So that every shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish. Every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out, “Dear God! What is that thing,” will echo in your perfect ears. That is what to the pain means. It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever.

This is from Westley’s “By the Pain” speech in which he intends to duel the Prince but by his own rules not the classic, “to the death” duel. It is meant to drawn out the Prince’s cowardice which it is successful in doing. It shows off Wes’s ability to use his brain to win battles because he knew he couldn’t fight physically at this point, that never shows. He’s always intense and smooth. The whole concept of “By the Pain” is intimidating I think, because it is a fate worse than death.

So, that is 10. This film is full of so many great quotes, I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it!

Reference:

• www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/