Tim Robbins credited as playing...
Andy Dufresne
- Andy Dufresne: [to Red] I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
- Andy Dufresne: [referring to Andy using an alias to launder money for the warden] If they ever try to trace any of those accounts, they're gonna end up chasing a figment of my imagination.
- Red: Well, I'll be damned. Did I say you were good? Shit, you're a Rembrandt!
- Andy Dufresne: Yeah. 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.
- [Red laughs]
- Andy Dufresne: [in letter to Red] Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- Andy Dufresne: That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you... Haven't you ever felt that way about music?
- Red: I played a mean harmonica as a younger man. Lost interest in it though. Didn't make much sense in here.
- Andy Dufresne: Here's where it makes the most sense. You need it so you don't forget.
- Red: Forget?
- Andy Dufresne: Forget that... 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.
- Red: What're you talking about?
- Andy Dufresne: Hope.
- Andy Dufresne: What about you? What are you in here for?
- Red: Murder, same as you.
- Andy Dufresne: Innocent?
- Red: [shakes his head] Only guilty man in Shawshank.
- Heywood: The Count of Monte Crisco...
- Floyd: That's "Cristo" you dumb shit.
- Heywood: ...by Alexandree Dumb-ass. Dumb-ass.
- Andy Dufresne: Dumb-ass? "Dumas". You know what it's about? You'll like it, it's about a prison break.
- Red: We oughta file that under "Educational" too, oughten we?
- Andy Dufresne: [in a letter to Red] Dear Red. If you're reading this, you've gotten out. And if you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, don't you?
- Red: Zihuatanejo.
- Andy Dufresne: I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. I'll keep an eye out for you and the chessboard ready. Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. I will be hoping that this letter finds you, and finds you well. Your friend. Andy.
- Andy Dufresne: [about his wife] She was beautiful. God I loved her. I just didn't know how to show it, that's all. I killed her, Red. I didn't pull the trigger, but I drove her away. And that's why she died, because of me. The way I am.
- Andy Dufresne: I have no enemies here.
- Red: Yeah? Wait a while. Word gets around. The Sisters have taken quite a likin' to you. Especially Bogs.
- Andy Dufresne: I don't suppose it would help if I told them that I'm not homosexual.
- Red: Neither are they. You have to be human first. They don't qualify.
- Andy Dufresne: Red. If you ever get out of here, do me a favor.
- Red: Sure, Andy. Anything.
- Andy Dufresne: There's a big hayfield up near Buxton. You know where Buxton is?
- Red: Well, there's... there's a lot of hayfields up there.
- Andy Dufresne: One in particular. It's got a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end. It's like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where I asked my wife to marry me. We went there for a picnic and made love under that oak and I asked and she said yes. Promise me, Red. If you ever get out... find that spot. At the base of that wall, you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Maine hayfield. Piece of black, volcanic glass. There's something buried under it I want you to have.
- Red: What, Andy? What's buried under there?
- Andy Dufresne: [turns to walk away] You'll have to pry it up... to see.
- District Attorney: And that also is very convenient, isn't it, Mr. Dufresne?
- Andy Dufresne: Since I am innocent of this crime, sir, I find it decidedly inconvenient that the gun was never found.
- Andy Dufresne: You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific?
- Red: No.
- Andy Dufresne: They say it has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.
- Bogs Diamond: Now, I'm gonna open my fly and you're gonna swallow what I give ya to swallow. And after you swallow mine you're gonna swallow Rooster's cause ya done broke his nose and I think he oughta have something to show for it.
- Andy Dufresne: Anything you put in my mouth you're gonna lose.
- Bogs Diamond: Naw, you don't understand. You do that and I'll put all eight inches of steel in your ear.
- Andy Dufresne: All right. But you should know that sudden serious brain injury causes the victim to bite down hard. In fact, I hear the bite reflex is so strong they have to pry the victims jaws open with a crowbar.
- Bogs Diamond: [unnerved] Where do you get this shit?
- Andy Dufresne: I read it. You know how to read, you ignorant fuck?
- Warden Samuel Norton: [after Andy tells him Tommy could prove Andy's innocence] I have to say that's the most amazing story I've ever heard. What amazes me most is that you were taken in by it.
- Andy Dufresne: [Confused] Sir?
- Warden Samuel Norton: 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. It's not surprising he wouldn't know what a state he put you in.
- Andy Dufresne: Sir, he's telling the truth.
- Warden Samuel Norton: Well, let's say for the moment this Blatch does exist. You think he'd just fall to his knees and cry "Yes, I did it, I confess! Oh, and by the way, add a life term to my sentence."
- Andy Dufresne: You know that wouldn't matter. With Tommy's testimony I can get a new trial.
- Warden Samuel Norton: That's assuming Blatch is still there. Chances are excellent he'd be released by now.
- Andy Dufresne: Well they'd have his last known address, names of relatives. It's a chance, isn't it?
- [Norton shakes his head]
- Andy Dufresne: How can you be so obtuse?
- Warden Samuel Norton: [his anger rising] What? What did you call me?
- Andy Dufresne: Obtuse. Is it deliberate?
- Warden Samuel Norton: Son, you're forgetting yourself.
- Andy Dufresne: The country club will have his old time cards. Records, W-2s with his name on them!
- Warden Samuel Norton: If you wanna indulge in this fantasy, that's your business. Don't make it mine. This meeting is over.
- Andy Dufresne: Sir, if I ever get out, I'd never mention what goes on in here. I'd be just as indictable as you for laundering that money.
- Warden Samuel Norton: [slams his fists on the table] Don't you *ever* mention money to me again, you sorry son of a bitch! Not in this office, not anywhere!
- [slaps the intercom]
- Warden Samuel Norton: Get in here! Now!
- Andy Dufresne: I'm just trying to put your mind at ease!
- [Hadley comes in]
- Warden Samuel Norton: [to Hadley] Solitary, a month!
- Andy Dufresne: [as they drag him away] What's the matter with you? This is my life, don't you understand? IT'S MY LIFE! IT'S MY LIFE! NO!
- [Warden Norton finds the Bible in his safe after Andy escapes and finds the message Andy left for him]
- Andy Dufresne: Dear Warden, You were right. Salvation lay within.
- [Norton flips through a couple of pages to find the outline of the rock hammer that was hidden in the Book of Exodus within the Bible, and then drops it on the floor in shock]
- Andy Dufresne: Bad luck, I guess. It floats around. It's got to land on somebody. It was my turn, that's all. I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has.
- Andy Dufresne: Mr. Hadley, do you trust your wife?
- Captain Hadley: Oh that's funny. You're gonna look funnier sucking my dick with no teeth.
- Andy Dufresne: What I mean is, do you think she'd go behind your back, try to hamstring you?
- Captain Hadley: That's it. Step aside Mert, this fucker's having himself an accident.
- [grabs Dufresne and pushes him near the edge of the roof]
- Heywood: He's gonna push him off the roof!
- Andy Dufresne: Because if you do trust her, there's no reason you can't keep that $35,000!
- Captain Hadley: What did you say?
- Andy Dufresne: $35,000.
- Captain Hadley: $35,000?
- Andy Dufresne: All of it.
- Captain Hadley: All of it?
- Andy Dufresne: Every penny.
- Captain Hadley: You better start making sense.
- Andy Dufresne: If you want to keep all of that money, give it to your wife. The IRS allows a one-time-only gift to your spouse for up to $60,000.
- Captain Hadley: Bullshit! Tax free?
- Andy Dufresne: Tax free. IRS can't touch one cent.
- Captain Hadley: You're that smart banker who killed his wife, aren't you? Why should I believe a smart banker like you? So I can end up in here with you?
- Andy Dufresne: It's perfectly legal, go ask the IRS, they'll say the same thing. Actually I feel stupid telling you this, I'm sure you would've investigated the matter yourself.
- Captain Hadley: Yeah, fucking A'! I don't need a smart wife-killing banker to tell me where the bear shit in the buckwheat!
- Andy Dufresne: Of course not. But you do need someone to set up the tax-free gift for you, and that'll cost you. A lawyer for example.
- Captain Hadley: Bunch of ball-washing bastards!
- Andy Dufresne: Right. I suppose I could set it up for you. That would save you some money. If you get the forms I'll prepare them for you, nearly free of charge. I'd only ask three beers apiece for each of my co-workers.
- Guard Mert: Ha! "Co-workers", get him, that's rich ain't it?
- Andy Dufresne: I think a man working outdoors feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds. That's only my opinion, sir.
- Captain Hadley: [looks over at the rest of Andy's co-workers] What are you Jimmies staring at? Back to work!
- [after Tommy told the story of how he got arrested]
- Andy Dufresne: Perhaps it's time you tried a new profession.
- Tommy Williams: Huh?
- Andy Dufresne: What I mean is, you don't seem to be a very good thief, maybe you should try something else.
- Tommy Williams: Yeah, well, what the hell you know about it, Capone? What are you in for?
- Andy Dufresne: Me? My lawyer fucked me. Everybody's innocent in here. Don't you know that?
- [after Brooks held a knife to Heywood's throat]
- Andy Dufresne: I just don't understand what happened in there.
- Heywood: Old man's crazy as a rat in a tin shithouse, is what.
- Red: Oh Heywood, that's enough out of you!
- Ernie: I heard he had you shittin' in your pants!
- Heywood: Fuck you!
- Red: Would you knock it off? Brooks ain't no bug. He's just... just institutionalized.
- Heywood: Institutionalized, my ass.
- Red: The man's been in here fifty years, Heywood. Fifty years! This is all he knows. In here, he's an important man. He's an educated man. Outside, he's nothin'! Just a used up con with arthritis in both hands.
- Andy Dufresne: I understand you're a man who knows how to get things.
- Red: I'm known to locate certain things from time to time.