Quentin Tarantino changed the face of indie movies forever with his 1994 masterpiece Pulp Fiction. Arriving just a few years after his spectacular debut, Reservoir Dogs, his sophom*ore effort stunned crowds at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Palme d’Or. Featuring several interconnecting stories, shot non-linear, and containing some fantastic Pulp Fiction quotes, audiences had never seen anything quite like it.
Split into seven chapters, the movie follows several different characters over the course of a couple of days. The main plot focuses on Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) attempting to rob a diner, hitmen Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L Jackson) recovering a missing briefcase for their boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), and boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) throwing a fight. There are also several supporting characters that weave in and out of these plot threads, including Wallace’s wife Mia (Uma Thurman), cleaner Winston Wolfe (Harvey Keitel), local drug dealer Lance (Eric Stolz), and Vietnam vet Captain Koons (Christopher Walken).
Making $213.9 million at the box office worldwide, Pulp Fiction cemented Tarantino as one of the great modern auteurs. The movie is full of Tarantino trademarks, including witty dialogue, pop culture references, non-linear storylines, and moments of surprising violence. Pulp Fiction also helped revive the career of John Travolta, who was struggling big time in the 90s, and won Tarantino his first Oscars for Best Original Screenplay.
The critical hit also gave us some of the best dialogue and movie quotes ever written in movie history, with Tarantino proving himself a modern-day Shakespeare, just with a few more f-bombs scattered throughout his prose. Many of these quotes are part of the everyday lexicon and can be used in a variety of situations. With the 30th anniversary of Pulp Fiction just a year away, there is no better time to look at the movie’s most memorable quotes.
1. “Well, there’s this passage I’ve got memorized that sort of fits this occasion. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of the evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee!” – Jules Winnfield
2. “Don’t you just love it when you come back from the bathroom and find your food waiting for you?” – Mia Wallace
3. “Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.” – Butch Coolidge
4. “Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.” – Jules Winnfield
5. “That was pretty f*cking trippy…” – Jodie
6. “Normally, both your asses would be dead as f*cking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this sh*t while I’m in a transitional period so I don’t wanna kill you, I wanna help you. But I can’t give you this case, it don’t belong to me. Besides, I’ve already been through too much sh*t this morning over this case to hand it over to your dumb aaa.” – Jules Winnfield
7. “The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That’s pride f*cking with you. f*ck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that sh*t.” – Marsellus Wallace
8. “English, motherf*cker, do you speak it?” – Jules Winnfield
9. “Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character.” – Winston Wolfe
10. “Sewer rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know cuz I wouldn’t eat the filthy motherf*cker.” – Jules Winnfield
11. “I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do whatever I wanted. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good.” – Mia Wallace
12. “No marriage counseling, No trial separation. I’m gonna get divorced and I don’t wanna get divorced!” – Jimmie Dimmick
13. “Check out the big brain on Brett.” – Jules Winnfield
14. “Are you calling me on the cellular phone? I don’t know you. Who is this? Don’t come here; I’m hanging up the phone. Prank caller, prank caller!” – Lance
15. “But still I have to say, you play with matches you get burned.” – Vincent Vega
16. “This business is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherf*ckers. Motherf*ckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar…it does. If you mean it gets better with age… it don’t.” – Marsellus Wallace
17. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I break your concentration? I didn’t mean to do that.” – Jules Winnfield
18. “Aw, man, I shot Marvin in the face.” – Vincent Vega
19. “That’s how you’re gonna beat ’em, Butch. They keep underestimating you.” – Butch Coolridge
20. “It’s unfortunate that what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same.” – Fabienne
21. “Say ‘what’ again. Say ‘what’ again. I dare you. I double-dare you, motherf*cker, say ‘what’ one more goddamn time!” – Jules Winnfield
22. “Trying to forget anything as intriguing as this would be an exercise in futility.” – Mia Wallace
23. “You don’t have to tell me how good my coffee is, OK? I’m the one who buys it; I know how good it is.” – Jimmie Dimmick
24. “Whether or not what we experienced was an According to Hoyle miracle is insignificant. What is significant is that I felt the touch of God. God got involved.” – Jules Winnfield
25. “That’s a pretty f*cking good milkshake. I don’t know if it’s worth five dollars, but it’s pretty f*cking good.” – Vincent Vega
26. “What happened to my Honda?” – Fabienne
27. “Three tomatoes are walking down the street: Papa Tomato, Mama Tomato, and Baby Tomato. Baby Tomato starts lagging behind. The Papa Tomato gets really angry, goes back and squishes him, says, ‘Ketchup!’” – Mia Wallace
28. “If my answers frighten you, then you should cease asking scary questions.” – Jules Winnfield
29. “Pretty please with sugar on top, clean the f*cking car.” – Winston Wolfe
30. “You wanna play blind man, go walk with the shepherd. Me, my eyes Are wide open.” – Jules Winnfield
31. “Do you wanna continue this theological discussion in the car or in the jailhouse with the cops?” – Vincent Vega
32. “I’m the foot f*cking master.” – Jules Winnfield
33. “I love you Pumpkin… Any of you move and I’ll execute every last one of ya’!” – Honey Bunny
34. “Jules, if you give that f*ckin’ nimrod $1,500, I’m gonna shoot him on general principles.” – Vincent Vega
35. “They speak English in What?” – Jules Winnfield
36. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go home and have a heart attack.” – Vincent Vega
37. “Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet.” – Winston Wolfe
38. “We should be f*ckin’ dead, my friend! What happened here was a miracle, and I want you to f*cking acknowledge it!” Vincent: “All right, it was a miracle. Can we go now?” – Jules Winnfield
39. “I ain’t through with you by a damn sight! I’m gonna get medieval on your ass.” – Marsellus Wallace
40. “Yeah, well the days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun.” – Pumpkin
41. “I hate to shatter your ego, but this is not the first time I’ve had a gun pointed at me.” – Jules Winnfield
42. “Hey, man, my name’s Paul, and that sh*t’s between y’all.” – Paul
43. “Well, I’m a mushroom-cloud-laying motherf*cker, motherf*cker! Every time my fingers touch brain, I’m superfly TNT. I’m the Guns of the Navarone. In fact, what the f*ck am I doing in the back?! You’re the motherf*cker that should be on brain detail.” – Jules Winnfield
44. “I’m not saying I want to rob banks, I’m just illustrating that if we did, it’d be easier than what we’ve been doing.” – Pumpkin
45. “The thing is, Butch, right now… you got ability. But painful as it may be, ability don’t last. And your days are just about over.” – Marsellus
46. “Hello, little man. Boy, I sure heard a bunch about you. See, I was a good friend of your dad’s. We were in that Hanoi pit of hell together over five years. Hopefully, you’ll never have to experience this yourself, but when two men are in a situation like me and your dad were for as long as we were, you take on certain responsibilities of the other. If it’d been me who’d – not made it, Major Coolidge would be talking right now to my son Jim. The way it turned out, I’m talking to you. Butch. I got somethin’ for ya. [Sits down, holds up a gold wristwatch with no band] This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the First World War. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up ’til then, people just carried pocket watches. It was bought by Private Doughboy Erine Coolidge on the day he set sail for Paris. This was your great-grandfather’s war watch and he wore it every day he was in that war, and when he’d done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, took the watch off, put it in an old coffee can, and in that can it stayed until your granddad, Dane Coolidge, was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again. This time they called it World War II.
Your great-grandfather gave this watch to your granddad for good luck. Unfortunately, Dane’s luck wasn’t as good as his old man’s. Dane was a Marine and he was killed, along with all the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island. Your granddad was facing death. He knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leavin’ that island alive, so three days before the Japanese took the island, your granddad asked a gunner on an Air Force transport, name of Winocki – a man he’d never met before in his life – to deliver to his infant son, who he’d never seen in the flesh, his gold watch. Three days later, your granddad was dead, but Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father his dad’s gold watch. This watch.[He holds the watch up] This watch was on your daddy’s wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured, put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew that if the gooks ever saw the watch, it’d be confiscated and taken away. The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He’d be damned if any slope’s gonna put their greasy, yellow hands on his boy’s birthright, so he hid it in one place he knew he could hide something – his ass. Five long years he wore this watch up his ass. Then, he died of dysentery. He gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. Now, little man, I give the watch to you.” – Captain Koons
10 Best Pulp Fiction Lines of Dialogue
47. Jules Winnfield: “I want you to go in that bag and find my wallet.”
Pumpkin: “Which one is it?”
Jules Winnfield: “It’s the one that says Bad Motherf*cker.”
48. Mia Wallace: “Don’t you hate that?”
Vincent Vega: “Hate what?”
Mia Wallace: “Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it’s necessary to yak about bullsh*t in order to be comfortable?”
Vincent Vega: “I don’t know. That’s a good question.”
Mia Wallace: “That’s when you know you’ve found somebody special. When you can just shut the f*ck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence.”
49. Vincent Vega: “You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?”
Jules Winnfield: “They don’t call it a quarter pounder with cheese?”
Vincent Vega: “No, man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the f*ck a quarter pounder is.”
Jules Winnfield: “Then what do they call it?”
Vincent Vega: “They call it a Royale with cheese.”
Jules Winnfield: “Royale with cheese. What’d they call a Big Mac?”
Vincent Vega: “A Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.”
Jules Winnfield: “Le Big Mac! Ahahaha, what do they call a Whopper?”
Vincent Vega: “I dunno; I didn’t go into a Burger King.”
50. Jules Winnfield: “You know the shows on TV?”
Vincent Vega: “I don’t watch TV.”
Jules Winnfield: “Yeah, but you are aware that there’s an invention called television, and on this invention, they show shows, right?”
51. Zed: “Bring out the Gimp.”
Maynard: “Gimp’s sleeping.”
Zed: “Well, I guess you’re gonna have to go wake him up now, won’t you?”
52. Jules Winnfield: “Yolanda, how we doin’, baby?”
Yolanda: “I gotta go pee! I want to go home.”
Jules Winnfield: “Just hang in there, baby. You’re doin’ great. Ringo’s proud of you and so am I. It’s almost over. Tell her you’re proud of her.”
Pumpkin: “I’m proud of you, Honey Bunny.”
Yolanda: “I love you!”
Pumpkin: “I love you too, Honey Bunny.”
53. Brett: “H-H-He’s black…”
Jules: “Go on!”
Brett: “He’s bald…!”
Jules: “Does he look like a bitch?”
Brett: “What?”
Jules: [shoots Brett in the shoulder] “DOES HE… LOOK… LIKE A BITCH?”
Brett: “No!”
Jules: “Then why you tryin’ to f*ck him like a bitch, Brett?”
Brett: “I didn’t…!”
Jules: “Yes, you did. Yes, you did, Brett! You tried to f*ck him.”
Brett: [gasping] “No, no…”
Jules: ‘But Marcellus Wallace don’t like to be f*cked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace.”
54. Esmeralda: “What is your name?”
Butch: “Butch.”
Esmeralda: “What does it mean?”
Butch: “I’m American, honey. Our names don’t mean sh*t.”
55. Butch: “You okay?”
Marsellus: “Naw man. I’m pretty f*ckin’ far from okay.”
Butch: “What now?”
Marsellus: “What now? Let me tell you what now. I’ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin’ nigg*rs, who’ll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin’, hillbilly boy? I ain’t through with you by a damn sight. I’ma get medieval on your ass.”
Butch: “I meant what now between me and you?”
Marsellus: “Oh, that what now. I tell you what now between me and you. There is no me and you. Not no more.”
56. Jules: “f*ck, nigg*, what the f*ck did you do to his towel?”
Vincent: “I was dryin’ my hands.”
Jules: “You’re supposed to wash ’em first!”
Vincent: “You watched me wash ’em.”
Jules: “I watched you get ’em wet.”
Vincent: “I was washing ’em. But this sh*t’s hard to get off. Maybe if I had Lava or something, I coulda done a better job.”
Jules: “I used the same f*ckin’ soap you did and when I got finished, the towel didn’t look like no goddamn Maxi-Pad!”
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