Midnight Express (film)

"Walk into the incredible true experience of Billy Hayes, and bring all the courage you can!"

"Ahmet: Where are you going? Why dont you walk the wheel with us? What is the matter my American friend? What has upset you? Oh! I know. The bad machine doesnt know that hes a bad machine. You still dont believe it. You still dont believe youre a bad machine? To know yourself is to know God, my friend. The factory knows, thats why they put you here. Youll see... Youll find out... In time, youll know."

"Dear Susan: Poor Jimmy was caught and beaten so badly he got a severe hernia, and lost a testicle. Hes been in the sanitarium for months. In comparison, my problems seem very small."

"Everybody gave up on Billy Hayes—except Billy."

"[voiceover] To the Turks, everything is "shurla burla", which means "like this, like that". You never know what will happen. All foreigners are "ayip", theyre considered dirty. So is homosexuality, its a big crime here, but most of them do it every chance they get. There are about thousand things that are "ayip", for instance, you can stab or shoot somebody below the waist but not above because thats intent to kill. So everyone runs around stabbing everyone else in the ass. Thats what they call Turkish revenge. I know it must all sound crazy to you, but this place is crazy."

"What is a crime? What is punishment? It seems to vary from time to time and place to place. Whats legal today is suddenly illegal tomorrow because society says its so, and whats illegal yesterday is suddenly legal because everybodys doin it, and you cant put everybody in jail. Im not saying this is right or wrong. Im just saying thats the way it is. But Ive spent 3 1/2 years of my life in your prison, and I think Ive paid for my error, and if its your decision today to sentence me to more years, then I... [he becomes overcome with anger]"