The Shawshank Redemption

"[in a letter] Dear Red, If youre reading this, youve gotten out. And if youve come this far, maybe youre willing to come a little further. You remember the name of the town, dont you? I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels. Ill 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."

"Nothing stops. Nothing, or you will do the hardest time there is. No more protection from the guards. Ill pull you out of that one-bunk Hilton and cast you down with the Sodomites. Youll think youve been fucked by a train. And the library? Gone. Sealed off brick-by-brick. Well have us a little book barbecue in the yard. Theyll see the flames for miles. Well dance around it like wild Injuns. You understand me? Catching my drift? Or am I being obtuse? [to Hadley] Give him another month to think about it."

"This is a conspiracy. Thats what it is. One... BIG... DAMN CONSPIRACY! AND EVERYONES IN ON IT! Including her!"

"The first nights the toughest, no doubt about it. They march you in naked as the day you were born, skin burning and half blind from that delousing shit they throw on you, and when they put you in that cell, when those bars slam home, thats when you know its for real. A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it. Most new fish come close to madness the first night. Somebody always breaks down crying. Happens every time. The only question is, whos it gonna be? Its as good a thing to bet on as any, I guess. I had my money on Andy Dufresne. I remember my first night. Seems like a long time ago."

"These prison walls are funny. First you hate em, then you get used to em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. Thats institutionalized. They send you here for life, thats exactly what they take. The part that counts, anyways."

"I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I dont wanna know. Some things are best left unsaid. Id like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it cant be expressed in words, and it makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you those voices soared, higher and farther than anybody in a grey place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free."

"In 1966 Andy Dufresne escaped from Shawshank prison. All they found of him was a muddy set of prison clothes, a bar of soap, and an old rock hammer, damn near worn down to the nub. I remember thinking it would take a man six hundred years to tunnel through the wall with it. Old Andy did it in less than twenty."

"Andy did like he was told; buffed those shoes to a high mirror shine. The guards simply didnt notice. Neither did I... I mean, seriously, how often do you really look at a mans shoes? Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I cant even imagine- or maybe I just dont want to. Five hundred yards... thats the length of five football fields; just shy of half a mile."

"I find Im so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope!"

"[in a letter to Red after being released on parole] Dear fellas, I cant believe how fast things move on the outside. I saw an automobile once when I was a kid, but now theyre everywhere. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry. The parole board got me into this halfway house called "The Brewer" and a job bagging groceries at the Foodway. Its hard work and I try to keep up, but my hands hurt most of the time. I dont think the store manager likes me very much. Sometimes after work, I go to the park and feed the birds. I keep thinking Jake might just show up and say hello, but he never does. I hope wherever he is, hes doin okay and makin new friends. I have trouble sleepin at night. I have bad dreams like Im falling. I wake up scared. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember where I am. Maybe I should get me a gun and rob the Foodway so theyd send me home. I could shoot the manager while I was at it, sort of like a bonus. I guess Im too old for that sort of nonsense any more. I dont like it here. Im tired of being afraid all the time. Ive decided not to stay. I doubt theyll kick up any fuss. Not for an old crook like me. P.S: Tell Heywood Im sorry I put a knife to his throat. No hard feelings. Brooks."

"James Whitmore - Brooks Hatlen"

"[Scrawled in a Bible he hollowed out to make space for the rock hammer he used to tunnel through his cell wall, and placed in the Wardens safe the night before his escape] "Dear Warden; You were right. Salvation lay within. Andy"