Did anybody ever come back from the dead, any single one of the millio — Dalton Trumbo

"Never again to wiggle your toes. What a hell of a thing, what a wonderful, beautiful thing, to wiggle your toes."

"Theres a game out there, and the stakes are high. And the guy who runs it figures the averages all day long and all night long. Once in a while he lets you steal a pot. But if you stay in the game long enough, youve got to lose. And once youve lost theres no way back, no way at all."

"Just say "mister Im sorry, I got no time to die, Im too busy" and then turn and run like hell. If they say coward why dont pay any attention because its your job to live not to die. If they talk about dying for principles that are bigger than life, you say "mister youre a liar. Nothing is bigger than life". Theres nothing noble in death. Whats noble about lying in the ground and rotting? Whats noble about never seeing the sunshine again? Whats noble about having your legs and arms blown off? Whats noble about being an idiot? Whats noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? Whats noble about being dead? Because when youre dead, mister, its all over. Its the end. Youre less than a dog, less than a rat, less than a bee or an ant, less than a white maggot crawling around on a dungheap. Youre dead, mister, and you died for nothing."

"No sir, anybody who went out and got into the front line trenches to fight for liberty was a goddamn fool and the guy who got him there was a liar. Next time anybody came gabbling to him about liberty — what did he mean next time? There wasnt going to be any next time for him. But the hell with that. If there could be a next time and somebody said "lets fight for liberty", he would say mister my life is important. Im not a fool and when I swap my life for liberty Ive got to know in advance what liberty is, and whose idea of liberty were talking about and just how much of that liberty were going to have. And whats more mister — are you as much interested in liberty as you want me to be? And maybe too much liberty will be as bad as too little liberty and I think youre a goddamn fourflusher talking through your hat, and Ive already decided that I like the liberty Ive got right here. The liberty to walk and see and hear and talk and eat and sleep with my girl. I think I like that liberty better than fighting for a lot of things we wont get and ending up without any liberty at all. Ending up dead and rotting before my life is even begun good or ending up like a side of beef. Thank you mister. You fight for liberty. Me, I dont care for some."

"Democracy means that people can say what they want to. All the people. It means that they can vote as they wish. All the people. It means that they can worship God in any way they feel right, and that includes Christians and Jews and voodoo doctors as well."

"Theres nothing noble about dying. Not even if you die for honor. Not even if you die the greatest hero the world ever saw. Not even if youre so great your name will never be forgotten and whos that great? The most important thing is your life, little guys. Youre worth nothing dead except for speeches. Dont let them kid you any more. Pay no attention when they tap you on the shoulder and say come along weve got to fight for liberty, or whatever their word is. Theres always a word."