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Will Graham: I might not have time.
Hannibal Lecter: I do. I have oodles.
-
Hannibal Lecter: [in the final letter to Will] My dear Will, you must be healed by now... on the outside at least, I hope you're not too ugly. What a collection of scars you have. Never forget who gave you the best of them, and be grateful, our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real. We live in a primitive time, don't we, Will? Neither savage nor wise. Half measures are the curse of it, any rational society will either kill me or put me to some use. Do you dream much, Will? I think of you often. Your old friend, Hannibal Lector.
-
Hannibal Lecter: I'll call you if I think of anything else, would you perhaps like to leave me your home phone number?
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Lloyd Bowman: What about sweating Lecter?
Will Graham: We tried sodium amytal on him three years ago to find where he buried a Princeton student; he gave them a recipe for dip.
-
[Will complains about Freddy Lounds]
Jack Crawford: Forget that prick.
-
Francis Dolarhyde: I am the Dragon. And you call me insane. You are privy to a great becoming, but you recognize nothing. To me, you are a slug in the sun. You are an ant in the afterbirth. It is your nature to do one thing correctly. Before me, you rightly tremble. But, fear is not what you owe me. YOU OWE ME AWE.
-
Will Graham: I thought you might enjoy the challenge. Find out if you're smarter than the person I'm looking for.
Hannibal Lecter: Then, by implication, you think you're smarter than I am, since it was you who caught me.
Will Graham: No, I know I'm not smarter than you.
Hannibal Lecter: Then how did you catch me?
Will Graham: You had... disadvantages.
Hannibal Lecter: What disadvantages?
Will Graham: You're insane.
-
Hannibal Lecter: And be grateful. Our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real.
-
Will Graham: [to Reba] You Didn't Attract A Freak... You Attracted A *Man*... With A *Freak* On His Back There's nothing wrong with you... except your hair. Your hair is a train wreck.
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Francis Dolarhyde: Open your eyes.
Freddy Lounds: No.
Francis Dolarhyde: Open them or I'll staple your eyelids to your forehead.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.
-
Hannibal Lecter: You will not persuade me with appeals to my intellectual vanity.
-
Hannibal Lecter: A robin red-breast in a cage, puts all of Heaven in a rage. Think to yourself that every day is your last. The hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise. As for me, when you want a good laugh, you will find me in fine state... fat and sleek, a true hog of Epicurus's herd.
-
Dinner Guest: Hannibal, confess. What is this divine-looking amuse bouche?
Hannibal Lecter: If I tell you, I'm afraid you won't even try it.
-
Francis Dolarhyde: I'll shoot you and then myself.
Reba McClane: No please no.
Francis Dolarhyde: [trying to pull the trigger] I can't do it, I CAN'T DO IT, I CAN'T DO IT.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Have you seen blood in the moonlight? It appears quite black.
-
Hannibal Lecter: And how is the young Josh and the lovely Molly? They're always in my thoughts, you know.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Ah yes Dr. Chillton. Gruesome isn't he? Fumbles at your head like a freshman pulling at a panty girdle.
-
Will Graham: I need your opinion now.
Hannibal Lecter: Then here's one... you stink of fear under that cheap lotion. You stink of fear Will, but you're not a coward. You fear me, but still you came here. You fear this shy boy, yet still you seek him out. Don't you understand, Will? You caught me because we're very much alike. Without our imaginations, we'd be like all those other poor... dullards. Fear... is the price of our instrument. But I can help you bear it.
-
Francis Dolarhyde: I'm the great Red Dragon.
-
Francis Dolarhyde: I am not a man. I began as one, but now I am becoming more than a man, as you will witness.
-
Will Graham: He's not collecting body parts. He's eating them.
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Dr. Frederick Chilton: Tell me, when you saw Lecter's murders, their style, so to speak, were you able perhaps to reconstruct his fantasies? And, if so, did you jot down any impressions?
Will Graham: No.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Let me be frank, Mr. Graham. The first definitive analysis of Lecter will be a publisher's wet dream. I'd give you full credit, of course
[Graham towards cell door]
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Dammit, man, you must have some advice. You caught him. What was your trick?
Will Graham: I let him kill me.
-
Hannibal Lecter: First he kills the pet, and then the family. Freddy was your pet, Will.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Beneath the yellow folder, you'll find your latest rejection slip from the archives. It was brought to me by mistake with some of my archives mail. I'm afraid I opened it without looking. Sorry.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: I think we'll remove Dr. Lecter's toilet seat as well
-
Hannibal Lecter: Do you like my little exercise cage, Will? My so-called lawyer is always nagging Dr. Chilton for better accommodations. I don't know which is the greater fool.
-
Dr. Frederick Chilton: As a research subject, Lecter has proven most disappointing. He's simply impenetrable to psychological testing. Rorschach, Thematic Apperception... he folds them into origamis, as you can see.
-
Will Graham: What is taking him so long?
Molly: Are you kidding? It takes him 20 minutes to get out of bed in the morning.
Will Graham: Yeah, but now I have a serious marshmallow jones.
-
Will Graham: He's not going to stop.
Woman Detective: Why not?
Will Graham: Because it makes him God. Would *you* give that up?
-
Reba McClane: If there's anything I hate worse than pity, it's fake pity. Especially from a walking hard-on like Ralph Mandy.
Francis Dolarhyde: I have no pity.
-
[Chilton is explaining the difficulty he's had with Lecter]
Dr. Frederick Chilton: So, you can imagine the stir your little visit is causing among my staff. If you'd care to share some insights...?
Will Graham: Dr. Chilton, I'm sorry. I've got a 4:17 flight back to Atlanta.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: [irritated] Of course.
-
Dr. Frederick Chilton: There's no paper clips in there. No staples, brads, or ring-binders.
Will Graham: No, I read the security protocols, Dr. Chilton.
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Then see you observe them. Though, it is perhaps gratuitous to warn you of all people about how dangerous he can be.
-
[last lines]
Dr. Frederick Chilton: There's someone to see you, Lecter. A young woman... says she's from the FBI, but she seems much too pretty for that if you ask me.
[Lecter appears unmoved]
Dr. Frederick Chilton: I'll tell her you said no.
[Chilton walks away offscreen, as Lecter looks up and makes eye contact with the camera]
Hannibal Lecter: ...what is her name?
-
Francis Dolarhyde: Drop it. Do it now gumshoe. Your son is about to change. Then your wife. You can watch, then I'll take care of you.
[Will drops knife]
Will Graham: [looks to Josh but is actually directing his mockery at Francis] Look at you! I have never seen a child as disgusting as you! You pissed your pants? How dare you!
[Francis is visibly insulted]
Will Graham: You want me to cut it off? Is that what you want me to do, you little freak? Don't cry at me you little faggot. Apologize! Say "I'm sorry daddy, I'm a dirty little beast, I'm a freak!... " Say it!
[Francis starts shaking in outrage]
Josh Graham: No.
Will Graham: Say it!
Josh Graham: No, daddy.
Will Graham: Say it or I will cut it off! "... I'm a dirty little beast, freak, hare lip, and no one will ever love me!"
[deeply offended Francis throws Josh to one side, as he goes for Will]
-
Freddy Lounds: Will you let me go now?
Francis Dolarhyde: Soon. There is one more way I can help you to better understand.
Freddy Lounds: I-I want to understand. I do, and I'm-I'm really gonna be fair from now on. You know that.
-
Jack Crawford: How much do you know?
Will Graham: Just what was in the Miami Herald and the Times. Two families killed a month apart in their homes... Birmingham and Atlanta. Circumstances were similar.
Jack Crawford: Not similar, the same.
-
[Freddy Lounds is shown graphic pictures of Dolarhyde's murder victims]
Freddy Lounds: Please no.
Francis Dolarhyde: No? No what?
-
Lloyd Bowman: I've solved the code. You need to know what it says right now.
Jack Crawford: Okay, Lloyd.
Lloyd Bowman: It says, "Graham home. Marathon, Florida. Save yourself, kill them all."
-
Ralph Mandy: Reba, listen... I know it's not my place to say this...
Reba McClane: Go on.
Ralph Mandy: Well, if Dolarhyde is really as moody as you say he is, maybe you ought to keep a little distance. I mean, what do you really know about the guy?
-
Byron Metcalf: Son, just tell me you're going to nail that son of a bitch.
Will Graham: We're doing our best.
-
Mr. Fisk: Mr. Crawford, all you got is a hunch. I got three-hundred-eighty-two employees, and they got a union. I can't just turn you guys loose on their files, not without a court order. There are privacy issues here, and the company's exposure.
Jack Crawford: One of those employees has already killed eleven people that we know of. If he gets away tonight, what is the company's exposure on that?
-
Newsie: You again? Come back at 4am, when I open, all right?
[Dolarhyde pays him, cuts open newspaper bundle and takes a copy of the National Tattler]
Newsie: Hey, hey, I told you...
Francis Dolarhyde: [turns around knife still visible, with menacing attitude] What? You told me what?
-
Jack Crawford: If that painting meant so much to him, why destroy it? And why didn't he kill those two women at the museum? They both got a good look at him.
Will Graham: Maybe he's trying to stop.
-
Will Graham: This guy's very strong. He's possibly a bodybuilder. He might have some kind of facial disfigurement. He drives a van or a panel truck.
Mr. Fisk: [to the secretary] Sounds like Mr. D.
Chromalux Secretary: Oh, my God.
Jack Crawford: Who's Mr. D?
Mr. Fisk: [to Jack] It's Francis Dolarhyde. He's our manager and technical supervisor.
-
Hannibal Lecter: [after he stabs Will] Shh. Don't move. You're in shock now. I don't want you to feel any pain. In a moment, you'll begin to feel light-headed, then drowsy. Don't resist, it's so gentle, like slipping into a warm bath. I regret it came to this, Will, but every game must have its ending.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Tell me, Will. Did you enjoy it? Your first murder? Of course you did. And why shouldn't it feel good? It does to God. Why only last week in Texas, he dropped a church roof on the heads of 34 of his worshippers, just as they were groveling for him. He wouldn't begrudge you for one Journalist.
-
Francis Dolarhyde: [torturing Freddy Lounds] Do you know who I am, Mr. Lounds?
Freddy Lounds: No. And I don't want to know. Believe me.
Francis Dolarhyde: According to you, I'm a vicious, perverted, sexual failure. A bottom-feeding lowlife who's about to go down in flames. I think you know now, don't you?
Freddy Lounds: Yes.
-
[first lines]
Hannibal Lecter: Think to yourself that every day is your last. The hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise. As for me, when you want a good laugh, you will find me in fine state, fat and sleek, a true hog of Epicurus's herd.
-
Hannibal Lecter: That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court.
Will Graham: I keep getting it for Christmas.
Hannibal Lecter: Christmas, yes. Did you get my card?
-
Ralph Mandy: Listen Reba, it's starting to spritz outside. How about I give you a lift home?
Reba McClane: You ride a motorcycle, Ralph. How's that going to help me with the rain?
-
Will Graham: [mocking Hannibal] Your cell looks bigger with no books in it.
-
Will Graham: [consoling Reba] You didn't draw a freak, you drew a man with a freak on his back.
-
Jack Crawford: [after Will's visit to Lecter] What do you suppose he meant by "see them living"?
Will Graham: I don't know. I don't know, maybe nothing. It's hard to separate his bullshit.
-
Will Graham: Jack, there's only one safe way to carry on a conversation that's one-way blind.
Jack Crawford: Publication.
-
Will Graham: [accosted by Freddie Lounds] You write lying shit, Lounds, and the "Tattler" is an ass wipe!
-
Newsie: Hey! I told you...
Francis Dolarhyde: What? You told me what?
-
Reba McClane: If there's anything I hate worse than pity, it's fake pity. Especially from a walking hard-on like Ralph Mandy. Sorry.
Francis Dolarhyde: I have no pity.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Can I see the photos?
Will Graham: No
Hannibal Lecter: Why not?
Will Graham: It would be obscene.
-
Hannibal Lecter: Has it occurred to you he may be disfigured or consider himself to be disfigured?
-
Francis Dolarhyde: [deleted scene]
[Francis suddenly appears to Josh from behind a fridge door]
Francis Dolarhyde: Hello... I'm A Friend Of Your Father
Red Dragon Quotes
Extended Reading
