Shutter Island quotes

View Quote Warden: You're as violent as they come. I know this, because I'm as violent as they come. If the constraints of society were lifted, and I was all that stood between you and a meal, you would crack my skull with a rock and eat my meaty parts. Wouldn't you?

View Quote Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Did you know that the word 'trauma' comes from the Greek for 'wound'? Hm? And what is the German word for 'dream'? Traum. Ein Traum. Wounds can create monsters, and you, you are wounded, Marshal. And wouldn't you agree, when you see a monster, you... you must stop it?
Teddy Daniels: Yeah... I agree.
[Dr. Naehring injects him with a sedative]

View Quote Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Men like you are my specialty, you know. Men of violence.
Chuck Aule: Now, that's a hell of an assumption to make.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: No assumption, no, not at all. You misunderstand me. I said, you are 'men of violence'. I'm not accusing you of being violent men. That's quite different.

View Quote Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: You both served overseas, huh?
Chuck Aule: It's not much of a stretch, Doc. For all you know, we're both paper pushers over there.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: No, you are not. - Since the schoolyard, neither of you has ever walked away from a physical conflict. No, no, not because you enjoyed it, but because retreat isn't something you consider an option.
Chuck Aule: We weren't raised to run, Doc.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Ah, yes. Raised. And who raised you, Marshal?
Teddy Daniels: Me? Wolves.
[Dr. Naehring and Dr. Cawley laugh again]
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Very impressive defense mechanisms.

View Quote George Noyce: You wanna uncover the truth? You gotta let her go.
Teddy Daniels: I can't.
George Noyce: You have to let her go!
Teddy Daniels: I can't! I can't!
George Noyce: Then you'll never leave this island.

View Quote Nurse Marino: [Daniels has asked the staff about Rachel's activities before her disappearance] She was in a group therapy session.
Teddy Daniels: Anything unusual occur?
Nurse Marino: Define 'unusual'.
Teddy Daniels: Excuse me?
Nurse Marino: This is a mental institution, Marshal. For the criminally insane. Usual isn't a big part of our day.

View Quote Rachel 2: Do you know how pain enters the body, Marshal? Do you?
Teddy Daniels: Depends on where you're hurt?
Rachel 2: No, it has nothing to do with the flesh. The brain controls pain.

View Quote Teddy Daniels: I had a friend. I was with him yesterday, but we got separated. Have you seen him?
Rachel 2: Marshal... you have no friends.

View Quote Teddy Daniels: So, what's our next move?
Chuck Aule: You tell me.
Teddy Daniels: I gotta get off this rock, Chuck. Get back to the mainland. Whatever the hell's going on here, it's bad. [pause] Don't worry, partner, they're not gonna catch us.
Chuck Aule: That's right, we're too smart for 'em.
Teddy Daniels: Yeah, we are, aren't we? [pause] You know, this place makes me wonder.
Chuck Aule: Yeah, what's that, boss?
Teddy Daniels: Which would be worse - to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?
[gets up and walks off with the attendants]
Chuck Aule: Teddy?

View Quote Teddy Daniels: They're experimenting on people here.
Chuck Aule: I don't know, boss. How can you believe a crazy guy?
Teddy Daniels: That's the beauty of it. Mental Patients make the perfect subjects, if they talk nobody listens to them!

View Quote Warden: Did you enjoy God's latest gift?
Teddy Daniels: What?
Warden: God's gift. Your violence.
[Daniels looks at him blankly]
Warden: When I came downstairs in my home, and I saw that tree in my living room, it reached out for me... a divine hand. God loves violence.
Teddy Daniels: I... I hadn't noticed.
Warden: Sure you have. Why else would there be so much of it? It's in us. It's what we are. We wage war, we burn sacrifices, and pillage and plunder and tear at the flesh of our brothers. And why? Because God gave us violence to wage in his honor.
Teddy Daniels: I thought God gave us moral order.
Warden: There's no moral order as pure as this storm. There's no moral order at all. There's just this: can my violence conquer yours?

View Quote Warden: If I was to sink my teeth into your eye right now, would you be able to stop me before I blinded you?
Teddy Daniels: Give it a try.
Warden: That's the spirit.

View Quote [Dr. Cawley has asked the marshals about their preferred drinks]
Teddy Daniels: Soda and ice, please, thanks.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Oh. You don't indulge in alcohol? I'm surprised. Isn't it common for men in your profession to imbibe?
Teddy Daniels: Common enough. And... in yours?
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Er... I'm sorry?
Teddy Daniels: Your profession, Doctor, psychiatry.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Yes?
Teddy Daniels: I always heard it was overrun with boozers and drunks.
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Not that I noticed.
Teddy Daniels: What's that, ice tea in your glass there?
Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: [laughs, despite himself] Excellent, Marshal. You have outstanding defense mechanisms. You must be quite adept at interrogations.

View Quote After she tried to kill herself the first time, Dolores told me she... she had an insect living inside her brain. She could feel it clicking across her skull, just... pulling the wires, just for fun. She told me that. She told me that but I didn't listen. I loved her so much.

View Quote Fifty years from now, people will look back and say, "Here, at this place, is where it all began. The Nazis used the Jews, Soviets used prisoners in their own Gulags. And we - we tested patients on Shutter Island."