The Silence of the Lambs quotes

View Quote Dr. Lecter: Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center. Sounds charming.
Clarice: That's only part of the island. There's a very, very nice beach. Terns nest there. There's beautiful ...
Dr. Lecter: Terns? If I help you, Clarice, it will be "turns" for us too. Quid pro quo – I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though. About yourself. Quid pro quo. Yes or no?
[Pause]
Dr. Lecter: Yes or no, Clarice? Poor little Catherine is waiting.
Clarice: Go, doctor.

View Quote Dr. Lecter: Tell me, Senator, did you nurse Catherine yourself?
Senator Ruth Martin: What?
Dr. Lecter: Did you breast-feed her?
Krendler: Now, wait a minute ...
Sen. Martin: Yes, I did.
Dr. Lecter: Toughened your nipples, didn't it?
Krendler: You son of a bitch!
Dr. Lecter: Amputate a man's leg, and he can still feel it tickling. Tell me, ma'am, when your little girl is on the slab, where will it tickle you?
Sen. Martin: Take this thing back to Baltimore!
Dr. Lecter: Five foot ten, strongly built, about a hundred and eighty pounds; hair blonde, eyes pale blue. He'd be about thirty-five now. He said he lived in Philadelphia, but may have lied. That's all I can remember, Mom, but if I think of any more, I will let you know. Oh, and Senator, just one more thing: love your suit.

View Quote Dr. Lecter: Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling? Enthrall me with your a****en.
Clarice: It excites him. Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims.
Dr. Lecter: I didn't.
Clarice: No. No, you ate yours.

View Quote Dr. Lecter: You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed? Pure West Virginia. What's your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? You know how quickly the boys found you ... all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars ... while you could only dream of getting out ... getting anywhere ... getting all the way to the FBI.
Clarice: You see a lot, doctor. But can you point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don't you – why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to.

View Quote Jack Crawford: I remember you from my seminar at UVA. You grilled me pretty hard, as I recall, on the bureau's civil rights record in the Hoover years. I gave you an A.
Clarice: A-minus, Sir.

View Quote Jack: Just do your job, but never forget what he is.
Clarice: And what is that?
[Cut to Clarice's first trip to the psychiatric prison]
Dr. Chilton: Oh, he's a monster. Pure psychopath. So rare to capture one alive. From a research point of view, Lecter is our most prized asset.

View Quote Jame: It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.
Catherine: Mister ... my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're asking for, they pay it.
Jame: It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again. [To his dog, Precious] Yes, it will, Precious, won't it? It will get the hose!
Catherine: Okay ... okay ... okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won't – I won't press charges, I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman ... I guess you already know that.
Jame: Now it places the lotion in the basket.
Catherine: Please! Please, I wanna go home! I wanna go home, please!
Jame: It places the lotion in the basket.
Catherine: I wanna see my mommy! Please, I wanna see my ...
Jame: Put the ****ing lotion in the basket!

View Quote Murray: [assessing the mutilated "Sergeant Pembry"] He's alive. Sergeant Tate, he's alive!
Sgt. Tate: Get a hold of him more and feel his hand, son, talk to him.
Murray: What do I say?
Sgt. Tate: It's Jim Pembry, now, talk to him, damn it!

View Quote Murray: Is it true what they're saying, he's some kinda vampire?
Clarice: They don't have a name for what he is.

View Quote Reporter: Buffalo Bill's real name?
Dr. Chilton: That is now a matter of record with the proper authorities. My name is Dr. Frederick Chilton. C-H-I-L-T-O-N ...

View Quote Roden: Sphingid ceratonia, maybe. [cuts open cocoon] Agent Starling, meet Mr. Acherontia styx.
Pilcher: Weird.
Roden: Better known to his friends as the Death's-head moth.

View Quote [Last lines]
Dr. Lecter: [on telephone] Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?
Clarice: Dr. Lecter?
Dr. Lecter: Don't bother with a trace, I won't be on long enough.
Clarice: Where are you?
Dr. Lecter: I have no plans to call on you, Clarice. The world's much more interesting with you in it. So you take care now to extend me the same courtesy.
Clarice: You know I can't make that promise.
Dr. Lecter: I do wish we could chat longer, but ... [eyeing Dr. Chilton] I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye.
Clarice: Dr. Lecter? ... Dr. Lecter? ... Dr. Lecter? ... Dr. Lecter? ...

View Quote A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. [hisses] Note: ranked #21 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

View Quote Advancement, of course. Listen carefully. Look deep within yourself, Clarice Starling. Go seek out Miss Mofet, an old patient of mine. M-O-F-E-T. Go now, I don't think Miggs could manage again quite so soon, even though he is crazy. [shouting] Go now!

View Quote All good things to those who wait.