Take a deeper look at society’s morality by reading these The Green Mile quotes.
The Green Mile is a film inspired by Stephen Hawking’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of a Black man with healing powers who became a prisoner on death row despite his innocence. In a way, it uncovers the rotten views of society and the racial prejudice that exists in the system.
The film has a lot of notable quotes that will make you think and warm your heart. So, don’t miss out on our collection below because these quotes will indeed teach you about life.
Start reading here.
And make sure to check out these Saving Private Ryan quotes.
Best The Green Mile Quotes
1. “Atonement was powerful. It was the lock on the door you closed against the past.” – Paul Edgecomb
2. “Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.” – Paul Edgecomb
3. “I’m tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I’m tired of never having a buddy to be with, to tell me where we’re going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head, all the time. Can you understand?” – John Coffey
4. “Do you leave a light on after bedtime? Because I get a little scared in the dark sometimes. If it’s a strange place.” – John Coffey
5. “He killed them with their love. That’s how it is every day, all over the world.” – John Coffey
6. “We each owe a death. There are no exceptions, but oh god, sometimes, the Green Mile seems so long.” – Paul Edgecomb
7. “I’ve done some things in my life I’m not proud of, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt in real danger of hell.” – Paul Edgecomb
8. “Sometimes, there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.” – Paul Edgecomb
9. “In fact, I don’t think he did it at all. I just can’t see God putting a gift like that in the hands of a man who would kill a child.” – Paul Edgecomb
10. “You can’t hide what’s in your heart.” – John Coffey
11. “I think that’s what people most always do with the stuff they can’t make out—just forget it.” – Brutus Howell
12. Arlen Bitterbuck: “Do you believe that if a man repents enough for what he did wrong, then he’ll get to go back to the time that was happiest for him and live there forever? Could that be what heaven’s like?”
Paul Edgecomb: “I just about believe that very thing.”
13. “It’s strange how pain marks our faces and makes us look like family.” – Paul Edgecomb
14. “We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create.” – Paul Edgecomb
15. “What happens on the Mile stays on the Mile. Always has.” – Paul Edgecomb
Famous Quotes From The Green Mile
16. “Love among the ruins. I’ll tell you something, my friend, weird love’s better than no love at all.” – Paul Edgecomb
17. “I’m sorry for what I am.” – John Coffey
18. “Appeals weren’t for the likes of John Coffey, not back then.” – Paul Edgecomb
19. “I tried to take it back, but it was too late.” – John Coffey
20. “I dreamed of you. I dreamed you were wandering in the dark, and so was I. We found each other. We found each other in the dark.” – Melinda Moores
21. “I believe that the combination of pencil and memory creates a kind of practical magic, and magic is dangerous.” – Paul Edgecomb
Also read: Famous Quotes, The Shawshank Redemption Quotes
Deep The Green Mile Quotes That Are Full of Meaning
22. “The world turns, that’s all. You can hold on and turn with it, or stand up to protest and be spun right off.” – Paul Edgecomb
23. “Like some dogs: kick them once and they never trust you again, no matter how nice you are to them.” – Paul Edgecomb
24. “And I think about all of us walking our own Green Mile. Each in our own time.” – Paul Edgecomb
25. “But people love a hypocrite, you know, they recognize one of their own, and it always feels so good when someone gets caught with his pants down and his dick up, and it isn’t you.” – Paul Edgecomb
26. “It was sweet and lovely, that smile, perhaps the more so because it wasn’t complicated by much in the way of thought.” – Paul Edgecomb
27. “There was a beautiful feeling of calm in my groin, a sense of peace so remarkable it was almost ecstasy, anyone who suffered bad pain and then recovered will know what I’m talking about.” – Paul Edgecomb
28. Paul Edgecomb: “What do you want me to do John? You want me to let you run out of here, see how far you can get?”
John Coffey: “Why would you do such a foolish thing?”
Paul Edgecomb: “On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why I did, did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I going to say? That it was my job? It’s my job.”
John Coffey: “You tell God the Father it was a kindness you done. I know you’re hurting and worrying. I can feel it on you. But you ought to quit on it now. I want it to be over and done with. I do.”
29. “Men under strain can snap, hurt themselves, hurt others. That’s why our job is talking, not yelling. You’ll do better to think of this place like an intensive care ward in a hospital.” – Paul Edgecomb
30. “Usually, death row is called the Last Mile. We called ours the Green Mile. The floor was the color of faded limes.” – Paul Edgecomb
Also read: Quotes to Live By
The Green Mile Quotes That Highlight John Coffey’s Innocence
31. “Don’t know. Tell the truth, boss. I don’t know much of anything, never have.” – John Coffey
32. “Please, boss, don’t put that thing over my face, don’t put me in the dark. I’m afraid of the dark.” – John Coffey
33. John Coffey: “There are lots of people here that hate me, lots. I can feel it. It’s like bees stinging me.”
Brutus Howell: “Well, feel how we feel then. We don’t hate you. Can you feel that?”
The Green Mile Quotes to Revisit the Characters’ Most Memorable Lines
34. “Heaven. I’m in heaven, heaven, heaven.” – John Coffey
35. “We’ll be doing this for real tomorrow night, and I don’t want nobody to remember some stupid joke like that and get it going again. You ever try to not to laugh in church when something funny gets stuck in your head? Same goddamn thing.” – Paul Edgecomb
36. “My name is John Coffey, like the drink, except not spelled the same.” – John Coffey
37. Melinda Moores: “Why do you have so many scars?”
John Coffey: “Don’t really remember, ma’am.”
38. “I don’t see why a White man has to sit in a nigger electric chair. White man should have his own damn electric chair.” – William Wharton
39. “The man is mean, careless, and stupid. Bad combination in a place like this.” – Paul Edgecomb
40. “Well, there must be something we can do for you, John. There must be something that you want.” – Brutus Howell
41. “You love your sister? You make any noise, you know what happens. I’m gonna kill her instead of you. Understand?” – William Wharton
42. “It’s a tumor, Paul. A brain tumor. They got X-ray pictures of it. The size of a lemon, they said, way deep down inside where they can’t operate. I haven’t told her. I can’t think of how. For the life of me, Paul, I can’t think of how to tell my wife she’s going to die!” – Warden Hal Moores
43. “Working with him was sort of like trying to defuse a bomb with somebody standing behind you and every now and then clashing a pair of cymbals together. In a word, upsetting.” – Paul Edgecomb
44. “Percy wanted not just to kill the mouse but to squash it.” – Paul Edgecomb
45. Paul Edgecomb: “I think Mr. Jingles happened by accident. I think when we electrocuted Del, and it all went so badly, well, John can feel that, you know, and I think a part of whatever magic was inside of him just leapt through my tiny friend here. As for me, John had to give me a part of himself. A gift the way he saw it so that I could see for myself what Wild Billy had done. When John did that, when he took my hand, a part of the power that worked through him spilled into me.”
Elaine Connelly: “He, what? He infected you with life?”
William Wharton: “That’s as good a word as any. He infected us both, didn’t he, Mr. Jingles? With life. I’m 108 years old, Elaine. I was 44 the year that John Coffey walked the Green Mile. You mustn’t blame John. He couldn’t help what happened to him. He was just a force of nature. Oh, I’ve lived to see some amazing things, Elly. Another century has come to pass, but I’ve, I’ve had to see my friends and loved ones die off through the years. Hal and Melinda, Brutus Howell, my wife, my boy. And you Elaine, you’ll die too, and my curse is knowing that I’ll be there to see it. It’s my atonement, you see. It’s my punishment for letting John Coffey ride the lightning. For killing a miracle of God. You’ll be gone like all the others. I’ll have to stay. Oh, I’ll die eventually, that I’m sure. I have no illusions of immortality, but I will wish for death long before death finds me. In truth, I wish for it already.”
Also read: 12 Angry Men Quotes
More The Green Mile Quotes for Stephen King Readers
46. “A man with a good wife is the luckiest of God’s creatures, and one without must be among the most miserable, I think, the only true blessing of their lives is that they don’t know how poorly off they are.” – Paul Edgecomb
47. “What I got a hate in you boy? That’s the way it is around here?” – Percy Wetmore
48. “It’s what God made him for.” – Paul Edgecomb
49. “Now this room was just another version of the Green Mile.” – Paul Edgecomb
50. “Eduard Delacroix is dead. Isn’t he?” – Paul Edgecomb
Have You Ever Been Judged Solely Based on Your Appearance?
The Green Mile perfectly sends the message of the injustices that happen because of our prejudice based on appearance. It opens the discussion of how people go through the worst experiences under society’s hating eyes.
Although the plot feels like a fantasy film, what happened to him inside the prison reflects life. John Coffey, an innocent Black man, is a naive and kind person who is a victim of injustice and discrimination. With its profound messages and lessons, the film is a wake-up call for many who judge people by others’ outward appearances and qualities.
We hope that these The Green Mile quotes were able to educate you about kindness and diversity. The world doesn’t need more unnecessary hate, so be one of the people who make the world a better place.
Have you watched The Green Mile? What are some of your favorite quotes? Comment below!
