There’s always a chance, Doctor, as long as one can think. — The Great Mouse Detective

Don’t lose your head.  If you can keep thinking in a crisis, or when you’re tired, or when the world is just going out of its way to piss you off, you’re already ahead of almost everyone else.  So long as you don’t let the lizard brain take over, you will always have a shot at success.

Manfred: Hey, buddy, want a lift?
Diego: No, thanks. I’m saving what little dignity I’ve got left.
Sid: You’re hanging out with us now, pal. Dignity has nothing to do with it.

— Ice Age

My friends are both high class and redneck.  They come in all colors, sizes, and persuasions.  Some spend their days in three piece suits and their evenings drinking $200 a bottle liquor.  Some live in jeans and enjoy a cold home brew.  When we get together, we’re too loud, too proud, and too much for a lot of other folks.  We’ve been sneered at and told to keep it down while others work. We get strange looks when we walk down the street together, and sometimes we even earn them.  We’re a crowd of meat-eating, barbecue gun wearing, hooting and hollering fools sometimes.

And you know what?  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  Life’s too short to worry about what people think about your friends.

Translator: The general would like to know if you will drink a toast with him.
Patton: Thank the general and tell him I have no desire to drink with him or any other Russian son of a bitch.
Translator: [Nervous] I can’t tell him that!
Patton: Tell him, every word.
Translator: [In Russian] He says he will not drink with you or any Russian son of a bitch.
Russian general: [In Russian] Tell him he is a son of a bitch, too. Now!
Translator: [Very nervous] He says he thinks you are a son of a bitch, too.
Patton: [laughing] All right. All right, tell him I’ll drink to that; one son of a bitch to another.

— Patton

There has to be some common ground for all of us.  Hopefully, it’s our core beliefs, values, or just our basic humanity.  No matter what, we have to find it, or we risk dehumanizing our opponents, and that is a very dangerous place to be.  Once we stop recognizing those who oppose us as human, it becomes easier to bring harm to them, and vice versa.  We need outreach to the other side, even while holding fast to our positions.

 I don’t care how rich he is, as long as he has a yacht, his own private railroad car, and his own toothpaste.  — Some Like It Hot

Face it, gentlemen, a ripped set of abs, a flowing mane of shiny hair, and a brilliant smile don’t hurt, but they will only take you so far.  Once the infatuation wears off, you’re going to have to offer more if you want more than a roll in the hay.  No mature woman is going to stay with you without some security and stability.  It never hurts to bring everything that you need to the table so that she knows she isn’t going to have to support your hairy butt.  Before you go looking for Miss Right Now, remember that she may turn into Miss Right, and she isn’t going to stick around for a broke Prince Charming.  It never hurts to know how to do the dishes, change a diaper, fix the car, and cook a meal, either.

We have an expression in prize fighting: “Everyone has a plan until they’ve been hit.” Well my friend, you’ve just been hit. The getting up is up to you. — The Ghost and the Darkness

This is a cliche, but you’re not judged based on the amount of punishment you can take, but rather by the amount of times you can take the punishment and keep going.  If you’re looking for an easy trip, you bought a ticket to the wrong ride.  Life will kick you in the gut on occasion, and it’s how you deal with it that matters.

Palmer Joss: [Ellie challenges Palmer to prove the existence of God] Did you love your father?
Ellie Arroway:What?
Palmer Joss:Your dad. Did you love him?
Ellie Arroway:Yes, very much.
Palmer Joss:Prove it.

— Contact

Faith is an intangible.  It is not something that can be proven.  It is something that you feel, not something you count and describe mathematically.  Trying to impose a rational standard of evidence into something that is not subject to rational evidence is worthless.

On the flip side, faith is not science, and should not be a substitute for it.  I can believe in my religion and trust in science at the same time, but they are separate fields of study.  Science cannot model and describe the human soul and its interactions with God, but saying “God made it that way” when asked “Why does this work like this?” of “How did this happen?” is a cop-out.

What shall we hang first? The holly or each other? – The Lion in Winter

You know, there’s something immensely satisfying about being catty every so often.  Of course, you have to do it with someone who will return fire just as quickly and as accurately as you.  Some of my best friends have been able to cut me down to nothing, and just for fun, I’ve returned the favor.

The only way to win a war is to be as nasty as the enemy. — The Guns of Navarone

I can’t agree with this one.  There has to be a limit to what you will do to advance your cause or defend your position.  What the other side in a conflict does does not excuse bad behavior on our part.  “They did it first” or “They started it” is for children, not for adults.  Beware acting in the same way as your enemy.  Eventually, you might find it hard to tell yourself from them.

My family is with me today. They wanted to come with me. To be honest with you, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel coming back here. Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.  — Saving Private Ryan

If you ever get the chance, and I suggest that you find a way at some time in your life to do so, you should go to a place like Normandy.  If you can’t get that far from home, I suggest going somewhere like Arlington, Antietam, or Gettysburg.  If you’re feeling adventurous, go somewhere like El Alamein, Gallipoli, or Iwo Jima.  All of these places have one thing in common:  they all are places where men have placed their bodies between death and their homes.  They are all marked with monuments and graves that remind us of the responsibility, which we all carry, to deserve what they bought for us with their blood and their lives.

I don’t know where we’re goin’, but there’s no sense bein’ late.  — Quigley Down Under

 

The only thing worse than a bad reaction is no reaction at all.  Even if you’re not entirely sure what’s going on, freezing up and just watching means you’re not doing anything at all to deal with the situation.  You can assess the situation while you’re moving, but get moving!