Apocalypse Now (1979) quotes

Cast
Marlon Brando.
Martin Sheen.
Robert Duvall.
Laurence Fishburne .

During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.

Smell that? You smell that?
– Kilgore
What?
– Lance
Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that.
– Kilgore
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like victory. Someday this war’s gonna end…
– Kilgore

This is sure enough a bizarre sight in the middle of all this shit!
– Clean

Lieutenant, bomb that tree line about 100 yards back! Give me some room to breathe!
– Kilgore

Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.
– Willard

“Never get out of the boat.” Absolutely goddamn right! Unless you were goin’ all the way… Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole fuckin’ program.
– Willard

I will not hurt or harm you. Just give me back the board, Lance. It was a good board… and I like it. You know how hard it is to find a board you like…
– Kilgore

We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!
– Kurtz

I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That’s my dream; that’s my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor… and surviving.
– Kurtz

Could we, uh… talk to Colonel Kurtz?
– Willard
Hey, man, you don’t talk to the Colonel. You listen to him. The man’s enlarged my mind. He’s a poet warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he’ll… uh… well, you’ll say “hello” to him, right? And he’ll just walk right by you. He won’t even notice you. And suddenly he’ll grab you, and he’ll throw you in a corner, and he’ll say, “Do you know that ‘if’ is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you”… I mean I’m… no, I can’t… I’m a little man, I’m a little man, he’s… he’s a great man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas…
– Photojournalist

Charlie don’t surf!
– Kilgore

Your mission is to proceed up the Nung River in a Navy patrol boat. Pick up Colonel Kurtz’s path at Nu Mung Ba, follow it and learn what you can along the way. When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and terminate the Colonel’s command.
– Colonel Lucas
Terminate the Colonel?
– Willard
He’s out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. And he is still in the field commanding troops.
– General Corman
Terminate with extreme prejudice.
– Civilian
You understand, Captain, that this mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist…
– Colonel Lucas

There are two of you, don’t you see? One that kills… and one that loves.
– Roxanne

I told you not to stop. Now let’s go!
– Willard

In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action – what is often called ruthless – what may in many circumstances be only clarity, seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it, directly, quickly, awake, looking at it.
– Willard

Well, you see, Willard, in this war, things get confused out there. Power, ideals, the old morality, and practical military necessity. But out there with these natives, it must be a temptation to be God. Because there’s a conflict in every human heart, between the rational and irration, between good and evil. And good does not always triumph. Sometimes, the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature.
– General Corman

How come you guys sit on your helmet?
– Chef
So we don’t get our balls blown off!
– Door Gunner

Hey soldier, do you know who’s in command here?
– Willard
Ain’t you?
– Soldier

Disneyland? Fuck, man, this is better than Disneyland!
– Lance

The horror… the horror…
– Kurtz

The war will still be here tomorrow.
– Roxanne

The crew were mostly kids; rock & rollers with one foot in their grave.
– Willard

They train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write ‘fuck’ on their airplanes because it is obscene.
– Kurtz

What are you talking about?
– Willard
We’re taking her to some friendlies, Captain. She’s wounded, she’s not dead.
– Chief Quartermaster (QMC) Phillips
Get off there, Chef.
– Willard
Fuck it!
– Chef

Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?
– Chef
So we don’t get our balls blown off.
– Soldier

How’re you feeling, Jimmy?
– Kilgore
Like a mean motherfucker, sir!
– Door Gunner

Buddha Time!
– Lance