Full Metal Jacket (1987) quotes

Cast
Matthew Modine.
R. Lee Ermey.
Vincent D’Onofrio.

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be “Sir”. Do you maggots understand that?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
[In unison in a normal speaking tone] Sir, yes Sir.
– Recruits
Bullshit I can’t hear you. Sound off like you got a pair!
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
[In unison, much louder] SIR, YES SIR!
– Recruits
If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

How tall are you, private?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, five-foot-nine, sir.
– Private Cowboy
Five-foot-nine, I didn’t know they stacked shit that high!
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

Are those… live rounds?
– Private Joker
Seven-six-two millimeter. Full metal jacket.
– Private Gomer Pyle

Did your parents have any children that lived?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, yes, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
I bet they regret that. You’re so ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece! What’s your name fat body?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, Leonard Lawrence, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
Lawrence? Lawrence what… of Arabia?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, no, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
That name sounds like royalty. Are you royalty?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, no, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
Do you suck dicks?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, no, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
Bullshit. I bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, no, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle
I don’t like the name Lawrence, only faggots and sailors are called Lawrence. From now on you’re Gomer Pyle.
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Sir, yes, sir.
– Private Gomer Pyle

Git some! Git some! Git some, yeah, yeah, yeah! Anyone who runs, is a VC. Anyone who stands still, is a well-disciplined VC! You guys oughta do a story about me sometime!
– Door Gunner
Why should we do a story about you?
– Private Joker
‘Cuz I’m so fuckin’ good! I done got me 157 dead gooks killed. Plus 50 water buffalo, too! Them’s all confirmed!
– Door Gunner
Any women or children?
– Private Joker
Sometimes!
– Door Gunner
How can you shoot women or children?
– Private Joker
Easy! Ya just don’t lead ’em so much! Ain’t war hell?
– Door Gunner

[voice-over] My thoughts drift back to erect nipple wet dreams about Mary Jane Rottencrotch and the Great Homecoming Fuck Fantasy. I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece and short. I’m in a world of shit… yes. But I am alive. And I am not afraid.
– Private Joker

The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
– Private Joker

Were you born a fat, slimy, scumbag puke piece o’ shit, Private Pyle, or did you have to work on it?
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

I wanted to see exotic Vietnam… the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture… and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!
– Private Joker

Freedom?
– Animal Mother
[scoffs]
You’d better flush out your head, new guy. This isn’t about freedom; this is a slaughter. If I’m gonna get my balls blown off for a word, my word is “poontang”.
– Animal Mother

[Hartman gives a speech to the graduating recruits] Today, you people are no longer maggots. Today, you are Marines. You’re part of a brotherhood. From now on until the day you die, wherever you are, every Marine is your brother. Most of you will go to Vietnam. Some of you will not come back. But always remember this: Marines die. That’s what we’re here for. But the Marine Corps lives forever. And that means YOU live forever.
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman

You best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your NECK!
– Gunnery Sergeant Hartman