Memorable Quotes from
The Longest Day (1962)
Possibly the BEST movie
ever made about this day
in history
Flight Officer David Campbell: The thing that's always worried me about being one of the few is the way we keep on getting fewer.
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[Coded radio message to the French Resistance]
Radio announcer: There is fire at the travel agency.
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Brigadier General Norman Cota: I don't have to tell you the story. You all know it. Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach: those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts. You guys are the Fighting 29th.
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Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort: You can't give the enemy a break. Send him to hell.
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Flight Officer David Campbell: He's dead. I'm crippled. You're lost. Do you suppose it's always like that? I mean war.
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[a coded message to the Resistance, spoken in French]
Radio Announcer: Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor.
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[Spoken in German]
Major General Gunther Blumentritt: This is history. We are living an historical moment. We are going to lose the war because our glorious Führer has taken a sleeping pill and is not to be awakened.
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Private John Steele: Bonjour, mademoiselle. Je suis américain.
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Destroyer Commander: You remember it. Remember every bit of it, 'cause we are on the eve of a day that people are going to talk about long after we are dead and gone.
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Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: Just look at it, gentlemen. How calm... how peaceful it is. A strip of water between England and the continent... between the Allies and us. But beyond that peaceful horizon...
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[to his generals, observing the English Channel]
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel: Just look at it, gentlemen. How calm... how peaceful it is. A strip of water between England and the continent... between the Allies and us. But beyond that peaceful horizon... a monster waits. A coiled spring of men, ships, and planes... straining to be released against us. But, gentlemen, not a single Allied soldier shall reach the shore. Whenever and wherever this invasion may come, gentlemen... I shall destroy the enemy there, at the water's edge. Believe me, gentlemen, the first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive. For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day... The longest day.
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[On whether to commence the Normandy invasion in marginal weather conditions]
General Dwight D. Eisenhower: I'm quite positive we must give the order. I don't like it, but there it is. Gentlemen, I don't see how we can possibly do anything... but go.
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[upon landing on beach]
Private Flanagan: Flanagan's back.
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[a coded message to the Resistance, spoken in French]
Radio Announcer: John has a long mustache.
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Capt. Colin Maud: [pointing] The war is that way!
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Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: Well, as near as I can figure it; the landing craft have put us ashore about a mile from where we were supposed to land.
Col. Caffey: I agree with you. Ted; but what are we going to do? Our reinforcements and equipment are coming in the second wave. What happens if they land in the right place?
Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.: Gentlemen, we start the war from right here. The reinforcements will have to find us wherever we are. Move inland.
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Mayor of Colleville: [meeting the British on the beach] Welcome; welcome, friends. I brought champagne, but I do know think it will be enough for all of you.
Lord Lovat: Quite alright. We have a pressing engagement; the war. Move inland.
[to his bagpiper]
Lord Lovat: Millen, Blue Bonnett!
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Col. Josef 'Pips' Priller: [speaking in German] Thank you, my dear Hans! You have just killed both of us!
[slams down phone]
Luftwaffe major: It is getting very difficult to get any sleep around here.
Col. Josef 'Pips' Priller: Your prospects for a long sleep have just improved. The invasion has begun at Normandy. We are to fly there and attack with our two planes.
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Capt. Colin Maud: [walking up to a stalled vehicle] My old grandmother used to say anything mechanical, give it a good bashing.
[Hits hood with his swagger stick]
Capt. Colin Maud: Try it now.
[vehicle cranks]
Private Flanagan: [to Clough] Sure, now; that did it.
[notices Maud looks at him]
Private Flanagan: Ah, now that's what I call a hell of a man!
Pvt. Clough: Aye, I like his dog too.
Capt. Colin Maud: Move inland. The war's that way.
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Maj. John Howard: [charging the Orne River Bridge] Up the Ox and Bucks! Up the Ox and Bucks!
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