Princess Bride Quotes. The Princess Bride is a 1987 American fantasy adventure comedy film directed and co-produced by Rob Rainer, starring Kerry Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant and Christopher Guest. Adapted by William Goldman of his 1973 novel.
The Princess Bride, it tells the story of a farmhand named Westley, along with companions on the way who must rescue their true love Princess Buttercup from the princely Prince Humperdinck. The film essentially presents the story as a book being read by a grandfather (Peter Faulk) to his ailing grandson (Fred Savage).
The film was first released in the United States on September 25, 1987, and was well-received by critics at the time, but was only a minor box office success. Over time the film has become a cult film. The film ranks number 50 in Bravo’s “100 Funniest Movies”.
At number 88 on the American Film Institute (AFI) is “AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Passions” list of the 100 greatest film love stories, and 46 on Channel 4’s 50 Greatest List of comedy films In 2016, the film was included in the National Film Registry, which is deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.
The film is an enactment of a book read to a sick Chicago boy who initially rejects the story by his grandfather, with occasional disruption of scenes in this frame story. A beautiful girl named Butterkin lives on a farm in the fictional country of Florin. Whenever she instructs the farmhand Westley, she responds and answers.
As You Like “. She eventually realizes that he really means” I Love You “and she loves him in return. He sets off in search of his fate so they can get married, but Dredd is on their ship. He is attacked by Pirate Roberts, who is notorious for never leaving the survivors, and Westley is presumed dead. Five years later, Buttercup is forced to marry Prince Humperdinck Land, who is heir to the throne of Florin.
Before marriage, she is kidnapped by three bandits: a little Sicilian boss named Vizzini, a giant from Greenland named Fazic, and a Spanish fencing master named Inigo Montoya, the six men who killed his father Takes revenge against In Black and Prince Humperindek with a complement of soldiers are followed separately by a masked man. The black man captures the robber on top of the rocks of madness.
He defeats Inigo in a duel and knocks him unconscious, beating Fezic until he runs out, and kills Vizni by tricking him into drinking from a poisoned cup. He takes the buttercup prisoner and they flee, stopping to rest on the side of a gorge. When Buttercup correctly guesses that he is Dread Pirate Roberts he becomes enraged at him for killing Westley. Princess Bride Quotes
When Buttercup appears to Hamperindek and his men, he throws Roberts down a hill and wishes him dead. As he falls down, he shouts, “As you wish!” Roberts realizes that she is Westley, throws herself into the gorge after him and they reunite. Westley explains that Der Pirate Roberts is actually a title passed on by later holders: he had taken the title so that the previous Roberts could retire.
They undergo a dangerous Fire Swamp, inhabited by Rhodes of Universal Size (ROUS), but are abandoned by Humperdinck and his saintly Count Rogen, who reveal Inigo’s father to be the murderer. Buttercup agrees to return with Humperindek in return for Wesley’s release. But Hamperdin secretly orders Rugen to close Westley in despair of his torture chamber, the pit.
When Buttercup expressed his displeasure at marrying Humperdinck, he promised to find Westley. However, his real plan is to start a war with the neighboring country guilders by killing Buttercup and preparing the guild for his death (he hired Vizzy to kill him for the same purpose).
Meanwhile, Inigo and Fezic reunite when Humperdinck orders the thieves arrested in the nearby forest, and Fejik tells Inigo about Rugen. Inigo decides that he needs Westley’s help to go to the palace. Buttercup distracts Humperdinck after learning that he has not tried to find Westley; Enraged, Hamperindek captures Buttercup in his chambers and kills Westley. Inigo and Fezic follow the cry of anguish through the forest.
They find Westley’s body and bring him to Miracle Max, a folk doctor, who was recently fired by Humperdinck. She learns that Westley is only “mostly dead” due to her love for Buttercup, and revives him in a state of massive paralysis. After Westley, Inigo and Fezzik attack the palace, shortening the Humperdinck panic and wedding ceremony.
Inigo finds and kills Rugan in a duel, repeatedly taunting him with his greeting of vengeance: “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. Westley finds Buttercup, who is about to commit suicide, assuring him that the marriage is invalid because he never said: “I do”. Still partially paralyzed, he makes his way out of a duel with Humperdinck and they flee the palace.
Buttercup rides Part Westley with Inigo and Fezzik, before sharing a passionate kiss with Buttercup. Back in the boy’s bedroom, the boy eagerly asks his grandfather to read the story again the next day, to which the grandfather replies, “As you wish”.
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The Princess Bride quotes
“When I was your age, television was called books.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Life isn’t fair, it’s just fairer than death, that’s all.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Just because you’re beautiful and perfect, it’s made you conceited.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Inconceivable!”
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Who says life is fair, where is that written?”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“We’ll never survive!”
“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Love is many things, none of them logical.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“Cynics are simply thwarted, romantics.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Who are you?”
“No one of consequence.”
“I must know.”
“Get used to disappointment.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“I am your Prince and you will marry me,” Humperdinck said.
Buttercup whispered, “I am your servant and I refuse.”
“I am you Prince and you cannot refuse.”
“I am your loyal servant and I just did.”
“Refusal means death.”
“Kill me then.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“You seem a decent fellow,” Inigo said. “I hate to kill you.”
You seem a decent fellow,” answered the man in black. “I hate to die.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“He held up a book then. “I’m going to read it to you to relax.”
“Does it have any sports in it?”
“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautiful Ladies. Snakes. Spiders… Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”
“Sounds okay,” I said and I kind of closed my eyes.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“The Queen’s Pride was his ship, and he loved her. (That was the way his sentences always went: It is raining today and I love you. My cold is better and I love you. Say hello to Horse and I love you. Like that.)”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I’ve been saying it so long to you, you just wouldn’t listen. Every time you said ‘Farm Boy do this’ you thought I was answering ‘As you wish’ but that’s only because you were hearing wrong. ‘I love you’ was what it was, but you never heard.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“As you wish…”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I’ll tell you the truth and its up to you to live with it.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Now what happens?” asked the man in black.
“We face each other as God intended,” Fezzik said. “No tricks, no weapons, skill against skill alone.”
“You mean you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword and we’ll try to kill each other like civilized people, is that it?”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“you were already more beautiful than anything I dared to dream. In our years apart, my imaginings did their best to improve on you perfection. At night, your face was forever behind my eyes. And now I see that that vision who kept me company in my loneliness was a hag compared to the beauty now before me.” –Westley
Enough about my beauty.” Buttercup said. “Everybody always talks about how beautiful I am. I’ve got a mind, Westley. Talk about that.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Why do you wear a mask and hood?”
I think everybody will in the near future,” was the man in black’s reply. “They’re terribly comfortable.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“There have been five great kisses since 1642 B.C…(before then couples hooked thumbs.) And the precise rating of kisses is a terribly difficult thing, often leading to great controversy…. Well, this one left them all behind.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“No more rhymes now I mean it!”
“Anybody want a peanut?”
“AAHH!”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Westley: This is true love — you think this happens every day?”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“And that’s when she put her book down. And looked at me. And said it: “Life isn’t fair, Bill. we tell our children that it is, but it’s a terrible thing to do. It’s not only a lie, it’s a cruel lie. Life is not fair, and it never has been, and it’s never going to be.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Fool!” cried the hunchback. “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia,’ but only slightly less well known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Have fun storming the castle!”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“You mock my pain! Life is pain, anyone who says otherwise is obviously selling something!”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“You think this is a trap then?” the Count asked.
“I always think everything is a trap until proven otherwise,” the Prince answered. “Which is why I’m still alive.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I could give you my word as a Spaniard,” Inigo said.
“No good,” the man in black replied. “I’ve known too many Spaniards.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“People don’t remember me. Really. It’s not a paranoid thing; I just have this habit of slipping through memories. It doesn’t bother me all that much, except I guess that’s a lie; it does. For some reason, I test very high on forgettability.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Buttercup’s mother whirled on him. ‘Did you forget to pay your taxes?’ (This was after taxes. But everything is after taxes. Taxes were here even before stew.)”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“She loves you,” the Prince cried. “She loves you still and you love her, so think of that–think of this too: in all this world, you might have been happy, genuinely happy. Not one couple in a century has that chance, not really, no matter what the storybooks say, but you could have had it, and so, I would think, no one will ever suffer a loss as great as you.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“The enemy is always in the mind.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“Liar! Liar!” shrieked suddenly from the now open trap door.
Miracle Max whirled. “Back, Witch–” he commanded.
“I’m not a witch, I’m your wife–” she was advancing on him now, an ancient tiny fury–“and after what you’ve just done I don’t think I want to be that anymore–”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I’m going to tell you something once and then whether you die is strictly up to you,” Westley said, lying pleasantly on the bed. “What I’m going to tell you is this: drop your sword, and if you do, then I will leave with this baggage here”—he glanced at Buttercup—”and you will be tied up but not fatally, and will be free to go about your business. And if you choose to fight, well, then, we will not both leave alive.”
You are only alive now because you said ‘to the pain.’ I want that phrase explained.”
My pleasure. To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—”
And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?” the Prince said.
Wrong!” Westley’s voice rang across the room. “Your ears you keep so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries ‘Dear God, what is that thing?’ will reverberate forever with your perfect ears. That is what ‘to the pain’ means. It means that I leave you in anguish, in humiliation, in freakish misery until you can stand it no more; so there you have it, pig, there you know, you miserable vomitous mass, and I say this now, and live or die, it’s up to you: Drop your sword!”
The sword crashed to the floor.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I must be overtired’, Buttercup managed. ‘The excitement and all.’
‘Rest then’, her mother cautioned. ‘Terrible things can happen when you’re overtired. I was overtired the night your father proposed.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“And when she, at last, came out, her eyes were dry. Her parents stared up from their silent breakfast at her. They both started to rise but she put a handout, stopped them. ‘I can care for myself, please,’ and she set about getting some food. They watched her closely.
In point of fact, she had never looked as well. She had entered her room as just an impossibly lovely girl. The woman who emerged was a trifle thinner, a great deal wiser, and an ocean sadder. This one understood the nature of pain, and beneath the glory of her features, there was character and a sure knowledge of suffering.
She was eighteen. She was the most beautiful woman in a hundred years. She didn’t seem to care.
‘You’re all right?’ her mother asked.
Buttercup sipped her cocoa. ‘Fine,’ she said.
‘You’re sure?’ her father wondered.
‘Yes,’ Buttercup replied. There was a very long pause. ‘But I must never love again.’
She never did.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride Quotes
“The Prince found Buttercup waiting unhappily outside his chamber doors.
It’s my letter,’ she began. ‘I cannot make it right.’
Come in, come in,’ the Prince said gently. ‘Maybe we can help you.’ She sat down in the same chair as before. ‘All right, I’ll close my eyes and listen; read to me.’
Westley, my passion, my sweet, my only my own. Come back, come back. I shall kill myself otherwise. Yours in torment, Buttercup.’ She looked at Humperdinck. ‘Well? Do you think I’m throwing myself at him?”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Look. (Grown-ups skip this paragraph) I’m not about to tell you this book has a tragic ending. I already said in the very first line how it was my favorite in all the world. But there’s a lot of bad stuff coming. ”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Sonny, don’t you tell me what’s worthwhile–true love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops. Everybody knows that.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Existence was really very simple when you did what you were told.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I must court her now,’ said the Prince. ‘Leave us alone for a minute.’ He rode the white expertly down the hill.
Buttercup had never seen such a giant beast. Or such a rider.
‘I am your Prince and you will marry me,’ Humperdinck said.
Buttercup whispered, ‘I am your servant and I refuse.’
‘I am your Prince and you cannot refuse.’
‘I am your loyal servant and I just did.’
‘Refusal means death.’
‘Kill me then.’
‘I am your Prince and I’m not that bad — how could you rather be dead than married to me?’
‘Because,’ Buttercup said, ‘marriage involves love, and that is not a pastime at which I excel. I tried once, and it went badly, and I am sworn never to love another.’ Princess Bride Quotes
‘Love?’ said Prince Humperdinck. ‘Who mentioned love? Not me, I can tell you. Look: there must always be a male heir to the throne of Florin. That’s me. Once my father dies, there won’t be an heir, just a king. That’s me again. When that happens, I’ll marry and have children until there is a son. So you can either marry me and be the richest and most powerful woman in a thousand miles and give turkeys away at Christmas and provide me a son, or you can die in terrible pain in the very near future. Make up your own mind.’
‘I’ll never love you.’
‘I wouldn’t want it if I had it.’
‘Then by all means let us marry.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“See?” Fezzik pointed then. Far down, at the very bottom of the mountain path, the man in black could be seen running. “Inigo is beaten.”
Inconceivable!” exploded the Sicilian.
Fezzik never dared disagree with the hunchback. “I’m so stupid,” Fezzik nodded. “Inigo has not lost to the man in black, he has defeated him. And to prove it he has put on all the man in black’s clothes and masks and hoods and boots and gained eighty pounds.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I have stayed these years in my hovel because of you. I have taught myself languages because of you. I have made my body strong because I thought you might be pleased by a strong body. I have lived my life with only the prayer that some sudden dawn you might glance in my direction. I have not known a moment in years when the sight of you did not send my heart careening against my rib cage. I have not known a night when your visage did not accompany me to sleep. There has not been a morning when you did not flutter behind my waking eyelids.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“You could concentrate much more deeply when you were alone with agony.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“There’s a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I don’t like killing a girl,” the Spaniard said.
“God does it all the time; if it doesn’t bother Him, don’t let it worry you.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“Inigo Montoya: He’s right on top of us. I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“I say you are a coward and you are; I think you hunt only to reassure yourself that you are not what you are: the weakest thing to ever walk the Earth. He will come for me and then we will be gone, and you will be helpless for all your hunting, because Westley and I are joined by the bond of love and you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand words.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“And what have I done?”
What? WHAT?…You’ve stolen them.”
With that, Cornelia fled, but Buttercup understood; she knew who “them” was.
The boys.
The beef-witted featherbrained rattled skilled clodpated dim-domed noodle-noggin sapheaded lunk-knobbed BOYS.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
“To the pain means this: if we duel and you win, death for me. If we duel and I win, life for you. But life on my terms. The first thing you lose will be your feet. Below the ankle. You will have stumps available to use within six months. Then your hands, at the wrists. They heal somewhat quicker. Five months is a fair average. Next your nose. No smell of dawn for you. Followed by your tongue. Deeply cut away. Not even a stump left. And then your left eye—”
And then my right eye, and then my ears, and shall we get on with it?” the Prince said.
Wrong!” Westley’s voice rang across the room. “Your ears you keep so that every shriek of every child shall be yours to cherish—every babe that weeps in fear at your approach, every woman that cries ‘Dear God, what is that thing?’ will reverberate forever with your perfect ears.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Quotes