10 Best Nicolas Cage Movie Quotes

With his hangdog expression, soulful stare, and energetic sense of movement, Nicolas Cage is an actor whose dynamic performances have defined genres. Equally at home appearing in huge blockbusters, quiet independent movies, or surreal art-house fare, Cage always imbues his characters with complexity by turning his body and his voice into an emotional conduit.

Thanks to his unique way of delivering dialogue, quotes from movies like The Rock, Con-Air, and National Treasure have wound their way into the cultural zeitgeist, but with a filmography that spans four decades to choose from, some of his best movie quotes aren’t even his most well-known.

10 “I’ll Be Taking These Huggies, And Whatever Cash You Got.”

Raising Arizona is the movie that made audiences stand up and notice Cage as the likable but bumbling former stickup man H.I., who finds himself becoming a petty thief once more after stealing a baby from a local millionaire. The comedy, which vacillates between being screwball and sentimental, highlights Cage’s timing and undeniable charisma as he goes to the ends of the earth to have a family.

The Coen Brothers dialogue makes for some of Raising Arizona’s best quotes, and it’s this sort of line about disparate things like holding up someone for cash and Huggies that might come off as absurd in the hands of the wrong actor, but Cage makes sound perfectly normal. His knack for playing ridiculous characters 100% seriously is often what makes them so delightful.

9 “The Snowflakes Are Perfect. The Stars Are Perfect. Not Us. Not Us! We Are Here To Ruin Ourselves And To Break Our Hearts And Love The Wrong People And Die.”

An oft-overlooked gem in Cage’s career is Moonstruck, where he plays Ronny Cammareri, a one-handed baker, and spends much of the time pursuing the wife of his older brother. He doesn’t play Ronny as a typical goofball, but a man who, despite being deeply fatalistic, is a sort of operatic, Byronic hero.

Ronny’s nihilism inadvertently helps the object of his affection (Cher, in one of her best movies), whose marriage was dead long ago, and who wants only to feel reckless passion again. Cage has one of the best lines in the movie when Ronny declares his love with equal parts poetry and plain-spoken truth.

8 “Did I Ever Tell Ya That This Here Jacket Represents A Symbol Of My Individuality, And My Belief In Personal Freedom?”

There was a time when the only movies Cage made were shown in arthouses, and movies like Wild at Heart made him a darling of independent cinema. Cage is at his most introspective as Sailor, an ex-con in a snakeskin jacket who just wants to ride off into the Southern sunset with his girlfriend Lula, but life has other plans for the young lovers.

The entire movie is an homage to the power of young love, a pure thing trying to exist in a sleazy world, even when that love is not enough to save two people. Sailor’s snakeskin jacket is like his love for Lula — it stands in defiance of conventionality, celebrates individuality, and cannot be tamed.

7 “Got My First Chemistry Set When I Was Seven, Blew My Eyebrows Off, We Never Saw The Cat Again, Been Into It Ever Since.”

The Rock is one of several big blockbusters Cage made in the ’90s, and while it’s an amalgamation of other movies (like Die Hard, The Fugitive, and Escape From Alcatraz), it’s not unlike the FBI scientist he plays; reliable, adaptable, and highly effective.

Cage is allowed to be equal parts bashful, humorous (as in this line), and heroic, which is surprising for a Michael Bay movie featuring chemical warfare, huge explosions, and relentless action. Unlike other action heroes, Cage’s nuanced approach grounds even the most ridiculous elements of the movie.

6 “Sorry Boss, But There’s Only Two Men I Trust. One Of Them’s Me. The Other’s Not You.”

One of the last great action movies the ’90s that still holds up today, before The Matrix and Bourne movies halted the production of kitchen-sink blockbusters, Con-Air places Cage’s Army Ranger –up for parole for killing a man in defense of his family– on a transport plane loaded with dangerous criminals. The subsequent hijacking of the plane gives the vet the chance to prove he doesn’t belong with them.

Cage plays the protagonist like a bit of a humble hayseed, but there’s never any doubt that he’s as capable a killer as any of the men around him, except that his sanguinary powers are used for good instead of evil. He manages to stand out even with a huge cast of memorable characters, one of which is John Malkovich’s hijacker Cyrus the Virus, to whom Cage delivers this steely vow.

5 “Some Things Are True Whether You Believe In Them Or Not.”

For City of Angels, the contemplative romantic drama inspired in part by the German film Wings of Desire, Cage plays Seth, an angel who mournfully watches over Los Angeles, longing for the sensations of mortal life. He eventually gets his chance to experience them when he makes a connection with a woman who can actually see him.

Cage gives one of his most gentle performances, having to forego his usual animated theatrics in favor of conveying a luminous being with a child-like wonder at the most commonplace things. He uses this line on Meg Ryan’s cynical Maggie, a nurse who’s seen too much death, in an effort to help her make sense of the unfairness in the world and believe in something greater than herself.

4 “Coffee And A Muffin. Okay, So I Need To Establish The Themes. Maybe A Banana-Nut. That’s A Good Muffin.”

Playing dual roles as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his identical twin brother David, Cage navigates a tightrope of surreal humor and melodrama as Charlie tries to adapt a bestselling novel into his next great movie and his brother does everything to ruin his chances of success.

By the time Cage made Adaptation, he had come off a slew of ’90s and early ’00s action movie blockbusters, in which audiences and critics might have forgotten that he could be a compelling dramatic actor with the right material. The movie offers insight into some of the absurdities of writing, as well as the people involved in it, by revealing truths even in funny scenes that aren’t intended to be.

3 “I Want To Take His Face… Off. Eyes, Nose, Skin, Teeth. It’s Coming Off.”

Castor Troy is Cage at his most charming and his most depraved, The Joker in Versace wielding gold-plated Desert Eagles. Only an actor like Cage could make the plot of Face/Off work, where an FBI agent switches faces with a notorious crimelord in order to succeed in an undercover mission.

As Troy, Cage’s cavalier delivery makes these sort of over-the-top lines, which might seem unhinged from a more straightforward actor, seem almost normal. Troy is a large reason why the movie maintains its cult status.

2 “People Don’t Throw Things At Me Anymore. Maybe Because I Carry A Bow Around.”

Nicolas Cage as morose weatherman David Spritz might have seemed like a curious choice in a career built on bizarre roles, but Cage can play downtrodden and mediocre just as well as overconfident and eccentric. The Weather Man is about so much more than career mobility and fielding flying Big Gulps because you’re born with a dumb name — finding purpose through self-actualization.

1 “We Don’t Get A Lot Of Things To Really Care About.”

In Pig, which features one of Cage’s most poignant and understated roles, he plays a truffle hunter who becomes consumed with finding his stolen pig. The pig is more than a prized truffle-hunting pet. It’s his companion, and he goes to incredible lengths –including reentering a society he swore off long ago– to find it.

This brief, unassuming statement packs a timeless sentiment, and reminds viewers of two profound things; life is ephemeral, and energy should be put into what gives people the most love, and Cage is capable of quiet subtlety just as much as melodramatic paroxysms.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1342 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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