Quotes

Jean Rasczak: I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!

Dizzy: My mother always told me that violence doesn't solve anything.

Jean Rasczak: Really? I wonder what the city founders of Hiroshima would have to say about that.

[to Carmen]

Jean Rasczak: You.

Carmen: They wouldn't say anything. Hiroshima was destroyed.

Jean Rasczak: Correct. Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence doesn't solve anything, is wishful thinking at its worst; people who forget that always die.

Ace Levy: Shoot a nuke down a bug hole, you got a lot of dead bugs.

[first lines]

Newsreel announcer: Young people from all over the globe are joining up to fight for the future.

Soldier #1: I'm doing my part.

Soldier #2: I'm doing my part.

Soldier #3: I'm doing my part.

Young kid dressed up as a soldier: I'm doing my part too.

[Soldiers laugh]

Newsreel announcer: They're doing their part. Are you? Join the Mobile Infantry and save the world. Service guarantees citizenship.

Johnny Rico: Someone asked me once if I knew the difference between a civilian and a citizen. I know now. A citizen has the courage to make the safety of the human race their personal responsibility. Dizzy was my friend. She was a soldier. But most important, she was a citizen of the Federation.

Carl: We thought there might be a Brain Bug on 'P'.

Carmen: You knew and still you sent them?

Carl: We couldn't afford to launch an operation if there wasn't one.

[both Carmen and Johnny look at Carl with contempt]

Carl: You disapprove? Well, too bad! We're in this war for the species, boys and girls. It's simple numbers. They have more. And every day I have to make decisions that send hundreds of people like you to their deaths.

Johnny Rico: Didn't they tell you, Colonel? That's what the Mobile Infantry is good for.

Dizzy: Rico, I'm dying.

Johnny Rico: No Diz, you'll be fine.

Dizzy: But it's OK, because I got to have you.

Johnny: M.I. does the dying. Fleet just does the flying.

Jean Rasczak: Come on you apes. You want to live forever?

Newsreel announcer: Everyone is doing their part. Are you?

Johnny Rico: This is Roughneck Two-Zero-One. I request retrieval now! This place crawls, sir!

Radio operator: [voice] What is your location?

Johnny Rico: Come down on this transmission.

Radio operator: On the outpost? That's crazy!

Johnny Rico: Well, I hope you have a crazy pilot. Out.

Lieutenant Willy: Remember your training, and you will make it out alive!

Jean Rasczak: Welcome to the Roughnecks

Jean Rasczak: I need a corporal. You're it, until you're dead or I find someone better.

Jean Rasczak: Warm it up, everything you've got. C'mon you apes, you wanna live forever?

Ace Levy: Everybody needs a friend like me.

Ace Levy: Don't worry, you still got me to kick around.

Jean Rasczak: All right, let's sum up. This year in history, we talked about the failure of democracy. How the social scientists of the 21st Century brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control and imposed the stability that has lasted for generations since. We talked about the rights and privileges between those who served in the armed forces and those who haven't, therefore called citizens and civilians.

[to a student]

Jean Rasczak: You. Why are only citizens allowed to vote?

Student: It's a reward. Something the federation gives you for doing federal service.

Jean Rasczak: No. Something given has no basis in value. When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.

Johnny Rico: I hear you got a bug problem ma'am?

Corporal Birdie: Ah, stuff it, Rico!

[reporting on the failed invasion of Klendathu]

Newsreel announcer: Crisis for humankind. Fleet officials admit they underestimated the Arachnids' defensive capability.

[switch over to the Federal council]

Newsreel announcer: Accepting responsibility for Klendathu, Sky Marshal Dienes resigns. His successor, Sky Marshal Tehat Maru, outlines her new strategy.

Sky Marshal Tehat Meru: To fight the bug, we must understand the bug. We can ill afford another Klendathu.

Newsreel announcer: Would you like to know more?

[Inside an Arachnid study laboratory]

Newsreel announcer: Every day, Federal scientists are looking for new ways to kill bugs.

Carl: Your basic Arachnid warrior isn't too smart, but you can blow off a limb,

[shoots an Arachnid warrior's limb off]

Carl: and it's still 86 percent combat effective. Here's a tip: Aim for the nerve stem, and put it down for good.

[demonstrates]

Lieutenant Willy: We're going in with first wave. Means more bugs fer us to kill!

Jean Rasczak: [Arriving on Planet P after its been bombed] All right. SPREAD OUT! Fire Teams, you see a bug hole, NUKE IT!

Zander: One day, somebody like me is going to kill you, and your whole fucking race!

Carl: It's afraid. IT'S AFRAID!

Jean Rasczak: [after Rico denies Dizzy's request to dance] Rico - you once asked me for advice, want some now?

Johnny Rico: Yes, sir!

Jean Rasczak: Never pass up a good thing.