- Sergeant Major Frank Bougus: In space, no one can hear you scream, unless it is the war cry of the U.S. Marines!
- Sergeant Major Frank Bougus: I know that Tanks are lazy, and they don't care about anyone or anything.
- Lt. Cooper Hawkes: I won't let you down.
- Lt. Col. Tyrus Cassius 'T.C.' McQueen: That's when we teach them something every human knows - payback's a bitch.
- Capt. Shane Vansen: Don't. It could carry some kind of disease.
- Lt. Cooper Hawkes: I never had a mother, but you sound like one.
- Lt. Col. Tyrus Cassius 'T.C.' McQueen: Courage, honor, dedication, sacrifice. These are just the words they used to get you here. Now the only word that means a damn to you is "life". Yours, your buddies.
- Gunnery Sergeant Frank Bougus: Your current orders are to take 48 hours' leave.
- Lt. Nathan West: Sir, ship us out, sir.
- Capt. Shane Vansen: Sir, why have we been on accelerated training if we're not going to be used, sir?
- Gunnery Sergeant Frank Bougus: Listen. All we know is what you people found last week. We have no idea what lies ahead. We know basically nothing about the enemy - numbers, weapons, tactics. That is why we have been LOSING and LOSING BADLY in every battle of this war!
- [quietly]
- Gunnery Sergeant Frank Bougus: Don't be in such a hurry.
- Gunnery Sergeant Frank Bougus: My advice: go home. See your families. It could be the last time.
- Lt. Nathan West: You're letting them throw away our lives. We believed in you!
- Lt. Col. Tyrus Cassius 'T.C.' McQueen: Now the only thing you can believe in is each other.
- Mike 'Pags' Pagodin: [extending his hand] Mike Pagodin.
- Lt. Vanessa Damphousse: Vanessa Damphousse.
- Mike 'Pags' Pagodin: Damphousse. Damphousse, is that, like, French for something?
- Lt. Vanessa Damphousse: Probably. But my friends just call me "damn fool".
- Sergeant Major Frank Bougus: As part of your training, there is no commanding officer. You are on your own. From this moment until we win this war, the only easy day is yesterday.
- Lt. Col. Tyrus Cassius 'T.C.' McQueen: I've just been assigned as your squadron commander. And if you ever pull anything like what you did out there under my command, the only medal you'll be wearing are cuffs in the brig.
- [calmly walks away]
- Lt. Paul Wang: At least he doesn't yell.
- [last lines]
- Lt. Nathan West: [narrating] Elsewhere, stars are born. Other star systems, older, larger, continue to breathe. The Solar System dies of crib death. If that's what it takes, then okay. If I must wait that long, then all right. Because when I think of this, nothing is more desirable than the hope of watching that last day, when the sun flickers out with you beside me. We'll sit alone on a dark chunk of ice at the top of the world, and the stars above, beyond, and between us
- [throws his valor medal]
- Lt. Nathan West: will never shine brighter as we drift away into space.
- [first lines]
- Title Card: Vesta Colony Epsilon Eridani Star System 2063 A.D.
- Colonial Governor Borman: [addressing the group] Tonight we stand beneath a new heaven. After 150 years of calling out, the silence of the universe assures us that life is unique. We are alone. You and I are among the first to bring life to the stars - to this planet. The farthest any human has ever ventured. I know there are those at home who say that we are here only as a status symbol. Others say that we are fortune hunters, or that we're running away. But I know we're here because of faith - faith in each other, in a better world. The rocket fuel that brought us here can be burnt away, but our belief in ourselves, in one another, in the future, never can be; never will be.