One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Book · 6 characters · 622 quotes · 1962

Quotes from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

C
"You're gonna have to start taking this serious."
Cheswick Strength
B
"I just want to do my best."
Billy Bibbit Motivation
N
"A man that won't go along gets along nowhere."
Nurse Ratched Power
B
"I want to be let out of here."
Billy Bibbit Freedom
C
"The Combine is real. It's a huge organization that aims to adjust the Outside as well as she has the Inside."
Chief Bromden Power
C
"You're the first one to ask me that in years."
Chief Bromden Kindness
C
"That's the way this place works. Don't give up the ship."
Chief Bromden Perseverance
R
"I'm not saying I'm not weird. I'm not saying I'm not strange, mysterious, aggressive to the point of violence, but underneath I'm a good person."
Randle McMurphy Truth
R
"Laughter is rebellion in a place that demands silence."
Randle McMurphy
C
"I came here broken, and I'm leaving myself back together piece by piece."
Chief Bromden
B
"A man needs to feel like a man, not like a patient."
Billy Bibbit
C
"Sometimes being crazy is the only sane response to an insane world."
Chief Bromden Philosophy
R
"Card games and bets—that's where real power shows itself."
Randle McMurphy Power
C
"I found my voice again, and nobody can take that from me."
Chief Bromden
C
"They medicate you until you can't remember why you wanted to be free."
Cheswick Freedom
R
"When a man stops fighting, that's when he's truly lost."
Randle McMurphy Perseverance
C
"The small kindness is what separates us from the machinery."
Chief Bromden Kindness
R
"I ain't nobody's fool, and I ain't gonna pretend to be."
Randle McMurphy Courage
R
"Patience is what they want you to have, but patience kills the soul."
Randle McMurphy Patience
R
"The real sickness is accepting what they tell you to accept."
Randle McMurphy Truth
C
"You can't buy dignity, but you sure can lose it easy."
Chief Bromden Wisdom
R
"Once you start believing you're crazy, that's when they got you."
Randle McMurphy Faith
C
"I see things in here that most people never see on the outside."
Chief Bromden Knowledge
R
"A man's worth is measured by how hard he's willing to fight."
Randle McMurphy Strength
C
"They use shame like a weapon in this place."
Chief Bromden Justice
B
"I can't be a man if I can't stand up for myself."
Billy Bibbit Courage
R
"The world don't care if you're crazy or not, long as you pay your debts."
Randle McMurphy Philosophy
C
"She's been breaking men's spirits long before I got here."
Chief Bromden Power
R
"This place runs on routine, and routine is death."
Randle McMurphy Life
R
"When you laugh, you remember who you really are."
Randle McMurphy Humor