20 The Shawshank Redemption Quotes on Freedom and Hope

We can’t talk about great movies without mentioning The Shawshank Redemption. Released in 1994 and back then considered a noble disappointment, The Shawshank Redemption went on to become one of the most beloved movies of all time.

Based on Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, and directed by Frank Darabont, the movie is an uplifting prison drama. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop whatever you’re doing and watch it! We promise you’ll love it.

The film tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker who is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He is given two life sentences and sent to the notorious Shawshank State Penitentiary, but maintains his innocence.

The harsh realities of prison life are quickly introduced to Andy. Luckily his fellow inmate Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) pulls some strings and helps the new recruit avoid more trouble.

Andy has a strong personality and doesn’t crack under pressure -- his resilience and imperishable hope helped him prevail behind the bars.

The Shawshank Redemption is a masterpiece that became one of highest rated fan reviewed films of all time and is still broadcast regularly.

Here are 20 The Shawshank Redemption quotes on freedom and hope:

Salvation lies within.

I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.

I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream.

That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.

That's the beauty of music. They can't get that from you. 

I was in the path of the tornado. I just didn't expect the storm would last as long as it has.

The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.

Every man's got a breaking point.

I don't have to listen to rumors about a man when I can judge him for myself.

Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really, pressure and time.

The funny thing is, on the outside I was an honest man. Straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.

These walls are funny. First you hate ’em. Then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.

I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can’t. 

I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Writing about yourself seems to be a lot like sticking a branch into clear river-water and rolling up the muddy bottom.

It goes back to what I said about Andy wearing his freedom like an invisibility coat, about how he never really developed a prison mentality. His eyes never got that dull look.

There are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours.

What was right with him he’d only give you a little at a time. What was wrong with him he kept bottled up inside.