Dead Poets Society Quotes

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“When you read, don't just consider what the author thinks, consider what you think”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society: The Screenplay

“If you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - Carpe - hear it? – Carpe, Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“I close my eyes, and this image floats beside me.
A sweaty toothed mad man with a stare that pounds my brain.
His hands reach out and choke me, and all the time he's mumbling.
“Truth, truth.”
Like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.
You push it, stretch it, but it'll never be enough.
You kick at it, beat it, it'll never cover any of us.
From the moment we enter crying,
to the moment we leave dying,
it'll just cover your face,
as you wail and cry and scream.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“But poetry, romance, love, beauty? These are what we stay alive for!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone. ”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“Carpe Diem,” Keating whispered loudly. “Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“And medecine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love: these are what we stay alive for.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others. Now, those of you -- I see the look in your eyes like, "I would've walked differently." Well, ask yourselves why you were clapping. Now, we all have a great need for acceptance. But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, "That's baaaaad." Robert Frost said, "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“but only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'twas always thus and always thus will be.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? And that's your worse fear.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“You must strive to find your own voice, boys, and the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“TODD: Well, listen, Neil. I-I appreciate this concern, but I-I'm not like you.All right? You, you, you say things and people listen. I'm, I'm not like that.
NEIL: Don't you think you could be?
TODD: No! I--I, I don't know, but that's not the point. The, the, the point is that there's nothing you can do about it, so you can just butt out. I can take care of myself just fine. All right?
NEIL: No.
TODD: What do you mean, "no"?
NEIL: No.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams, and I'll show you a happy man." Keating: "But only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be.”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“Carpe Diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“... there is a great need in all of us to be accepted, but you must trust what is unique or different about yourself, even if it is odd or unpopular.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“No, I've been calm all my life! If I don't do something, it's gonna kill me!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“College will probably destroy your love for poetry. Hours of boring analysis, dissection, and criticism will see to that. College will also expose you to all manner of literature—much of it transcendent works of magic that you must devour; some of it utter dreck that you must avoid like the plague.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“Carpe Diem”
― Tom Schulman, Dead Poets Society

“Truth is like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold!”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

“How do we, like Walt, permit our own true natures to speak? How do we strip ourselves of prejudices, habits, influences? The answer, my dear lads, is that we must constantly endeavor to find a new point of view.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society