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30 action hero one-liners: the best action hero quotes

What you want to hear before you die.

15 March 2021

As well as being able to shoot on target without fail, outsmart villains intent on world domination and make any woman fall in love with them, action heroes are also great at improvising smart one-liners.

Just before or after they deliver a fatal blow to some nefarious type, out pops a perfectly crafted quip which feels as if it's probably been brewing for a while.

Here's 30 of the best action hero one liners of all time: endlessly quotable quotes that sum up the movies they are from and the people that are saying them.


1. John McClane

"Yippee Ki Yay motherf***er"

Bruce Willis, Die Hard

2. King Leonidas

"This is Sparta!"

Gerard Butler, 300

3. Harry Callahan

"You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry

4. Hauser

"Consider that a divorce"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Total Recall

5. President James Marshall

"Get off my plane!"

Harrison Ford, Air Force One

6. Captain Steven Hiller

"Welcome to earth"

Will Smith, Independence Day

7. RoboCop

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me"

Peter Weller, RoboCop

8. Cobra

"You're a disease, and I'm the cure"

Sylvester Stallone, Cobra

9. Tony Montana

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Al Pacino, Scarface

10. Roger Murtaugh

"I'm too old for this shit"

Danny Glover, Lethal Weapon


11. Neville Flynn

"I have had it with these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane!"

Samuel L Jackson, Snakes On A Plane

12. Lisa

"Hey, terrorist! Terrorise this!"

Kristen Miller, Team America: World Police

13. Judge Dredd

"I am the LAW!"

Sylvester Stallone, Judge Dredd

14. The Terminator

"Hasta-la-vista baby!"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

15. George Nada

“I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubble gum”

Roddy Piper, They Live

16. John Cutter

"Always bet on black"

Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57

17. John Matrix

"You know how I said I'll kill you last? I lied"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Commando

18. Ripley

"Get away from her, you bitch!"

Sigourney Weaver, Aliens

19. Rooster Cogburn

“Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!”

John Wayne, True Grit

20. Mason Storm

"I'm gonna take you to the bank, Senator Trent. To the blood bank!"

Steven Seagal, Hard To Kill

21. Blain

“I ain’t got time to bleed”

Jesse Ventura, Predator

22. Action Jackson

"Barbeque, huh? How do you like your ribs?"

Carl Weathers, Action Jackson

23. James Bond

"The name's Bond, James Bond"

Daniel Craig, Spectre

24. Crocodile Dundee

"You call that a knife? This is a knife!"

Paul Hogan, Crocodile Dundee

25. Maverick

"I feel the need – the need for speed"

Tom Cruise, Top Gun

26. Inigo Montoya

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Mandy Patinkin, The Princess Bride

27. Jack Slater

"You wanna be a farmer? Here's a couple of acres!"

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Last Action Hero

28. Mal Johnson

"Now, I don't wanna kill you, and you don't wanna be dead"

Danny Glover, Silverado

29. Maximus

"I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next"

Russell Crowe, Gladiator

30. Rambo

"You want a war? I'll give you a war you wouldn't believe"

Sylvester Stallone, First Blood

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