In this post, we’ll read some of the best quotes from the movie ‘Oppenheimer’ which is a thrilling biographical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer. It was released in 2023 and was directed by the famous movie director Christopher Nolan.
In the movie, Cillian Murphy (who also played the role of Thomas Shelby from Peaky Blinders!) plays Oppenheimer, the physicist known as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project during World War II.
The film, based on the 2005 biography “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, follows Oppenheimer’s career, focusing on his studies, leadership in the Manhattan Project, and the challenges he faced during a security hearing in 1954.
The movie received praise from critics and earned over $953 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2023. It also holds records as the highest-grossing World War II-related film and the highest-grossing biographical film. Additionally, it is the second-highest-grossing R-rated film, following “Joker” (2019).
Let’s read some of the best ‘Oppenheimer’ quotes taken from the movie.
Oppenheimer Quotes in ‘Oppenheimer’
1. “Now, I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
2. “See where the math takes us.”
3. “The bigger the star the more concentrated it’s Denise.”
4. “Why limit yourself to one dogma?”
5. “I tried to poison my tutor.”
6. “All of it. It’s mostly empty space.”
7. “Brilliance makes up for a lot.”
8. “It’s not your people they’re herding into camps. It’s mine.”
9. “It may not be your fault but it’s your problem.”
10. “They’re based upon your calculations.”
11. “Chances are near zero.”
12. “Is anyone going to tell the truth about what is happening here?”
13. “If we did it they would have to do it.”
14. “Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it.”
15. “Just because we’re building it doesn’t mean we get to say how it gets used.
16. “You can convince anyone with anything. Even yourself.”
17. “In the material sciences these are and have been, and are most surely likely to continue to be heroic days.”
18. “My mother was born in Baltimore, and before her marriage, she was an artist and teacher of art.”
19. “I need physics more than friends.”
20. “It is a profound and necessary truth that the deep things in science are not found because they are useful: they are found because it was possible to find them.”
21. “In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.”
22. “I saw what the Depression was doing to my students. Often they could get no jobs, or jobs which were wholly inadequate. And through them, I began to understand how deeply political and economic events could affect men’s lives. I began to feel the need to participate more fully in the life of the community.”
23. “I don’t know if we can be trusted with such a weapon. But I know the Nazis can’t. We have no choice.”
24. “We’ve got one hope. Anti Semitism.”
Strauss Quotes in ‘Oppenheimer’
1. “I’m not trained in anything. I’m a self-made man.”
2. “God doesn’t play dice.”
3. “Why would I be worried after everything you’ve done for your country?
4. “He wasn’t always patient with us mere mortals.”
5. “As colleagues, we disagreed on many things. One of them being the need for an H-bomb program.”
6. “The Russians have a bomb. We’re supposed to be years ahead of them.”
7. “They don’t know scientists like I know scientists.”
8. “Robert built that place. He was the founder, mayor, sheriff. All rolled into one.”
9. “They just fired the starting gun.”
10. “It made him the most important man who ever lived.”
11. “We’re not convicting. We’re just denying.”
Groves Quotes in ‘Oppenheimer’
1. “As much as you like. Until you feel my boot on your balls.”
2. “If I ever meet one I’ll let you know.”
3. “I don’t take anything on trust.”
4. “You don’t get to say no to me.”
5. “Oppenheimer couldn’t run a hamburger stand.”
6. “Build them a town. Fast.”
7. “Let’s go recruit some scientists.”
8. “How about because this is the most important fucking thing to ever happen in the history of the world!”
9. “You have just the rights that I give you. No more. No less.”
10. “We’ll have him killed. Just kidding. He hates me, not America.”
11. “Are we saying there’s a chance that when we push that button, we destroy the world?”
12. “Apparently, it went with a tremendous bang.”
Kitty Quotes in ‘Oppenheimer’
1. “Wake up. It is Strauss. It’s always been Strauss and you know it. Why won’t you fight him?”
2. “The world is changing, reforming. This is your moment.”
3. “It won’t make a bit of difference.”
4. “Ideology got himself killed for nothing.”
5. “You don’t get to commit sin and then ask all of us to feel sorry for you when they’re consequences.”
6. “You sit there day after day letting them take our lives apart. Why won’t you fight?”
7. “Did you think that if you let them tar and feather you the world would forgive you?”
Others Quotes in ‘Oppenheimer’
Lawrence
1. “This is America Oppie. We already had our revolution.”
2. “You’re not just self-important, you’re actually important.”
3. “Sorry general, I said I understood, not that I agree.”
4. “Theory will only take us so far.”
Jean
1. “You hated him?”
2. “You just needed to get laid.”
3. “You drop in and out of my life. That’s power.”
Rabi
1. “Dutch in 6 weeks but you never learned Yiddish?”
2. “Tell Groves to go shit in his hat. Be yourself. Only better.”
3. “You’re the greatest improviser. But this you can’t do in your head.”
Neils
1. “It’s not a new weapon. It’s a new world.”
2. “I am not here to help Robert. I knew you could do this without me.”
3. “You are the man who gave them the power to destroy themselves, and the world is not prepared.”
Others
1. “The world will remember this day.” – Alvarez
2. “Compartmentalization was supposed to be the protocol.” – Nichols
3. “Are those safe distances?” – Hans
4. “Would the Japanese surrender if they knew what was coming?” – Edward
5. “They cared who dropped it. I did. Hiroshima isn’t about you.” – Truman
6. “Do people need a reason to do the right thing?” – Aide
“Oppenheimer” was a critical success and it later surpassed “Bohemian Rhapsody” (2018) and became the highest-grossing biographical film of all time.
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