Can you believe it’s been about 30 years since the young fella sat on a bench and delivered one of the most famous Forrest Gump quotes, “Life is like a box of chocolates”? It’s a great example of how a film can affect your life, even in the smallest details.
It’s become so ingrained in our culture that even if you haven’t seen this inspirational movie, you probably know what the words “Life is like a box of chocolates” or “Stupid is as stupid does” mean. And since it’s been quite a while since the film's release, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit Forrest Gump quotes that we all love so dearly!
This iconic movie tells the story of a precious man who has an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time and accidentally change history and the lives of those around him. He meets several presidents in his lifetime, goes to college on a football scholarship, serves in the US Army during the Vietnam War, and even meets Elvis Presley!
And who could ever forget that scene with Forrest Gump running away from bullies as a young Jenny Curran screams, “Run, Forrest, run”? In fact, the movie is full of awesome Forrest Gump quotes that we can never get enough of or, excuse the pun, run away from (not that we want to, anyway).
There are tons of legendary movie quotes in Forrest Gump, and all deserve equal attention. So get ready to jump back to the first time you watched the movie and relive its greatest moments with our collection of the most famous Forrest Gump quotes!
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"Now, mama said there’s only so much fortune a man really needs… and the rest is just for showing off." – Forrest Gump
"Bubba was my best good friend, and even I know that ain’t something you can find just around the corner." – Forrest Gump
The Real Story Behind Forrest Gump
If you’ve ever watched Forrest Gump, you’ve undoubtedly found yourself questioning whether the story is real or fiction. And all thanks to stellar acting, life-like dialogues, and an incredible scenario! However, Forrest Gump’s story is not based on a real one but rather on a 1986 Winston Groom’s novel of the same name.
In fact, much is the same in the movie as in the novel — some of the best Forrest Gump quotes come directly from the book! The main differences between the book and the movie lie in their popularity, though. Upon release, Groom’s novel did not impress either the critics or the readers.
In fact, it was deemed to be a “stumbling, droopy-drawered attempt at a picaresque novel,” and you know that it doesn’t sound well. However, once the novel was adapted into a movie, its fortunes changed tremendously, with millions of copies sold worldwide after the premiere.
"Run, Forrest! Run!" – Jenny Curran
Middle school kids I coach quoted this to each other, and I joined in the chant. Kid turns to me: "you know that movie???!!?" Dude I watched that movie long before you were ever allowed to
"When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went." – Forrest Gump
The Impact of Forrest Gump Quotes
In the movie and in the novel, Forrest is portrayed as a person with a lower-than-average IQ. However, he’s far from stupid! In fact, Forrest’s way of looking at life is filled with wisdom each of us would hope to attain one day. Maybe it’s because Forrest maintains an optimistic outlook on life, or maybe it is because he doesn’t search for the meaning of life too hard. This, of course, is reflected in Forrest Gump movie quotes — it seems that everything he says is an instant quote!
That said, it’s not only life itself that Mister Gump has such profound knowledge of. It’s also love! Take, for instance, Forrest Gump quotes mentioning Jenny — they’re always heartfelt and so profound it hurts. He does now something that we all don’t.
Then, there are the iconic Forrest Gump shoe quotes — “My mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they going, where they been.” And well, besides it being so very true, have you yourself thought about such a quote? Nope? Neither did we.
And lastly, there’s a whole bunch of funny Forrest Gump quotes, and they truly make you cry from laughter for being so naive yet so very relatable. That said, you’ll have to keep on reading this article to discover these famous quotes!
"You can’t be doin’ this, Forrest. You can't keep tryin’ to rescue me all the time." – Jenny Curran
"I’m gonna lean up against you, and you just lean right back against me." – Bubba Blue
"That’s the most outstanding answer I’ve ever heard. You must have a goddamn I.Q. of a hundred and sixty. You are goddamn gifted, Private Gump." – Drill Sergeant
"There are two standing rules in this outfit. One, take care of your feet. Two, don’t go do something stupid like getting yourself killed!" – Lieutenant Daniel Taylor
"What’s normal anyways?" – Forrest Gump
"Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it." – Bubba Blue
"If you do not like my family and friends, I do not want to hear anything about it. They may mean nothing to you, but they mean everything to me." – Forrest Gump
"Now you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was goin’ somewhere, I was runnin’!" – Forrest Gump
"The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind." – Jenny Curran
"You know why we’re a good partnership, Forrest? Cause we are watching out for one another like brothers and stuff." – Bubba Blue
"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County." – Forrest Gump
"– Forrest Gump: What’s my destiny, Mama?
– Mrs. Gump: You’re gonna have to figure that out for yourself."
"Why don’t you love me Jenny? I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is." – Forrest Gump
"Always be able to look back and say, at least I didn’t lead no humdrum life." – Forrest Gump
"I just wanted to tell you I love you. I’ll be right here when you get back." – Forrest Gump
"Bubba was going to be a shrimping boat captain, but instead, he died right there by that river in Vietnam." – Forrest Gump
"I don’t remember being born, I don’t recall what I got for my first Christmas, and I don’t know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the wide world." – Forrest Gump
"- Jenny Curran: Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you're gonna be?
- Forrest Gump: Who I'm gonna be?
- Jenny Curran: Yeah.
- Forrest Gump: Aren't... aren't I going to be me?"
"You could come home with me, to my house in Greenbow, Jenny. I'll take care of you if you're sick. – Forrest Gump
"You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground." – Forrest Gump
"I’d never named a boat before, but there was only one I could think of the most beautiful name in the wide world." – Forrest Gump
"He was from a long great military tradition. Somebody from his family had fought and died in every single American war. I guess you could say he had a lot to live up to." – Forrest Gump
"The one thing I remember from Fort Benning is that they didn’t seem to be nobody much smarter than I was, which was certainly a relief." – Forrest Gump
"Listen, you promise me something, OK? Just if you’re ever in trouble, don’t be brave. You just run, OK? Just run away." – Jenny Curran
"I’d always let her know that I was okay. Then I’d sign each letter, ‘Love, Forrest Gump.’" – Forrest Gump
"It was so clear, Jenny. It looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped and earth began. It was beautiful." – Forrest Gump
“But let me tell you this: sometimes at night when I look up at the stars and see the whole sky just laid out there, don't you think I ain't remembering it all. I still got dreams like anybody else, and ever so often, I am thinking about how things might have been. And then, all of a sudden, I'm forty, fifty, sixty years old, you know?" – Forrest Gump
"Well, so what? I may be an idiot, but most of the time, anyway, I tried to do the right thing – a dream is just dreams, aren’t they?" – Forrest Gump
"Let me say this: being an idiot is no box of chocolates. People laugh, lose patience, treat you shabby. Now they say folks supposed to be kind to the afflicted, but let me tell you this - it ain't always that way. Even so, I got no complaints, cause I reckon I done live a pretty interesting life, so to speak." – Forrest Gump
"I have suffered a loss, Forrest, far greater than my legs. It's my spirit, my soul. There is only a blank there now – medals where my soul used to be." – Forrest Gump
"All my own life, I ain't understood anything about what was going on. A thing just happens, then something else happens, then something else, and so on, and half the time nothing making any sense." – Forrest Gump
"One day it started raining, and it didn’t quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin’ rain… and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night…" – Forrest Gump
"I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental, like on a breeze. But I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both are happening at the same time." – Forrest Gump
"– Young Jenny: What’s wrong with your legs?
– Young Forrest: Um, nothing at all, thank you. My legs are just fine and dandy."
"Remember what I told you, Forrest. You’re the same as everybody else. Do you hear what I said, Forrest. You’re the same as everybody else. You are no different." – Mrs. Gump
"– Jenny Curran: Have you ever been with a girl, Forrest?
– Forrest Gump: I sit next to them in my Home Economics class all the time."
"– Jenny Curran: His name's Forrest.
– Forrest Gump: Like me.
– Jenny Curran: I named him after his daddy.
– Forrest Gump: He got a daddy named Forrest, too?
– Jenny Curran: You're his daddy, Forrest."
"– School Bus Driver: Are you coming along?
– Young Forrest: Mama said not to be taking rides from strangers.
– School Bus Driver: This is the bus to school."
"Then it felt like somethin' that had just jumped up and bit me." – Forrest Gump
"Well, now we ain’t strangers anymore." – Dorothy Harris
"I didn’t know it, but I was destined to be your Momma. I did the best I could." – Mrs. Gump
"Well, I'll tell you, Forrest, all of these laws are not especially pleasing to us. But there are laws nonetheless. Like when a tiger pounces on a monkey in the jungle – bad for the monkey but good for the tiger. That is just the way it is." – Lieutenant Daniel Taylor
" – Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?
– Forrest Gump: I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir."
"– Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: I'm here to try out my sea legs.
– Forrest Gump: But you ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan.
– Lieutenant Daniel Taylor: Yes... yes, I know that. You wrote me a letter."
"– Jenny Curran: Hey, Forrest, how are you doin'?
– Forrest Gump: Hi!
– Jenny Curran: Come in, come in?
– Forrest Gump: Is this your house?
– Jenny Curran: Yeah, it's messy right now. I just got off the work.
– Forrest Gump: It's nice. You got air conditionin'."
"When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going." – Forrest Gump
"The Army was really easy. You just have to stand up straight, make your bed real neat, and always answer every question with, ‘Yes, Drill Sergeant!’" – Forrest Gump
"The world will never be the same once you’ve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump." – Forrest Gump
"Mama read it an began pulling her hair and weeping and praising the Lord, cause it says I am 'Temporarily Deferred' on account of I am a numbnuts." – Forrest Gump
"Bubba then grabbed and hold of my leg and his eyes got all cloudy and that terrible pink sky seem to drain all the color in his face. He was trying to say something, and so I bent over real close to hear what it was. But I never could make it out. Bubba, he died, and that's all I got to say about that." – Forrest Gump
"The fact that I was too dumb to play college football did not seem to impress the United States Army none." – Forrest Gump
"When I was in China on the All-American ping pong team, I just loved playing ping-pong with my flexolite ping pong paddle." – Forrest Gump
"Come on people now. The smile on your brother. Everybody get together, try to love one another right now." – Forrest Gump
"My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me Bubba. Just like one of them ol’ redneck boys. Can you believe that?" – Bubba Blue
"Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company. So then I got a call from him, saying we don’t have to worry about money no more. And I said, that’s good! One less thing." – Forrest Gump
"The best thing about visiting the President is the food! Now, since it was all free, and I wasn’t hungry but thirsty, I must’ve drank fifteen Dr. Peppers." – Forrest Gump
"Mama always had a ways of explaining things, so I could understand them." – Forrest Gump
"We were always taking long walks, and we was always looking for a guy named Charlie." – Forrest Gump
"– Forrest Gump: A bullet?
– Fat Man at Bench: That jumped up and bit you.
– Forrest Gump: Oh, yes sir. Bit me right in the buttocks. They said it was a million dollar wound, but the army must keep that money 'cause I still haven't seen a nickel of that million dollars."
"All right, Forrest. You can open your eyes now. Let’s take a little walk around." – Doctor
"Bullets and stuff be flying all over. It is something I simply cannot understand - why in hell are we doing all this, anyway? Playing football is one thing. But this, I do not know why. Goddamn." – Forrest Gump
"I shrug my shoulders and nod my head, but something down in me sinking fast. I am just a po ole idiot, and now I have got the whole human race to look after." – Forrest Gump
"I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason, I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going." – Forrest Gump
"– Drill Sergeant: Gump! What's your sole purpose in this army?
– Forrest Gump: To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!"
"It wasn't always fun. Lieutenant Dan was always gettin' these funny feelings, about Iraq, or the trail, or the road." – Forrest Gump
"He said God is listening and if I found Jesus, I’d get to walk beside him in the kingdom of Heaven." – Lieutenant Daniel Taylor
"I got to tell you, that if it weren't for that harmonica music, I might have just packed up and gone home, but it made me feel so good, I can hardly describe it." – Forrest Gump
