- John Grady Cole: What the hell are you doing?
- Jimmy: Just sittin' here.
- John Grady Cole: If this rain hits hard, there's gonna be a river come down through here like a train. You thought about that?
- Jimmy: You ain't never been struck by lightning. You don't know what it's like.
- John Grady Cole: You're gonna get drowned sittin' there.
- Jimmy: Why that's all right, I ain't never been drowned before.
- John Grady Cole: Well...I say no more.
- Doña Alfonsa: In the end, Mr. Cole, we all get cured of our sentiments. Those whom life doesn't cure, death will.
- John Grady Cole: Lacey once asked me if I though God looks out for people. I guess he does. I say He's just about got to. I don't believe we'd make it a day, otherwise.
- [first lines]
- John Grady Cole: You ever think about dyin'?
- Lacey: Yeah. You?
- John Grady Cole: Yeah.
- Lacey: So, you think there's a heaven?
- John Grady Cole: Yeah. Don't you?
- Lacey: I don't know. Yeah, maybe. You think you can believe there's a heaven if you don't believe in hell?
- John Grady Cole: I guess you can believe what you want to.
- Captain Raul: Some crazy people can say that God is here. But God is not here. Everybody knows that God is not here.
- Judge: In all the years I've been sitting on this bench I heard a lots of things that give me grave doubts about the human race. This ain't one of them.