When it comes to tantalizing tales concerning the state of the modern world, there is perhaps no greater storyteller than history itself. The past is ripe for dramatic inspiration which links directly to major issues faced today, a notion that Christopher Nolan embraced with his incredible 2023 film, Oppenheimer. The biographical drama follows J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) through his work on the Manhattan Project, the execution of the Trinity test, and the political ramifications he faced after the war due to his affiliation with communist causes.
Throughout the film's three-hour runtime, notable figures of the past become compelling characters of the current, speaking eloquently about everything from quantum theory to American politics. With one of the greatest ensemble casts Hollywood has ever seen delivering the lines, it should come as no surprise that some of the most pointed Oppenheimer movie quotes have infiltrated pop-culture. The film earned just shy of $1 billion at the worldwide box office and is viewed by many to be the best movie in recent years.
Oppenheimer
R
Biography
Drama
History
Where to Watch
*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
- buy
- Release Date
- July 21, 2023
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Cillian Murphy , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Emily Blunt , Alden Ehrenreich , Scott Grimes , Jason Clarke , Tony Goldwyn
- Runtime
- 180 minutes
15 "Zero would be nice."
Gen. Leslie Groves
An underlying anxiety ahead of the Trinity test was the slim possibility that the chain reaction of the atomic blast could be unending, engulfing the entire world in flames. When Cillian Murphy's Oppenheimer assures General Groves (played by Matt Damon) that the chances of such a global catastrophe transpiring are "near-zero," Groves returns with a resigned and understated retort.
For a dark perspective into the human soul, the film does find moments of levity, most commonly in the character of Groves through some of his more lighthearted exchanges with Oppenheimer. This concise line played on that levity, giving viewers a grounded glimpse of gallows humor that underscores the terrifying unknowns of what the Trinity test could actually unearth, notching up the tension at a key moment.
14 "Why limit yourself to just one dogma?"
J. Robert Oppenheimer
While it was confirmed that J. Robert Oppenheimer had communist ties through his engagement with left-wing political ideals, the theoretical physicist never became a Communist Party member. The nature of his refusal to join the political movement stemmed from a desire to remain open-minded to other schools of thought. This idea was quite eloquently phrased in the film when he conversed with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) at a Communist Party fundraising event.
It is a coy line from Oppenheimer, who is rebutting against Tatlock’s staunch support of the Communist Party and its ideals. However, the attitude of striving to remain conscious of other viewpoints, particularly political ones, in times when division is growing is an important footnote in a historical movie designed to comment on the modern world.
13 "We're not convicting – just denying."
Lewis Strauss
Spoken by Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) during his duplicitous meeting with William Borden (David Dastmalcian) when they were conspiring to discredit Oppenheimer, this quote signifies Strauss' conniving, vindictive nature. With his elaborate plan to exact some form of vengeance, Strauss arranges to have the fate of Oppenheimer's political influence and legacy determined by a hearing concerning his Q Clearance before the Personnel Security Board.
It's a line that comes to epitomize Strauss' professional pursuits as well. Later, the line is said again when Strauss realizes that his chance at becoming the Commerce Secretary has evaporated following Dr. David Hill's (Rami Malek) congressional appearance. Much like how "I am become Death" bookends Oppenheimer's journey throughout the film, "we're not convicting - just denying" embodies Strauss' arc as well, one fantastically realized by Downey Jr.'s incredible performance.
12 "Is anyone ever going to tell the truth?"
J. Robert Oppenheimer
As William Borden reads his inaccurate and inflammatory attack letter at the behest of the Gray Board and Roger Robb (Jason Clarke), Oppenheimer quietly utters this line to his attorney. The startling realization that dawns on Oppenheimer during his private trial, that ultimately took away his security clearance, concerns the board's total ambivalence towards the truth.
"Is anyone ever going to tell the truth?" With one line masterfully delivered by Cillian Murphy, the frustration, confusion, and absurdity of the whole circus is perfectly captured. It pinpoints the moment he recognizes his own naivety and struggles to rationalize the turbulent situation he is in. While Oppenheimer is familiar with the methodical approaches of science, the unfair dance of politics is entirely new to him, and he finds himself in trouble.
11 "Genius is no guarantee of wisdom."
Lewis Strauss
Succinct and sharp while still hinting at Strauss’ (Robert Downey Jr.) spite of Oppenheimer, this quote brilliantly articulates both the awe-inspiring might and the debilitating flaws of Oppenheimer. Spoken as Strauss reflects on Oppenheimer humiliating him by publicly and powerfully dismissing his idea on radioisotopes at a hearing, the line strikes at Oppenheimer’s scientific genius to vehemently dispose of such an idea while also addressing his naivety as he never acknowledges the enemy he makes in doing so.
By extension, it also defines the inner turmoil Oppenheimer struggles with throughout the film, particularly when he tries to express his concerns about the use of the bomb to his superiors. While he is phenomenal in the field of theoretical physics, Oppenheimer's ability to understand how his work and persona would be received by the world was lacking.
10 "Why won't you fight?"
Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer
For all the historical intrigue, political maneuvering, and scientific intensity, the underlying heart of Oppenheimer comes in the form of Emily Blunt's portrayal of Katherin "Kitty" Oppenheimer. A frustrated woman struggling to stand idly by her husband as history consumes him, she repeats this line several times throughout the film, challenging him to stand up for himself and give his account of what transpired.
The answer to the posed question – "Why won't you fight?" – holds clarity to Oppenheimer’s character, especially his moral attitudes following the Trinity test. He is a shell of a man, as seen in the horrifying gymnasium speech, and finding the courage to object to history as it’s being written is at the very core of this quote. Kitty's desperation and frustration are obvious in the succinct line, highlighting everything she has had to endure up to that point.
9 "No, just a shoe salesman."
Lewis Strauss
When Oppenheimer and Strauss first meet near the beginning of the film, the exchange is full of pleasantries as Strauss offers Oppenheimer a job. However, beneath the surface of the meeting there was the ignition point of the festering hatred that Strauss would develop for Oppenheimer, one that intensified the more he obsessed over the scientist’s mysterious exchange with Albert Einstein (Tom Conti).
The perfect display of that vindictive ire came when Oppenheimer, perhaps accidentally, slighted Strauss by saying “Lewis Strauss was once a lowly shoe salesman.” Clearly stung by the remark, Strauss rebuffs him by saying “no, just a shoe salesman.” While it may have been easy to overlook on first viewing, Strauss’ reaction was telling, with the exchange being a perfect embodiment of the volatile connection the men would share over the course of the film.
8 "Hiroshima isn't about you."
President Harry S. Truman
Marking one of the more devastating lines in the film, Oppenheimer, having been branded "The Father of the Atomic Bomb," visits President Truman (played by Gary Oldman) in the White House. While the American public largely view Oppenheimer as being a national hero who brought about a swift end to the war, the scientist is wracked with guilt, confiding that he has "blood on his hands," only for Truman to stiffly respond.
What is so ugly about the exchange, that ends with Truman labeling Oppenheimer a "crybaby," is that nobody, not even the President, truly understood the weight that sat on Oppenheimer's shoulders and, more importantly, the gravitas of what they all had done. Closing a cold-hearted and brutal little monologue with "Hiroshima isn't about you" made for one of the film's most striking quotes as it illustrated that not even politicians were aware of the magnitude of the invention and use of the nuclear bomb.
7 "Theory will only take you so far."
Ernest Lawrence
Among the most well-known and re-used quotes from Oppenheimer, this daring scientific philosophy embodies the urgency and bravado of the Manhattan Project and the harrowing risks the scientists would have to take to ensure they beat the Nazis. In the movie, the quote was first spoken by Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett) when he an Oppenheimer first meet at the University of California, Berkley. Lawrence speaks the line gleefully when Oppenheimer describes him and his colleagues as “experimentalists.”
It is later used again by Oppenheimer, albeit in a dourer tone, as he begins to grasp that merely telling the politicians and military leaders what the bomb is capable of won’t be enough to dissuade them from using it. Instead, they’ll need to see for themselves what terror it can produce before they respect the gravitas of their creation. The simple mindset and the drastic consequences of the quote make it one of the most effective in the film.
6 "It’s not a new weapon. It’s a new world."
Niels Bohr
Possibly the most concise and damning quote from the film about what the invention of the atomic bomb will mean for the future of humanity, Niels Bohr’s (Kenneth Branagh) ominous warning to Oppenheimer lingers hauntingly long after he speaks the line. A featured line in the trailer for the film, it is said in the movie as a pivotal piece of Bohrs and Oppenheimer dialogue that touches on how they might make politicians grasp the full impact of what they are doing.
Bohr’s perspective on the Manhattan Project and what its long-term implications will be are as prophetic as they are bleak, with his view suggesting that the bomb won’t stop with America using it to end WWII, but that it will change the landscape of all war going forward. Upon reflection on the 20th century, and even considering common anxieties of the modern day, Bohr’s wise yet worrisome words are impossible to dispute and mark one of the most potent Oppenheimer quotes.
5 "They won't fear it until they understand it, and they won't understand it until they've used it."
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Following the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the surrender of Germany in WWII, the scientists on the Manhattan Project entered into discussions over whether they should be seeing through their assignment or if their ultimate objective had been rendered unnecessary, and even detrimental. As the discussion rages, with each scientist aware of the threat to humanity that the nuclear bomb poses, Oppenheimer pessimistically states that the politicians and the military won't fear the bomb as they do until they have seen what it is capable of.
By 1945, Oppenheimer was fearful that the work he had done had made nuclear war an inevitability. In a sense, it was the lesser of two evils to depict the terrible power of nuclear weaponry to end WWII, and hopefully quell any aspiration to use such weapons again in the future at the same time. It's a powerful line about human nature, and a damning quote about the political figures of the time.
4 "You don't get to commit sin, and then ask all of us to feel sorry for you when there are consequences."
Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer
Many of the best quotes from Nolan's films have excelled at being both perfect for the moment in which they are delivered and also bearing a thematic weight to the bigger picture of the film. Kitty Oppenheimer's damning remark to her husband makes for one of those cases. After news of Jean Tatlock's suicide reaches Oppenheimer, he is riddled with heartbreak and shock, leaving Kitty to shake him out of his stupor.
Seemingly disgusted by her husband's reaction to the news, Kitty berates him without ambiguity, asserting that actions have consequences, and he is not entitled to any pity for being ignorant to that. The line has an obvious connotation to Oppenheimer's work on the Manhattan Project and the guilt he experienced following the attacks on Japan. It also served as a powerful moment for Kitty as it made her anything but a passive onlooker and showcased her understanding of her husband's flaws.
3 "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Taken from the Hindu sacred text the Bhagavad Gita, "now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." was famously said by J. Robert Oppenheimer some 20 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on an NBC News documentary, The Decision to Drop the Bomb. The historical quote has infamously been tied to the scientist's reaction to the success of the Trinity test, and his terrible realization of the magnitude of his creation.
In the film, it is said twice. First in the sex scene between Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock, and later in the breathless wake of the Trinity test. It powerfully underscores Oppenheimer's arc from being a curious intellectual and a brilliant mind to being the architect of the single most devastating creation in human history. In the film, it bookends Oppenheimer's journey quite brilliantly, and illustrates the gravitas of his success.
2 "Amateurs seek the sun, get eaten. Power stays in the shadows."
Lewis Strauss
Quite possibly the line from Oppenheimer that will prove to be its most enduring and well-known, Lewis Strauss' callous view on where power truly resides was as insightful and succinct as it was prophetic. Strauss speaks the line while conversing with his Senate aide (Alden Ehrenreich's character), who is quick to point out that Strauss' ambition to secure the Secretary of Commerce position represents him seeking the sun in his metaphor.
As it turns out, Strauss' Senate confirmation hearing would prove to be his undoing, marking a conclusive end to his career in politics and the single biggest humiliation of his career as his efforts to disgrace Oppenheimer were revealed. In essence, the line itself is a razor-sharp observation of politics. The only unfortunate thing about it (for Strauss) was that he never realized it might apply to him until it was too late.
1 "I believe we did."
J. Robert Oppenheimer
Instantly iconic, the shattering final words of Oppenheimer were the perfect closing touch on what had been a masterful movie which beautifully wrapped up some of the film's loose threads while offering a powerful, emphatic full stop on the film's major theme. Reflecting on the theory that the atomic bomb could have sparked an endless chain reaction that destroyed the world, Oppenheimer asks Albert Einstein if he remembers it.
When Einstein states that he does and asks his colleague why he is bringing it up, Oppenheimer chillingly states "I believe we did." Reserved yet wholly effective, the line is a damning indictment on the state of the modern world, one made all the more powerful by Murphy's performance, the film's focus on the exchange between the two men, and the swelling score which then roars into action.
NEXT: The Best Supporting Performances in 'Oppenheimer', Ranked
