12 Angry Men Quotes

Juror #5: Boy oh boy, it's really hot, huh? Pardon me, but don't you ever sweat?
Juror #4: No, I don't.

Juror #7: Well, what do we do now?
Juror #8: You're alone.
Juror #3: I don't care whether I'm alone or not! It's my right.
Juror #8: It's your right.
Juror #3: Well, what do you want? I say he's guilty.
Juror #8: We want to hear your arguments.
Juror #3: I gave you my arguments!
Juror #8: We're not convinced. We want to hear them again. We have as much time as it takes.
Juror #3: Everything - every single thing that took place in that courtroom, but I mean everything - says he's guilty. What d'ya think, I'm an idiot or somethin'?
Juror #3: Why don'tcha take that stuff about the old man - the old man who lived there and heard every thing? Or this business about the knife! What, 'cause we found one exactly like it? The old man saw him! Right there on the stairs! What's the difference how many seconds it was? Every single thing... The knife falling through a hole in his pocket... You can't prove he didn't get to the door! Sure, you can take all the time, hobblin' around the room, but you can't prove it! And what about this business with the El? And the movies! There's a phony deal if I ever heard one. I betcha five thousand dollars I'd remember the movies I saw! I'm tellin' ya, every thing that's gone on has been twisted... and turned!
Juror #3: This business with the glasses? How do *you* know she didn't have 'em on? This woman testified in open court! And what about hearin' the kid yell? Huh? I'm tellin' ya, I've got all the facts here...
Juror #3: Here... Ah.
Juror #3: Well, that's it - that's the whole case!
Juror #3: Well? Say something!
Juror #3: You lousy bunch of bleedin' 'earts... You're not goin' to intimidate me - I'm entitled to my opinion!
Juror #3: Rotten kids, you work your life out...!
Juror #3: ...no. Not guilty. Not guilty.

Juror #10: I don't understand you people! I mean all these picky little points you keep bringing up. They don't mean nothing! You saw this kid just like I did. You're not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies. Look, you know how these people lie! It's born in them! I mean, what the heck? I don't have to tell you! They don't know what the truth *is!* And lemme tell ya: they don't need any real big reason to kill someone, either! No sir!
Juror #10: They get drunk! Oh, they're real big drinkers, all of 'em - you know that - and bang: someone's lyin' in the gutter! Oh, nobody's blaming them for it. That's the way they are, by nature! You know what I mean? Violent!
Juror #10: Where're you going? Human life don't mean as much to them as it does to us!
Juror #10: Look, they're lushing it up and fighting all the time and if somebody gets killed, so somebody gets killed! They don't care! Oh, sure, there are some good things about 'em, too! Look, I'm the first one to say that!
Juror #10: I've known a couple who were OK, but that's the exception, y'know what I mean? Most of 'em, it's like they have no feelings! They can do anything!
Juror #10: What's goin' on here? I'm trying to tell ya... You're makin' a big mistake, you people! This kid is a liar! I know it, I know all about them! Listen to me... They're no good! There's not a one of 'em who is any good! I mean, what's happening in here? I'm speaking my piece, and you...
Juror #10: Listen to me. We're... This kid on trial here... his type, well, don't you know about them? There's a, there's a danger here. These people are dangerous. They're wild. Listen to me. Listen.
Juror #4: I have. Now sit down and don't open your mouth again.
Juror #10: I'm jus' tryin'-a... tell ya...

Juror #11: I beg pardon...
Juror #10: "I beg pardon?" What are you so polite about?
Juror #11: For the same reason you are not: it's the way I was brought up.

Juror #8: Here's what I think happened: the old man heard the fight between the boy and his father a few hours earlier. Then, when he's lying in his bed, he heard a body hit the floor in the boy's apartment, heard the woman scream from across the street, got to his front door as fast as he could, heard somebody racing down the stairs and assumed it was the boy!
Juror #6: I think that's possible!
Juror #3: "Assumed"?
Juror #3: Brother, I've seen all kinds of dishonesty in my day, but this little display takes the cake. Y'all come in here with your hearts bleedin' all over the floor about slum kids and injustice, you listen to some fairy tales... Suddenly, you start gettin' through to some of these old ladies. Well, you're not getting through to me, I've had enough.
Juror #3: What's the matter with you guys? You all know he's guilty! He's got to burn! You're letting him slip through our fingers!
Juror #8: "Slip through our fingers"? Are you his executioner?
Juror #3: I'm one of 'em!
Juror #8: ...Perhaps you'd like to pull the switch?
Juror #3: For this kid? You bet I would!
Juror #8: I feel sorry for you. What it must feel like to want to pull the switch! Ever since you walked into this room, you've been acting like a self-appointed public avenger. You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts! You're a sadist!
Juror #3: I'll kill him! I'll - kill him!
Juror #8: You don't really mean you'll kill me, do you?

Juror #3: You're talkin' about a matter of seconds! Nobody can be that accurate!
Juror #8: Well, I think testimony that can put a boy into the electric chair should be that accurate.

Juror #3: That business before when that tall guy, what's-his-name, was trying to bait me? That doesn't prove anything. I'm a pretty excitable person. I mean, where does he come off calling me a public avenger, sadist and everything? Anyone in his right mind would blow his stack. He was just trying to bait me.
Juror #4: He did an excellent job.

Juror #8: Look, there was one alleged eye witness to this killing. Someone else claims he heard the killing, saw the boy run out afterwards and there was a lot of circumstantial evidence. But, actually, those two witnesses were the entire case for the prosecution. Supposing they're wrong?
Juror #12: What do you mean, supposing they're wrong? What's the point of having witnesses at all?
Juror #8: Could they be wrong?
Juror #12: What are you trying to say? Those people sat on the stand under oath.
Juror #8: They're only people. People make mistakes. Could they be wrong?
Juror #12: Well, no, I don't think so.Juror #8: Do you 'know' so?

Juror #12: Oh, come on. Nobody can know a thing like that. This isn't an exact science.
Juror #8: That's right, it isn't.

Juror #2: It's hard to put into words. I just think he's guilty. I thought it was obvious from the word, 'Go'. Nobody proved otherwise.
Juror #8: Nobody has to prove otherwise. The burden of proof is on the prosecution. The defendant doesn't even have to open his mouth. That's in the Constitution.

Juror #6: You think he's not guilty, huh?
Juror #8: I don't know. It's possible.

It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities - we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's sure.

Oh, listen, I don't see what all this stuff about the knife has got to do with anything. Somebody saw the kid stab his father, what more do we need? You guys can talk the ears right off my head, you know what I mean? I got three garages of mine going to pot while you're talking! So let's get down and get out of here!

Juror #10: Six to six... I'm telling you, some of you people in here must be out of your minds. A kid like that...
Juror #9: I don't think the kind of boy he is has anything to do with it. The facts are supposed to determine the case.
Juror #10: Don't give me that. I'm sick and tired of facts! You can twist 'em anyway you like, you know what I mean?
Juror #9: That's exactly the point this gentleman has been making.