Robin Williams was on this planet for too short a time. As much as we miss him, he didn't leave us completely. He still exists in his movies. Looking back at his performances, I wonder if Robin Williams was trying to tell us something. Since Robin improvised during most of his films, when you read these quotes you will feel a chill run through you.
After I heard about his death, I felt guilty that I laughed at his jokes. I used to think, How can his brain go so fast? But then it hit me, was I was receiving joy from the same mind that brought him darkness and pain?
Recently I discovered there is profound wisdom in some of Robin Williams' movies. He made us stop and think about our own lives. Even though he was just an actor playing his part, it felt as if he was speaking to each of one of us directly. The words that came from the depths of his soul, jumped off the screen and went straight into ours. His roles were unforgettable like memories from a family scrapbook. What made his performances so powerful? Maybe it's because we knew he wasn't acting.
These propehtic quotes leave us with too many unanswered questions. The quotes, in chronological order, start off simple but become more intense as the years go by. Robin Williams appeared in 103 movies and television shows from 1997-2014. Here are 31 thought-provoking quotes:
1. Popeye
Popeye to Bluto: "Even though you're bigger than me, you can't win, 'cause you're bad, and the good always wins over the bad."
2. The World According to Garp
T. S. Garp talking to Helen: "Remember, Helen."
Helen Holm: "What, my love?"
T. S. Garp: "Everything."
3. Moscow on the Hudson
Vladimir: "This is a free country, welcome to almost anyone. Yes, in America almost anything is possible."
4. Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Morning Vietnam: "Goooooood morning, Vietnam! Hey, this is not a test. This is rock and roll. Time to rock it from the delta to the DMZ. Is that me, or does that sound like an Elvis Presley movie? Viva Da Nang. Oh, viva, Da Nang. Da Nang me, Da Nang me. Why don't they get a rope and hang me? Hey, is it a little too early for being that loud? Hey, too late."
5. The Adventures of Baron Munchausan
Baron Munchausen: "Because I'm tired of the world and the world is evidently tired of me."
Sally: "But why? Why?"
Baron Munchausen: "Why, why, why! Because it's all logic and reason now. Science, progress, laws of hydraulics, laws of social dynamics, laws of this, that, and the other. No place for three-legged cyclops in the South Seas. No place for cucumber trees and oceans of wine. No place for me."
6. Dead Poet Society
John Keating:
"They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you.... Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."
"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion... O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here -- that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
7. Awakenings
Leonard Lowe: "We've got to tell everybody. We've got to remind them. We've got to remind them how good it is."
Dr. Sayer: "How good what is, Leonard?"
Leonard Lowe: "Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad. It's all bad. People have forgotten what life is all about. They've forgotten what it is to be alive. They need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of what they have and what they can lose. What I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!"
8. Dead Again
Dr. Carlisle: "You take what you've learned from this life and use it in the next. That's karma."
9. The Fisher King
Parry: "One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a simple-minded fool, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone in pain. He asked the king, 'What ails you friend?' The king replied, 'I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat.' So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king. As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the Holy Grail which he sought all of his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement, 'How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?' The fool replied, 'I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty.'"
10. Hook
Granny Wendy: "So... your adventures are over."
Peter Banning: "Oh, no. To live... to live would be an awfully big adventure."
11. Aladdin
Genie: "But oh, to be free. Not to have to go "Poof! What do you need, "Poof! What do you need, Poof! What do you need?" To be my own master. Such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world."
12. Toys
Leslie Zevo: "In the words of Mahatma Gumby, 'We are toys of tolerance, but there's only so much that a toy can tolerate.'"
13. Mrs. Doubtfire
Mrs. Doubtfire: "Some parents, when they're angry get along much better when they don't live together. They don't fight all the time, and they can become better people, and much better mummies and daddies for you. And sometimes they get back together. And sometimes they don't, dear. And if they don't, don't blame yourself. Just because they don't love each other anymore, doesn't mean that they don't love you. There are all sorts of different families, Katie. But if there's love, dear... those are the ties that bind, and you'll have a family in your heart, forever. All my love to you, poppet, you're going to be all right... bye-bye."
14. Being Human
Hector: [from trailer] "There's never enough time. No time to stop and think, 'What have I learned?' Try to stay in control. It's not as easy as it sounds. Is this the same for everyone? Are we all doing this to one another? This bickering and mocking? Can it be better than this? We're all in it together, making the same mistakes, getting into the same jams, having lousy Fridays over and over and over and over and over..."
15. Jumanji
Alan Parrish: "Hey, hey, I'm sorry, okay? Twenty-six years buried in the deepest darkest jungle, and I still became my father."
16. The Birdcage
Armand: "Yes, I wear foundation. Yes, I live with a man. Yes, I'm a middle-aged fag. But I know who I am, Val. It took me twenty years to get here, and I'm not gonna let some idiot senator destroy that."
17. Jack
Lawrence Woodruff: "Have you ever seen a shooting star, Jack?
It's wonderful. It passes quickly, but while it's here it just lights up the whole sky -- it's the most beautiful thing you'd ever want to see. So beautiful that the other stars stop and watch. You almost never see one."
Jack: "Why not?"
Lawrence Woodruff: "Because they're very rare. But I saw one. I did."
Jack: "I just want to be a regular star."
Lawrence Woodruff: "Jack, you'll never be regular. You're spectacular."
Jack: "What do I want to be when I grow up? Alive."
18. Good Will Hunting
Sean: "If I asked you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet, but you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes. Feelin' like God put an angel on Earth just for you, who could rescue you from the depths of hell. -- And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her be there forever. You don't know about real loss, 'cause that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself."
19. Father's Day
Dale Putley: "For years I've thought about killing myself. It's the only thing that kept me going."
20. Deconstructing Harry
Harry Block: "All people know the same truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it."
21. What Dreams May Come
Chris Nielsen: "That's when I realized I'm part of the problem. Not because I remind you. But because I couldn't join you. So I left you alone. Don't give up, okay?"
22. Patch Adams
Hunter Patch Adams: "You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome."
23. Jakob the Liar
Jakob Heym: "Hunger for hope may be worse than hunger for food."
24. Bicentennial Man
Andrew Martin: "I try to make sense of things. Which is why, I guess, I believe in destiny. There must be a reason that I am as I am. There must be."
25. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Dr. Know: "Come away O human child / To the waters and the wild / With a fairy hand in hand / For the world's more full of weeping / Than you can understand."
26. One Hour Photo
Sy Parrish: "The shutter is clicked. The flash goes off and they've stopped time, as if just for the blink of an eye."
27. Insomnia
Walter Finch: "You're a good man. I know that. Even if you've forgotten it."
28. August Rush
Wizard: "What do you want to be in the world? I mean the whole world. What do you want to be? Close your eyes and think about that."
29. Night at the Museum
Teddy Roosevelt: "Some men are born great; others have greatness thrust upon them."
30. World's Greatest Dad
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone."
31. The Final Cut
Alan Hakman: [in the library] "Is Suicide under Self-Help?"
Losing a loved one to suicide is a pain that their survivors live with every day for the rest of their lives.
Listen to the words of your loved ones. Take them seriously. They may be trying to tell you something that they cannot express.
They were obvious. But what could I have done for Robin Williams? Nothing. But it's a question we must never stop asking ourselves. What can we do to help the people in our lives?