James Bond movies are known for their trademark touches: elaborate plots for world domination, clever and surprisingly useful gadgets, gorgeous cars, clothes, and globetrotting locations. Among the most enduring and enjoyable of these tropes is the character penchant for delivering a perfectly timed bon mot in the heat of the action.
To celebrate those delicious Bond quotes, we’ve ranked the 10 best, funniest, or most iconic of these lines below.
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10 Shaken, not stirred.
Sony Pictures
Every James Bond has, at one point or another, specified that he prefers his vodka martinis shaken, not stirred, and it stands as the character’s most iconic line. Author Ian Fleming usually wrote Bond’s order as “stirred not shaken,” the way most martini connoisseurs prefer, but filmmakers reportedly thought it sounded better the other way around. This had the effect of giving Bond a more unconventional taste in liquor, and defining him as a character who, while occasionally shaken by his rough-and-tumble adventures, remains emotionally aloof; unstirred, as it were.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 We have all the time in the world.
United Artists
George Lazenby played Bond only once, in the much-maligned On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Sean Connery proved a tough act to follow, and producers would bring him back for the follow-up, Diamonds Are Forever. Lazenby did get one of Bond’s most affecting storylines though, finding true love with Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo. Just after their wedding, a truly happy Bond utters this line to Tracy, only to be shattered moments later when she’s killed by henchmen gunning for Bond himself. It’s the most emotion we ever see from Bond, and a truly heartbreaking finale.
8 I think he got the point.
Bond’s longstanding habit of delivering a witty pun shortly after dispatching a bad guy quickly became one of his trademarks (and the source for numerous spoofs, like Austin Powers). One of the best examples comes in the very first Bond movie, Dr No. In the film, Bond casually disposes of a goon with a shot from a harpoon gun before dropping this… pointed rejoinder.
7 Shocking. Positively shocking.
Another Connery line, this one comes after electrocuting a thug in a bathtub. Bond movies wowed audiences from the start with their thrilling action and exotic locales, but it was Connery’s tough, cool, charisma and the deadpan humor with which he delivered lines like this that really secured the character’s place in audience’s hearts for decades to come.
6 He always did have an inflated opinion of himself.
MGM
Roger Moore took Bond in a lighter, more affable direction, including several moments that are outright comic. This line, from Live and Let Die, is delivered just after the villainous Dr. Kananga has been killed with a gas pellet that blows him up like a balloon. Both the death and the line have an over-the-top, lighthearted quality that typified the Moore films and still sets them apart.
5 That last hand nearly killed me.
Daniel Craig’s Bond was less suave, more rugged than his predecessors, and he needed to be. No Bond has taken as much abuse as Craig’s, and this line typifies that reality. Rather than having just disposed of a baddie, Craig’s Bond is recovering from nearly being killed himself when he drops this one-liner. It’s a testament to the character’s resilience, both within the film and as a franchise.
4 I had to show someone your watch. It really blew their mind.
Universal Pictures
Craig’s last Bond film, No Time to Die, did take a moment to pay homage to the franchise’s traditions with this line. The tongue-in-cheek, borderline corniness of the line calls back to Moore’s time as Bond in a way that few moments from Craig’s run do, and left some fans wishing there had been a bit more them sprinkled throughout the most recent films.
3 Well, you know what they say about the fittest.
MGM/UA Entertainment Co.
When the villainous Kamal Khan points out to Bond that he has a “bad habit of surviving,” he wastes no time dropping the response above. While Bond’s witticisms were aimed primarily at the moviegoing audience, they also established this key part of his character. Though he’s certainly a strong, athletic figure, Bond was never a superhero, and from the very beginning it was his quick wit, rapid reflexes, and clever means of gaining an advantage over his opponents that defined his fighting style and problem-solving.
2 The writing’s on the wall.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
This line, delivered by Pierce Brosnan’s Bond, comes in response to the demonstration of a new exploding pen gadget. It’s the line just before, though, from Desmond Llewelyn’s Q, that really sells it. “Don’t say it,” he begs Bond before the pun arrives. It’s a moment that shows just how well these two know each other, with the affectionate exasperation that made Llewelyn such a beloved part of the franchise.
1 No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.
It’s a cruel irony that perhaps the best line in any Bond movie doesn’t come from Bond himself. Auric Goldfinger, the gold-obsessed antagonist from 1964’s Goldfinger, still widely considered the best Bond film by many, set the template for Bond villains to come. Here, he has Connery’s Bond captured and bound to a torture device, set to be cut in half by a high-powered laser. When Bond asks Goldfinger if he expects him to talk, he’s met with this cold-blooded response that’s at once surprising, funny, and chilling.
