American Violence Quotes

[first lines] Richard Morton: Margaret. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? [holding up his toast]
Margaret: [from the other room]Doctor's orders, honey. No saturated fat.
Richard Morton: Ma'am, that doctor is a hack. And he's pathetic. He shouldn't even have a license. Stop listening to the doctor. Jesus. You give me bread? First of all it's not toasted, second of all it's peanut butter without any jam. How do you expect me to swallow this or get it down? How many goddamn times do I have to tell you that? Get your nose out of a cookbook and learn to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Margaret: Keep talking like that and you'll be making your own sandwiches.
Richard Morton: What did you say? What was that? [man suddenly begins stabbing him from behind]

Movie: American Violence
Jackson Shea: You've read some papers. Some file a prison hack too stupid to make it on the outside wrote about me after he showed me some inkblots. You read that shit and think you're inside my head? Doc, you don't know a fucking thing about me.
Amanda Tyler: You're right, Jack. I don't know a fucking thing about you. And if I did, I wouldn't be here wasting my time, or yours. Would you like me to leave?

Movie: American Violence
Jackson Shea: [about attacking his abusive uncle]It was the first time in my life I was ever in control of the events that guided me. Nothing's more freeing than that.
Amanda Tyler: You know you could've stopped him without putting him in the hospital. You chose to fly into a rage.
Jackson Shea: Don't you get it, doc? We're all just caged animals. With animal instincts.

Movie: American Violence
Jackson Shea: I gave that bastard a preview of what's waiting for him in hell. Belmont got what he deserved, but I wanna make one thing real clear to you, doc. I didn't commit murder. I performed an execution. There's a difference.

Movie: American Violence
Richard Morton: You know the difference between a criminal, and a law man? One, lives rent free, three meals a day, a bed. The other one, can't even pay his rent. And our uncle, who lives back there on the east coast, doesn't pay people like me shit. I'm thinking of retiring soon, and I got three daughters. So you do the math.
Jackson Shea: You know what the real difference is between crooks and law men is, warden?
Richard Morton: Try me.
Jackson Shea: What side of the bars they're on.

Movie: American Violence
Ben Woods: It's a delicate balance. Punish too harshly, you have a revolt. Don't punish enough, you have anarchy. See, the very fear of violence keeps violence at bay. By not responding to violence with violence we take away that fear, and we take away the very thing that keeps our system intact.

Movie: American Violence
[last lines] Amanda Tyler: [lecturing her class]Violence. What is the cause? To truly understand the nature of violence, we need to look beyond the individual. We need to look at the culture of violence that permeates our society. And we also need to look at the way that we punish those that commit acts of violence. Because when we answer violence with violence and trade death for death, all we're doing is perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Student: But what if someone you love was murdered? Would you feel that answering violence with violence is appropriate?
Amanda Tyler: I believe I would feel that in the moment. But I wouldn't want their deaths avenged by a cruel and capricious system.

Movie: American Violence