The Top 25 'Lost' Quotes
Of all the galleries I've compiled at the end of "Lost," The Top 25 Quotes is perhaps the craziest to try and coerce into a nice, easy, digestible format. Considering the sheer number of options available at my disposal (I'm going to say "between 200 and a bajillion" as a rough estimate), nailing this down is an inexact science at best. But as Yoda would say, there is no try. Only do or do not. And well, I did.
A few quick notes before linking the full gallery...
1) As before, I didn't try and rank them in order of "worst" to "best." You can make a solid case for such an arrangement when it comes to episodes, characters, and moments, but quotes are so varied and so subjective that trying to do so is a fool's errand. So I went for a chronological approach, with quotes ranging from the pilot episode through the series finale.
2) The four overall criteria: a) Would this line work as a short-hand summary of what the show was all about? b) Did it convey a central message about the show? c) Did it mark an epochal moment on a plot or character level? d) Was it damn funny? No quote hit every one of these points, but every quote contains at least one, and usually more than one, of them.
3) Spreading out quotes across characters was important. You could create a Top 25 quote list for about a half dozen characters without including input from anyone else. (Sawyer, Miles, Ben, Hurley, Locke, and Juliet come instantly to mind, and you could make cases for others as well.) But I tried to include as many characters as I could to highlight the deep roster of the show and shine the light as widely as possible.
4) I think you'll find that reading over these quotes shows just how much what makes them memorable is the way in which they were delivered. Sawyer's Season 6 line about the smoke monster being unable to fly over water as "ridiculous" is only a Top 25 quote because of delivery, not actual content. As sharp as the writing often was for the show, these actors took nearly everything on the written page and made it sing.
With all that in mind, I present the Top 25 "Lost" Quotes. Drop some of your personal favorites in the comments below! Coming soon: The Top 25 "Lost" Characters.
Photo credit: ABC
I'd forgotten 'destiny is a fickle *****' - great line.
But no 'Hugo, why is there a dead pakistani on my couch' - travesty!
i think 21 and 22 are epic; so sad to hear locke's final thoughts; and sawyer breaking down on the dock was just that: heartbreaking
can't argue with 5, 8, 10, 13, 24; i loved anything that rose said; she made so much sense!
i would not include 11, 12, 14; naturally, anything in the sideways world is out for me; also 19 bothers me a bit now that the show is over; it doesn't strike me in the same epic way it did initially
not sure what i would add since i have a terrible memory for these kings of things but agree with fiftypence that leaving out, 'Hugo, why is there a dead pakistani on my couch' is a travesty ;)
Using the page number (of 26) and not the quote number: 19 is the biggie (anything else is progress), as it has a meaning for the show and also one that is much bigger than the show.
I don't like 9 (We're the good guys) because I still don't know what it means. One could take it as "everybody thinks they're the good guy," which is OK, I guess. But I don't think the show answered whether The Others are good guys because we didn't see enough of their backstory. Everybody in some sort of leadership capacity (Richard, Ben, Widmore, even Dogen) did some questionable things; and they all seemed far too willing to kill anybody that wasn't one of them.
As I write this I just had an epiphany of sorts. A lot of the story of Lost was ultimately unsatisfactory to me. The Others are a good example of this. We have a beginning (sort of) and an end (but what happened to the flight attendant and the kids?) and quite a lot of activity in the middle, but no clear picture of what their goal was, whether and how they went astray, and so on. We were led to believe that they were an important part of the Island story but then we never really found out their story. As a story, that's a failure. But their symbolism (everybody thinks they're the good guy, people are far more willing to do bad things to people who "aren't like them," does the end justify the means?, etc.) works whether they are a fully-formed story element or not. The series isn't pure allegory, but there is enough symbolism (or in some cases just literary reference) to make it resonate despite its failings. Rather than rewatch old episodes maybe I can just get the Cliff Notes instead; it might be more enjoyable! This is probably one of the reasons they tried the enhanced reruns later in the series.
Anyway, back to quotes:
The Sawyer quote about Smokey flying home across the water is one of the few funny ones that is also meaningful, or at least relevant to the story. Juliet's "stressful being an Other" is the same way.
Great list. It brings back a lot of great memories. (I had forgotten Julliet's line about it being stressful being an other.)
I thought that the choice of "I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." was interesting. I had just rewatched that episode recently. I know that it was when Looke came accross the smoke monster while hunting boar, but it sounds more like a description of the light at the center of the island. Weird.
Man, I am going to miss you Ryan. I have followed you for years and will REALLY miss this blog as much as I miss LOST. So long buddy.
Ryan,
Great job with the lists! Jacob would be proud. :)
I love the thoughtfulness behind your choices. Just a few examples:
For those who wanted "Through the Looking Glass" as a Top 10 Episode (and I was one of them), thanks for including "Not Penny's Boat" as a Top 25 Moment -- not once, but twice!
For those who wanted "Two sides: One is light, one is dark" as a Top 25 Moment, thanks for listing it as a Top 25 Quote.
For me personally, THANK YOU for Jin's Top 25 Quote: (to Sun) "...I have to go because I'm going to save you." That makes me understand all over again why Jin stayed with Sun on the sub. And that Lost is all about choices...and love.
I guess you didn't include "It worked" because ultimately it was about the candy machine, but it's the quote I kept thinking about all season.
I think my main quote would be Whatever happened, happened. :)
Good job, Ryan. Do we HAVE to stop our conversations????
The one quote I think is missing, is something including "Let go" (there were many to choose from)
"Don't tell me what I can't do!"
"Guys, where are we?"
How are these left out?
I'm not sure how many of these qualify as great quotes. Some of them are great lines that have been said throughout the show but as far as actually being quotable stuff a lot of them don't hold up.
A few more quotes that I didn't see on the list:
"Dude, you got some Arzt on you"
"I hope you find what you're looking for"
And although the line was probably too obvious in the finale, I loved Kate saying "I saved you a bullet"