Discover the most memorable quotes from the 2004 film “Million Dollar Baby” with our curated list of the top 25 quotes. Relive the emotional moments and powerful dialogue from this acclaimed movie.
In Million Dollar Baby, Frankie Dunn has spent his entire life training terrifying fighters in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the basic rule of life: Above all, always protect yourself!
Million Dollar Baby Quotes
1- “All fighters are pig-headed some way or another. Some part of them always thinks they know better than you about something. Truth is, even if they’re wrong, even if that one thing is going to be the ruin of them, if you can beat that last bit out of them… they ain’t fighters at all.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
2- “To make a fighter, you got to strip them down to bare wood. You can’t just tell them to forget everything you know, you got to make them forget it in their bones. Make them so tired they only listen to you, only hear your voice, only do what you say and nothing else. Show them how to keep their balance and take it away from the other guy. How to generate momentum off your right toe and how to flex your knees when you fire a jab. How to fight backing up, so that the other guy doesn’t want to come after you. Then you got to show them all over again. Over and over and over, till they think they were born that way.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
3- “The body knows what fighters don’t: how to protect itself. A neck can only twist so far. Twist it just a hair more and the body says, “Hey, I’ll take it from here because you obviously don’t know what you’re doing. Lie down now, rest, and we’ll talk about this when you regain your senses.” It’s called the knockout mechanism.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
4- “Sometimes, best way to deliver a punch is step back. But step back too far, you ain’t fighting at all.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
5- “People love violence. They slow down at a car wreck to check for bodies. Same people claim to love boxing. They got no idea what it is. Boxing is about respect. Getting it for yourself, and taking it away from the other guy.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
6- “Anybody can lose one fight. Anybody can lose one, son. You’ll come back from this. You’ll be champion of the world.[to Flip]” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
7- “Mo cuishle means, “my darling, my blood.”[to Maggie] “-Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
8- “Maggie walked through that door with nothing but guts. No chance in the world of being what she needed to be. A year and a half later, she’s fighting for the championship of the world. You did that. People die every day, Frankie. Mopping floors, washing dishes. And you know what their last thought is? “I never got my shot.” Because of you, Maggie got her shot. If she dies today, you know what her last thought will be? “I think I did all right.”-Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
9- “I can’t be like this, Frankie. Not after what I done. I seen the world. People chanted my name. Well, not my name, some damn name you gave me. But they were chanting for me. I was in magazines. You think I ever dreamed that’d happen? I was born two pounds, one-and-a-half ounces. Daddy used to tell me I fought to get into this world, and I’d fight my way out. That’s all I wanna do, Frankie. I just don’t wanna fight you to do it. I got what I needed. I got it all. Don’t let them keep taking it away from me. Don’t let me lie here till I can’t hear those people chanting no more.” –Maggie Fitzgerald, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
10- “I’m gonna get you out of here. These doctors around here don’t know squat. Otherwise, why would they be living out here in the desert?[to Maggie]” –Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
11- “I want you to jab her right in the tits until they turn blue and fall off.[to Maggie]” –Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
12- “It’s the rule: always protect yourself. People never take their own advice.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
13- “Everybody’s got a particular number of fights in them. Nobody tells you what that number is.[to Maggie]” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
14- “Some wounds are too deep or too close to the bone. And no matter how hard you work at it, you just can’t stop the bleeding.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
15- “The point is to get good. Can’t get good if you keep knocking them out in the first round.[to Maggie]” –Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
16- “Okay, you did two things wrong. One is you asked a question, and two is you asked another question.[Maggie Fitzgerald: What’d I do wrong?]” –Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
17- “Don’t argue with me, that’s the only way we’re doing it. I teach you all you need to know, and then you go off and you make a million dollars. I don’t care. You get your teeth knocked out, I don’t care. I don’t wanna hear about it either way. That’s just the way it’s gonna be. It’s the only way I’ll do it.[to Maggie]”-Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
18- “I’m 32, Mr. Dunn, and I’m here celebrating the fact that I spent another year scraping dishes and waitressing, which is what I’ve been doing since 13. And according to you, I’ll be 37 before I can even throw a decent punch, which after working this speed bag for a month and getting nowhere, I now realize may be God’s simple truth. Other truth is, my brother’s in prison, my sister cheats on welfare by pretending one of her babies is still alive, my daddy’s dead, and my momma weighs 312 pounds. If I was thinking straight, I’d go back home, find a used trailer, buy a deep fryer and some oreos. Problem is, this the only thing I ever felt good doing. If I’m too old for this, then I got nothing. That enough truth to suit you?” –Maggie Fitzgerald, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
19- “Boxing is an unnatural act. Because everything in it is backwards. You want to move to the left, you don’t step left, you push on the right toe. To move right, you use your left toe. Instead of running from the pain, like a sane person would do, you step into it. Everything in boxing is backwards.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
20- “There’s some things people just don’t want to hear.”-Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
21- “Saw your last fight, Shawrelle. Spent so much time face down, I thought the canvas had titties.” –Maggie Fitzgerald, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
22- “If there’s magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.” –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
23- “You get one shot at the title. You lose it, it may not come around again.[to Willie]” –Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
24- “Girlie, tough ain’t enough.[to Maggie]”-Frankie Dunn, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
25- “Instead of running from the pain like a sane person would do, you step into it.” [talking about boxing] –Eddie Dupris, ‘Million Dollar Baby’.
