25 Apocalypse Now Quotes on the Double Standards of War

These Apocalypse Now quotes will give you a glimpse into the dark, ironic reality of war.

Conflict has been a brutal and sometimes necessary part of the human saga since our beginning.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a classic film that has been described by many as the greatest anti-war film ever, but Coppola himself disagrees.

In a 2019 interview, he noted how “An anti-war film cannot glorify war, and Apocalypse Now arguably does.

Certain sequences have been used to rev up people to be warlike.”

It has been over 40 years since the film came out, and while the film initially was considered innovative and experimental, Coppola laments how “What is considered avant-garde in one moment, 20 years later is used for wallpaper and becomes part of the culture.

It seemed that’s what had happened with Apocalypse.”

Whatever your stance is on the film, these Apocalypse Now quotes force us to consider the absurdity and double standards of war.

Don’t forget to also check out these war quotes from writers, politicians, and more.

If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement. 

Read more related content on our inspirational quotes category page.

The best Apocalypse Now quotes

1. It’s judgment that defeats us.”

You will also enjoy our article on Meek Mill quotes.

2. “Have you ever considered any real freedoms?”

You will also enjoy our article on Kill Bill quotes.

3. “Freedoms from the opinion of others… even the opinions of yourself?”

4. “You can either surf, or you can fight!”

5. “He had only two ways home: death or victory.”

6. “He’s worse than crazy, he’s evil!”

7. “We train young men to drop fire on people!”

8. “Not with a bang, but with a whimper.”

9. “The heads. You’re looking at the heads.”

10. “The man is clear in his mind, but his soul is mad.”

11. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours.”

12. “When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like … victory.”

13. “Oh man… the bullsh-t piled up so fast in Vietnam, you needed wings to stay above it.”

14. “If I say it’s safe to surf this beach, Captain, then it’s safe to surf this beach!”

15. “I hardly said a word to my wife until I said yes to a divorce.”

Apocalypse Now quotes from the war film

16. “You have to have men who are moral… and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling… without passion… without judgment.”

17. “Any man brave enough to fight with his guts strapped to him can drink from my canteen any day.”

18. “I used to think that if I died in an evil place then my soul wouldn’t be able to make it to heaven.”

19. “The war was being run by a bunch of four-star clowns who were gonna end up giving the whole circus away.”

20. “Sometimes he goes too far. He’s the first one to admit it.”

21. “You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.”

22. “My orders say I’m not supposed to know where I’m taking this boat, so I don’t.”

23. “Never get out of the boat.”

24. “I’m a little man, I’m a little man, he’s… he’s a great man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas.”

25. “I don’t care where it goes as long as it ain’t here.”

Which of these Apocalypse Now quotes is your favorite?

This is a film that gives us a glimpse into the dark, ironic reality of war.

Some of the most remarkable scenes from the movie that truly personify the futility and irony of war are when Lt.

Colonel Kilgore sees the young Vietnamese girl throw a grenade into one of the helicopters and calls her a “savage” while he literally attacks an unarmed innocent village with a napalm order, or when Colonel Kurtz reflects on how “We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won’t allow them to write ‘fuck’ on their airplanes because it’s obscene.”

Critics have deemed Apocalypse Now as a classic film, and while many view it as an anti-war film because of the graphic depictions of the conditions in Vietnam, Coppola notes that an anti-war movie “shouldn’t have sequences of violence that inspire a lust for violence. 

Apocalypse Now has stirring scenes of helicopters attacking innocent people.

That’s not anti-war.”

What’s your biggest takeaway from these Apocalypse Now quotes and lines?

Do you have any other favorite quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.