Top Eight Breaking Bad Quotes
- Yeah Mr. White! Yeah, science!
- You are a wealthy man now. One must learn to be rich. To be poor, anyone can manage.
- Just because you shot Jesse James, don't make you Jesse James.
- And a man, a man provides. And he does it even when he's not appreciated or respected or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he's a man.
- Say my name!
- If you try to interfere, this becomes a much simpler matter. I will kill your wife. I will kill your son. I will kill your infant daughter.
- I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No! I am the one who knocks!
- I'm in the empire business.
Let's get something out of the way quickly. There are spoilers in this list up through the first half of Season 5. If you haven't seen the show up to that point, then this list will ruin it for you. I repeat: do not read this list if you have not seen through episode 8 of season 5. You will regret it.
Jesse Pinkman says this about midway through the first season, and repeats different variations of it throughout the series. The relationship between Walter and Jesse starts off as awkwardly as any relationship between two main characters can. The show does everything it can to make the fact that these two people have absolutely nothing in common before they meet. That wall separating their interests slowly crumbles throughout the series, but this is the first chip. Jesse finally understands Walter, even if it's only for an instant.
Gus Fring says this to Walter shortly after they agree to start working together. This quote does more than bring up a counter-intuitive, yet interesting, idea. It is the first point in the series at which it is explicitly stated what Walter is a wealthy man. The wealth that motivated him through the first half of the series has been achieved.
Mike Ehrmantraut says this to Walk in season 5. Walter thinks that just because he killed Gus, that he is entitled to his empire. This is a reminder, both to Walt and to the viewer, that although Walt has just climbed a mountain and killed Gus, that there remains a much higher mountain still to climb.
Gus Fring says this to Walt to try to convince Walt to cook for him. Walt explains that his family has already been torn apart by the bad decisions he has made, but Gus is quick to point out that because those decisions were made for his family that they were not wrong and follows it up with this quote. At a point where Walt doesn't know what to do, this guidance gives him direction. It tells him that he set out to provide for his family, and that he should not let anything, even his own family, get in the way.
Walter says this in Season 5 when he, Mike, and Jesse receive the buyout offer. This is one of the moments where Walter truly embraces his new identity. He insults the man making the offer, and the several armed men behind him who could kill Walter at any moment, by making them admit straight to his face that he is Heisenberg. This is a rare instant where Walter clearly feels proud of himself, and this line carries on a dialogue that eventually leads to a very lucrative distribution deal.
This is where Gus goes from a respectable villain to an evil monster. He tells this to Walter when he fires him. If Jesse had given Gus permission he would have killed him or threatened to kill him instead, but because Jesse uses his leverage to grant Walt immunity, Gus goes after his family. Prior to this, the killing of children has been established as an act that goes far beyond drug trading, murder, or anything else in terms of the disgust associated with it. To hear Gus say this after that confirms that he ordered the boy who killed Combo dead, and cements his character who had always been treading a thin line between good and evil, far on the side of evil with no hope of ever climbing back.
This is possibly the most memorable quote of the series. Skyler is concerned for her safety and the safety of the children. Walt, half lying as he says it, tells her that she has nothing to worry about because he is the one on the other end of the trigger. This is where Skyler goes from being afraid for Walt to be afraid of Walt.
Maybe this quote isn't as powerful as the last one, but it answers the question of why Walt would keep cooking. Jesse asks whether Walt is in the money business or the meth business, and Walter answers that he is in the empire business. He goes on to tell the story of how he sold his share of Gray Matter, a company that he had helped start while he was in college, for practically nothing. That share that he sold has come to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He gave up his chance to be part of an empire, and he refuses to do the same again. His motivations for wanting to continue to cook instantly become clear. His motivation is no longer to achieve wealth for his family. It is to achieve a name for himself.
List by: Nicholas Munarriz
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Photo Courtesy:Thomas Attila Lewis