Fight Club

Tyler Durden

• "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

• "'It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."

• "You know, man, it could be worse: a woman could cut off your penis while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car."

• "The things we own, end up owning us."

• "You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world."

• "Self-improvement is masturbation. Now, self-destruction..."

• "How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight? I don't wanna die without any scars."

• "The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. Third rule of Fight Club, someone yells 'stop', goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes. Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight."

• The narrator reaches his hand into his mouth and pulls out a tooth that's been knocked loose.

• "Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken."

• "Forget her, she's a predator posing as a house pet."

• "Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers failed, what does that tell you about God? You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen."

• "You have to know, not fear, know that someday you are going to die, and until you know that and you embrace that you are useless."

• "Contrary to what your mothers and teachers tell you, you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else, we are all part of the same compost heap."

• "Just like a monkey shot into space! Space monkey"

• "Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly waking up to that fact, people. And we're very, very pissed off."
  • These lines are said by Tyler in the movie. In the book, instead of Tyler, a minor character says some lines similar to these lines.

• "In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway."

• "Look. The people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals. We haul your trash. We connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us."

• "Fuck Martha Stewart! Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic, it's all going down, man!"

• "And now comes a question of courtesy, do I give you the ass or the crotch."

Marla Singer

• "This isn't a 'for real' suicide thing. This is probably one of those 'cry for help' things."

• "I want to have your abortion."
  • In the film version, the line was changed to "My God... I haven't been fucked like that since grade school."

• "It's a bridesmaid's dress. Someone loved it intensely for one day. Then, tossed it... like a Christmas tree. So special, then bam--it's on the side of the road, tinsel still clinging to it, like a sex crime victim, underwear inside out, bound with electrical tape."

• "You are Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Jackass."

• "Technically, I have more of a right to be there than you; you still have your balls."
  • Marla to Jack in reference a testicular cancer meeting.

• "A condom is the glass slipper of our generation. You slip one on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night. Then, you throw it away . . . the condom, I mean, not the stranger."

• "You're gonna have to keep me up all night..."

Miscellaneous

• Airport security officer about a vibrating suitcase:

• Project Mayhem members chanting after Tyler:

• "The First Rule of Project Mayhem is you do not ask questions. The Second Rule of Project Mayhem is you do not ask questions. The Third Rule of Project Mayhem is that in Project Mayhem there are no excuses. The Fourth Rule of Project Mayhem is you have to trust Tyler".