12 Angry Men is about the decision-making process of 12 jurors responsible for deciding on a teenager accused of murder.
1. “What are you talkin’ to him like that for? Guy talks like that to an old man really oughta get stepped on, you know. You oughta have more respect, mister. If you say stuff like that to him again… I’m gonna lay you out.” – Juror 6, ’12 Angry Men’.
2. “However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous. In the event that you find the accused ‘Guilty’, the bench will not entertain a recommendation for mercy. The death sentence is mandatory in this case.”– Judge, ’12 Angry Men’.
3. “…Look, this boy’s been kicked around all his life. You know – living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery. That’s not a very good head start.”– Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
4. “Let me ask you this: Do you really think the boy’d shout out a thing like that so the whole neighborhood could hear him? I don’t think so – he’s much too bright for that.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
5. “Look, let’s talk facts. These people are born to lie. Now, it’s the way they are and no intelligent man is gonna tell me otherwise. They don’t know what the truth is… They are different. They act different.” – Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
6. “At fifteen he was in reform school. He stole a car. He’s been arrested for mugging. He was picked up for knife-fighting. I think they said he stabbed somebody in the arm.” – Juror 7, ’12 Angry Men’.
7. “It’s a very awkward thing to stab down into the chest of someone who’s half a foot taller than you are.” – Juror 2, ’12 Angry Men’.
8. “I’ll tell you something. The crime is being committed right in this room.” – Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
9. “But supposing he really did hear it. This phrase, how many times has each of us used it? Probably hundreds,’I could kill you for doing that, darling’… We say it every day. It doesn’t mean we’re going to kill someone.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
10. “I want to call for a vote. I want eleven men to vote by secret ballot. I’ll abstain. If there are still eleven votes for guilty, I won’t stand alone. We’ll take in a guilty verdict right now.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
11. “Listen, there are still eleven of us who think he’s guilty. You’re alone. What do you think you’re gonna accomplish? If you want to be stubborn and hang this jury, he’ll be tried again and found guilty, sure as he’s born.” – Juror 7, ’12 Angry Men’.
12. “I’ve lived among them all my life. You can’t believe a word they say. You know that. I mean, they’re born liars.”– Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
13. “I’m trying to tell ya… You’re makin’ a big mistake, you people! This kid is a liar!… Listen to me… They’re no good! There’s not a one of ’em who is any good!” – Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
14. “I don’t understand you people! I mean all these picky little points you keep bringing up. They don’t mean nothing! You saw this kid just like I did. You’re not gonna tell me you believe that phony story about losing the knife, and that business about being at the movies.”– Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
15. “It’s only one night. A man may die.” – Juror 9, ’12 Angry Men’.
16. “Maybe he didn’t bring it up because it would of meant bullying and badgering a helpless old man. You know that doesn’t sit well with a jury, most lawyers avoid it if they can.”– Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
17. “I’m not used to supposing… But I’ll try one. Suppose you talk us all outta this and the kid really did knife his father?” – Juror 6, ’12 Angry Men’.
18. “When he was nine years old he ran away from a fight. I saw it; I was so embarrassed I almost threw up. I said, ‘I’m gonna make a man outta you if I have to break you in two tryin’. And I made a man out of him.” – Juror 3, ’12 Angry Men’.
19. “You don’t really mean you’ll kill me, do you?” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
20. “You’re probably right.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
21. “According to the testimony, the boy looks guilty… maybe he is. I sat there in court for six days listening while the evidence built up. Everybody sounded so positive, you know, I… I began to get a peculiar feeling about this trial.”– Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
22. “It’s these kids – the way they are nowadays. When I was a kid I used to call my father, ‘Sir’. That’s right. ‘Sir’. You ever hear a kid call his father that anymore?”– Juror 3, ’12 Angry Men’.
23. “Bright? He’s a common ignorant slob. He don’t even speak good English.” – Juror 10, ’12 Angry Men’.
24. “He’s an old man. You saw him. Half the time he was confused. How could he be positive about… anything?” – Juror 3, ’12 Angry Men’.
25. “I feel sorry for you. What it must feel like to want to pull the switch! Ever since we walked into this room, you’ve been acting like a self-appointed public avenger! You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts!” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
26. “There were eleven votes for guilty. It’s not so easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
27. “It’s always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don’t really know what the truth is. I don’t suppose anybody will ever really know.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
28. “One man is dead. The life of another is at stake. I urge you to deliberate honestly and thoughtfully.” – Judge, ’12 Angry Men’.
29. “If this is a reasonable doubt – then you must bring me a verdict of ‘not guilty’. If, however, there’s no reasonable doubt, then you must, in good conscience, find the accused ‘Guilty’.” – Judge, ’12 Angry Men’.
30. “Wait a minute, what are you trying to give us here? The phrase was ‘I’m gonna kill you’; the kid yelled it at the top of his lungs… Don’t tell me he didn’t mean it! Anybody says a thing like that the way he said it, they mean it!” – Juror 3, ’12 Angry Men’.
31. “Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we’re just gambling on probabilities – we may be wrong.” – Juror 8, ’12 Angry Men’.
32. “I mean, to come to court like that. He was a very old man in a torn jacket.” – Juror 9, ’12 Angry Men’.
33. “This is a quiet, frightened, insignificant old man who… who has been nothing all his life.” – Juror 9, ’12 Angry Men’.
34. “So what are you gonna do about it? We can be here all night.”– Juror 7, ’12 Angry Men’.
35. “What d’you think of the case? It had a lot of interest for me… I’ll tell you we were lucky to get a murder case. I figured us for a burglary or an assault or something. Those can be the dullest.” – Juror 12, ’12 Angry Men’.
36. “I honestly think the guy is guilty. Couldn’t change my mind if you talked for 100 years.” – Juror 7, ’12 Angry Men’.
37. “Facts may be colored by the personalities of the people who present them.”– Juror 11, ’12 Angry Men’.
38. “We’re not here to go into the reasons why slums are breeding grounds for criminals. They are. I know it.” –Juror 4, ’12 Angry Men’.
39. “You come in here with your heart bleeding all over the floor about slum kids and injustice but you make up these wild stories, and you’ve got some soft-hearted old ladies listening to you.” – Juror 3, ’12 Angry Men’.
40. “You have sat here and voted guilty with everyone else because there are some baseball tickets burning a hole in your pocket.” – Juror 11, ’12 Angry Men’.