Rick Grimes quotes from The Walking Dead

Rick Grimes

[points to Tara] You. You in the ponytails. Is this what you want? Is this what any one of you want?

Mitch Dolgen

What we want is what you got. Period. Time for you to leave, asshole.

Rick Grimes

Look, I fought him before. And after, we took in his old friends. They've become leaders in what we have here. Now you put down your weapons, walk through those gates you're one of us. We let go of all of it, and nobody dies. Everyone who's alive right now. Everyone who's made it this far. We've all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. But we can still come back. We're not too far gone. We get to come back. I know we all can change.

[quietly] Liar.

Rick Grimes

NO! [draws his revolver & fires at the Governor]

Carl Grimes

I tied the door shut.

Rick Grimes

We don't need to take any chances.

Carl Grimes

You don't think it'll hold?

Rick Grimes

Carl.

Carl Grimes

It's a strong knot. Clove hitch. Shane taught me. Remember him?

Rick Grimes

Yeah, I remember him. I remember him every day.

[holds Carl at knifepoint] I'll kill him!

Michonne

[to Dan while aiming a revolver at him] Let the boy go.

Rick Grimes

[to Michonne as he prepares to gut Carl's captor] He's MINE.

Rick Grimes

They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out...

Abraham Ford

Find out what?

Rick Grimes

They're screwin' (fuckin') with the wrong people.

Gareth

We can walk away, and we will never cross paths again! I promise you!

Rick Grimes

But you'll cross someone's path. You'd do this to anyone, right? Besides, I already made you a promise.

Gareth

No!

Rick Grimes

When I was a kid I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet. He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory. Every day he woke up and told himself, "Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war." And then after a few years of pretending he was dead he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves that we are the walking dead.

Daryl Dixon

We ain't them. We're not them.

Rick Grimes

You should keep your gates closed.

Why?

Rick Grimes

Because it's all about survival now. At any cost. People out there are always looking for an angle. Looking to play on your weakness. They measure you by what they can take from you. By how they can use you to live. So bringing people into a place like this now--

Are you telling me not to bring your people in? Are you already looking after this place? Aaron says I can trust you.

Rick Grimes

Aaron doesn't know me. I've killed people. I don't even know how many by now. But I know why they're all dead. They're dead so my family, all those people out there, can be alive. So I could be alive for them.

Sounds like I'd want to be part of your family.

You know, everyone's been through it somehow. Everyone.

Rick Grimes

And a lot of things disappeared.

But a lot of bullshit went with it. They're all from totally different backgrounds, different places. They never would have even met. And now they're part of each other's lives. They are each other's lives. I'm just saying, we all lost things, but we got something back. It isn't enough, but it's something.

Rick Grimes

You still don't get it. None of you do! We know what needs to be done and we do it. We're the ones who live. You, you just sit and plan and hesitate. You pretend like you know when you don't. You wish things weren't what they are. Well, you want to live? You want this place to stay standing? Your way of doing things is done. Things don't get better because you-- you want them to. Starting right now, we have to live in the real world. We have to control who lives here.

That's never been more clear to me than it is right now.

Rick Grimes

Me? Me? You-- You mean-- you mean me? Your way is gonna destroy this place. It's gonna get people killed. It's already gotten people killed. And I'm not gonna stand by and just let it happen. If you don't fight, you die. I'm not gonna stand by--

Rick Grimes

I don't want to lie anymore.

Carol Peletier

You said you don't want to take this place. And you don't want to lie? Oh, sunshine, you don't get both.

Morgan Jones

You with that man Carter, in the armory-- that's you. You're still the same man I met in King County. The one that came back and told me it wasn't over. That was you. Same you that's right in front of me right now.

Rick Grimes

I wanted to kill him. So it would be easier. So I wouldn't have to worry about how he could screw up or what stupid thing he'd do next because that's who he is. Just somebody who shouldn't be alive now. I wanted to kill him. But all that hit me and I realized I didn't have to do it. He doesn't get it. Somebody like that they're gonna die no matter what.

Rick Grimes

We heard the name Negan. A while back, Daryl and Abraham had a run-in with his men. Who is he?

Negan's the head of a group of people he calls the Saviors. As soon as the walls were built, the Saviors showed up. They met with Gregory on behalf of their boss. They made a lot of demands, even more threats. And he killed one of us-- Rory. He was 16 years old. They beat him to death right in front of us. Said we needed to understand, right off the bat. Gregory's not exactly good at confrontation. He's not the leader I would've chosen, but he helped make this place what it is, and the people like him.

Maggie

He made the deal.

Half of everything. Our supplies, our crops, our livestock, it goes to the Saviors.

Glenn

And what do you get in return?

They don't attack this place. They don't kill us.

Daryl Dixon

Why not just kill them?

Most of the people here don't even know how to fight, even if we had ammo.

Rick Grimes

Well, how many people does Negan have?

We don't know. We've seen groups as big as 20.

Daryl Dixon

Now, hold up. So, they show up, they kill a kid, and you give them half of everything? These dicks just got a good story. The bogeyman, he ain't shit.

Well, how do you know?

Abraham

A month ago, we took his guys out PDQ. Left them in pieces and puddles.

Daryl Dixon

You know, we'll do it. If we go get your man back, kill Negan, take out his boys, will you hook us up? We want food, medicine, and one of them cows.

Rick Grimes

Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with.

Rick Grimes

You wanna make today your last day on Earth?

No. But that is a good thing to bring up. Think about it. What if it's the last day on Earth for you? Or someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra nice to those people in that RV. 'Cause you never know... [snaps fingers] Just like that. Be kind to each other. Like you said. Like it was your last day on Earth.

Rick Grimes

You do the same.