60+ Dirty Dancing Quotes, Because 'Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner!'

“Now I’ve had the time of my life… no, I’ve never felt this way before.” OK, be honest — with just that one line, you’re already replaying the entire final dance scene from the iconic 1987 movie Dirty Dancing starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. Baby’s dress! Johnny and his crew dancing up the aisle! The lift! There are so many things to love about this cult classic, which explains why Dirty Dancing quotes (much like Baby and Johnny’s love story) will never go out of style.

Before we plunge into some of the film’s best lines — the way Baby plunged into the lake while practicing lifts with Johnny — let’s talk about a few interesting facts that unfolded behind the scenes. For example, did you know producers offered Swayze $6 million to reprise his role in a sequel to the original? Unfortunately, Swayne wasn’t a fan of sequels, so he turned it down. One thing Swayze was a fan of, though, was performing his own stunts. He actually injured his knee by falling off the log in the balance scene, to the point that he had to have fluid drained from it. Both facts simply solidify a point Swayze made during an interview with AFI when asked why he thought the film had such enduring likability. “It’s got so much heart, to me,” he told the outlet.

So, with that said, here are some of the most memorable (heart-filled) lines from the movie.

Best Dirty Dancing Quotes

1. “That was the summer of 1963 — when everybody called me Baby, and it didn’t occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn’t wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I’d never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman’s.” — Frances “Baby” Houseman
2. “You wanna hear somethin’ crazy? Last night, I… I dreamed that we were walkin’ along and we met your father. He said, ‘Come on,’ and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie.” — Johnny Castle
3. “Where is my beige iridescent lipstick?” — Lisa Houseman
4. “But last week, I took a girl from Jamie, the lifeguard. And he said to her, right in front of me, ‘What does he have that I don’t have?’ And she said, ‘Two hotels.'” — Neil Kellerman
5. “We’re supposed to do the show in two days. You won’t show me the lifts, I’m not sure of the turns, I’m doin’ all this to save your ass… what I really wanna do is drop you on it!” — Baby
6. “No, the way he saved her… I-I mean, I-I could never do anything like that. That was somethin’. I mean, the reason people treat me like nothin’ is because I’m nothin’.” — Johnny
7. “Me? I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw, I’m scared of what I did, about who I am, and most of all, I’m scared of walkin’ out of this and never feelin’ the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.” — Baby
8. “Sorry for the interruption, folks, but I always do the last dance of the season. This year somebody told me not to. So, I’m gonna do my kind of dancin’ with a great partner, who’s not only a terrific dancer but somebody who’s taught me that there are people willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs them. Somebody who’s taught me about the kind of person I wanna be: Miss Frances Houseman.” — Johnny
9. “I think she gets this from me.” — Marjorie Houseman
10. “Look, I know these people, Baby. They’re all rich and they’re mean. They won’t listen to me.” — Johnny
11. (talking to Baby) “I won’t tell your mother about this. Right now, I’m going to bed. And take that stuff off your face before your mother sees you.” — Dr. Jake Houseman
12. “I want you girls to know if it were not for this man, I’d be standin’ here dead.” — Max Kellerman
13. Dr. Houseman: “Don’t you tell me what to see! I see someone in front of me who got his partner in trouble and sent her off to some butcher, while he moved on to an innocent young girl like my daughter!”

Johnny: “Yeah, I guess that’s what you would see.”

1. “You just put your pickle on everybody’s plate, college boy, and leave the hard stuff to me.” — Johnny
2. “I carried a watermelon.” — Baby
3. “Look, you’ve gotta understand what it’s like, Baby. You come from the streets and suddenly you’re up here, and these women, they are throwing themselves at ya, and they smell so good, and they really take care of themselves. I mean, I never knew women could be like that, you know? And they’re so rich, they’re so goddamn rich, you think they must know about everything. And they’re slipping their room keys in my hands, two and three times a day, different women. So, here I think I’m scoring big, right? And for a while, you think, hey, they wouldn’t be doing this if they didn’t care about me, right?” — Johnny
4. “Oh, them. They’re the dance people. They’re here to keep the, uh, guests happy.” — Neil
5. “Go back to your playpen, Baby.” — Penny Johnson
6. “I’ve decided to go all the way with Robbie.” — Lisa
7. “That little wimp. He wouldn’t know a new idea if it hit him in the Pachanga. He wanted some new ideas? I could’ve told him some new ideas!” — Johnny
8. “Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don’t go into yours, you don’t go into mine. You gotta hold the frame.” — Johnny
9. “I know you weren’t the one who got Penny in trouble. When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.” — Dr. Houseman
10. Lisa: “Oh my God. Look at that, Ma! I should have brought those coral shoes. You said I was talking too much!”

Marjorie: “Well, sweetheart, you brought 10 pairs.” Lisa: “But the coral shoes match that dress!” Dr. Houseman: “This is not a tragedy. A tragedy is three men trapped in a mine, or police dogs used in Birmingham.” Baby: “Monks burning themselves in protest.” Lisa: “Butt out, Baby.”

1. Johnny: “I’ll never be sorry.”

Baby: “Neither will I.”

1. “Fight harder, huh? I don’t see you fightin’ so hard, Baby. I don’t see you runnin’ up to Daddy, tellin’ him I’m your guy.” — Johnny
2. “Oh, come on. You don’t care about me. You wouldn’t care if I humped the entire army… as long as they were on the right side of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.” — Lisa
3. “Very early, I learned that you have to be true to yourself about what you care about, what you believe in. If you’re not, you have nothing at all. You have to listen to that bird inside that tells you what’s right.” — Johnny
4. Baby: “So I did it for nothing. I hurt my family, you lost your job anyway, I did it for nothing!”

Johnny: “No, no, not for nothin’, Baby! Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before.” Baby: “You were right, Johnny. You can’t win no matter what you do!” Johnny: “You listen to me. I don’t wanna hear that from you. You can!” Baby: (pause) “I used to think so.”

1. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” — Johnny
2. “Oh, come on, ladies. God wouldn’t have given you maracas if he didn’t want you to shake ’em.” — Penny
3. “It’s not on the one, it’s not the mambo. It’s a feeling… a heartbeat.” — Johnny
4. “You know, I finally met a girl exactly like my mother — dresses like her, acts like her — so I brought her home. My father doesn’t like her. Go figure!” — Stan
5. “Now, you’ll hurt me if you don’t trust me, all right?” — Johnny
6. Johnny: “What’s your real name, baby?”

Baby: “Frances. For the first woman in the Cabinet.” Johnny: “Frances. That’s a real grown-up name.”

1. Dr. Houseman: “Max, our Baby’s gonna change the world.”

Max: (to Lisa) “And what are you gonna do, missy?” Baby: “Oh, Lisa’s going to decorate it.” Robbie Gould: “She already does.”

1. “You told me you wanted me to change the world, make it better. But you meant by becoming a lawyer or an economist and marrying someone from Harvard. I’m not proud of myself, but I’m in this family too and you can’t keep giving me the silent treatment. There are a lot of things about me that aren’t what you thought. But if you love me, you have to love all the things about me. And I love you, and I’m sorry I let you down. I’m so sorry, Daddy. But you let me down, too.” — Baby
2. “Yeah, tell him your ideas! He’s a person like everyone else. I’m sure he’ll think they’re great.” — Baby
3. “It-it’s just wrong this way. It should be with someone — it should be with someone that you sort of love.” — Baby
4. “Don’t put your heel down, don’t put your heel down.” — Johnny
5. Marjorie: “Look at all of this leftover food. Are there still starving children in Europe?”

Baby: “Try Southeast Asia, Ma.”

1. “God, I’m so sick of this rain. Remind me never to take my honeymoon at Niagara Falls.” — Lisa
2. “Sure, Neil. No problem. We’ll end the season with the Pachanga.” — Johnny
3. Billy Kostecki: (watching Penny and Johnny dance) “You’d think they were a couple, wouldn’t ya?”

Baby: “Well, aren’t they?” Billy: “Naw, not since we were kids.”

1. “You and me, Tito, we’ve seen it all, eh? Bubbah and Zeda serving the first pasteurized milk to the boarders. Through the war years, when we didn’t have any meat. Through the Depression, when we didn’t have anything. Lots of changes, though, Max. It’s not the changes so much this time. It’s that it all seems to be ending. You think kids want to come with their parents and take fox-trot lessons? Trips to Europe, that’s what the kids want. Twenty-two countries in three days. It feels like it’s all slipping away.” — Max
2. “Do you think if we came back for our 10th anniversary, it would be free?” — Lisa
3. “My God, it’s Cleopatra. I feel like such an asp.” — Stan
4. Marjorie: “It’s his first real vacation in six years, Max. Take it easy.”

Max: “Three weeks here, it’ll feel like a year.”

1. (To the Houseman family) “This Danish is pure protein.” — Max
2. “I’ve been thinking about the Domino Effect. Now, if Vietnam falls, does that mean China’s next?” — Lisa
3. “So, they fired you, because of me!” — Baby
4. “I have to say it: I’m known as the catch of the county.” — Neil
5. “You make me sick. Stay away from me, stay away from my sister, or I’ll have you fired.” — Baby
6. “Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before!” — Johnny
7. “I didn’t blow a summer haulin’ toasted bagels just to bail out some little chicks who probably balled every guy in the place.” — Robbie Gould
8. “Baby, don’t worry. If they think you’re with me, they’ll be the happiest parents at Kellerman’s. I have to say it. I’m known as the catch of the county.” — Neil Kellerman
9. “Well, it looks like I picked the wrong sister. That’s OK, Baby, I went slummin’ too.” — Robbie Gould
10. Frances’ Baby’ Houseman: “Well, then why not fight harder? Make them listen?”

Johnny Castle: “You tell ’em, Baby.”

1. “A little precision please, Baby. Some people count and some people don’t.” — Robbie Gould
2. “Read it. I think it’s a book you’ll enjoy, but make sure you return it. I have notes in the margin.” — Robbie Gould
3. “Yeah, it takes a real saint to ask Daddy.” — Johnny
4. “I told you I was telling the truth, daddy. I’m sorry I lied to you, but you lied too. You told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. But you meant everyone who was like you.” — Baby
5. Penny: “Johnny, what are you doing?”

Johnny: “Don’t worry about Max; I’ll tell him your grandmother died or somethin’.” Penny: “How many times have you told me never to get mixed up with them?” Johnny: “I know what I’m doing, Penny.” Penny: “You listen to me; you’ve gotta stop it, now.”

1. “You think you can keep that straight, Johnny? What you can and can’t lay your hands on.” — Robbie Gould