Memorable quotes for
Ratatouille (2007)

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[frame freezes as Remy bursts through a window carrying a book over his head]
Remy: [voiceover] This is me. I think it's apparent that I need to rethink my life a little bit. What's my problem? First of all, I'm a rat. Which means, life is hard. Second, I have a highly developed sense of taste and smell.

---

Remy: [observing what Emile is eating] What are you eating?
Emile: [pause] I don't really know. I think it was some sort of wrapper once.
Remy: What? No! You're in Paris now, baby! My town! No brother of mine eats rejecta-menta in my town!

---

Linguini: You're the one who was getting fancy with the spices! What did you throw in there? Oregano? No? What, r - uh, rosemary? That's a spice, isn't it? Rosemary?

---

Colette: Horst has done time.
Linguini: For what?
Colette: We don't know. He changes the story every time you ask.
Horst: I defrauded a large corporation.
Horst: I robbed the second-largest bank in France using only a ball-point pen.
Horst: I created a hole in the ozone layer over Avignon.
Horst: I killed a man... with this thumb.

---

Linguini: I can't cook, can I?
[Remy shakes his head]
Linguini: But you - he, he - you can, right?
[Remy shrugs]
Linguini: Come on, don't be so modest. You're a rat, for Pete's sake.

---

Skinner: [notices that Linguini is holding a ladle] Move it, garbage boy! You are COOKING? HOW DARE YOU COOK in my kitchen! Where do you get the gall to even attempt something so monumentally idiotic? I should have you drawn and quartered! I'll do it! I think the law is on my side! Larousse, draw and quarter this man - after you put him in the duck press to squeeze the fat out of his head!

---

Skinner: Welcome to Hell.

---

Mustafa: Someone is asking what is new!
Horst: New?
Mustafa: Yes! What do I tell them?
Horst: What did you tell them?
Mustafa: I told them I would ask!
Skinner: What are you blathering about?
Horst: Customers are asking for what is new!
Mustafa: What should I tell them?
Skinner: What did you tell them?
Mustafa: I TOLD THEM I WOULD ASK!
Skinner: This is simple. Just pull out an old Gusteau recipe, something we haven't made in a while...
Mustafa: They know about the old stuff. They like Linguini's soup.
Skinner: They are asking for food from LINGUINI?

---

Colette: No!You waste energy and time! You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like mommy in the kitchen? Well, mommy never had to face the dinner rush while the orders come flooding in, and every dish is different and not that simple at all, and all different cooking time, but must arrive at the customer's table at exactly the same time. I am chopping! Every second counts and you CANNOT be MOMMIED!

---

Colette: [Linguini is making a mess at the kitchen] What is this? Keep... your... station clear! If meal orders come in, what will happen? Messy stations slow things down, food doesn't go, orders pile up, disaster! I will make this easier to remember: keep you station clean... or I WILL KILL YOU!

---

Remy: We're thieves, and what we're stealing is, let's be honest, garbage.
Django: It's not stealing if no one wants it.
Remy: If no one want's it, then why are we stealing it?

---

Linguini: [in dream sequence] Do you know what you would like this evening, sir?
Anton Ego: Yes, I'd like your heart roasted on a spit. Heh heh heh heh. Ha ha ha!

---

Mustafa: [taking Ego's order] Do you know what you'd like this evening, sir?
Anton Ego: Yes, I think I do. After reading a lot of overheated puffery about your new cook, you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?
Mustafa: With what, sir?
Anton Ego: Perspective. Fresh out, I take it?
Mustafa: I am, uh...
Anton Ego: Very well. Since you're all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this BLOODY TOWN, I'll make you a deal. You provide the food, I'll provide the perspective, which would go nicely with a bottle of Cheval Blanc 1947.

---

Mustafa: Uhm... Your meal, sir?
[Stands up angrily in Mustafa's face]
Anton Ego: Tell your chef Linguini to cook ANYTHING he dares to serve me. Tell him to hit me, with his best shot.

---

Remy: This is terrible! He's ruining the soup! And no one's noticing? It's *your* restaurant, do something!
Gusteau: What can *I* do? I am a figment of your imagination.
Remy: But he's *ruining* the *soup*!

---

Remy: Hey, I brought you something to...
[sees Emile eating garbage]
Remy: AH! NO, NO, NO, NO! SPIT THAT OUT RIGHT NOW!
[Emile obeys]
Remy: I have got to teach you about food. Close your eyes.
[Emile obeys; Remy hands out piece of cheese]
Remy: Now take a bite of this...
[Emile snarfs the cheese]
Remy: No, no, no! Don't just hork it down!
Emile: Too late.

---

Linguini: Can I interest you in a dessert this evening?
Anton Ego: Don't you always?
Linguini: Which one would you like?
Anton Ego: Suprise me!

---

Linguini: Thank you, by the way, for all the advice about cooking.
Colette: Thank you, too.
Linguini: For - for what?
Colette: For taking it!

---

Linguini: What should I do now?
Skinner: Kill it!
Linguini: Now?
Skinner: No, not in the kitchen! Are you mad?

---

[Skinner has gotten Linguini drunk in the hopes of getting him to admit that he has a rat under his hat]
Linguini: Hey... Why do they call it that?
Skinner: What?
Linguini: Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like "rat" and "patootie." Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious.

---

Linguini: Hey, they like the soup!
[knocks Remy in river]
Linguini: AH!
[rescues Remy, returns soaking wet]
Linguini: They like the soup.

---

Linguini: How could you? I thought you were my friend! I trusted you! Get out, and don't come back, or I'll treat you the way restaurants are supposed to treat pests!

---

Skinner: Toasting your success, eh, Linguini? Good for you.
Linguini: Oh, I just took it to be polite. I don't really drink, you know.
Skinner: Of course you don't. I wouldn't either if I was drinking that. But you would have to be an idiot of elephantine proportions not to appreciate this '61 Château Latour, and you, Monsieur Linguini, are no idiot. Let us toast your non-idiocy!

---

Anton Ego: You're a bit slow for someone in the fast lane.
Linguini: And... you're thin for someone who likes food!
[Crowd gasps]
Anton Ego: I don't LIKE food, I LOVE it. If I don't LOVE it, I don't SWALLOW.

---

Linguini: Listen, I just want you to know how honored I am to be studying under such a -...
Colette: [pins Linguini's sleeve with a knife] No, you listen! I just want you to know exactly who you are dealing with! How many women do you see in this kitchen?
Linguini: Well, I uh -...
Colette: [pins Linguini's sleeve with another knife] Only me. Why do you think that is? Because high cuisine is an antiquated hierarchy built upon rules by stupid, old men. Rules designed to make it impossible for women to enter this world, but still I'm here. How did this happen?
Linguini: Well because you, because you -...
Colette: [pins Linguini's sleeve with a third knife] Because I am the toughest cook in this kitchen! I have worked too hard for too long to get here, and I am not going to jeopardize it for some garbage boy who got lucky! Got it?

---

Linguini: When I added that extra ingredient instead of following the recipe like you said, that wasn't me... either.
Colette: What do you mean?
Linguini: I mean, I wouldn't have done that. I would've followed the recipe, I would've followed your advice. I would've followed your advice 'til the ends of the Earth because I love youuuuuur advice. But...
Remy: [whispering, referring to Linguini] Don't do it...
Linguini: [hesitantly] I have a secret. It's sort of disturbing. I have a ra... I have a raaaaa...
Colette: You have a rash?
Linguini: No no no. I have this-this tiny, uh, little... little...
[quickly]
Linguini: a tiny chef who tells me what to do.

---

Larousse: Hey, boss, look who it is! Alfredo Linguini! Renata's little boy! All grown up, eh? You remember Renata. Gusteau's old flame?
Skinner: Ah, yes. How are you, uh...
Larousse: Linguini.
Skinner: Yes, Linguini, so nice of you to visit. How is...?
Linguini: My mother?
Skinner: Yes...
Larousse: Renata.
Skinner: Ah, yes, Renata. How is she?
Linguini: She's good... well, not good, she's been better. She's, uh... she's -...
Horst: She died.
Skinner: [carelessly] Oh, I'm sorry
Linguini: Oh, no, don't be. She believed in Heaven, so she's covered... after-life speaking.
[gives Skinner letter]
Skinner: What is this?
Linguini: It's from my mother. She thought it would help... me get a job... here.

---

[Skinner has made Linguini drunk]
Skinner: Surely you don't expect me to believe this is your first time cooking?
Linguini: It's not.
Skinner: I KNEW IT!
Linguini: It's my third, fourth, fifth time. Monday was my first time

---

Anton Ego: In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.

---

Linguini: So this is it. It's not much but it's, y'know... not much.
[referring to his home]

---

Gusteau: Food always comes to those who love to cook.

---

Linguini: Bonjour, ma chérie. Join us. We were just talking about my inspiration.
Colette: Yes, he calls it his tiny chef.
Linguini: Not that, dearest, I meant you.

---

Django: Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage.

---

Gusteau: What do I always say? Anyone can cook.
Remy: Yeah. Anyone can, that doesn't mean that anyone should.

---

Remy: [cooking a mushroom over the chimney] The key is to keep turning it to get the smoky flavor niiice and even.
[thunder rumbles in the distance]
Emile: That storm's getting closer. Hey, Remy? You think that maybe we shouldn't be so...
[lightning strikes both; they fall off the roof]
Remy: [laying still, Remy reaches up and tastes food, sits up suddenly] You gotta taste this! This is... oh, it's got this kind of... mmm, it's burny, it's melty... it's not really a smoky taste. It's kind of like a certain... Pshah! It's got like this " Ba-boom! Zap!" kind of taste. Dont you think? What would you call that flavor?
Emile: Lightningy?
Remy: Yeah! It's lightningy! We gotta do that again! Okay, when the next storm comes, we'll go up on the roof... I know what this needs! Saffron. A little saffron would make this!
Emile: Saffron. Why do I get the feeling...
Remy, Emile: [together] It's in the kitchen.

---

Colette: I hate to be rude, but we're French!

---

Linguini: [Remy is controlling his movements by pulling his hair] That's strangely involuntareeee!

---

Remy: [testing food with Emile] Are you dectecting a certain oaky nuttiness?
Emile: Oh, I'm detecting nuttiness, all right!

---

[last lines]
Linguini: Can I interest you in some dessert?
Anton Ego: Don't you always!
Linguini: What would you like?
Anton Ego: [looks at Remy through the kitchen window] Surprise me.

---

Remy: [watching Linguini's clumsy attempt to repair the soup he spilled] No! It's... he's ruining the soup!
[to Gusteau]
Remy: It's YOUR restaurant! Do something!
Gusteau: But what can I do? I am merely a figment of your imagination!

---

Linguini: Oh, and thanks, by the way, for... um... all the... advice. On cooking.
Colette: And thank you as well.
Linguini: For what?
Colette: [grins] Taking it!

---

Django: [showing the exterminator shop to Remy with the dead rats in the window] The world we live in belongs to the enemy, we must live carefully. We look out for our own kind, Remy. When all is said and done, we're all we've got.
[Django starts to walk away]
Remy: [defiantly] No. Dad, I don't believe it. You're telling me that the future is - can only be - more of this?
Django: This is the way things are; you can't change nature.
Remy: Change is nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide.
Django: [Remy turns to leave] Where are you going?
Remy: With luck, forward.

---

Skinner: [interrogating Linguini after plying him with wine] Have you ever had a pet rat?
Linguini: No.
Skinner: Did you work in a lab with rats?
Linguini: Nooope.
Skinner: Perhaps you lived in squalor at some point?
Linguini: Nopity, nopity noo.

---

Anton Ego: What is it, Ambrister?
Ambrister Minion: Gusteau's, sir.
Anton Ego: Finally closing, is it?
Ambrister Minion: No, sir.
Anton Ego: More financial troubles?
Ambrister Minion: No -...
Anton Ego: Releasing a new line of microwave egg rolls? What? What? Spit it out!
Ambrister Minion: It's come back. It's popular.
Anton Ego: I haven't reviewed Gusteau's in years!
Ambrister Minion: I know, sir.
Anton Ego: If I remember, I left it condemned to the tourist trade.
Ambrister Minion: Yes.
Anton Ego: Here it is. I wrote, "Finally Chef Gusteau has found his rightful place in history alongside another equally famous chef - Monsieur Boy-ar-dee."
Ambrister Minion: Yes, sir, I...
Anton Ego: That was where I left it. That was my last word - THE last word.
Ambrister Minion: I know, sir.
Anton Ego: Then tell me, Ambrister, how can it be POPULAR?

---

Remy: If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff.

---

Lawyer: Well, the will stipulates that after two years of death, and no heir appears, Gusteau's will pass on to the sous-chef, you.
Skinner: I know what the will stipulates! What I want to know, is if this boy changes anything.
[looking at Linguini through a window]
Lawyer: There's not much resemblance.
Skinner: There IS no resemblance! He is not Gusteau's son, Gusteau never had any children. And what of the timing, the deadline of the will expires in less than a month. The whole thing is highly suspect.
Lawyer: [about a chef's toque in a glass container] ... And this was Gusteau's?
Skinner: Yes.
Lawyer: May I?
Skinner: Of course.
[the lawyer takes a hair out of the toque]
Lawyer: And, the boy does not know?
Skinner: She claims she never told him, or Gusteau, and asks that I not tell.
Lawyer: And what doe she want in return?
Skinner: A job, for the boy.
Lawyer: Only a job? Well, then this is easy. You keep the boy in line, while I do some tinkering. Meanwhile, I'll need you to collect some DNA samples, hair preferrably.
Skinner: Believe me, the whole thing is highly suspect. He knows something.
Lawyer: Relax, he's a garbage boy. I think you can handle him.

---

Remy: I just lost my family - all my friends - probably forever.
Gusteau: How do you know?
Remy: Well, I - I... You are an illustration; why am I talking to you?
Gusteau: Oh, you just lost your family - all your friends - you are lonely.
Remy: Yeah, well, you're dead!
Gusteau: Ahh, but that is no match for wishful thinking! If you're focused on what you've left behind, you will not be able to see what lies ahed. Now go up and look around!

---

Colette: I know the Gusteau style cold. In every dish, Chef Gusteau always has something unexpected. I will show you. I memorize all his recipes.
Linguini: [writing in notebook] Always do something unexpected.
Colette: No. Follow the recipe.
Linguini: But you just said that...
Colette: [interrupts] No, no, no, no. It was his job to be unexpected. It is our job to follow the recipe.

---

Linguini: This is not gonna work, Little Chef! I'm gonna lose it if we do this any more. We gotta, we gotta figure out something else. Something that doesn't involve any biting, or nipping, or running up and down my body with your little rat feet. Biting: no! Scampering: no!

---

Skinner: Got your toque!

---

Linguini: Don't look at me like that! You aren't the only one who's trapped, they expect me to cook it again! I mean, I'm not ambitious, I wasn't trying to cook, I was just trying to stay out of trouble! You're the one gettin' fancy with the spices! What'd you throw in there, Oregano?
Remy: [shakes his head "no" quickly]
Linguini: No? What, Rosemary? That's a spice isn't it, rosemary?
Remy: [nods head]
Linguini: You didn't throw rosemary in?
Remy: [shakes head "no" again]
Linguini: Then what was all the flipping... and all the throwing...
[sighs, sits down and places Remy next to him]
Linguini: I need this job. I've lost so many. I dunno how to cook and now I'm actually talking to a rat as if you... Augh! Did you nod? Have... Have you been nodding?
Remy: [nods head hesitantly]
Linguini: [laughs nervously] You understand me?
Remy: [nods head again]
Linguini: So I'm not crazy!
[laughs again]
Linguini: Wait a second, wait a second... Uh... I can't cook, can I?
Remy: [sadly shakes his head]
Linguini: But you... you can, right?
Remy: [shrugs uncertainly]
Linguini: Look, don't be so modest, you're a rat, for Pete's sake. Whatever you did, they liked it... Yeah... This could work. Hey, they liked the soup-
[accidentaly knocks Remy in the river]
Linguini: Augh!
[dives in after him and returns sopping wet with Remy next to him again]
Linguini: They liked the soup. D'you think you could... Do it again?
Remy: [pauses for a second, then nods "yes"]
Linguini: ...Okay, I'm gonna let you out now. But we're together on this, right?
Remy: [eagerly nods his head again]
Linguini: Okay...

---

[first lines]
Narrator: [on television] Although each of the world's countries would like to dispute this fact, we French know the truth: The best food in the world is made in France. The best food in France is made in Paris. And the best food in Paris, some say, is made by Chef Auguste Gusteau. Gusteau's restuarant is the toast of Paris, booked five months in advance. And his dazzling ascent to the top of fine French cuisine has made his competitors envious. He is the youngest chef ever to achieve a five-star rating. Chef Gusteau's cookbook Anyone Can Cook! climbed to the top of the bestseller list. But not everyone celebrates its success.
[cutting away to Ego]
Anton Ego: Amusing title, Anyone Can Cook! What's even more amusing is that Gusteau actually seems to believe it. I, on the other hand take cooking seriously. And, no, I don't think anyone can do it.

---

Emile: [notices Remy walking on his hind legs] Why are you walking like that?
Remy: I don't want to constanly have to wash my paws. Did you ever think about how we walk on the same paws that we handle food with? You ever think about what we put on our mouths?
Emile: All the time.
Remy: When I eat, I don't want to taste everywhere my paws have been.
Emile: Well, go ahead. But if dad sees you walking like that, he's not gonna like it.

---

Emile: W-w-wait. You read?
Remy: Well, not excessively.
Emile: Oh, man. Does dad know?
Remy: You could fill a book - a lot of books - with things Dad doesn't know. And they have. Which is why I read. Which is also our secret.
Emile: I don't like secrets. All this cooking and-and reading and TV-watching, while we read and cook. It's like you're involving me in crime and I let you. Why do I let you?

---

Colette: Larousse ran gun for the Resistance.
Linguini: Which resistance?
Colette: He won't say. Apparently, they didn't win.

---

Lawyer: What are you so worried about? Isn't it good to have the press? Isn't it good to have Gusteau's name getting headlines?
Skinner: Not if they're over his face! Gusteau's already has a face, and it's fat and lovable and familiar. And it sells burritos! Millions and millions of burritos!

---

Skinner: I want you to work up something for my latest frozen food concept: Gusteau's Corn Puppies. They're like corn dogs, only smaller. Bite size.
Francois: What are corn dogs?
Skinner: Cheap sausages dipped in batter and deep fried. You know, American. Whip something up. Maybe Gusteau in overalls and Huckleberry Tom hat.
Francois: Or as a big ear of corn in doggie make-up.
Skinner: Y-yes. But, please, with dignity.

---

Remy: [the others have him sniffing their food for poison] Clean... clean... cleanerific... cleanerino... close to godliness...
[rat looks confused]
Remy: Which means clean. You know, cleanliness is close to... Never mind. Move on.

---

Remy: [sniffing a cake] Flour, eggs, sugar, um... vanilla bean... Oh, small twist of lemon.
Emile: Whoa! You can smell all that? You have a gift!
Remy: [voiceover] This is Emile, my brother. He's easily impressed.
Django: So you can smell ingredients? So what?
Remy: This is my dad. He's never impressed.

---

Gusteau: How can I describe it? Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it.

---

Colette: Ugh! Your sleeves look like you threw up on them. Keep your hands and arms in, close to the body. Like this, see? Always return to this positon. Cooks move fast. Sharp utensils, hot metal, keep your arms in, you will minimize cuts and burns and keep your sleeve clean. Mark of a chef: messy apron, clean sleeves.

---

Francois: Easy to cook, easy to eat, Gusteau makes Chinese food... Chine-easy!

---

Gusteau: [Remy is locked in a cage] So, we have given up.
Remy: Why do you say that?
Gusteau: We are in a cage inside the car trunk awaiting a future in frozen food products.
Remy: No, I'm the one in a cage. I've given up. You are Free.
Gusteau: I am only as free as you imagine me to be. As you are.
Remy: Oh, please. I'm sick of pretending. I pretend to be a rat for my father. I pretend to be a human through Linguini. I pretend you exist so I have someone to talk to! You only tell me stuff I already know! I know who I am! Why do I need you to tell me? Why do I need to pretend?
Gusteau: But you don't Remy. You never did
[disappeares]

---

Linguini: Tonight is a big night. Appetite is coming, and he's got a big ego. I mean, Ego! Ego is coming, and he's gonna order something... something... from our menu, and we'll have to cook it.

---

Django: Where are you going?
Remy: I have to go back. They're lost without me.
Django: Why do you care?
Remy: Because I'm a cook!

---

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