Summary

• Donnie Darko is about the human experience and how decisions can have profound effects on others, with quotes that are funny, ironic, and profound.
• The movie explores Donnie's fear and struggle to find his place in the world, acting out as a way to cope with his fear of growing up.
• The characters in Donnie Darko, like Gretchen and Karen, provide wisdom beyond their years, understanding Donnie's darkness and offering hope and comion.

Donnie Darko quotes are a big reason that the movie remains such a beloved cult classic and still delivers an emotional punch for viewers to this day. Released in 2001, Donnie Darko is a sci-fi thriller about a high school student named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is a sleepwalker. This saves his life one night when he sleepwalks far from his home on the night that a part of an airplane falls from the sky and crashes into his home. It is then that he meets a mysterious person in a giant rabbit costume named Frank who tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds.

The movie is only partially about the ominous warning about the end of the world. A debut masterpiece for director Richard Kelly, the movie is about the human experience and how people interact with each other, a cause and effect where every decision can destroy or uplift someone. Donnie is ed in this story by his eclectic family, a new girl in town named Gretchen, a caring teacher, a self-help guru with a dark secret, and that man in a giant rabbit costume. Along the way, they all deliver quotes that are funny, ironic, and often profound.

20 “I Can Do Anything I Want. And So Can You.”

Frank

When Donnie Darko first meets Frank the Rabbit, he is mostly amused that he is talking to a man in a ridiculous rabbit costume. This leads to Donnie realizing that this strange man can do things that are outside the realm of reality. When he asks how Frank does what he does, the answer is simple but also reveals the truth about Donnie. Frank can do anything he wants, although he can only be seen by and talk to Donnie. However, the second part is the key bit of the quote, as he says Donnie can also do anything he wants to do. The question now is whether Donnie Darko will save the world or try to save himself.

19 “You Are A Fear Prisoner. Yes, You Are A Product Of Fear.”

Donnie Darko

The entire theme of Donnie Darko is this one high school student figuring out his place in the world. He is very smart but doesn't really care enough to try. He is outspoken to a fault, and while he is mostly always right when he speaks up, he has never learned to censor himself out of respect for others. With all that said, Donnie does this because he is scared. He is scared of growing up and scared of possibly never having a chance to grow up. He acts out and makes himself an outcast, but he does all this with a sense of fear of life itself. This quote symbolizes everything wrong with Donnie, and he knows it.

18 “Some People Are Just Born With Tragedy In Their Blood.”

Gretchen Ross

While Donnie Darko seems to want to walk alone, other than his select friends, he ends up connecting with the new girl in town, Gretchen. The two meet when their English teacher asks Gretchen to sit next to the cutest boy in the class, and she chooses Donnie. Over the course of the movie, the two grow close, and she realizes there is darkness following Donnie everywhere that he goes. Like most people in Donnie Darko, Gretchen is wiser than her age, as shown when she delivers this quote to Donnie. It is a way to let him know she understands, while also ensuring him that it isn't his fault.

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17 "I Made A New Friend Today."

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko prides himself as a loner, and he has no problem wearing that badge on his sleeve for anyone to see. He has some friends from years past, but Donnie often talks down to them and never seems to allow himself to fit in with anyone. This plays out when he meets Frank the Rabbit, who gives Donnie a purpose in life when he reveals the world is coming to an end. While Donnie is seeing his therapist, she asks him how he has been doing, and he tells her he made a new friend. Sadly, she asks if his new friend is "real or imaginary," showing that even his therapist sees little hope in Donnie in the real world.

16 "The Search For God Is Absurd?"

Dr. Lilian Thurman

When it comes to Donnie Darko's therapist, Dr. Lilian Thurman, it often seems that she is the same as most other adults in the movie. No one seems to understand kids, and even Donnie's English teacher Karen says that no one understands how to talk to or help the kids in society. Dr. Thurman listens to Donnie tell the story about meeting Roberta Sparrow, and he adds that he doesn't debate being alone and says it is absurd to think otherwise. She asks if the search for God is absurd, and Donnie bluntly answers it is if everyone dies alone. Donnie, deep down, doesn't want to be alone.

15 "Donnie Darko? What The Hell Kind Of Name Is That? It's Like Some Sort Of Superhero Or Something."

Gretchen Ross

Donnie Darko is not like a traditional superhero movie, yet it does contain certain elements of it. There is the surface-level similarity of the protagonist's name having alliteration like Peter Parker or Bruce Banner. More significantly, Donnie Darko becomes the story of a teenager who saves his universe and the people he loves. Most of the characters think Donnie is weird at best and highly disturbed at worst, but none of them understand Donnie's greater purpose, and even he doesn't understand it until the end of the movie. Director Richard Kelly has even shared in an interview with Fandom how the movie spoke to the wish-fulfillment of superhero stories.

14 "You Can't Lump Things Into Two Categories. Things Aren't That Simple."

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko tackles the full spectrum of human emotion in all its beauty and pain, as Donnie is frustrated when his gym teacher forces him and his peers to engage in an exercise where they explain whether a scenario is the product of fear or love. Donnie is right to scoff at this idea, as life cannot be boiled down to everything being rooted in fear or love. There is always more emotion in play and always more to the story. This is true of Patrick Swayze's character Jim Cunningham who is harboring a dark and disturbing secret about himself, despite being a seemingly charming and virtuous motivational speaker who touts the idea of conquering fear through love.

13 "Aren't We Forgetting About The Miracle Of Storytelling? The Deus Ex Machina, The God Machine? That's What Saved The Rabbits."

Karen Pomeroy

After reading Watership Down and watching an animated film adaptation of it in his English class, Donnie scoffs at the idea that he should care about the rabbits. Karen Pomeroy reminds Donnie of the miracle of storytelling. Her line is an important reminder of how the best fictional stories are meant to relate to and teach their audience. Her line about deus ex machina foreshadows the importance of it later on in Donnie's journey. It is also ironic that this entire part of the plot was important when it came to Richard Kelly creating the movie. In some behind-the-scenes Donnie Darko facts, Frank the Rabbit himself was inspired by Watership Down.

12 "I Promise That One Day Everything Is Going To Be Better For You."

Donnie Darko

Before being well-known for her performance in Orange Is The New Black, Jolene Purdy played Cherita Chen in Donnie Darko. Cherita is bullied throughout the film and despite having limited screen time, Purdy helps the audience sympathize deeply with her character. At one point, Donnie promises that everything will be better for her one day. This kind of line would feel hollow in most movies but it actually ends up being quite significant. Not only does the line show Donnie being more comionate and sensitive than his peers, but he lives up to his promise as he ultimately saves Cherita and everyone else.

11 "I Don't Think That You Have A Clue What It's Like To Communicate With These Kids."

Karen Pomeroy

Many of the adults in Donnie Darko struggle to connect with the children and young adults in the story. One of these characters was played by Drew Barrymore, who actually helped get the movie made. Karen Pomeroy is one of the few adults able to effectively communicate and connect with Donnie. Despite the gift that she has, Karen is fired from her job for political reasons, which is a commentary on the absurdity of bureaucracy and how the world of education often does a disservice to the children they are supposed to be serving. She finished by saying,

"We are losing them to apathy...to this prescribed nonsense. They are slipping away."