Summary

• The best Home Alone quotes have made it a must-watch comedy over the festive period for decades.
• Macaulay Culkin's performance, along with the rest of the cast, ensures that each joke in Home Alone lands perfectly.
• The iconic quotes from Home Alone reveal hidden details and jokes that make the movie even better with age.

The best Home Alone quotes highlight why the 1990 home-invasion comedy starring Macaulay Culkin is regarded as one of the best Christmas movies of all time. Directed by Chris Columbus, Home Alone starred Culkin as Kevin McCallister, an 8-year-old who's left home alone for the holidays when his parents forget to bring him to the airport with the rest of the family for a winter vacation. To make matters even more complex — and hilarious — two would-be burglars calling themselves the Wet Bandits target the McCallister home, leaving Kevin to fend off Joe Pesci's Harry and Daniel Stern's Marv with a series of evermore elaborate traps.

While the slapstick comedy and many hilarious injuries Harry and Marv suffer in the movie are a big part of why it's so memorable, the many timeless quotes from Home Alone have ensured that the 90s Christmas movie has become a must-watch comedy over the festive period for decades. The best Home Alone quotes get better with age, as John Hughes' brilliant screenplay reveals little hidden details and jokes to viewers who watch the movie year after year. Plus, the performance of Culkin, Pesci, and Stern alongside lesser-known talent like Devin Ratray as Buzz ensures that each joke in Home Alone lands perfectly.

25 "This House Is So Full Of People, It Makes Me Sick! When I Grow Up And Get Married, I'm Living Alone!"

Kevin McCallister

Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) is undeniably one of the funniest character in Home Alone, and many of the best Kevin quotes stem from his innocent outlook on life and idea of what adulthood will be like. As he begins to really lose his temper at his family for the first time in the movie, he jumps up and down and yells this to anyone who'll listen, repeating the final words over and over.

Even though Kevin might not fully grasp the concept of marriage, and it's technically a tantrum, it's hard not to relate to his frustration here. This Home Alone quote is also, of course, a hilarious bit of foreshadowing, as when Kevin awakens the next day he finally gets his wish.

24 “I Made My Family Disappear!”

Kevin McCallister

When the audience is first introduced to Kevin, he's tired of his family and how they treat him. He is so frustrated with them that he wishes that they would disappear. So, when he wakes up the next morning to see that his family is gone, he assumes that he really did make them disappear. This is one of the funniest scenes in Home Alone, as the realization that his family is gone causes a wide smile to break out across his face as he repeats this line.

Kevin then starts to get really excited about the freedom he has, and this is a moment that anyone who has ever been a kid can relate to. Like many of the best Home Alone quotes, the performance of child actor Macaulay Culkin in this scene is what elevates it from a funny moment to a hilarious line of dialogue.

23 “You're What The French Call 'Les Incompétents'.”

Linnie McCallister (Angela Goethals)

As far as the McCallister family is concerned, it’s true that they don’t exactly treat Kevin that well. He has many older siblings who find him annoying and in the way. While Kevin can also be rude to them, his siblings are relentless. One of the most iconic lines of Kevin’s family being mean to him comes from his older sister, Linnie (Angela Goethals), who decides to give Kevin an impromptu French lesson while also insulting him. It’s really hilarious and also fun to say, which makes it one of the most memorable Home Alone quotes — and one that shows Culkin doesn't have all the memorable lines in the movie.

22 "Don’t You Know How To Knock, Phlegm-Wad?"

Buzz McCallister

Kevin's older brother, Buzz McCallister (Devin Ratray), had some truly memorable moments in Home Alone despite not being present throughout most of the movie — so much so that Home Sweet Home Alone was celebrated by many fans of the 1990 original. He ultimately shows a nicer side, but he's generally mean and messes with Kevin all throughout the opening of the movie.

With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that some of the best insults in Home Alone belong to Buzz. This isn't Buzz's first line in the movie, but it is his first interaction with Kevin, and it perfectly establishes their relationship. Buzz could easily come off as too cruel a character to like, but actor Devin Ratray made him one of the most long-lasting characters in the Home Alone franchise through his pitch-perfect interpretation of a character that the audience should love to hate.

21 "Did I Burn Down The t? I Don’t Think So."

Kevin McCallister

Kevin's introduction in Home Alone demonstrates just how sly and charming Macauley Culkin could make the character, and it's no mystery as to why audiences instantly loved him. As Kevin's parents attempt to onish him for his bad behavior, he confidently runs circles around them. When his father attempts to tell Kevin to stop using the glue gun in the garage, he responds with this iconic Home Alone quote that helped define the personality of one of the 90s most beloved movie characters.

20 "You Ever Heard Of The South Bend Shovel Slayer?"

Buzz McCallister

After Buzz is done insulting Kevin during their first scene together, he shows off his skills in his other areas of expertise, which are lying and messing with Kevin. He does this by spinning a gruesome yarn about one of the McCallisters' neighbors, Old Man Marley. While it seems that Marley is genuinely a scary figure in the community, Buzz is likely embellishing even the most ridiculous stories that he's heard about him.

His macabre story about Marley being a serial killer who got away with his crimes is clearly designed just to prey on Kevin's naivety, but it's an unforgettable story nonetheless. This later becomes a memorable Home Alone quote for two reasons — that Old Man Marley is actually a hero in the movie who saves Kevin, but he also does so by assaulting the Wet Bandits with his shovel.

19 "If It Makes You Feel Any Better, I Forgot My Reading Glasses."

Uncle Frank

Uncle Frank (Gary Bamman) is one of the most memorable characters from Home Alone by virtue of being, as Kevin puts it, "a jerk." In fact, he's so effective at being a jerk that he creates some of the best Home Alone quotes just by being self-centered, cheap, and rude. When the family finally realizes that they left Kevin behind, everyone is in a state of shock — Kevin's mother particularly. So, when Uncle Frank thinks it's necessary to console her, it's genuinely funny because it seems like a sincere attempt at being empathetic, but it's just coming from a hilariously inconsiderate character.

18 “How You Feel About Your Family Is A Complicated Thing."

Old Man Marley

“How you feel about your family is a complicated thing. Deep down, you’ll always love them. But you can forget that you love them, and you can hurt them, and they can hurt you.”

When Kevin's elderly neighbor, Marley (Roberts Blossom), is first introduced in the movie, Kevin sees him as a mysterious and scary figure thanks to Buzz's story. Kevin spends most of the movie terrified of him but then, after a conversation they have at church, Kevin discovers that he's actually one of the most likable characters in Home Alone. During their short chat, Marley drops a few pearls of wisdom, particularly about having family troubles. Marley has his own issues with his son and shares with Kevin this important insight that taps right into the heart of the movie's themes about togetherness and forgiveness.

17 “I’m Gonna Give You To The Count Of 10 To Get Your Ugly, Yellow, No-Good Keister Off My Property Before I Pump Your Guts Full Of Lead.”

Johnny The Gangster

Once Kevin is finally alone and unsupervised, one of the previously forbidden things that he enjoys is some out-of-bounds movies, choosing an old gangster film that contains a violent murder. A new crime boss, who has presumably risen to his position after murdering the former boss, says this line before skipping over most of the numbers in his count to 10 and gleefully opening fire with his Tommy Gun, much to Kevin's terror. It's a short scene but by far one of Home Alone's most famous, and Kevin puts the recording to good use several times to scare off other people.

16 "We Slept In!"

Kate and Peter McCallister

One of the funniest scenes in Home Alone is when the family realizes that a power outage had knocked out their alarm clocks the night before, making everyone late for their flight to Paris. When Kevin's parents first wake up in a panic, they look at each other across the bed and scream this line in unison, sparking a frantic hurry to get everything together on time. It's a hugely relatable moment that's hard not to whenever similar situations crop up in real life. While this Home Alone quote is only three words, it kicks off one of the most hilarious sequences in the entire movie.