- Wayne Gretzky

- Bill Gates

Horrible Bosses, a comedy about three corporate hamsters who aim to kill their oppressors, opens this weekend. Early reviews are solid: Rotten Tomatoes awards the flick a 76% “fresh” rating, and it’s packed with star power–Bateman, Spacey, Farrell, Aniston, Sutherland. But will people be quoting lines from Horrible Bosses for years to come?

Box office sales are one measure of a movie’s success. Then there’s how often people relive the experience by recalling the choicest lines–or even weaving them into their own conversations. Take Caddyshack, for example. Plenty of movies have pulled in more than its $40 million in revenue (according to IMDB.com), but few perhaps have inspired so many people to quote it.

The beauty of a great quote (of the more serious variety) is its power to distill. To punctuate. To make things click. Sometimes the moral is presented on a plate, obvious as can be; sometimes the delivery is more subtle and sly. No matter how they’re served up, the best quotes resonate–for days, weeks, even years, unlike all those deafening explosions blasting their way through the summer blockbuster season.

We went looking for the best business quotes from the silver screen. Colleagues and readers chipped in. Our criteria were subjective, but there were three general guidelines.

First, we didn’t want a list of usual suspects. (Gordon Gekko still made the cut.) Second, we wanted to look beyond movies expressly about business (hence selections from the likes of Cool Hand Luke and Finding Nemo). Third, we wanted the quotes to touch on a variety of fundamental themes—from hard work and leadership, to cutthroat sales tactics and the capriciousness of the economy.

A sampling of HBS’s favorites:

American Gangster

True story of the 1970’s heroine kingpin Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts, the cop seeking to arrest him.

Quote: “The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.” — Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) to his cousin Huey

The Apartment

To curry favor with his betters, a man lets company execs use his apartment for trysts. Mayhem ensues.

Quote: “Normally, it takes years to work your way up to the twenty-seventh floor. But it only takes 30 seconds to be out on the street again. You dig?” — J.D. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) to C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) during a conversation in which Baxter attempts to set his boss straight

Cool Runnings

When a group of Jamaican Olympic hopefuls don’t make the cut for the summer games, they decide to create Jamaica’s first bobsled team.

Quote: “The driver has to work harder than anyone. He’s the first to show up, and the last to leave. When his buddies are all out drinking beer, he’s up in his room studying pictures of turns.” — Coach Irv (John Candy) to the team.

You’ve Got Mail

Romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks as Joe Fox, and Meg Ryan as Kathleen Kelly, about two business competitors’ anonymous online romance.

Quote: “The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. So people who don’t know what the hell they’re doing or who on earth they are can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self: Tall. Decaf. Cappuccino.” — Fox to Kelly, in an ironic Instant-Message chat

Steel Magnolias

Set in the fictional Louisiana suburb of Chinquapin Parish, about the journey of six women and how they cope with what life throws at them.

Quote: “Smile. It enhances your face value.” — Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton)

-Abraham Lincoln