Stranger Things quotes: the 20 cult lines of the show, from “Friends don't lie” to Hopper's letter
Guide · Quotes · Lines
A show is remembered by its lines. This one has left dozens, tattooed, embroidered, set as wallpapers: those of Eleven learning words, of Dustin explaining, of Hopper not daring, of Eddie not being ashamed. Here are the twenty that remain, with who says them, and why.
The essentials
- The best-known: “Friends don't lie”, Eleven, Season 1
- The most insulting: “Mouth-breather”, Eleven, Season 1
- The most moving: Hopper's letter, Season 3
- The most quoted: “There is no shame in running”, Eddie, Season 4
Contents
Stranger Things Season 1 quotes: learning the words
| Line | Who | Context |
|---|---|---|
| "Friends don't lie." | Eleven | To Mike, who hid something from her; the show's motto |
| "Mouth-breather." | Eleven, then everyone | The insult learned from Mike, turned back on Lucas |
| "Pretty." | Eleven | In front of the mirror, in a pink dress and a wig |
| "Nobody normal ever got anything done in this world." | Jonathan | To Will, about difference |
| "I'm not crazy, that's my son." | Joyce | To Hopper, about the lights |
The first season is the one of a girl learning to talk: every word from Eleven is a line. “Friends don't lie,” said to Mike in the basement, became the show's sentence, the one people embroider and tattoo.
The Eleven T-shirt, “friends don't lie.”
In the shopMen's Eddie Munson lightning T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Seasons 2 and 3: Dustin, Steve and Hopper
| Line | Who | Context |
|---|---|---|
| "You have to teach me how to do my hair." | Dustin to Steve | In the car, season 2 |
| "Four sprays, when the hair is damp." | Steve | The secret of the cut, Season 2 |
| "You can't spell America without Erica." | Erica | Before crawling through the duct, season 3 |
| "This isn't the end of the world, it's just the end of Hawkins." | Murray | Season 3 |
| "When life hurts you, get out of your cave." | Hopper, the letter | Read by Eleven, end of season 3 |
| "Three inches. The door stays open three inches." | Hopper | To Mike and Eleven, season 3 |
Hopper's letter, read in voice-over during the Byers' move, is the most quoted monologue in the show: a father who did not know how to tell his daughter she was growing up, and who writes it.
Season 4: Eddie, Max and Vecna
| Line | Who | Context |
|---|---|---|
| "There's no shame in running." | Eddie | In front of the trailer, before not fleeing |
| "This time, I'm not running." | Eddie | On the roof, before the Demobats |
| "Dear Billy…" | Max | The letter on the grave |
| "You're going to die, Max." | Vecna | In the trance, the clock |
| "From." | Mike | The sign-off of his letters, which hurts Eleven |
| "You're the most incredible Eleven of all the Elevens." | Argyle | Without knowing what he is talking about |
Eddie, the most quoted“There is no shame in running” was read as Eddie's motto, then flipped by his last scene: the one who always runs chooses to stay. The two lines go together, and that is why people tattoo them.
Season 5: the last words
The last season has its lines, more discreet because fans keep them for those who have seen the ending: Will who finally says who he is, Dustin who dedicates his speech to Eddie in front of the high school, and Mike's last word, who chooses to believe Eleven is alive. The show ends on a role-playing line, in a game among friends, the way it had begun.
What to put them on
"Friends don't lie" goes everywhere: T-shirt, mug, tattoo. Hopper's letter is read in full, or not at all. Eddie's lines go on jackets, Erica's on T-shirts, and "Mouth-breather" on what you give a friend.
The Hopper figure, for the letter.
In the shopLego Eddie Munson mini figure14,90 €See the product
The last lines of the show, in detail
-
“I can't lose another friend”
Dustin to Steve, in the melting lab: the line that repairs their falling-out about Eddie.
-
“You were my anchor”
Max to Lucas, waking in his arms, after nineteen months in a coma.
-
“Don't marry me”
Jonathan to Nancy, in the room that melts: an anti-marriage proposal, and the gentlest ending in the show.
-
“We are one”
Henry, in the mine of his memories, when Will begs him to destroy the fragment from the briefcase.
-
“Help them understand”
Eleven to Mike, in their last shared moment, before the Upside Down explodes.
-
Dustin's speech
Valedictorian of his class in the spring of 1989, he gives Eddie his name back in front of the whole high school.
One line per character, to sum them up
| Character | The line | What she says about him |
|---|---|---|
| Eleven | "Friends don't lie" | The first moral code she learns, in 1983, and that she keeps until the end |
| Mike | "A promise is something you can't break" | The word he teaches Eleven, and that comes back every season |
| Dustin | "Why are you always so slow?" | The impatient conductor of the group |
| Steve | "Four sprays of hairspray, when the hair is damp, not wet" | The high-school king become a babysitter |
| Hopper | "Leave the door open three inches" | The cabin rule, and the 1985 letter |
| Joyce | "I know it sounds crazy, but I know it's true" | The mother nobody believes, and who is right |
| Erica | "You can't spell America without Erica" | The youngest, the surest of herself |
| Eddie | "The most metal concert of all time" | On the trailer roof, before the Demobats |
| Robin | "You don't understand, I wasn't thinking about you" | The Starcourt bathroom confession, in 1985 |
| Vecna | "You lost" | What he says to his victims, and what the ending throws back at him |
How to quote them without getting it wrong
Many quotes circulate in approximate versions, between the original and the French dub. The simple rule: quote the version you saw. In French, Hopper's letter talks about “trois pouces,” the original about “three inches”; “Friends don't lie” became “les amis ne mentent pas,” with no nuance lost; “the most metal concert ever” is rendered as “le concert le plus metal de tous les temps.”
The lines most reused on objects, T-shirts, mugs, and posters are those that hold in one line and make sense without context: Mike's promise, Erica's line, friends don't lie. Those that need the scene, Hopper's letter, Robin's confession, Dustin's speech, are shared better as video.
The Eddie Munson T-shirt, for the roof.
In the shopEddie Munson rooftop solo metal sign24,90 €See the product
Takeaway“Friends don't lie”: the motto, Season 1. Hopper's letter: the monologue, Season 3. Eddie: “There is no shame in running”, then the opposite. Erica, Steve, Dustin: the comic lines.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous Stranger Things quote?
"Friends don't lie," said by Eleven to Mike in season 1, become the show's motto.
What does Hopper's letter say?
A speech about children who grow up, doors you leave open three inches, and "when life hurts you, get out of your cave." Eleven reads it at the end of season 3.
What is Eddie's cult line?
"There's no shame in running," then "This time, I'm not running," on the trailer roof, season 4.
What does "mouth-breather" mean?
The insult Mike teaches Eleven in Season 1, to mean an idiot; she turns it back on Lucas, then everyone uses it.
What is Eleven's last line?
In her last shared moment with Mike, she tells him she loves him, asks him to thank the others and to help them understand her choice.
What does Max tell Lucas when she wakes?
That he was her anchor: the emotional bond that let her find her body again after nineteen months in Henry's memories.