Firefly was a TV series created by Joss Whedon and aired in 2002-2003 for one season that included 14 episodes. In this article, we bring you the best Firefly quotes from both the TV series and the movie that followed.
The show was a space Western drama that took place in 2517, with new humans arriving to a new star system. It followed the adventures of the Serenity crew and its 9 members.
The show starred Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Christina Hendricks, Jewel Staite, and others. The show was canceled after one season, but nonetheless received a cult following and sold many DVDs.
In 2003, the show won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, and in 2013, TV Guide ranked it No.5 on its list of 60 shows that were “Cancelled Too Soon.”
The success of the show after it was cancelled led to the production of Serenity, a 2005 movie that follows the story of the TV series.
Here is a sneak peek at the quotes in this article:
Table of Contents
- Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds Quotes
- Zoë Washburne Quotes
- Hoban “Wash” Washburne Quotes
- Jayne Cobb Quotes
- Inara Serra Quotes
- Shepherd Derrial Book Quotes
- Serenity Quotes (2005 Movie)
- Interesting Facts about Firefly
Firefly Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds Quotes
Malcolm Reynolds: If I’m your mission, Shepherd, best give it up. You’re welcome on my boat. God ain’t.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Malcolm Reynolds: They tell you, never hit a man with a closed fist, but it is, on occasion, hilarious.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Malcolm Reynolds: I’ve given some thought to moving off the edge. Not an ideal location. Might get a place in the middle.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Malcolm Reynolds: May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Malcolm Reynolds: It’s a real burden being right so often.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Malcolm Reynolds: If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were dangerous.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Malcolm Reynolds: You can’t open the book of my life and jump in the middle. Like women, I’m a mystery.
Season 1, episode 3, Our Mrs. Reynolds
Malcolm Reynolds: Well, I ain’t them. And don’t you ever stand for that sort of thing. Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill ’em right back.
Season 1, episode 3, Our Mrs. Reynolds
Malcolm Reynolds: It’s my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of ’em was one kinda sombitch or another.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Malcolm Reynolds: I swear by my pretty floral bonnet, I will end you.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Malcolm Reynolds: See how I’m not punching him? I think I’ve grown.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Malcolm Reynolds: I don’t like fellows who kill me, not in general.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Malcolm Reynolds: Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Malcolm Reynolds: Everybody dies alone.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Malcolm Reynolds: See, morbid and creepifying, I got no problem with. Long as she does it quiet-like.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Malcolm Reynolds: No, they don’t. Men of God make everyone feel guilty and judged.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Malcolm Reynolds: That’s good. You lie there and be ironical.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Malcolm Reynolds: The next time you decide to stab me in the back, have the guts to do it to my face.
Season 1, episode 8, Ariel
Malcolm Reynolds: Eliminating the middleman, never as simple as it sounds. About 50% of the human race is middlemen and they don’t take kindly to being eliminated.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Malcolm Reynolds: We’re deep in space, corner of No and Where.
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Malcolm Reynolds: Is that the direction you want this conversation to go in?
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Malcolm Reynolds: When I want a lot of medical jargon I’ll talk to a doctor.
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Malcolm Reynolds: Fully loaded, safety off. This here is a recipe for unpleasantness.
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Malcolm Reynolds: We can’t die. And you know why? Because we are so very pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once. If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake. You’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: Jayne, your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: You depend on luck, you end up on the drift…no fuel, no prospects…begging for Alliance make-work, getting towed out to the scrap belt. That ain’t us. Not ever.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: We’re still flying. It’s enough.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: We’ve done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: You rich kids. You think your lives are the only thing that matters. What’d you do? Kill your folks for the family fortune?
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: Getting awful crowded in my sky.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: The woods are the only place I can see a clear path.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Malcolm Reynolds: Any friend of Inara’s is a strictly business-like relationship of mine.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Malcolm Reynolds: Nothing worse than a monster who thinks he’s right with God.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Malcolm Reynolds: Well, lady, I must say…you’re my kind of stupid.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Malcolm Reynolds: Life’s just too damn short for “ifs” and “maybes.”
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Malcolm Reynolds: Can’t miss a place you’ve never been.
Season 1, episode 13, Trash
Malcolm Reynolds: No one’s killing any folk today on account of we got a very tight schedule.
Season 1, episode 13, Trash
Malcolm Reynolds: I’ve seen you without your clothes on before. Never thought I’d see you naked.
Season 1, episode 13, Trash
Malcolm Reynolds: They don’t like it when you shoot at them. I worked that out myself.
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Malcolm Reynolds: Everybody dies. Someone’s carrying a bullet for you right now, doesn’t even know it. The trick is, die of old age before it finds you.
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Firefly Zoë Washburne Quotes
Zoë Washburne: Sir, I think you have a problem with your brain being missing.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Zoë Washburne: Clearly, she’s out of her mind.
Season 1, episode 3, Our Mrs. Reynolds
Zoë Washburne: You paid money for this, sir? On purpose?
Season 1, episode 5, Out of Gas
Zoë Washburne: Too much foofaraw. If I’m going to wear a dress, I’d want something with some slink.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Zoë Washburne: Preacher, don’t the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killin’?
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Zoë Washburne: Now we have a boat full of citizens right on top of our…stolen cargo. That’s a fun mix.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Zoë Washburne: If they take the ship, they’ll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And if we’re very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Zoë Washburne: As long as we got the goods, I call this a win.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Zoë Washburne: I ain’t so afraid of losing something that I ain’t gonna try to have it.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Zoë Washburne: Why, is there someone you are good at talking to?
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Firefly Hoban “Wash” Washburne Quotes
Hoban Washburne: Did he just go crazy and fall asleep?
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Hoban Washburne: Oh my god! What could it be? We’re all doomed! Who’s flying this thing?! Oh right, that would be me. Back to work.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Hoban Washburne: We gotta go to the crappy town where I’m a hero.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Hoban Washburne: I’ve been sane a long while now and change is good.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Hoban Washburne: You want a slinky dress? I can buy you a slinky dress. Captain, can I have money for a slinky dress?
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Hoban Washburne: Don’t fall asleep now. Sleepiness is weakness of character. Ask anyone.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Hoban Washburne: You know, it’s all very sweet, stealing from the rich, selling to the poor…
Season 1, episode 8, Ariel
Hoban Washburne: You’re pretty much down to ritual suicide, Lamby Toes.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Hoban Washburne: Hey, I’ve been in a firefight before. Well, I was in a fire. Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity. I can handle myself.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Hoban Washburne: Sweetie, we’re crooks. If everything were right, we’d be in jail.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: Can we maybe vote on the whole murdering people issue?
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: They wouldn’t arrest me if we got boarded. I’m just the pilot. I can always say that I was flying the ship by accident.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: Yes. Yes. This is a fertile land and we will thrive. We will rule over all this land! And we will call it…this land!
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: I think we should call it your grave!
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: Ah! Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: Ha ha ha! Mine is an evil laugh! Now die!
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Hoban Washburne: Come on, Kaylee. We all know I’m the funny one.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Hoban Washburne: Do not fear me. Ours is a peaceful race, and we must live in harmony.
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Hoban Washburne: A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he’s not afraid of anything.
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Firefly Jayne Cobb Quotes
Jayne Cobb: You know what the chain of command is? It’s a chain I go get and beat you with until you understand who’s in ruttin’ command here.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Jayne Cobb: These are stone killers, little man. They ain’t cuddly like me.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Jayne Cobb: Time for some thrilling heroics.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Jayne Cobb: Niska’s people are waiting. They’re not partial to waiting.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Jayne Cobb: He looked bigger when I couldn’t see him.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Jayne Cobb: If I could make you prettier I would.
Season 1, episode 3, Our Mrs. Reynolds
Jayne Cobb: You think there’s someone just gonna drop money on you? Money they could use? Well, there ain’t people like that. There’s just people like me.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Jayne Cobb: I’m no good with words. Don’t…don’t use ’em much myself.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Jayne Cobb: Dear Diary, today I was pompous and my sister was crazy. Today we were kidnapped by hill folk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Jayne Cobb: See? That’s my whole problem with picking up tourists. Ain’t never what they claim to be.
Season 1, episode 7, Safe
Jayne Cobb: I’m starting to like this plan.
Season 1, episode 8, Ariel
Jayne Cobb: Nothing buys bygones quicker than cash.
Season 1, episode 8, Ariel
Jayne Cobb: It smells like crotch.
Season 1, episode 8, Ariel
Jayne Cobb: Well I don’t like the idea of someone hearing what I’m thinking.
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Jayne Cobb: I got a share of this job. Ten percent of nothing is…let me do the math here. Nothing and then nothing…
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Jayne Cobb: What you plan and what takes place ain’t ever exactly been similar
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Jayne Cobb: Only fluid I see here is the puddle of piss refusing to pay us our wage.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Jayne Cobb: The girl’s a mind reading genius, can’t even figure out how to eat an ice planet.
Season 1, episode 14, The Message
Firefly Inara Serra Quotes
Inara Serra: Mal, if you’re being a gentleman, I may die of shock.
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Inara Serra: Physical appearance doesn’t matter so terribly. You look for compatibility of spirit. There’s an energy about a person that’s difficult to hide. You try to feel that…
Season 1, episode 1, The Train Job
Inara Serra: Not in the least. It’s a mutually beneficial business arrangement. I rent the shuttle from Captain Reynolds, which allows me to expand my client base. And the Captain finds that having a companion on board opens certain doors that might otherwise be closed to him.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Inara Serra: A man is just a boy who’s old enough to ask that question.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Inara Serra: Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Inara Serra: As with other situations, the key seems to be giving Jayne a heavy stick and standing back.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Inara Serra: You have a strange sense of nobility, Captain. You’ll lay a man out for implying I’m a whore, but you keep calling me one to my face.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Inara Serra: Only half? I must be losing my undefinable allure.
Season 1, episode 6, Shindig
Inara Serra: One cannot always be oneself in the company of men.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Inara Serra: No one likes the idea of hearing what you’re thinking.
Season 1, episode 10, Objects in Space
Inara Serra: So would you like to lecture me on the wickedness of my ways?
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Inara Serra: You’re lost in the woods. We all are. Even the captain. The only difference is he likes it that way.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Inara Serra: One of the virtues of not being puritanical about sex is not feeling embarrassed afterwards. You should look into it.
Season 1, episode 12, Heart of Gold
Inara Serra: Honey, you look horrific.
Season 1, episode 13, Trash
Firefly Shepherd Derrial Book Quotes
Shepherd Derrial Book: How we treat our dead is part of what makes us different than those did the slaughtering.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Shepherd Derrial Book: I don’t accept that. Whatever horror he witnessed, whatever acts of barbarism, it was done by men. Nothing more.
Season 1, episode 2, Bushwhacked
Shepherd Derrial Book: If you take sexual advantage of her, you’re going to burn in a very special level of hell. A level they reserve for child molesters, and people who talk at the theater.
Season 1, episode 3, Our Mrs. Reynolds
Shepherd Derrial Book: It’s not about making sense. It’s about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It’s about faith. You don’t fix faith, River. It fixes you.
Season 1, episode 4, Jaynestown
Shepherd Derrial Book: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Shepherd Derrial Book: A government is a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Shepherd Derrial Book: I was there, son. I’m fair sure you haven’t shot anyone yet.
Season 1, episode 9, War Stories
Shepherd Derrial Book: ‘Cause how you get there is the worthier part.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Shepherd Derrial Book: The important thing is the spices. A man can live on packaged food from here ’til Judgment Day if he’s got enough rosemary.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Shepherd Derrial Book: I brought you some supper. But if you’d prefer a lecture I have a few very catchy ones prepped. Sin and hellfire. One has lepers.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Shepherd Derrial Book: I’ve been out of the Abbey two days. I’ve beaten a law man senseless, fallen in with criminals, I watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect. I’m not even sure if I think it was wrong.
Season 1, episode 11, Serenity
Serenity Quotes (2005 Movie)
Malcolm Reynolds: Love. You can learn all the math in the universe, but you take a boat in the air that you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down, tells you she’s hurting before she keels. Makes her a home.
Malcolm Reynolds: Ah, hell, I’m a fan of all seven. But right now, I’m gonna have to go with wrath.
Malcolm Reynolds: Doctor, I’m taking your sister under my protection here. If anything happens to her, anything at all, I swear to you, I will get very choked up. Honestly, there could be tears.
Malcolm Reynolds: Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all. This job goes south, there well may not be another. So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you. Dong le ma?
Malcolm Reynolds: There’s a lot of fine ways to die. I ain’t waiting for the Alliance to choose mine.
Malcolm Reynolds: Half of writing history is hiding the truth.
Malcolm Reynolds: I start fighting a war, I guarantee you’ll see something new.
Malcolm Reynolds: Advice from an old tracker. You want to find someone? Use your eyes.
Malcolm Reynolds: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship’s good luck, ’til some idiot killed it.
Malcolm Reynolds: This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then – explode.
Malcolm Reynolds: I ain’t looking for help from on high. That’s a long wait for a train don’t come.
Malcolm Reynolds: You do that, you’d best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.
Malcolm Reynolds: Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket…
Malcolm Reynolds: The Alliance wanted to show me reason, they shouldn’t have sent an assassin.
Malcolm Reynolds: They take you down, I don’t expect to grieve overmuch. Like to kill you myself, I see you again.
Hoban Washburne: I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Hoban Washburne: This landing is gonna get pretty interesting. Oh God, oh God, we’re all going to die?
Hoban Washburn: Can I make a suggestion that doesn’t involve violence, or is this the wrong crowd for that?
Jayne Cobb: And I thought they was getting off. Didn’t we have an intricate plan on how they was gonna be not here any more?
Jayne Cobb: My muscular buttocks it’s forty.
Jayne Cobb: She is startin’ to damage my calm.
Jayne Cobb: I won’t get ate! You shoot me if they take me! Well, don’t shoot me first!
Jayne Cobb: We’re gonna explode? I don’t wanna explode.
Jayne Cobb: Boy, it sure would be nice if we had some grenades, don’t you think?
Jayne Cobb: Shepherd Book used to tell me, “If you can’t do something smart, do something right.”
Jayne Cobb: Well, what you plan and what takes place ain’t ever exactly been similar.
Shepherd Derrial Book: When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I’m talking about God?
Shepherd Derrial Book: Only one thing is gonna walk you through this, Mal. Belief.
Shepherd Derrial Book: I don’t care what you believe in, just believe in it.
Shepherd Derrial Book: I killed the ship that killed us. Not very Christian.
Zoë Washburne: Do you know what the definition of a hero is? Someone who gets other people killed.
Zoë Washburne: We’re robbing the place, we’re not occupying it.
Zoë Washburne: In the time of war, we would never have left a man behind.
Inara Serra: I’ve just seen so many sides of you, I wanna make sure I know who I’m dealing with.
Inara Serra: I’m fine! I’m…giddy.
Interesting Facts about Firefly
After these fine quotes from both Firefly TV show and Serenity movie, here are some interesting facts about Firefly that may surprise you. Enjoy!
- The TV Show was Inspired by a Civil War Novel – Joss Whedon got the inspiration to create Firefly from Michael Shaara’s novel “The Killer Angels”, which tells the story of Confederate and Union soldiers during the Civil War’s Battle of Gettysburg. Only Whedon took this idea to future times.
- Can You Imagine Neil Patrick Harris in Firefly? – It’s true. Harris auditioned to the role of Dr. Simon Tam in the show, but at the end it was Sean Maher who got the part.
- Rebecca Gayheart as Inara Serra – Unlike Neil Patrick Harris who only auditioned for a role in the show, Gayheart actually got the part of Inara Serra in the show, but was fired after only one day. The reason? Lack of chemistry with the rest of the cast. Then, two days later, Morena Baccarin got the role of Inara Serra and shooting of the TV show resumed.
- Star Wars Spacecraft in Firefly – Creator Joss Whedon was also influenced by Star Wars when it came to creating the show. Apart from the fact that Captain Malcolm Reynolds somehow reminds of Han Solo, if you watch the pilot episode again, when the shuttle of Inara docks with Serenity, you can actually see an Imperial Shuttle flying in the background.
- Zack Efron’s Debut – If you watch the episode “Safe” again, you’ll see a 13-year old boy making his acting debut. Believe it or not, but that is young Zack Efron back in 2002.
- The Show’s Lounge was The Actual Lounge – Between the shots and set-ups, the lounge in the TV show was also the actual lounge, as actors preferred to hang out there rather than in their own trailers.
- Swearing – The universe of the show is a mix of American and Chinese cultures. So, how do you get around censorship? You swear in Chinese and not in English, which is exactly what the characters of Firefly did.
- Starship Troopers Uniform – The uniform worn by Alliance soldiers and officers are actually costumes that were used in the 1997 science fiction movie Starship Troopers.
- “Summer” was not a Good Thing – The cast had a small gag of their own during shooting. You see, during the episode “Objects in Space”, actress Summer Glau forgot her lines. So, from that point on, every time one of the cast members would mistake or forget his lines, Summer Glau’s name would be shouted.
- Firefly and Serenity on The International Space Station – Steven Ray Swanson is not only an American astronaut, but he’s also a huge fan of the show. So, back in 2007 when he was sent to space for his first mission, he decided to bring along with him to the International Space Station DVDs of the show and Serenity movie. All of those DVDs are now part of the Space Station’s library for any astronaut who wishes to enjoy the show and the movie.
For more exciting quotes from sci-fi shows, please make sure you check our pages on Westworld quotes and Futurama quotes.