Sure, the heroes, princesses and other protagonists of Disney movies are the characters we root for when we watch the best Disney animated movies and Pixar films, but those villains, oh do we love to hate them! Not only does Disney have a reputation for creating some unforgettable baddies over the years, but they have some very quotable lines, as well. Check out these iconic quotes from Disney villains. (Spoilers ahead for Disney movies).
“I’m surrounded by idiots.”
The Lion King’s Scar is arguably the most twisted villain of all the Disney movies, thanks to the lion plotting to kill his own brother in front of his nephew in order to earn the throne of Pride Rock. But he was oddly relatable when he quipped that he’s “surrounded by idiots” during the movie. Hey, no one said being a genius bad guy got you friends.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”
The very first Disney villain to show up in a feature film from the studio was the Evil Queen from 1939’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She had an obsession with being the prettiest woman in the kingdom, and when her magic mirror told her it was young Snow White she hunted her down to the death.
“Off with their heads!”
Disney adapted Lewis Carroll’s classic story, Alice in Wonderland, for the first time back in 1951 with a gorgeous animated film. In the movie, Alice comes across the rather violent Queen of Hearts, who often calls for the heads of others to be cut off by her subjects. As an adult, I have to wonder if “‘painting the roses red” meant ridding herself of all the blood she shed as ruler – or symbolized it anyway. Super dark, I know.
“Miserable, darling, as usual. Perfectly wretched.”
It’s really rough to top the villainy of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians. The fashion designer literally made it her mission to steal puppies and have them skinned for her own business visions for her fabrics. This particular line showcases her energy, and it’s one where “wretched” is totally thought of as a compliment, it seems. Cruella de Vil is not just "wretched" by Disney standards, she is also one of the best female villains in film history.
“If only there was someone out there who loved you.”
First love can be a beautiful thing, but oftentimes it also comes with hard lessons we have to learn in order to meet the right ones. This was exemplified in Frozen in the storyline between Anna and Hans. While she falls quickly for the prince, he later breaks her heart when he betrays her and she learns her feelings for him are one-sided. Who can forget how cold this line was? (Get it? Cold...)
"And with everyone super, no one will be."
In The Incredibles, the villain is Syndrome, who was previously an aspiring hero before Mr. Incredible let him down. The experience led him to hold a grudge and create a technology that would allow everyone to be a superhero, thus exterminating the need for the Incredibles. What a shocking moment this was.
"A llama? He’s supposed to be dead!"
The Emperor’s New Groove’s baddie Yzma is an especially quotable villain in Disney history, but one that sticks with us is when she learns that the emperor she attempted to kill has instead turned into a llama. With the help of one of Disney's greatest scene-stealing sidekicks, Kronk, they go on a manhunt to get the llama for good.
“Oh, great, now I’m the bad guy.”
Mother Gothel is the villain of Tangled from the beginning of the movie after she steals Rapunzel and hides her and her magic hair in a tower in order to stay young. However, for much of the movie, Rapunzel doesn’t know her “mother” is actually her captor. In the third act of Tangled, her true colors come out, and she says this clever line that makes her place in the story official.
"You have to do whatever it takes to seize your moment."
In Coco, our protagonist Miguel idolizes the late Ernesto de la Cruz, so it’s surprising to him when he realizes (once he meets him in the Land of the Dead) that he does not have his best interests at heart. As we learn, he became famous by stealing the songs of Miguel’s great-great-grandfather Hector before poisoning him. When this is revealed, his catchphrase gets a really dark new meaning.
“C’mon, boys, won’t you shake a poor sinner's hand?”
Dr. Facilier is the sinister villain of The Princess and the Frog, who successfully tricks Prince Naveen into becoming a frog, under the illusion that he is going to help make him rich. During the whole deal, which comes together in the “Friends on the Other Side” number, he uses his charm to seal the deal with a handshake.
“I’ll admit that in the past I have been a nasty.”
In The Little Mermaid, Ariel encounters a sea witch named Ursula, who helps her make her dreams come true of being human. As is often the case with sea witches, there’s a price to getting what you want, which in this case is losing her voice. During “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” Ursula kind of hints at her whole evil thing, especially with this fun line.
"You've heard of the golden rule, haven't you? Whoever has the gold makes the rules!"
As with many Disney villains, it’s ultimately their power-hungry mentality that makes them villains. In Aladdin, Jafar says an iconic line when he puts a twist on the “golden rule” while disguised as an old man who convinces the young man to go to the Cave of Wonders with him to nab a magic lamp.
“You poor, simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me. Me! The mistress of all evil!”
1959’s Sleeping Beauty delivered one of the most creepy yet unbelievably cool villains in Disney history with Maleficent. She is a malevolent fairy and an incarnation of pure evil who causes chaos in Aurora’s kingdom by crashing her birth before attempting to take over the whole kingdom. Calling herself the “mistress of evil” as she carries out her plans is the definition of iconic. The line itself ended up inspiring the title of the 2019 live-action sequel to Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie.
"I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright"
You know you’re a villain when you literally kidnap and torture Santa Claus. That’s exactly what Oogie Boogie does during the stop-motion flick, The Nightmare Before Christmas. But before this, he introduces himself in the song “This Is Halloween” with this lyric. No wonder Disneyland's annual Halloween bash is named after this bad guy.
"What... are... those?"
Technically, Hades is one of the most terrifying villains in Disney’s history considering he is literally the god of the underworld. However, Hercules had a ton of fun with the character, making him a hilarious hothead who regularly gets annoyed by his minions Pain and Panic. In one quotable moment, he notices Pain is wearing Hercules’ merchandise and gets super angry about it.
“I use antlers in all of my decorating!”
Sure, Beauty and the Beast’s villain poses a huge threat to Belle and the Beast throughout the film, but he’s also a very goofy character who gets a very funny song with “Gaston.” The whole song paints a fun picture of the guy as a meathead type who looks at the mirror way too much on a daily basis. But perhaps the most fun moment in the song is when he belts how he uses “antlers” in all his decorating. It tells us all we need to know about him.
"Then you will kneel in pieces!"
Was anyone super scared of Shan Yu when you first saw Mulan? While there are tons of funny Disney villains to go around, the leader of the Hun army is seriously terrifying throughout the ‘90s flick. The way he shares his threats only makes him more menacing such as through this line.
"No owners means - no heartbreak!"
Toy Story 3 has Woody, Buzz and the gang meeting a new hardened toy in the form of a ragged pink stuffed bear named Lotso, who smells of strawberries. As audiences learn as the movie unfolds, Lotso has a dark backstory of being left with some other toys away from his little girl. After trudging through the wilderness to get back to her, he finds she already has another Lotso. It leads the bear to go to the extreme of never wanting another owner again.
"Everyone’s mad here."
Alice in Wonderland takes Alice all through a mixed-up world that may or may not be the stuff of her dreams. While the Cheshire Cat isn’t a main Disney villain, he’s certainly a mischievous character in the animation studios’ history and it’s hard to forget to quote this line when one thinks of this classic movie.
“Trust in me.”
Throughout the runtime of The Jungle Book, it feels like Mowgli is only finding himself being surrounded by the villains across the animal kingdom, and a snake named Kaa is definitely one of them. Throughout the song “Trust In Me,” the snake is hypnotizing Mowgli so he can basically kill him and make him his lunch. He asks the young boy to “trust” in him, but he should absolutely not do that.
"I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from that surprise!"
We always talk about the amazing casting of Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin, but we need to talk more about how amazing Gilbert Gottfried is as Iago. The sidekick parrot has a ton of hilarious lines, but this sarcastic line is a highlight.
"So, we meet again Buzz Lightyear, for the last time!"
Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear is such a fun character and every great character has an awesome villain to match up with. In the Pixar franchise, it’s Emperor Zurg! He is the sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance, and as the sequel explores, secretly the father of Buzz. It’s giving the twist in Empire Strikes Back!
“Death is the only adventure you have left.”
In Peter Pan, Wendy and her brothers are whisked away to Neverland, where they meet the fantasy land’s big bad, who is a pirate named Captain Hook. Now Hook is actually quite the comical villain looking back, but he really got our bones chilling (or should I say, clocks ticking?) when he said this great line.
"I'm a piranha! They live in the Amazon!"
Say what you want, but to the fish in the tank of Finding Nemo, a kid named Darla is absolutely set up as a villain. The braced-up pigtail kid might be harmless to the outside world, but her tendency to tap on glass, sends all the fish shuddering. If you grew up with this movie, you and your friends definitely quoted this line.
“I killed Mufasa."
This line was so cold that we may spend our entire lives thinking about it. It’s the moment when an adult Simba is in the same position his father was when Scar killed him and his uncle reveals he killed Mufasa. Thankfully, just before he falls off the ledge, the information propels Simba to jump up, survive and make the crime known to everyone.
"Fear always works!"
Zootopia surprised us with its villain when we learned it was Assistant Mayor Bellwether, who is revealed to be a power-hungry little sheep who resents predators and therein created a city-wide panic that some were reverting to their savage ways. This quote gets real because fear is a powerful tool real bad guys in our world definitely use.
“The world is dark and selfish and cruel. If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine. It destroys it.”
In Tangled, Mother Gothel is a very manipulative villain who keeps Rapunzel in her tower by injecting fear in her about the outside world. This quote is a good one because of the irony of it all. Sure, the world is these things, but the young princess is already being exposed to that by being imprisoned by her.
"You will make lots of money… For me!"
Poor Pinocchio really goes through it in the animated Disney flick named after him. Mainly because of the puppeteer Stromboli getting a hold of him, taking him away from Gepetto, and having him work for him against his will in order to make him money. Greed is a powerful and horrible thing.
“Of course ... I said ‘If.’”
All Cinderella wanted to do was get one night off to dance the night away. However, her evil stepmother, Lady Tremaine, basically tortures her with chores all day and then dangles a “maybe” over her head when she asks (as this quote depicts). What makes things worse is when she actually takes the time to make her own dress and then the sisters rip it to shreds to make sure she cannot go.
"I'll have to perform one of my... operations!"
What’s a fitting villain for the characters of Toy Story? A young boy named Sid, of course. The character, who wears a skull on his shirt, takes playtime to a twisted route by ripping up toys and making them into something new for his own amusement.
"I'll find her! I'll find her if I have to burn down all of Paris!"
Frollo was an intense fella, wasn’t he? The Hunchback of Notre Dame villain, who is the Judge and Minister of the French Court Justice, has an obsession and deep hatred for Gypsies that carries over into the entire film, especially when it comes to Quasimodo’s love interest, Esmeralda. As this quote showcases, he will stop at nothing for her to be taken down… even though she is harmless.
"The power! The absolute power!"
Something a lot of Disney villains have in common is their love of power, which is certainly what Aladdin’s Jafar is after when he learns there’s a Genie of the Lamp. At the end of the movie, he gets a chance to taste “absolute power” as he wishes, but it only lasts for a moment as Aladdin foils him, and sends him to his own lamp.
