25 pages 50 minutes read

Winston Groom

Forrest Gump

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986

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Important Quotes

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“Let me say this. Being a idiot is no box of chocolates”


(Page 1)

From the beginning, it’s obvious that Forrest sees himself as unintelligent, but it is also he isn’t bitter about it. The thoughts he does have are original, as seen in the uncommon comparison to the box of chocolates. 

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“He takes a carton of milk and pours it in my lap an I jump up and run because it scares me” 


(Page 9)

As a child, Forrest is enormous and strong, but fighting doesn’t present itself as an option to him. Even though he will eventually fight in Vietnam, this relatively gentle conflict scares him when he’s young. 

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“I got to pee” 


(Page 13)

This becomes Forrest’s catchphrase, surfacing in everything from his brief stint as an astronaut, to becoming his campaign slogan during his Senate run. Every time he says it, he means it literally, but everyone else finds a way to invest it with some other meaning. He tells the truth, and people turn it into something else.