Fight Club Quotes

Context

This line is spoken by Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) in the movie Fight Club, directed by David Fincher (1999).

Studio execs vs. the creatives, critics vs. critics—everybody was fighting about Fight Club when it first hit the screens. Now a bona fide cult classic, this chunk of awesomeness was adapted from the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It stars Edward Norton as a dead-inside, white-collar guy who gets his groove back after starting a fight club with outlaw soap maker Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt).

What is a fight club? We can't tell you. Don't you know the rules? JK, Shmoopers, we'll tell you. It's basically a bunch of dudes getting together and beating the snot out of each other all in the name of brotherly love and feeling macho. The line comes when Durden is laying out the rules for a growing pack of Fight Club enthusiasts. It's kind of a joke because, over the course of the movie, fight clubs spread all over the world, and Durden builds a violent cult ready to do his bidding. It seems like Durden made rule number one just to encourage people to break it.

Now put up your dukes. Here's a clip.

Where you've heard it

Pop culture treats this quote like a Mad Libs line. It goes like this: 

The first rule of _____ club is don't talk about _____ club.

On CSI it was "Diet Club." Scrubs went with "Pillow Fight Club," while Supernatural did "Writer's Club." Our favorite was Tosh.0's "Cupcake Club." Maybe we're wusses, but a club full of cupcakes sounds way better than a club full of getting punched in the face.

Additional Notable References:

Movies

• Out Cold
• Daredevil
• Old School
• Wingmen Incorporated

TV

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• The Crazy Ones
• The Wrong Mans
• The Client List
• The Simpsons
• Transformers
• Mercy
• Degrassi
• Kim Possible
• Last Man Standing
• Guys with Kids
• Spy
• ER
• Living with Fran
• Spin City
• Undergrads

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

The quote itself isn't pretentious. It's pretty straightforward. Quoting Fight Club, though? Hm. Maybe. Especially because of its anarchic, death-to-consumerism undertones. For that, we give it a 5.