Context

This famous line is spoken (er, shouted) by Col. Nathan R. Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, in A Few Good Men (directed by Rob Reiner, 1992).

In A Few Good Men, a soldier has died, and Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) thinks Col. Jessup (Jack Nicholson) has something to do with it. In a heated courtroom interrogation, Kaffee says he wants the truth, to which Jessup barks, "You can't handle the truth!"

He then launches into a monologue that no one remembers about how sometimes things happen that the public doesn't need to know about it…and although the effects might seem bad (like, you know, death), the benefits far outweigh the consequences.

Where you've heard it

Decades after A Few Good Men, this quote is still widely quoted by dads everywhere...but maybe someone should explain the true meaning of it to whomever runs the NYPD's twitter feed.

Oh, and dental hygienists want to know if you can handle the tooth.

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.

Aaron Sorkin is the Bono of television, so anything he writes automatically scores a 10.