The Best Damon Pennington Quotes

Damon: You have to know where you're gonna go and how you're gonna get there. You have to know how they plan to catch you, where and when.
John: Well, how the hell are you supposed to know that?
Damon: You pay off someone who knows. And a lot depends on if the prison is in the country or the city.
John: City.
Damon: Where are you from?
John: Pittsburgh.
Damon: Pittsburgh's tough. So many bridges and tunnels they can block off.

John: You escaped from jail seven times.
Damon: What do you wanna know?
John: How you escaped when no one else could.
Damon: Balls, and a little luck.

Damon: From the time they make the call, the police can have the center of the city sealed tight in fifteen minutes.
John: How can they be so exact?
Damon: After 9/11, Homeland Security made every city have a lockdown plan. Downtown Pittsburgh, Philly, Boston, Minneapolis, fifteen minutes. They can do D.C. in under ten. Within 35 minutes, they can have cops at every tollboth on the interstate and be running rolling stops on the secondary roads. They won't have your photograph yet, but they will have your description.
John: What if you can't get out? 35 minutes is not a lot of time.
Damon: Then surrender. Because they will shoot you on sight, along with anyone else you're with.

John: It's a course that investigates what drives men to be free, no matter the cost.
Damon: Some other teacher have dibs on "Papillon"?

Damon: Stay far away from the train and bus stations. Forget the local airports. Leave from another state. Second, identity. It's easy to find fake papers. Harder to find ones that'll get you through an airport. You'll need a passport, a driver's license, and a Social Security number. If you have to rent a car, find a place that'll take a cash deposit. They'll still run a credit check, so use a real person's name on the ID. Third, destination. You'll want somewhere that doesn't attract American tourists. Think Yemen and you get the idea. And money; you'll need a truckload of it. Everything's expensive; hotels, travel, information.
John: How much?
Damon: Enough to last at least five, six years. You run out of money, you run out of friends.

Damon: No prison in the world is airtight. Each one has a key. You just have to find it.
John: How do you do that?
Damon: A lot of looking. Especially at things that break up the daily routine. Guards get comfortable doing the same thing day in, day out. Something happens, that's when they make mistakes. But when you see it, you have to be ready. You have to have the entire plan already in place even before you know how you're gonna get out of jail. Escaping's easy. The hardest part is staying free.

Damon: But before you do anything, you have to ask yourself if you can do it. Can you forget about ever seeing your parents again? Can you kill a guard? Leave your kid at a gas station? Push some nice old lady to the ground just because she gets between you and the door? Because to do this thing, that's who you have to become. And if you can't, don't start, 'cause you'll just get someone killed.
John: How did you get caught?
Damon: I gave myself up. I couldn't take wondering when someone was gonna come through the bedroom door.