111 Funny, Heartwarming & Wild “Stranger Things” Quotes to Revisit as You Watch (and Rewatch!) the Final Season

It’s been almost 10 years since Stranger Things premiered in July 2016. I have been watching this show since I was in sixth grade (I’m currently a senior in college), and now Season 5 has come and gone. I really cannot believe this show is over. After a spaced-out release on Netflix, with Volume 1 on November 26 and Volume 2 on December 25, the series finale dropped on December 31, 2025, finally answering the question of whether or not the Hawkins crew could exact revenge on Vecna. I’ve literally grown up with the characters and am so sad to say goodbye now that the Duffer brothers have wrapped this show up. 

I had just finished my freshman year in college when Volume 2 of Season 4 dropped in July 2022, so it’s safe to say I did not quite remember all that happened in Seasons 1 through 4. Of course, we all recall being introduced to The Upside Down in the first season and Steve and Dustin’s iconic friendship in Season 2. And luckily Netflix shared a recap of the first four seasons in advance of Season 5. But I wanted to remember all my favorite moments, too. 

To really prepare for marathoning the final season (and your inevitable full series rewatches) with your friends in your dorm or apartment, I pulled together some of the most unforgettable quotes from each season. These chaotic, heartfelt, and funny lines stick with viewers and give a peek into what happened during each season. Grab your Eggos, turn on your Christmas lights, and let’s relive the dialogue that helped Stranger Things become hardwired into the zeitgeist. 

Warning: Spoilers for all seasons ahead.

Season 1 may have aired all the way back in 2016, but the show set in 1983 made waves in pop culture for good reason. The main obstacles in this season are finding Will Byers, dealing with the Demogorgon, and protecting Eleven after she runs away from the doctors who were doing tests on her at Hawkins National Laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana. This is where we first met all the characters we know and love (and lose Barb way too soon, IYKYK). Some of the most memorable quotes really show off the personalities of the main characters — like how Dustin Henderson is very welcome comedic relief — and set you up for what to expect from them the rest of the series. 

1. “It’s like you have superpowers or something. Like Mr. Fantastic.” —Mike Wheeler (Season 1)
2. “We have a lot of rules in our party, but the most important thing is that friends don’t lie. Never ever, no matter what.” —Lucas Sinclair (Season 1)
3. “Why do we need weapons? We have her.” —Dustin Henderson (Season 1)
4. “For once in your life, shut your damn mouth!” —Steve Harrington (Season 1)
5. “Being a freak is the best. I’m a freak.” —Jonathan Byers (Season 1)
6. “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation.” —Jim Hopper (Season 1)
7. “She’s our friend, and she’s crazy!” —Dustin (Season 1)
8. “You saved me.” —Mike (Season 1)
9. “You shouldn’t like things just because people tell you you’re supposed to.” —Jonathan (Season 1)
10. “Friends don’t lie.” —Eleven (Season 1)
11. “I don’t care if anyone believes me. I am not going to stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home.” —Joyce Byers (Season 1) 
12. “Don’t you dare patronize me!” —Joyce (Season 1) 

Season 2 picks up almost a year after Will’s disappearance, but Hawkins is nowhere close to normal. Will is dealing with visions of the Mind Flayer, a creature that can possess and control people and connects them to The Upside Down. Eleven is secretly living with Hopper to stay safe, the lab is still hiding dangerous secrets, and we are introduced to moody Maxine and her “spirited” stepbrother Billy as well as Lucas’s little sister, Erica Sinclair. This season, the stakes are higher, and these quotes help you remember how much the core relationships are starting to define who these characters are becoming.

1. “Nobody normal ever accomplished anything meaningful in this world.” —Jonathan (Season 2)
2. “I am on a curiosity voyage, and I need my paddles to travel. These books … these books are my paddles.” —Dustin (Season 2)
3. “How do I know if it’s not a lizard? … Because his face opened up and he ate my cat.” —Dustin (Season 2)
4. “If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?” —Mike, to Will (Season 2)
5. “You are such a nerd. No wonder you only hang out with boys.” —Erica Sinclair, to Lucas (Season 2)
6. “I’m going to my friends. I’m going home.” —Eleven (Season 2)
7. “I may be a pretty sh*tty boyfriend, but turns out I’m actually a pretty damn good babysitter.” —Steve (Season 2)
8. “And you know what happens when you disobey me. I break things.” —Billy Hargrove (Season 2)
9. “If I play, do I get one of those cool T-shirts?” —Max Mayfield (Season 2)
10. “I never gave up on you. I called you every night.” —Mike, to Eleven (Season 2)
11. “It’s going to work. It has to.” —Joyce (Season 2)
12. “I’m just curious why, all of a sudden, you look like some kind of MTV punk.” —Hopper (Season 2)

In Season 3, our characters have clearly grown up a little. The Starcourt Mall breaks up the suburbia of Hawkins, the Fourth of July celebration is days away, and somehow nobody realizes a Russian bunker is literally operating underneath the food court. The Mind Flayer is building a new physical form using possessed townspeople, but we also get to see Steve working in his iconic ice cream sailor uniform at Scoops Ahoy (where we also meet Robin Buckley). This season leans harder into deeper themes, but we also see tons of funny moments, and these quotes remind you how much the group dynamic is shifting as everyone figures out who they are as they’re growing up.

1. “You can’t spell America without ‘Erica.’” —Erica (Season 3)
2. “It’s this stupid hat. It’s totally blowing my best feature.” —Steve (Season 3)
3. “She’s hotter than Phoebe Cates.” —Dustin (Season 3)
4. “I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off.” —Hopper, to Eleven (Season 3)
5. “I dump your ass.” —Eleven, to Mike (Season 3)
6. “We all die, my strange little child friend. It’s just a matter of how and when.” —Robin Buckley (Season 3)
7. “Listen to me, Steve. It shocked me to my core, but I like you. I really like you. But I am not like your other friends, and I am not like Nancy Wheeler.” —Robin (Season 3)
8. “You’re all so nerdy, it’s disgusting.” —Erica (Season 3)
9. “Yeah, the real world sucks, deal with it like the rest of us.” —Jonathan (Season 3)
10. “We ask for forgiveness, not permission.” —Nancy (Season 3)
11. “Max has dumped me five times … and I’ve won her back every single freaking time.” —Lucas (Season 3)
12. “Mike … I love you too.” —Eleven (Season 3)

Season 4 splits up our main characters across different locations, and it’s definitely the darkest installment yet as the main group is all grown up and still trying to kill Vecna, who helped orchestrate everything the people of Hawkins have experienced with The Upside Down. Will and Eleven are separated from their friends and trying to fit in at a new school in California, while Max battles her grief over Billy’s death. We also meet the unforgettable Eddie Munson. These quotes capture how much the characters are carrying: sadness, guilt, fear, and the pressure of growing up while the world keeps falling apart for them. 

1. “We are nerds and freaks.” —Dustin (Season 4)
2. “It’s forced conformity … that’s what’s killing the kids. That’s the real monster.” —Eddie Munson (Season 4)
3. “Always the babysitter. Always the godd*mn babysitter.” —Steve (Season 4)
4. “I’m just going to stop assuming that I know anything.” —Max (Season 4)
5. “It’s Hawkins. It’s not the same without you.” —Mike, to Will (Season 4)
6. “I have no idea what’s gonna happen next. But, whatever it is, I think we should work together. I think it’ll be easier if we’re a team. Friends. Best friends…” —Mike, to Will (Season 4)
7. “When you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake.” —Will (Season 4)
8. “He fought and died to protect this town. This town that hated him … He’s a hero.” —Dustin, talking about Eddie (Season 4)
9. “You just gotta be yourself.” —Steve (Season 4)
10. Your love life is one of labyrinthian complexity, and it is seven in the morning and we have to go to this stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a total corpse!” —Robin (Season 4)
11. “Sometimes, I think it’s just scary to open up like that. To say how you really feel. Especially to the people you care about the most. Because what if … what if they don’t like the truth?” —Will (Season 4)
12. “Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what.” —Nancy (Season 4)
13. “…Music can reach parts of the brain that words can’t. So maybe that’s the key, a lifeline. A lifeline back to reality” —Robin (Season 4)

Here are some of the best quotes from the first four episodes that marked our final return to Hawkins! Spoiler warning for Season 5 plot points. In this season, your favorite Hawkins residents pick up the fight against Vecna and many demogorgons. The biggest scare is when Vecna (disguised as Henry) takes Holly Wheeler, which kicks off the biggest fights yet. 

1. “You are more beautiful every day. How is that fair?” —Hopper, to Joyce (Season 5) 
2.  “Karen must have hurt it. With her wine.” —Eleven (Season 5)
3. “I don’t trust doctors who smoke … or call me sweetheart.” —Nancy (Season 5)
4. “You’re more like me than I’d like to admit.” —Hopper, to Eleven (Season 5)
5. “What, a stubborn punk-ass?” —Eleven, to Hopper (Season 5)
6. “And I told you to eat your damn pie.” —Erica (Season 5)
7. “Gates are kinda like Peanut Butter Boppers, right? The outside is, like, crunchy and tough, but then you bite down on it, it gives way to a gooey, creamy core.” —Steve (Season 5)
8. “We’re not gonna crash if it’s like a Bopper!” —Steve (Season 5)
9. “You’re a pop star, what do you know about monsters?” —Holly Wheeler (Season 5)
10. “Maybe you’re in disguise. You’re dressed weird, and you’re in a coma.” —Holly, to Max (Season 5)
11. “People say I’m too negative. I just think I’m honest.” —Max (Season 5)
12. “This place, this world … it’s a prison … Henry’s prison.” —Max (Season 5)
13. “You can’t be right about everything because your theories aren’t exactly lining up.” —Hopper, to Eleven (Season 5)
14. “No, no, we’re saving a child via kidnapping.” —Joyce (Season 5)
15. “I’m ‘delightful Derek.’” —Derek (Season 5) 
16. “I was looking for answers in somebody else. But, I had all the answers. I just needed to stop being so g*dd*mn scared. Scared of who I really was. Once I did that, I felt so free. It’s like I could fly.” —Robin (Season 5)

This season may be my favorite yet. The stakes feel so high, and that’s because they are. Holly is in the Upside Down, which we find out isn’t actually what we think it is, but is instead a wormhole to another world entirely. Vecna is this close to destroying the world, but of course, our characters have a plan to stop him before it’s too late. Before that, though, they have a few reunions and a few things to get off their chest. Here are the best quotes to recap all the emotional and powerful chaos of Season 5, Volume 2 before the two-hour finale drops!

1. “He’s a sorcerer. A real life honest-to-God sorcerer!” —Mike (Season 5)
2. “In my travels, I discovered another world.” —Henry Creel (Season 5)
3. “Stab him with his own sword.” —Joyce (Season 5)
4. “She definitely knows he’s full of sh*t.” —Derek (Season 5)
5. “She said no bad ideas?” —Robin (Season 5)
6. “We throw two darts and pray for a bullseye.” —Joyce (Season 5)
7. “Me? Talking? Helpful? Someone should really tell my mother.” —Robin (Season 5)
8. “You sure you’re not a monster?” —Holly Wheeler (Season 5)
9. “This whole time, everything we’ve assumed about the Upside Down has been dead wrong.” —Dustin (Season 5)
10. “But I don’t have a boyfriend.” —Holly (Season 5)
11. “Maybe I don’t get to write the ending. But we do. Because this is our story.” —Mike, to Eleven (Season 5)
12. “Come on, Robin. You are going through withdrawal!” —Vickie (Season 5)
13. “You can’t die because I can’t deal with it again.” —Dustin (Season 5)
14. “He knows what he wants, and that’s great. But I don’t.” —Nancy (Season 5)
15. “Nancy Wheeler, will you not marry me?” —Jonathan (Season 5)
16. “You just need something that connects you to the real world. To home.” —Max (Season 5)
17. “I just needed you.” —Max, to Lucas (Season 5)
18. “I hate all of this.” —Hopper (Season 5)
19. “Another kidnapping plot. Love it!” —Robin (Season 5)
20. “The truth is, I am different.” —Will (Season 5)
21. “You’ll never lose me. Ever!” —Joyce (Season 5)
22. “I’m ready to show him I’m not afraid anymore.” —Will (Season 5)

The finale to end all finales was over two hours long, but it felt like two minutes. I have already rewatched the last episode three times, and I just can’t believe it is all over for good. The episode tied together years of mystery, loss, and the ridiculously supernatural in a way that was so sentimental and satisfying. This episode reminded me that I’m not just closing the book on Stranger Things, but also my childhood, and that’s enough to bring me to tears. The Duffer brothers prove once again that they know how to make a final episode, and these quotes are the ones that are going to stick with us forever. 

1. “One last fight, and this whole nightmare, it’ll finally be over.” —Mike (Season 5) 
2. “This situation demands cussing.” —Erica (Season 5) 
3. “Friends? No thanks. Best friends.” —Mike, to Will (Season 5)
4. “It’s almost too bad we have to blow it all up.” —Lucas (Season 5) 
5. “The Abyss stopped! El got him! I repeat, El got the bastard!” —Lucas (Season 5) 
6. “I’m not leaving your side, ever again. Not until we’re out of here. All of us.” —Max (Season 5) 
7. “Suck it, Armstrong.” —Lucas (Season 5) 
8. “Stronger, aren’t we? So am I.” —Venca (Season 5) 
9. “Look, just because I don’t like you, it doesn’t mean I want you dead.” —Jonathan, to Steve. (Season 5) 
10. “I’ve known for a while now that me and Nance were never really in the cards.” —Steve (Season 5) 
11. “Save yourselves, you dumbasses!” —Derek (Season 5) 
12. “I am many things, but I am not a liar.” —Venca (Season 5) 
13. “… Life has been so unfair to you, so cruel. But you never let it break you. And I need you to fight, kid.” —Hopper, to Eleven (Season 5) 
14. “Unless you’re okay living with the guilt of my death, I’m gonna need one of those godd*mn guns.” —Mike (Season 5) 
15. “You became my dad. But I’m not a kid anymore.” —Eleven, to Hopper (Season 5) 
16. “You’re just like me, Henry, a vessel.” —Will (Season 5) 
17. “We’re not afraid of you.” —Will, to Venca (Season 5) 
18. “You f*ck*d with the wrong family.” —Joyce (Season 5) 
19. “The party took a hell of a beating, but we’re okay.” —Dustin (Season 5) 
20. “I will always be with you.” —Eleven, to Mike (Season 5) 
21. “What happened is not your fault.” —Hopper, to Mike (Season 5)
22. “I believe.” —Mike (Season 5) 
23. “To nothing ever keeping us apart.” —Steve (Season 5) 
24. “But maybe it’s not the town; maybe it’s me that’s changed.” —Robin (Season 5)
25. “Will you spend the rest of your life with a tired, grumpy, stubborn old man who loves you very much?” —Hopper, to Joyce (Season 5)