Entertainment
10 Greatest ‘Devil Wears Prada’ Quotes, Ranked
When The Devil Wears Prada was released 20 years ago, the designer wardrobe, Anne Hathaway‘s bangs, and Meryl Streep‘s icy stare as the instantly iconic Miranda Priestly was permanently burned into the audience’s memory. More unexpected, however, is that, in a movie about fashion, the dialogue is just as unforgettable as the clothes.
Whether a ruthless jab from a perpetually impatient Miranda or surprisingly heartfelt advice from Runway art director Nigel (Stanley Tucci), the screenplay boasts a parade of iconic lines from the moment Andy Sachs (Hathaway) first purchases an onion bagel. With a sequel now out in theaters at Disney, fans of the original are being blessed with a new crop of quotes that are as groundbreaking as florals for spring. So gird your loins for the best lines of The Devil Wears Prada, ranked by how funny, witty, and outright unforgettable they are.
10
“I’m on this new diet. I don’t eat anything, and when I feel like I’m about to faint, I eat a cube of cheese.”
Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt)
Andy and Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), Miranda’s first assistant, experience a role reversal throughout the movie. While her initial incompetence at her job allows Emily a sense of smug condescension, Andy’s assimilation into the world of Runway flips the tables. Eventually, she surpasses Emily as Miranda’s favorite, forcing her British foe into a dynamic in which she is subordinate.
Whereas Emily previously only deigned to speak to Andy in one-word answers and overt insults, here she subtly acknowledges that Andy has become a person worth talking to and begins to divulge more of her inner world. Emily’s anxiety is on full display in this quote, showcasing just how desperate she is to fit in with the fashion world. It’s a testament to Emily’s masochistic dedication to her job that she excitedly expresses her willingness to sacrifice anything, even her health, to succeed. Emily Blunt’s incredible line reading makes it all the more poignant, equal parts funny and tragic.
9
“Can you please spell ‘Gabbana’?”
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway)
Andy exposes just how foreign she is to the fashion world with this line, which she delivers during one of her first attempts to take calls for Miranda. Her nonchalance is also on full display as she clumsily scribbles on a Post-it rather than smoothly entering the call into a database like Emily does with ease. Andy then merely shrugs when the caller hangs up without answering her question.
This moment serves as a comparison point as Andy’s approach to her job evolves throughout the movie. Mid-film, Andy practically becomes a Miranda mind-reader and fashion encyclopedia and would likely be horrified at her former self’s ignorance about one of the most famous designer labels in the world. By the time Andy leaves her job, not only could she spell Gabbana, but she could identify a D&G piece on sight.
8
“You went upstairs. Oh my god, why didn’t you just crawl into bed with her and ask for a bedtime story?”
Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt)
In a pivotal moment for her relationship with Miranda, Andy is given the responsibility of delivering The Book, the mock-up of that month’s Runway issue, to Miranda’s Upper East Side townhouse. Although Andy was instructed to leave The Book on a table in the foyer, Miranda’s mischievous twin daughters trick her into bringing it upstairs, where Andy interrupts a tense moment between Miranda and her husband.
The indiscretion becomes a massive setback for Andy, and Emily is flabbergasted at her audacity. While the power dynamic between Andy and Emily has already begun shifting in Andy’s favor, her costly mistake allows Emily to re-assume her position of dominance, and she declines to offer Andy support in favor of slinging this sarcastic reprimand. Once again, Blunt’s dry, prickly delivery is stellar, although she mixes it with a sense of genuine disbelief at Andy’s apparent stupidity.
7
“Is it impossible to find a lovely, slender female paratrooper? Am I reaching for the stars here?”
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
From the moment she’s introduced, Miranda’s delegating style is shown to be rapid-fire, unreasonably long lists of complaints and instructions that she requires her staff to immediately retain. This demanding EIC expects a level of attunement just short of mind-reading and expresses disgusted incredulity if anyone suggests that her demands can’t be met with the ease with which she assigns them. This gem of a quote is slipped into her introductory monologue, showing that Miranda’s lofty expectations aren’t reserved for just the Runway employees.
For a feature on female paratroopers that ostensibly would prioritize the article over the photos, optics still reign supreme for Miranda. Her belief that everyone should conform to Runway’s standard of beauty is perfectly encapsulated in this expectation that an elite military unit would be full of Victoria’s Secret models. But, as with all of Miranda’s demands, her staff finds a way to make it work, showing that Miranda doesn’t just dictate the composition of the magazine; sometimes, she influences reality itself.
6
“That’s really what this multi-billion dollar industry is all about anyway, isn’t it? Inner beauty.”
Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci)
As Andy dabs corn chowder from her cerulean, poly-blend sweater, Nigel slings this barb in response to her naive belief that her outward presentation would be irrelevant to her job as Miranda’s assistant. Citing the fact that Miranda knew what she looked like before hiring her, Andy insists that she shouldn’t bother changing herself when she isn’t going to work in the fashion industry forever. Nigel can barely suppress an eye roll at the suggestion that work ethic and integrity matter more than aesthetics.
Between the lines, however, the always-insightful Nigel is jabbing at something deeper than Andy’s clothes. At this early stage of the film, Andy is still entrenched in her belief that she’s inherently more complex and insightful than the superficial Kool-Aid drinkers at Runway. With this quote, Nigel unmasks Andy’s sense of moral superiority and dismisses her rejection of fashion as being just as trite and shallow as Andy considers those who worship it to be. Once she realizes that Nigel views her defiance as having all the performative depth of an after-school special, Andy is forced to reconsider how she relates to him.
5
“That’s all.”
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
Never have two words spoken so quietly inspired so much fear. Miranda might deliver her chilling catchphrase after rattling off a list of demands, dressing down an employee for their incompetence or shooting a contemptuous glance toward Andy’s hideous shoes, but the subtext is always, “You are no longer of use to me.”
The emotional response Miranda can elicit with the otherwise innocuous sentence speaks to her power. She doesn’t need to raise her voice or demonstrate her wit for her employees to bend the knee. Once she deploys a “That’s all,” whatever conversation just transpired is officially closed for any further discussion, and whomever she is finished speaking to is now dismissed for good. With this short, powerful phrase in her back pocket, Miranda always has the last word.
4
“This place, where so many would die to work, you only deign to work. And you want to know why she doesn’t kiss you on the forehead and give you a gold star on your homework at the end of the day.”
Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci)
Stanley Tucci is at his best in The Devil Wears Prada, and nowhere is that more apparent than in this line, which blends fatherly wisdom with unapologetic sass. When Andy complains to Nigel that Miranda chews her out for the smallest mistakes while refusing to acknowledge anything she does right, Nigel doesn’t have the patience for her whining.
With this hefty dose of tough love, Nigel forces Andy to confront her sense of entitlement and rigidity. Andy takes his words to heart, and this moment serves as a turning point in her attitude toward her job. In this conversation, Nigel shows that, while he may share the biting tone of his coworkers, he legitimately wants to see Andy succeed.
3
“The Chanel boots? Yeah, I am.”
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway)
Once it finally sinks in for Andy that a fashion victim will never succeed at a fashion magazine, she begrudgingly accepts Nigel’s mentorship. With the resources of a veritable fashion museum at their disposal, Nigel turns Andy into a one-woman runway show that even her cattiest coworkers can’t ignore. Cue the makeover montage to end all makeover montages.
By the time Emily notices Andy’s new wardrobe, the clearance bin caterpillar has transformed into a designer-label butterfly. Not only is Andy modeling the items that Emily covets, including the Chanel boots, but Andy has now become savvy enough to rub Emily’s jealousy in her face. An unspoken understanding passes between the two assistants at this moment: their hierarchy may not be as obvious as Emily initially believed.
2
“Everybody wants to be us.”
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
After spending most of the film trying to win her approval, this quote, in one of the closing scenes, indicates that Andy has finally earned Miranda’s acceptance along with a harsh wake-up call. If the Prada-clad devil considers Andy to be her protégé, what does that say about Andy’s character? The acknowledgment of the extent to which Andy has changed throughout the story is enough to inspire her first moment of defiance, as she chooses to walk away from Miranda and throw her instantly ringing phone into a fountain.
What makes the quote more remarkable is that it was changed by Meryl Streep on the fly. While the line was originally written as “Everybody wants to be me,” Streep made the small but impactful change to “us,” which indicates that Andy doesn’t simply want to be like Miranda: she already is. To Miranda, granting this designation is the highest honor, but Andy recognizes this exchange as a stark reminder of how much integrity she has sacrificed to reach this very moment.
1
The Cerulean Monologue
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep)
Oh, okay. I see. You think a list of quotes has nothing to do with great movie monologues. You watch a movie and pick out, I don’t know, a quip, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you value brevity too much to care about world-building and character development. But what you don’t know is that this monologue is not just about fashion; it’s not about economics. It’s actually about power.
Miranda’s long diatribe against Andy is one of the most memorable moments in The Devil Wears Prada, and with good reason. This monologue represents the unseen influence of the fashion industry and Andy’s first taste of its cutthroat world. It perfectly summarizes the film’s main themes and challenges the audience to think beyond and stop treating the fashion industry as vapid or meaningless. And it’s sort of comical that you think it’s a choice that should be exempted from this list when, in fact, you’re reading about a defining moment in cinema that was selected for you by a writer with too much time on her hands… from a pile of quotes.
The Devil Wears Prada
- Release Date
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June 29, 2006
- Runtime
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109 minutes
- Director
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David Frankel
- Writers
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Aline Brosh McKenna, Lauren Weisberger
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