The Lion King Quotes

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Source: The Lion King

Speaker: Rafiki

"He lives in you."

You see? He lives in you.

Context

This line is spoken by Rafiki, voiced by Robert Guillaume, in The Lion King, directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff (1994).

Halfway through The Lion King, our hero Simba is in a little bit of an existential crisis. His old friend Nala has disturbed his "Hakuna Matata" existence to tell him that his Uncle Scar has tyrannized the Pridelands, and he needs to come back and become the rightful king. In perfect Joseph Campbell fashion, he declines.

But lucky for him, there's a wise yet kooky monkey named Rafiki looking out for him. Rafiki shows Simba his reflection, so he can see how much he's grown from that cute little cub that Rafiki bench-pressed at the beginning of the movie. Now he looks a lot like Mufasa, and it's time for him to take on his father's role.

After a stars-induced hallucination and a little literal prodding from Rafiki, Simba is ready to be king and can't wait to show off his roar.

Where you've heard it

There's not really a way to use this in a non-Shakespearean/epic quest setting without coming off as weird or insensitive.

"He Lives in You" is the title of a song in the direct-to-home video The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998), which is kind of like the Romeo and Juliet of Disney, as Simba's daughter Kiara falls in love with Kovu, the son of one of Scar's followers.

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.

Unless you're speaking to a lion princeling, people don't really want to be randomly reminded of their dead relatives, who they might have resembled.