Context

This line is spoken by John Merrick, played by John Hurt, in the movie The Elephant Man, directed by David Lynch (1980).

John Merrick is an intelligent, sensitive guy… who also happens to have been born hideously disfigured. Merrick is rescued from his abusive life in a freak show by Dr. Treves (Anthony Hopkins) and given shelter in a hospital.

Things go well for Merrick for a while, until he's kidnapped and shoved into yet another freak show. In escaping, he accidentally pushes down a little girl and is chased by an angry mob, to whom he screams this famous line.

Nominated for a bunch of Oscars, The Elephant Man was director David Lynch's follow-up to his cult classic debut Eraserhead, and it's pretty straightforward for a David Lynch movie. Luckily for us, Lynch quickly got weird again with Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, and all the freakiness that followed. You know, it's funny when a director's non-freakiest movie is about a dude in a freak show. 

Get your peek at the Elephant Man here.

Where you've heard it

This quote is a favorite for the guys of Mystery Science Theater 3000, who spoofed it a ton of times on the show. The quote also pops up in Batman Returns. That's not one of new ones; it's one of the ones from the '90s. (Tim Burton directed it, though, so things hadn't gone totally downhill yet.)  In the movie, the Penguin (Danny Devito) flips the line around, saying "I am not a human being. I am an animal!"

Additional Notable References:

Movies

• Class of Nuke 'Em High: Part 3
• Bubble Boy

TV

• Hannah Montana
• Men Behaving Badly
• Tripping the Rift
• American Gothic
• Boy Meets World
• Seinfeld
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• Tiny Toon Adventures

Video Games

• Ace Ventura

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.

It may sound a little lofty, but this is about human dignity, people. Pretentious it is not.