Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Netflix series Ozark and discussions of ableism, drugs, and misogynistic language.
Ruth Langmore has grown to be a fan-favorite character in the Netflix hit show Ozark. Ruth is often tough, fearless, and super intelligent. Her love-hate relationship with the show’s main character, Marty Byrde, makes for intriguing viewing. One minute she’d die for him, the next minute she wants to kill him.
Actor Julia Garner plays Ruth, and due to her brilliant performance, she ended up winning an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress In A Drama Series in 2019. Another thing that makes Ruth stand out is her abundance of brilliant quotes.
Updated on March 24th, 2022 by Hannah Saab: As fans eagerly wait for the second part of Ozark’s final season, it’s the perfect time to look back at some of Ruth’s quotes that have become iconic in the fandom. Some of her best lines have unsurprisingly become the subject of memes and discussions, as the fan-favorite character continues to prove that she’s a tough badass the Byrdes (and the cartels) shouldn’t mess with.
“What You Got Ain’t A Disability, Just Poor Judgement.”
Frank Cosgrove Jr – the entitled son of the Kansas City mob boss – has mostly had a terrible relationship with Ruth (at least until the latest season). He spent most of his days in Marty’s casino trying his luck in high-stakes card games. During the games, he was often unruly and couldn’t refrain from using foul language.
When he shows up one day and parks his Dodge Challenger in the area allocated for people with disabilities, Ruth doesn’t hesitate to call him out for it. And she does so in the most offensive way possible by making fun of his level of intelligence.
“If I Was Kidding I Would’ve Said You’re Witty And Handsome.”
In the third episode of the first season, Ruth puts the $20,000 they took from Marty in a cabinet in the trailer. Both Russ and Boyd feel it isn’t a safe spot so Russ asks her if she’s kidding. Clearly, she is not kidding as she leaves to go look for Marty.
But before she does that, she lets Russ know that if she was kidding, she would have praised his looks. Russ looked nothing close to a male model on a magazine cover so the joke landed perfectly.
“Look, I Know I Kissed You Last Night, But It’s Coz I Thought I Was Gonna Die.”
After Marty got kidnapped by Navarro’s men and then Navarro’s bank account got flagged, Ruth, Wendy, and Hellen began freaking out. Ben, who had been trying to woo Ruth along, went to the trailer park to see her. He told her he won’t go anywhere until he knew she was safe.
Ruth was awed by his level of concern so she kissed him. The next day, Ben showed up again but Ruth didn’t seem so pleased to see him. She thus let him know that she didn’t kiss him because she likes him. She only did so because the Marty incident had made her scared. It’s that kind of humorous ruthlessness that makes her one of the best characters in Ozark.
“How’s About Instead Of S*****n’ On Me, You Get Your Own House In Order?”
Ruth and Marty certainly have a love-hate style relationship, with Marty often trying to control Ruth as he clearly believes he is better than her throughout the show. This is something that eventually becomes a big problem for them, and this is a great moment for Ruth.
Marty might technically be Ruth’s boss, but he certainly is no better than her in terms of making questionable decisions and breaking laws. This is a perfect example of Ruth putting him in his place, making it clear he needs to sort his own problems out before just blaming her, which is his usual go-to decision.
“Was He Murdered?”
Marty isn’t the only person that Ruth is prepared to talk back to and silence, as she showcases when Helen begins to creep into her life. While most of the other characters are petrified of Helen, that isn’t really the case with Ruth, who isn’t as intimated by her.
When Helen tries to sympathize with Ruth by pointing out that her father died when she was the same age as Ruth, she quickly fires back by asking if he was murdered. It’s clearly a moment of her telling Helen to shut up, as they can’t be compared, and it makes for a fantastic encounter between them.
“Y’all Need To Have A Story. For instance, Old Auntie Dips**t Just Left Me A Whole Bundle And She Dropped Dead And Yadda Yadda Yadda.”
After Navarro kidnapped Marty, he demanded that business go on as usual. So Ruth did her best to fill her boss’s shoes. Since the FBI agent Maya was watching every move, Ruth and Wendy came up with a perfect plan to launder money without Maya’s noticing.
They assembled a group of guys (including Ben) and gave them $9000 each. Their job was to go to the casino, lose the money then get paid $1000. Ruth also did a great job of explaining to them what they should say if in case they were asked where they got the money.
“I’ve Got A Pretty Strong F*****g Stomach… Pardon My French.”
Ruth Langmore has a habit of squeezing a swear word into nearly every sentence. However, the line about her strong stomach is hilarious because she expresses self-awareness of this by apologizing, in her way.
The moment comes in the funeral home while she’s talking with the director, making it very clear that anything they show or tell her won’t be an issue, alluding to the fact she’s been through a lot and is made of tough stuff. The addition of “pardon my French” makes the scene even more comical and unforgettable.
“If You’re A Killer, Then I’m Snow White. And I Don’t See Any Dwarves Around.”
In the episode “Ruling Days,” Bobby’s body is discovered at Marty’s boat dock. The Sheriff takes a look at the sale documents for the strip club and concludes that neither Marty nor his wife had any motive to kill Bobby. Bobby’s death is thus ruled as an accident.
Later on, Marty explains to Ruth that he didn’t kill Bobby. He does this to make her feel comfortable and not be afraid of something similar happens to her. Ruth tells Marty that she is not concerned. Not even close. She knows he is not a killer.
“What The F**k Are You Gonna Do? Kill Me, You F****n’ B***h Wolf?”
After Ben gets killed by a cartel hitman, Ruth becomes angry and goes to confront Wendy in the finale of the third season. In turn, Wendy blames her for what happened since she is the one who organized for his release from the psychiatric hospital.
Ruth then barks out the quote asking what her boss is going to do to Wendy and quits. Wendy must have indeed looked in the mirror afterward to check if she had turned into a werewolf. Later on, the scheming Helen asks Ruth if she’d like to work for her and she seems open to the idea. However, it never happens since Hellen gets killed.
“How About I Pop Those T**s And Squeeze Out The Silicon?”
One thing that is always clear about Ruth Langmore is that she has no filter, a fact made abundantly clear by practically every line she delivers. She doesn’t care who she offends and in fact, makes it a point to insult others.
A hilarious line comes during an argument with the stripper, Jade, where she immediately looks to make a comment about a certain portion of her anatomy. It’s a quick remark that easily gets a laugh from audiences at home and really suits her character.
“You Know, Wyatt, In Our World, It’s Good To Be One Of The Smart Ones. Remember That, Okay?”
By the third episode of the first season, Ruth was already showing just how far wise she was compared to her relatives. With reckless uncles like Boyd and Russ who would always drain her funds, she figured she’d need to figure out ways to make more money.
She thus sought to blackmail Marty to pay her more in order to keep her secret. She also wanted him to make her more involved in the operations. And while at it, she made sure to advise Wyatt not to be like the other members of the family who don’t think big.
“You Owe Me A Job.”
Ruth Langmore is never one to beat around the bush, which is why she is so well-liked. She has a way of getting to the point immediately. She follows this up with a great zinger as she asks Marty if she’s speaking Greek when he doesn’t seem to understand, and it makes for a tremendous scene.
Ruth believes Marty cost her a job, and she demands that he replaces it with another. It’s the real starting point of their relationship and it makes for a fun encounter. It showcases her no-nonsense personality and hints at how she will be one of the bravest Ozark characters, that’s why it works so well.
“Shut Your Nugget Mouth And Get The Hell Out.”
With intentions of bringing Marty down, the FBI made Ruth’s uncle Russ wear a wire so that he could get some information out of her. Ruth quickly realized what was going on and decided to protect both herself and Marty by all means possible.
When Russ insists on talking to her, she reasserts her dominance and bluntly tells him to shit his nugget mouth. Not a nice thing to say to one’s uncle, but under the circumstances, it’s totally understandable. Russ had no option but to be quiet.
When Ben gets released from the mental health facility thanks to Darlene and the Sheriff, he still refused to lay low. After Ben reveals that he spoke to Helen’s daughter, Ruth realizes that this means a death sentence for him so she makes plans to hide him.
She takes him to Darlene’s house where Wyatt is also staying. As she is speaking to Wyatt, she tells him that Ben is so reckless and unpredictable like her. Everything he does ultimately leads to a bad outcome. Wyatt then tells him that he is crazier than the two of them since he’s in love with an older woman (Darlene).
“I Don’t Know S**t About F**k.”
Ruth’s quote about now knowing “s***t about f**k” has become one of her most iconic ones on Ozark. It has become a popular meme when people want to joke about having no clue about something. Ruth said the words in the tenth episode of the second season as Marty was trying to explain to her how to handle things when she took over the operation.
Marty laid out everything in detail but Ruth was just not sure if she was cut out for it. She let Marty that she doubted if she was the right person for the job, and when Marty insisted, she emphasized her concerns with expletives. Her wording was hilarious, to say the least.
“God’s A M**********r Isn’t He? Built Me Smart Enough To Know How F****d Up My Life Is, But Not Quite Smart Enough To Haul My Ass Out Of It.”
In one of her more insightful conversations with Marty, fans see a rare glimpse of Ruth’s more vulnerable side. She has lost her spot in the casino, her first love, and her relationship with Wyatt at this point.
Her line where she admits how she’s not “smart enough” to get out of the circumstances she has been born into goes against her personality in Ozark. She’s usually the overconfident, egoistic, and brazen character who knows she can do anything, but not even Ruth Langmore herself is immune to the hardships of life.
“Why Would They Make DEFCON 1 Worse Than DEFCON 5?”
Ruth provides some much-needed comic relief during the wild season 4 episode, “Sanctified.” When Marty goes to her to ask for a favor, she jokingly asks him if he ever just loses his keys, or if “every g*****n thing” with him is “DEFCON 5.” Marty explains with a hilarious straight face that “DEFCON 1 is worse than DEFCON 5,” which only momentarily confuses Ruth before she snaps back with how “they’re all f*****g bad.”
After Marty leaves, Ruth thinks out loud and asks why they would make “DEFCON 1 worse than DEFCON 5.” It’s a funny exchange in the midst of a serious situation that highlights how unintentionally humorous Ruth can be.
“Is That My Fault That You Can’t Communicate For S**t With Your Wife?
When Ruth gets caught in between Marty and Wendy’s argument, she doesn’t appreciate how Marty berates her for helping Wendy with acquiring the Bid Muddy casino. To be fair, Ruth had no idea they were having marital issues, and she had just gone and devised and flawlessly executed a plan for Wendy, which is why it’s understandably disappointing that Marty would once again fail to see her brilliance.
Of course, Ruth doesn’t bother communicating her feelings in a healthy way. She just snaps at Marty for faulting her for his issues with Wendy. He should really be able to “communicate for s**t” with her by then, as that’s the source of a lot of problems in the series.
“Brand It Like It’s The F*****g Moët Of Dope.”
Ruth doesn’t realize how old-school and unreceptive Darlene actually is, as the Snell is used to running her drug business her way. This traditional way of doing things extends to how she distributes her heroin, which Ruth disrupts by suggesting they create “the f*****g Moët of dope” by rebranding their drugs into luxury goods.
This is only one line in the wildly entertaining exchange between her and Wyatt at Darlene’s dinner table. They laugh about how they’ll turn it into “hipster heroin” and call the concept “from farm to needle.” All of this happens as Darlene fumes in the background, making the humorous scene slightly tenser.
“If You Want To Stop Me, You’re Gonna Have To F*****g Kill Me!”
Ruth’s latest and most memorable quote in the show is said during the final moments of the season 4 episode, “Sanctified.” After her devastating discovery of Wyatt’s (and Darlene’s) bodies, she can barely contain her rage as she drives over to the Byrdes’ home to figure out who did it.
Marty and Wendy’s annoying response about not going after Javi only makes her even more furious, which eventually prompts her now iconic line about how they’ll have to “f*****g kill” her if they want to stop her. Viewers can feel her pain and anger, which raises a ton of questions about what could happen next in the highly anticipated finale.