Summary

• Jigsaw's iconic quotes carry hidden meanings and reflect his twisted sense of fun in creating death-defying lessons for his victims.
• Saw franchise faced near-cancellation after negative reviews for Saw 3D but made a comeback with sequels featuring Tobin Bell's return.
• John Kramer's motivations in Saw movies stem from a near-death experience, driving him to make others appreciate life through brutal tests.

Nobody has better Saw quotes than the main character of the franchise, John Kramer/Jigsaw. Every statement he makes is either witty or has some sort of hidden meaning to it. After attempting suicide due to a terminal illness, the former engineer came to appreciate life even more, and he sought to impart that same death-defying lesson to those whom he believed did not value their lives. Thus began a gruesome chain of events that has thus far spanned 10 movies and nearly two decades. Saw 3D, released in 2010, looked to be the death knell for the iconic horror franchise.

The Saw 3D from critics and audiences alike almost made it the final Saw movie, but the series has since produced more sequels and a spinoff. The biggest change in those installments was the lack of Tobin Bell as John Kramer. However, 2023's Saw X saw the return of John Kramer, and he brought with him some more memorable Jigsaw lines that rank among the best Saw quotes in franchise history.

25 "Oh, Yes. There Will Be Blood."

Saw II (2005)

The kill counts in the Saw movies show that Jigsaw is a man who is willing to shed blood in order to make his point. But despite all of his self-important rhetoric about how he is simply helping people, there does sometimes seem to be a twisted sense of fun he gets from just how brutal his tests can be.

In Saw II, Jigsaw reveals to Detective Matthews that his son is among the several captives taking part in one of his games. As he explains the fate his son faces, he cannot hide his amusement in delivering this gruesome promise.

It is one of the rare times Jigsaw seems like the bloodthirsty killer that he is. This is a switch from the more reasoning approaches he takes with his victims, where he lets them know this is a lesson they have to learn. Here, he just seems happy about it.

24 "You Can’t Help Them. They Have To Help Themselves."

Saw IV (2007)

Before he began his path as Jigsaw, it seemed as though John Kramer had lost his faith in people but that doesn't mean that he had given up on them. He had seen examples of people who offered to help those struggling in life only to see that help squandered.

In the end, John comes to the realization that the goodness in others will not change these people, but rather that they need to have their own life in their hands to help put their lives right. There is an interesting aspect to Jigsaw in how he views humanity.

The entire Saw franchise seems almost like torture porn for the sake of Jigsaw hurting other people. However, in John's eyes, the people he is hurting deserve it and the only way they will ever grow and become better is to suffer for their sins. He leaves a way out for those who want to improve themselves, but they have to make a sacrifice first.

23 "Welcome To Your Rebirth."

Saw IV (2007)

There have been a few different motivations given for why John Kramer started on his path to become Jigsaw. One of these explanations comes in Saw II where a flashback shows that, following his terminal cancer diagnosis, John attempted to end his own life by crashing his car.

He survived the crash and the painful injuries helped him to gain a new appreciation for the life he had. In a way, that was John's moment of rebirth, and he has been trying to give others their chance at starting life again with a new perspective.

He delivers this line to Rigg ahead of his test. It is also interesting that John sees a near-death experience as the most important thing that can happen to a person when they get too close to the edge, or when they have already crossed the line. When they realize that death is so close, they can finally see the world differently and make the changes needed to do better.

22 "Those Who Don't Appreciate Life Do Not Deserve It."

Saw II (2005)

As much as Jigsaw talks about giving people the means to save themselves, it also feels like there are some people he wants to see fail his tests and die. One aspect of his character that is not often discussed is the jealousy he feels towards people who have full lives ahead of them. He is a dying man who is filled with anger at the thought of people not appreciating the life he so badly wants.

In some instances, it feels like his tests are less about giving a second chance to those who earn it and more about taking life away from those who don't appreciate it to his liking. In Saw II, this was the case with Campbell Iman. He, like John, has cancer. However, instead of feeling mercy towards the man, John sees that he is a drug addict who is wasting away the last few years of his life. For John, death is a better option.

21 "This Is Not Retribution. This Is A Reawakening."

Saw X (2023)

Saw X takes place earlier on the timeline while John Kramer is still alive and explores an unknown aspect of his journey. It sees him lured into a scam for a life-saving cancer operation. When John finds out that it was all a lie to cheat him out of his money, he takes those responsible and places them in a series of traps.

It feels like a more personal mission John is on. But even after these people give him hope for a new life only to take it away, he assures them that he is not looking for revenge but rather seeking to help them be better people.

This is an interesting take on John's story. Instead of the attempted suicide that led him to make people appreciate their lives more, here he was cheated and hurt. He wants to make these villains understand what they do hurts others, and by hurting them, he hopes to change their outlook on life.

20 "If You Find The Meaning Of Your Life, What You’ve Found Is Your Soul."

Saw X (2023)

Saw X is the most critically acclaimed movie in the franchise and a big part of that reason is likely due to how much it puts Tobin Bell's John Kramer in the spotlight. Bell's performance has always been the strongest aspect of these movies and Saw X uses his talents to its full advantage, digging deeper into the character and revealing more.

This quote is an insightful one that suggests part of the motivation behind his work is that it gives him purpose and meaning in the final days of his life. John says he wants to help others be better people and realize that they are wasting their lives away with their misdeeds, mistakes, and sins.

However, at the end of the day, John is doing this for himself. In the end, he helps others, or he lets them die, and whatever happens is up to them. As this Saw quote reveals, the only person he really cares about helping is himself, as he seeks to heal his own soul with these tests.

19 "So, Your Advice To Me Is To Die Easy?"

Saw X (2023)

Saw X takes place in between the first and second movie, showing John Kramer very near the end of his life and dealing with that pending death. How he chooses to address the end of his life is another interesting and thought-provoking aspect of the character. After being told his time is limited, the doctor gives John advice on how to make his final days easier. However, this sounds absurd to John. Why would he want to die easily? Why wouldn't he want to fight against it with every last bit of strength he had left?

From that perspective, John might think his victims have an obvious choice to make. This is a lesson that John es on to these victims. Do they want to keep wasting their lives away and make their own lives easy until they die, or do they want to fight, struggle, and make hard decisions to make their worth ing when they finally die? To John, the answer is easy.

18 "I'm Sick Of It All"

Saw (2004)

"Yes, I'm Sick, Officer. Sick From The Disease Eating Away At Me Inside. Sick Of People Who Don't Appreciate Their Blessings. Sick Of Those Who Scoff At The Suffering Of Others. I'm Sick Of It All!"

John Kramer reveals his motivations to the police early in the franchise in 2004's Saw when he is close to being apprehended in his warehouse while one of his victims is close to his death in a trap of his creation. This prompts the officers to call Jigsaw sick, which makes him list the various things that make him sick. Though a slightly tropey bit of villain monologuing, the quote offers early insight into the psyche of the Saw franchise's leading antagonist.

These Saw quotes show why John is doing this, to begin with. John claims he wants to help others, but John is sick and tired and he is disgusted when he sees others floundering and not respecting what they have when he knows he is dying. Life isn't fair to John, and his tests are punishments as much as they are tests.

17 "When Faced With Death, Who Should Live Versus Who Will Live Are Two Entirely Separate Things."

Saw VI (2009)

2009's Saw VI introduced a new series of traps arranged by Jigsaw after his death and carried out by his latest successor that was designed to test William Easton, head of a major health insurance company that raked in incredible riches by denying medical claims based on their immoral policies.

While many horror movie series lose steam after the first few entries, Saw VI was an unexpected break for Saw — a shot in the arm for the franchise and boldly served as something of an origin story that better fleshed out Kramer's backstory and motivations.

Though he's technically been dead for some time during the events of the film, his words still sting from beyond the grave. In this quote, John is lashing out one more time from the grave, as he is left to die and knows that many more people will die because of the American health system's greed. This is a trap for revenge more than a learning experience for the victim.

16 "I've Never Murdered Anyone In My Life. The Decisions Were Up To Them."

Saw II (2005)

In Saw II, Jigsaw has seemingly allowed himself to be caught. However, when a police squadron led by Eric Matthews arrives at his hideout, they find the villain to be in the process of conducting a game — or so they believe.

In exchange for freeing his captured son and Jigsaw's other victims, he asks only that Matthews have patience and partake in conversation. Matthews, understandably, accuses him of murder, but Kramer responds by claiming that he's never murdered anyone, as those who died in his traps chose to.

It's an odd rationale, but it's central to Jigsaw's concepts of sacrifice and redemption. This is also something that makes John Kramer such a fascinating slasher killer. He kidnaps people (or has them kidnapped) and then places them in traps that will kill them if they make a mistake. While this technically means their mistakes cause their deaths. He is just as guilty, but by his rationale, he gave everyone a chance to live.