Amsterdam Vallon: New York loved William Tweed... and hated him but for those of us trying to be thieves, we couldn't help but admire him.
Priest Vallon: Prepare to meet the true lord.
Bill: Don't mind him. He used to be an Irishman.
[as the Irish are drafted as they come ashore] Irish Immigrant: Where we goin'? Another Immigrant: I heard Tennessee. Irish Immigrant: Where's that? Irish Soldier: Do they feed us now?
Irish Singer: [singing] Well, meself and a hundred more, to America sailed o'er, with our fortunes to be made, so we were thinkin' / When we got to Yankee land, they shoved a gun into our hands / Saying "Paddy, you must go and fight for Lincoln."/ Th...
[swearing in Irish immigrants as citizens at the harbor] Army Recruiter: That document makes you a citizen, and this one makes you a private in the Union army. Now get out there and serve your country.
[as an anti-draft riot takes place] Boss Tweed: Sweet Jesus, war does terrible things to people.
[as Monk McGinn runs for Sheriff] Boss Tweed: That man was right born for this. Amsterdam Vallon: He's killed 44 men, and laid low a couple hundred more. Boss Tweed: Is that right? We should have run him for mayor.
Killoran: Monk's already won by three thousand more votes than there are voters. Boss Tweed: Only three? Make it twenty, thirty. We don't need a victory. We need a Roman triumph.
[speaking of Bill the Butcher] Jenny: When I was twelve years old, my mother was dead, and I was livin' in a doorway. He took me in. Took care of me, in his way. After they cut out the baby... well, he doesn't fancy girls that's scarred up. But you m...
[as a man is about to be hung] Bill: That's a fine locket. I'll give you a dollar for it. Arthur: It was me mother's... Bill: Dollar and a half? Arthur: Done.
Miss Schermerhorn: Is that man drunk? Happy Jack: Och, dead as Good Friday, miss.
Young Johnny Sirocco: Oy! Boyo! Young Amsterdam Vallon: Johnny. Young Johnny Sirocco: What you doin', boyo? Young Amsterdam Vallon: There's a battle. The natives against the dead rabbits. Young Johnny Sirocco: Which side are you on? Young Amsterdam V...
Bill: [after stabbing Priest] Look to me! Who is this under my knife!
Bill: Everything you see belongs to me, to one degree or another. The beggars and newsboys and quick thieves here in Paradise, the sailor dives and gin mills and blind tigers on the waterfront, the anglers and amusers, the she-hes and the Chinks. Eve...
Boss Tweed: Bill, I can't get a days work done for all the good citizens coming in here to harass me about crime in the Points. Some even go so far as to accuse Tammany of connivance in this so-called rampant criminality. What am I to do? I can't hav...
Boss Tweed: That's the building of our country right there, Mr. Cutting. Americans aborning. Bill: I don't see no Americans. I see trespassers, Irish harps. Do a job for a nickel what a nigger does for a dime and a white man used to get a quarter for...
Bill: Well draw it mildly son. Happy Jack don't fill his lungs without I tell him he may do so.
