Harry Lime: Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Sw...
Harry Lime: Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I. Martins: Yo...
Calloway: Go home Martins, like a sensible chap. You don't know what you're mixing in, get the next plane. Martins: As soon as I get to the bottom of this, I'll get the next plane. Calloway: Death's at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death t...
Martins: Have you ever seen any of your victims? Harry Lime: You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving fore...
Anna Schmidt: A person doesn't change just because you find out more.
Martins: Listen, Callahan! Calloway: Calloway. I'm English, not Irish.
Crabbin: [inviting Holly Martins to give a lecture at the local Cultural Reeducation Society] We do a little show each week. Last week we had "Hamlet." The week before we had... something. Sgt. Paine: The striptease, sir. Crabbin: Yes, the Hindu danc...
Calloway: [to Holly Martins] You were born to be murdered.
Martins: I was going to stay with him, but he died Thursday. Crabbin: Goodness, that's awkward. Martins: Is that what you say to people after death? "Goodness, that's awkward"?
Harry Lime: What did you want me to do? Be reasonable. You didn't expect me to give myself up... 'It's a far, far better thing that I do.' The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Holly, you and I aren't heroes. The world doesn't make any hero...
Martins: I'd make comic faces... and stand on my head and grin at you between my legs... and tell all sorts of jokes. I wouldn't stand a chance, would I?
Popescue: That's a nice girl, that. But she ought to go careful in Vienna. Everybody ought to go careful in a city like this.
Martins: I guess nobody really knew Harry like he did... like I did. Calloway: How long ago ? Martins: Back in school. I was never so lonesome in my life until he showed up. Calloway: When did you see him last ? Martins: September, '39. Calloway: Whe...
Calloway: Next time we'll have a foolproof coffin.
Calloway: We should have dug deeper than a grave.
Calloway: I told you to go away, Martins. This isn't Santa Fe. I'm not a sheriff and you aren't a cowboy. You've been blundering around with the worst bunch of racketeers in Vienna, your precious Harry's friends, and now you're wanted for murder. Mar...
Porter: He is now [points up] Porter: in hell, or [points down] Porter: in heaven.
British MP: I'm sorry, Miss, it's orders. We can't go against the protocol. Anna Schmidt: I don't even know what protocol means. British MP: Neither do I, Miss.
