American Gangster quotes

View Quote Brand names mean something, Nicky. Consumers rely on them to know what they're getting. They know the company isn't going to try to fool them with an inferior product. They buy a Ford, they know they're gonna get a Ford. Not a ****in' Datsun. Blue Magic is a brand name; as much a brand name as Pepsi. I own it. I stand behind it. I guarantee it and people know that even if they don't know me any more than they know the chairman of General Foods.

View Quote Cattano: Success. It's got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends.

View Quote The man I worked for ran one of the biggest companies in New York City for almost fifty years. I was with him every day for fifteen of them, looking after him, taking care of things, protecting him, learning from him. Bumpy was rich, but never white man rich. Why? Because he didn't own the company. He thought he did. He didn't. He only managed it. Someone else owned it. So they owned him. Nobody owns me. Because I own my company. And my company sells a product that's better than the competition's at a price that's lower.

View Quote What matters in business is honesty, integrity, hard work, loyalty, and never forgetting where you came from. You are what you are and that's one of two things. You're nothing ... or you're something. Understand what 'm saying?

View Quote Cattano: I always wonder if people know when history's being made. And what they're doing at the time. This, for instance, could be a historic moment, and you're sipping a glass of ice water.

View Quote Campizi: I swear to God, Richie, I didn't know it was you. I would never slam a door on your hand. Knowingly.
Richie: You bit my ****in' hand!

View Quote Cattano: Monopolies are illegal in this country, Frank, because no one can compete with a monopoly. If they let the dairy farmers do that, half of them would go out of business tomorrow.
Frank: 'm just trying to make a living.
Cattano: Which is your right. Because this is America. But not at the unreasonable expense of others. That's un-American. You know the price you pay for a gallon of milk doesn't represent its true cost of production. It's controlled. Set.
Frank: I set a price I think is fair.
Cattano: It's very unfair, in fact. Your customers are happy, but what about your fellow dairy farmers? You're not thinking of them.
Frank: 'm thinking of them as much as they ever thought of me.

View Quote Frank: 'm watching the news. Where the hell's everyone going?
Nate: Home. The war's over.
Frank: Just like that? We're going to leave the ****in' country to the communists?
Nate: We been here since 1961, Frank.
Frank: I haven't!

View Quote This is the problem. This is what's wrong with America. It's gotten so big you can't find your way.

View Quote This is the problem. This is the way it is now: You can't find the heart of anything to stick the knife.

View Quote Forget it, Frank. No one's in charge.

View Quote It's chaos. Every gorilla for himself.

View Quote That basically the whole picture right there.

View Quote [To Trupo]'Detective. There are some things you don't do. This is one of them. Not on a man's wedding day.

View Quote I do pay them, I pay them all. Cops, accountants, lawyers, who don't I pay? Everybody. I pay them a fortune, it doesn't matter. It doesn't satisfy them. The more you pay, the more they expect. You can't start with them because they can't stop. It's like dope. They always want more.