Casablanca quotes

View Quote Rick: Henri wants us to finish this bottle, and then three more. He says he'll water his garden with champagne before he'll let the Germans drink it.
Sam: This takes the sting out of being occupied, doesn't it, Mr. Richard?
Rick: You said it. [toasting] Here's looking at you, kid.
[Gestapo loudspeakers in the street interrupt them, announcing the Germans' arrival the next day.]
Rick: My German's a little rusty.
Ilsa: They're telling us how to act when they come marching in. With the whole world crumbling we pick this time to fall in love.
Rick: Yeah, it's pretty bad timing. Where were you, say, ten years ago?
Ilsa: Ten years ago? Let's see, yes, I was having a brace put on my teeth. Where were you?
Rick: Looking for a job.
[They kiss, but are interrupted by artillery fire]
Ilsa: Was that cannon fire or is it my heart pounding?
Rick: Ah, that's the new German 77, and judging by the sound, only about thirty-five miles away - and getting closer every minute.

View Quote Ugarte: You know, Rick, watching you just now with the Deutschebank [the German banker], one would think you'd been doing this all your life.
Rick: Oh, what makes you think I haven't?
Ugarte: Oh, nothing. But when you first came to Casablanca, I thought...
Rick: You thought what?
Ugarte: What right do I have to think?..Too bad about those two German couriers, wasn't it?
Rick: They got a lucky break. Yesterday, they were just two German clerks. Today, they're the Honored Dead.
Ugarte: You are a very cynical person, Rick, if you forgive me for saying so.
Rick: I forgive you.
Ugarte: You despise me, don't you?
Rick: Well, if I gave you any thought, I probably would.
Ugarte: But why? Oh, you object to the kind of business I do, huh? But think of all those poor refugees who must rot in this place if I didn't help them. Well that's not so bad, through ways of my own, I provide them with exit visas.
Rick: For a price, Ugarte, for a price.
Ugarte: But think of all the poor devils who can't meet Renault's price. I get it for them for half. Is that so parasitic?
Rick: I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.
Ugarte: Well, Rick, after tonight, I'll be through with the whole business, and I'm leaving finally, this Casablanca.
Rick: Who'd you bribe for your visa, Renault or yourself?
Ugarte: Myself. I found myself much more reasonable.
[Ugarte shows Rick two non-rescindable letters of transit out of Casablanca that allow their possessor to travel without a regular passport or visa]
...
Ugarte: You know Rick, I have many a friend in Casablanca, but somehow, just because you despise me you are the only one I trust. Rick, I hope you are more impressed with me now, huh?
Rick: I heard a rumor that the two murdered German couriers were carrying letters of transit.
Ugarte: Oh, I've heard that rumor too. Poor devils.
Rick: Yes, you're right, Ugarte. I am a little more impressed with you.

View Quote Opening narration: And so a tortuous, round-about refugee trail sprang up. Paris to Marseilles, across the Mediterranean to Oran [in Algeria], then by train or auto or foot across the rim of Africa to Casablanca in French Morocco. Here the fortunate ones through money or influence or luck might obtain exit visas and scurry to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to the New World. But the others wait in Casablanca, and wait...and wait...and wait.

View Quote Rick: They grab Ugarte. Then she walks in. Well, that's the way it goes. One in, one out. Sam?
Sam: Yeah, boss?
Rick: If it's December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York?
Sam: Uh, my watch stopped.
Rick: I bet they're asleep in New York. I bet they're asleep all over America.
[pounds his fist against the bar in frustration]
Rick: Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine! (#67 in the AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotations)

View Quote Ilsa: Can I tell you a story, Rick?
Rick: Does it got a wow finish?
Ilsa: I don't know the finish yet.
Rick: Go on and tell it. Maybe one will come to you as you go along.
Ilsa: It's about a girl who had just come to Paris from her home in Oslo. At the house of some friends, she met a man about whom she'd heard her whole life, a very great and courageous man. He opened up for her a whole beautiful world full of knowledge and thoughts and ideals. Everything she knew or ever became was because of him. And she looked up to him, worshipped him, with a feeling she supposed was love.
Rick: Yes, that's very pretty. I heard a story once. As a matter of fact, I've heard a lot of stories in my time. They went along with the sound of a tinny piano, playing in the parlor downstairs. 'Mister, I met a man once when I was a kid,' they'd always begin. Well, I guess neither one of our stories is very funny. Tell me, who was it you left me for? Was it Laszlo or were there others in between? Or aren't you the kind that tells?

View Quote Renault: I can't get over you two. She was asking about you earlier, Rick, in a way that made me extremely jealous.
Ilsa: [to Rick] I wasn't sure you were the same. Let's see, the last time we met was -
Rick: La Belle Aurore.
Ilsa: How nice. You remembered. But of course, that was the day the Germans marched into Paris.
Rick: Not an easy day to forget.
Ilsa: No.
Rick: I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray. You wore blue.
Ilsa: Yes. I put that dress away. When the Germans march out, I'll wear it again.
Renault: Ricky, you're becoming quite human.

View Quote Rick: Your unexpected visit isn't connected by any chance with the letters of transit? It seems as long as I have those letters, I'll never be lonely.
Ilsa: You can ask any price you want, but you must give me those letters.
Rick: I went all through that with your husband. It's no deal.
Ilsa: I know how you feel about me, but I'm asking you to put your feelings aside for something more important.
Rick: Do I have to hear again what a great man your husband is? What an important Cause he's fighting for?
Ilsa: It was your cause too. In your own way, you were fighting for the same thing.
Rick: I'm not fighting for anything anymore except myself. I'm the only Cause I'm interested in.
Ilsa: [after a long pause] Richard. Richard, we loved each other once. If those days meant anything at all to you...
Rick: I wouldn't bring up Paris if I were you. It's poor salesmanship.
Ilsa: Please, please listen to me. If you knew what really happened. If you only knew the truth.
Rick: I wouldn't believe you no matter what you told me. You'd say anything now to get what you want.
Ilsa: You want to feel sorry for yourself, don't you? With so much at stake, all you can think of is your own feeling. One woman has hurt you and you take your revenge on the rest of the world. You're a, you're a coward and a weakling. No. Oh Richard, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but, but you, you are our last hope. If you don't help us, Victor Laszlo will die in Casablanca.
Rick: What of it? I'm gonna die in Casablanca. It's a good spot for it.

View Quote Annina: We come from Bulgaria. Oh, things are very bad there, Monsieur. The devil has the people by the throat. So, Jan and I we - we do not want our children to grow up in such a country.
Rick: So you decided to go to America.
Annina: Yes. But we have not much money and...traveling is so expensive and difficult. It was much more than we thought to get here. And then Captain Renault sees us, and he is so kind. He wants to help us.
Rick: Yes, I'll bet.
Annina: He tells me you can give us an exit visa, but, but we have no money.
Rick: Does he know that?
Annina: Oh yes.
Rick: And he's still willing to give you a visa?
Annina: Yes, monsieur.
Rick: And you want to know...
Annina: Will he keep his word?
Rick: He always has.
Annina: Oh! Monsieur. You are a man. If someone loved you very much, so that your happiness was the only thing that she wanted in the world, but she did a bad thing to make certain of it, could you forgive her?
Rick: Nobody ever loved me that much.
Annina: And he never knew. And the girl kept this bad thing locked in her heart. That would be all right, wouldn't it?
Rick: You want my advice.
Annina: Oh yes, please.
Rick: Go back to Bulgaria.
Annina: Oh, but if you knew what it means to us to leave Europe, to get to America. Oh, but if Jan should find out. He is such a boy. In many ways, I am so much older than he is.
Rick: Yes, well, everybody in Casablanca has problems. Yours may work out.

View Quote Sam: I never expected to see you again...A lot of water under the bridge.
Ilsa: Play some of the old songs, Sam... Where is Rick?
Sam: I don't know. I ain't seen him all night.
Ilsa: When will he be back?
Sam: Not tonight no more. He ain't comin'...He went home.
Ilsa: Does he always leave so early?
Sam: Oh, he never..., well, he's got a girl up at the Blue Parrot. He goes up there all the time.
Ilsa: You used to be a much better liar, Sam.
Sam: Leave him alone, Miss Ilsa. You're bad luck to him.
Ilsa: Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake.
Sam: I don't know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.
Ilsa: [whispered] Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By. (#28 in the AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotations)
Sam: Why, I can't remember it, Miss Ilsa. I'm a little rusty on it.
Ilsa: I'll hum it for you. [Ilsa hums two bars. Sam starts to play] Sing it, Sam.
Sam: [singing] You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
And when two lovers woo
They still say, 'I love you'
On that you can rely ,
No matter what the future brings
As Time Goes By. Lyrics and Music by Herman Hupfeld (1931)

Rick: [rushing in] Sam, I thought I told you never to play... [stares at Ilsa]

View Quote Rick: Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for.
Laszlo: You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die.
Rick: Well, what of it? It'll be out of its misery.
Laszlo: You know how you sound, Mr. Blaine? Like a man who's trying to convince himself of something he doesn't believe in his heart. Each of us has a destiny - for good or for evil.
Rick: I get the point.
Laszlo: I wonder if you do. I wonder if you know that you're trying to escape from yourself, and that you'll never succeed.
Rick: You seem to know all about my destiny.
Laszlo: I know a good deal more about you than you suspect. I know, for instance, that you are in love with a woman. It is perhaps a strange cir****stance that we both should be in love with the same woman. The first evening I came into this cafe, I knew there was something between you and Ilsa. Since no one is to blame, I, I demand no explanation. I ask only one thing. You won't give me the letters of transit. All right. But I want my wife to be safe. I ask you as a favor to use the letters to take her away from Casablanca.
Rick: You love her that much?
Laszlo: Apparently, you think of me only as a leader of a Cause. Well, I am also a human being. Yes, I love her that much.

View Quote Rick: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you're getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
Ilsa: But, Richard, no, I... I...
Rick: Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?
Renault: I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist.
Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.
Rick: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa: But what about us?
Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have...we'd...we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you...
Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Here's looking at you, kid. Note: bolded line is ranked #43 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

View Quote Strasser: You will forgive my curiosity, Mr. Blaine. The point is, an enemy of the Reich has come to Casablanca and we are checking on anybody can be of any help to us.
Rick: My interest in whether Victor Laszlo stays or goes is purely a sporting one.
Strasser: In this case, you have no sympathy for the fox, huh?
Rick: Not particularly. I understand the point of view of the hound, too.

View Quote Strasser: What is your nationality?
Rick: I'm a drunkard.
Renault: And that makes Rick a citizen of the world.
Rick: I was born in New York City if that'll help you any.
Strasser: I understand that you came here from Paris at the time of the occupation.
Rick: Well, there seems to be no secret about that.
Strasser: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris?
Rick: Not particularly my beloved Paris.
Heinze: Can you imagine us in London?
Rick: When you get there, ask me.
Renault: Diplomatist.
Strasser: Well, how about New York?
Rick: Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.
Strasser: Uh, huh. Who do you think will win the war?
Rick: I haven't the slightest idea.
Renault: Rick is completely neutral about everything. And that takes in the field of women, too.
Strasser: You weren't always so carefully neutral. We have a complete dossier on you. [reading] "Richard Blaine, American, age 37, cannot return to his country - the reason is a little vague." We also know what you did in Paris, Mr. Blaine, and also we know why you left Paris. Don't worry, we are not going to broadcast it.
Rick: [reading his file] Are my eyes really brown?

View Quote Annina: What kind of a man is Captain Renault?
Rick: Oh, he's just like any other man, only more so.
Annina: No, I mean, is he trustworthy? Is his word-?
Rick: Now, just a minute. Who told you to ask me that?
Annina: He did. Captain Renault did.

View Quote Rick: Say, why don't we get married in Marseilles?
Ilsa: That's too far ahead to plan.
...
Ilsa: I love you so much. And I hate this war so much. Oh, it's a crazy world. Anything can happen. If you shouldn't get away, I mean, if something should keep us apart, wherever they put you and wherever I'll be, I want you to know that...kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.