Gangs of New York quotes

View Quote Remember the first rule of politics. The ballots don't make the results, the counters make the results. The counters. Keep counting.

View Quote You know why he wears short sleeves? So they can see he's got nothing stashed. I hope that never becomes the fashion.

View Quote [as an anti-draft riot takes place] Sweet Jesus, war does terrible things to people.

View Quote Army Recruiter: [swearing in Irish immigrants as citizens at the harbor] That do****ent makes you a citizen, and this one makes you a private in the Union army. Now get out there and serve your country.

View Quote Jenny: [about Bill] 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 might as well know in your own mind that he never laid a hand on me until I asked him to.

View Quote Walter 'Monk' Mcginn: I've got forty-four notches on my club. Do you know what they're for? They're to remind me what I owe God when I die. My father was killed in battle, too. In Ireland, in the streets, fighting those who would take as their privilege what could only be got and held by the decimation of a race. That war is a thousand years old and more. We never expected it to follow us here. It didn't. It was waiting for us when we landed. Your father tried to carve out a corner of this land for his tribe. That was him, that was his dead rabbits. I often wondered... if he had lived a bit longer, would he have wanted a bit more?

View Quote Priest Vallon: The blood stays on the blade.

View Quote Priest Vallon: Don't never look away.

View Quote Priest Vallon: St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protector against the snares and the wickedness of the devil. Now, son, who's that?
Young Amsterdam: St. Michael.
Priest Vallon: Who is it?
Young Amsterdam: St. Michael!
Priest Vallon: And what did he do?
Young Amsterdam: He cast Satan out of Paradise.
Priest Vallon: Good boy.

View Quote Happy Jack: I'm paid to uphold the law.
Bill: What in Heaven's name are you talking about?

View Quote Bill: You. Whatever your name is... what is your name?
Amsterdam: Amsterdam, sir.
Bill: Amsterdam, I'm New York. Don't you never come in here empty handed again, you gotta pay for the pleasure of my company.

View Quote Bill: How old are you, Amsterdam?
Amsterdam: I'm not sure, sir. I never did quite figure it.
Bill: I'm forty-seven. Forty-seven years old. You know how come I stayed alive this long? Fear. A spectacle of fearsome acts. A man steals from me, I cut off his hands. If he offends me, I cut out his tongue. He rises up against me, I cut off his head, stick it on a pike. Raise it up high so all on the streets can see. That's what preserves the order of things. Fear.

View Quote Amsterdam: Is there anyone in the five points you haven't ****ed?
Jenny: Yes! You!

View Quote Boss Tweed: You killed an elected official?
Bill: Who elected him?
Boss Tweed: You don't know what you've done to yourself.
Bill: [taps his glass eye with a knife] I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot. So because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth. You can build your filthy world without me. I took the father. Now I'll take the son. You tell young Vallon I'm gonna paint Paradise Square with his blood. Two coats. I'll festoon my bedchamber with his guts. As for you, Mr. Tammany-****ing-Hall, you come down to the Points again, and you'll be dispatched by my own hand. Get back to your celebration and let me eat in peace.

View Quote Bill: I killed the last honorable man, 15 years ago. Since then it's... You seen his portrait downstairs?
Amsterdam: Mm-hmm.
Bill: 'S your mouth all glued-up with cunny juice? I asked you a question!
Amsterdam: [angrily] I said I seen it, sir.
Bill: [smiling] Oh, you got a murderous streak in you!