Goodfellas quotes

View Quote See, the hardest thing for me was leaving the life. I still love the life. And we were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all, just for the asking. Our wives, mothers, kids, everybody rode along. I had paper bags filled with jewelry stashed in the kitchen. I had a sugar bowl full of coke next to the bed. Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. The keys to a dozen hideout flats all over the city. I'd bet twenty, thirty grand over a weekend and then I'd either blow the winnings in a week or go to the sharks to pay back the bookies. Didn't matter. It didn't mean anything. When I was broke I would go out and rob some more. We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We paid off judges. Everybody had their hands out. Everything was for the taking. And now it's all over. And that's the hardest part. Today, everything is different. There's no action. I have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food. Right after I got here I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.

View Quote Tommy: No more shines Billy
Billy Batts: What?
Tommy: I said, no more shines Billy Maybe you didn't hear about it, you've been away a long time, I didn't go up, didn't tell ya.
Billy Batts: Ah..
Tommy: I don't shine shoes anymore.
Billy Batts: Relax, would ya. What's got into you? I haven't seen you in a long ****ing time, and I'm breaking your balls a little bit, I'm only kidding with ya.
Tommy: Well, sometimes you don't sound like you're kidding, you know, there's a lotta people here.
Billy Batts: I'm only kidding with ya.
Tommy: It's OK.
Billy Batts: I don't mean to offend you.
Tommy: I'm sorry.
Billy Batts: I'm sorry too.
Tommy: It's okay.
Billy Batts: Salut, Tommy.
Tommy: [to the bartender] Can we get some drinks? Everybody, drinks on the house.
Billy Batts: [Takes a drink] Now go home and get your ****ing shine box.
Tommy: [Smashes his drinking glass] Mother****in' mutt! You big piece of shit! You big ****in' tough guy!

View Quote You know, we always called each other good fellas. Like you said to, uh, somebody, 'You're gonna like this guy. He's all right. He's a good fella. He's one of us.' You understand? We were good fellas. Wise guys. But Jimmy and I could never be made because we had Irish blood. It didn't even matter that my mother was Sicilian. To become a member of a crew you've got to be one hundred per cent Italian so they can trace all your relatives back to the old country. See, it's the highest honor they can give you. It means you belong to a family and crew. It means that nobody can **** around with you. It also means you could **** around with anybody just as long as they aren't also a member. It's like a license to steal. It's a license to do anything. As far as Jimmy was concerned with Tommy being made, it was like we were all being made. We would now have one of our own as a member.

View Quote Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's got to come up with Paulie's money every week. No matter what. Business bad? **** you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? **** you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning, huh? **** you, pay me. Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint's credit. And why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn't matter. It's all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.

View Quote It was revenge for Billy Batts, and a lot of other things. And there was nothing that we could do about it. Batts was a made man and Tommy wasn't. And we had to sit still and take it. It was among the Italians. It was real grease ball shit. They even shot Tommy in the face so his mother couldn't give him an open coffin at the funeral.

View Quote Saturday night was for wives, but Friday night at the Copa was always for the girlfriends.

View Quote Henry: You're a pisser, you're really funny. You're really funny.
Tommy: What do you mean I'm funny?
Henry: It's funny, you know. It's a good story, it's funny, you're a funny guy. [laughs]
Tommy: what do you mean, you mean the way I talk? What?
Henry: It's just, you know. You're just funny, it's funny, the way you tell the story and everything.
Tommy: [it becomes quiet] Funny how? What's funny about it?
Anthony: Tommy no, You got it all wrong.
Tommy: Oh, oh, Anthony. He's a big boy, he knows what he said. What did ya say? Funny how?
Henry: Just--
Tommy: What?
Henry: Just, ya know, you're funny.
Tommy: You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little ****ed up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to ****in' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
Henry: Just., you know, how you tell the story, what?
Tommy: No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the **** am I funny, what the **** is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!
Henry: [long pause] Get the **** out of here, Tommy!
Tommy: [everyone laughs] Ya mother****er! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering prick, ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.

View Quote People looked at me differently and they knew I was with somebody. At thirteen, I was making more money than most of the grown-ups in the neighborhood. I mean, I had more money than I could spend. I had it all. One day the kids from the neighborhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was out of respect.

View Quote Paulie may have moved slow, but it was only because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody.

View Quote Tommy: ****in' Drop-along Cassidy.
Spider: Why don't you go **** yourself, Tommy?
[everyone laughs]
Jimmy: Whoa! I don't believe what I'm hearing. Check out the balls on this kid. Hey Spider, this is for you. [tosses money on the table] That's the way. You don't take no shit from nobody. Tommy, you gonna let him get away with that? What's the matter with you? What's the world comin' to?
[Tommy pulls out a gun and shoots Spider]
Tommy: That's what the ****ing world is comin' to.
Jimmy: What is the matter with you, huh? What is the ****ing matter with you?! What are you, a ****ing sick maniac or something?! Tommy, I'm kidding with you.
Tommy: Kidding? How am I meant to know you're kidding? You're breaking my ****ing balls.
Jimmy: I'm ****ing kidding with you, you ****ing shoot the guy?
Henry: He's dead.
Tommy: I'm a good shot, what do you want from me? I'm a good shot.
Anthony: How could you miss at this distance?
Jimmy: You dumb bastard, I can't ****ing believe you. You're gonna dig the hole.
Tommy: Fine, I'll dig the ****ing hole. I don't give a ****. What, is this the first hole I ever dug? Where are the shovels?

View Quote It was like he had two families. The first time I was introduced to all of them at once, it was crazy. Paulie and his brothers had lots of sons and nephews. And almost all of them were named Peter or Paul. It was unbelievable. There must have been two dozen Peters and Pauls at the wedding. Plus, they were all married to girls named Marie. And they named all their daughters Marie. By the time I finished meeting everybody, I thought I was drunk.

View Quote Karen: What do you do?
Henry: I'm in construction.
Karen: [She feels the softness of his hands] They don't feel like you're in construction.
Henry: Ah, I'm a union delegate.

View Quote [over the intercom] This is Karen Hill, I want to talk to you. Hello? Don't hang up on me. I want to talk to you. You keep away from my husband, you understand me? Hello? Answer me! I'm going to tell everybody that walks in this building that in 2R, Rossi, you're nothing but a whore! [gets on phone] Is this the superintendent?... Yes, sir, I would like you to know that you have a whore living in 2R. Rossi, Janice Rossi. He's my husband. Get your own god damn man!

View Quote Paulie: I don't want any more of that shit.
Henry: What shit? What are you talking about?
Paulie: Just stay away from the garbage, you know what I mean.
Henry: Look, Paulie?
Paulie: I'm not talking about what you did inside, you did what you had to do. I'm talking about now, from now, here and now.
Henry: Paulie, why would I want to get into that?
Paulie: Don't make a jerk out of me, just don't do it. Just don't do it. Now I want to talk to you about Jimmy, you have to watch out for him. He's a good earner but he's wild, takes too many chances.
Henry: Yeah I know that, I know Jimmy, you think I would take chances like Jimmy?
Paulie: And Tommy he's a good kid too. But he's crazy, he's a cowboy, he's got too much to prove. You gotta watch out for kids like this.
Henry: Yeah I know what they are, I only use them for certain things, believe me you don't have to worry.
Paulie: Listen, I ain't gonna get ****ed like Gribbs, understand. Gribbs is 70 years old and the ****in guy's gonna die in prison, I don't need that. So I'm warning everybody, everybody. It could be my son, it could be anybody. Gribbs got 20 years just for saying hello to some **** who was sneaking behind his back selling junk, I don't need that, ain't gonna happen to me, you understand?
Henry: Uh huh.
Paulie: You know that you're only out early because I got you a job. I don't need this heat, understand that.
Henry: Uh huh.
Paulie: And you see anybody ****ing around with this shit you're going to tell me, right?
Henry: Yeah.
Paulie: [slaps him] That means anybody!
Henry: Alright.
Paulie: Yeah?
Henry: Yeah, of course.

View Quote Karen: You've got some nerve standing me up. Nobody does that to me. Who the hell do you think you are, Frankie Vallie or some kind of big shot?
Henry: [narrating] I remember, her screaming on the street and I mean loud, but she looked good. She had these great eyes. Just like Liz Taylor's. At least that's what I thought.