Laura quotes

View Quote McPherson: Nice little place you have here, Lydecker.
Lydecker: It's lavish, but I call it home.

View Quote [to McPherson] I was nearly frantic with fear you'd arrest Shelby. I knew he wasn't guilty. He hasn't enough courage to kill a fly. And Waldo was doing everything he could to incriminate him. It was his way of getting rid of Shelby just as he did Jacoby.

View Quote He didn't really kill Diane Redfern. I killed her...I did as sure as if I'd pulled the trigger myself...I'm as guilty as he is. Not for anything I did but for what I didn't do. But I couldn't help myself. I owed him too much.

View Quote I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do with my own free will.

View Quote [to Laura] McPherson suspects Shelby...Oh, I don't think he did it, but he's capable of it....Anybody's better for you than Shelby. Anybody is. Shelby's better for me...'cause I can afford him and understand him. He's no good, but he's what I want. I'm not a nice person, Laura, and neither is he. He knows I know he's just what he is. He also knows that I don't care. We belong together because we're both weak and can't seem to help it. That's why I know he's capable of murder. He's like me.

View Quote Shelby, why don't you come to your senses? You know it's all over between you and Laura or it soon will be. You haven't lost me. Why don't we get married - now?...You need me. We'll get the best lawyer that money can buy. And when it's all over, we'll go away - anywhere you want - and forget about all this.

View Quote [to Laura] You don't have to lie to me, darling. I'll stand by you.

View Quote [to Laura, about McPherson] I see he's taking a new tact...Trying to make you like him, to make you talk.

View Quote I was groping for some way to keep Laura's name out of it. I was heartbroken about Diane and panic-stricken about Laura. I haven't slept a full two hours since this thing happened.

View Quote Then there was a moment's silence and then a shot. It was an awful explosion. By the time I reached her, the door was closed. She lay there on the floor....I was too confused, too horrified, incapable of doing anything. The room was dark. I saw only a vague heap lying on the floor. I don't think I fully grasped the situation. I think I called her name, but I'm not sure. I-I remember kneeling on the floor, feeling her heart. My first instinct was to call the police....I was afraid, not only for myself but for Laura. In a panicky sort of way, I felt that I must keep out of this to keep Laura out of it. Oh, I know now how foolish and hopeless it was, but there was only one thing on my mind - the safety of a person whose life was dearer to me than my own. Don't you understand that?

View Quote I also read palms, I cook, I swallow swords, I mend my own socks, I never eat garlic or onions. What more can you want of a man?

View Quote I can afford a blemish on my character but not on my clothes.

View Quote [to Laura] For a charming, intelligent girl, you certainly surrounded yourself with a remarkable collection of dopes.

View Quote [to Laura] The doorbell rang and Diane Redfern went to the door in your negligee. She opened the door. The room was dark. Waldo saw a girl standing there and he assumed it was you. He figured that if he couldn't have you himself, he was gonna make sure that nobody else did, so he let her have it with both barrels right in the face. She fell here. Waldo heard Shelby running from the next room so he hid in the stairway outside. Shelby was scared so he ran out as fast as he could. Then Waldo came back and placed the gun in that clock.

View Quote [to Laura] I was 99% certain about you. But I had to get rid of that 1% doubt...I'd reached the point where I needed official surroundings.