North by Northwest quotes

View Quote Ah, Maggie, in the world of advertising, there's no such thing as a lie. There's only the expedient exaggeration. You ought to know that.

View Quote Clara: I don't see why you want me along.
Roger: Well, you lend a certain air of respectability.
Clara: Don't be sarcastic, Roger.

View Quote Roger: And what the devil is all this about? Why was I brought here?
Vandamm: Games, must we?
Roger: Not that I mind a slight case of abduction now and then, but I have tickets for the theatre this evening, to a show I was looking forward to and I get, well, kind of unreasonable about things like that.
Vandamm: With such expert play-acting, you make this very room a theatre. My secretary is a great admirer of your methods, Mr. Kaplan. Elusiveness, however misguided ...
Roger: (interrupting) My name is Thornhill, Roger Thornhill! It's never been anything else ... So obviously, your friends picked up the wrong package when they bundled me out here in the car.

View Quote Eve:I want you to do a favor for me. A big, big favor.
Roger: Name it.
Eve: I want you to leave right now. Stay far away from me and don't come near me again. We're not going to get involved. Last night was last night and it's all there was and that's all there is. There isn't going to be anything more between us. So please, goodbye, good luck, no conversation, just leave.

View Quote [to The Professor] Now you listen to me, I'm an advertising man, not a red herring. I've got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders that depend upon me, and I don't intend to disappoint them all by getting myself "slightly" killed.

View Quote Roger: To a long and lasting friendship, meaning from now on, I'm not going to let you out of my sight, sweetheart.
Eve: I'm afraid you'll have to.
Roger: Oh no.
Eve: I do have plans of my own, you know, and you do have problems.
Roger: Well, wouldn't it be nice if my problems and your plans were somehow connected? Then we could always stay close to each other and not have to go off in separate directions. Togetherness, you know what I mean?

View Quote [sending candy to his ex-wife] Oh well, put 'Something for your sweet tooth, baby, and all your other sweet parts.'

View Quote Roger: You're police, aren't you? Or is it FBI?
The Professor: FBI, CIA, ONI... we're all in the same alphabet soup.
...
The Professor: [referring to Vandamm] Oh, you could say he is a sort of importer/exporter.
Roger: Of what?
The Professor: Oh, government secrets perhaps.

View Quote Mother, this is your son, Roger Thornhill...No, no, Mother. I have not been drinking. No, no. These two men, they poured a whole bottle of bourbon into me. No, they didn't give me a chaser.

View Quote [to Eve] You're the smartest girl I ever spent the night with on the train.

View Quote [Roger is wearing sunglasses to hide his identity]
Ticket Seller: Something wrong with your eyes?
Roger: Yes, they're sensitive to questions.

View Quote The Professor: If I thought there was any chance of changing your mind, I'd talk about Miss Kendall, of whom you so obviously disapprove.
Roger: Yes, for using sex like some people use a fly swatter.

View Quote I think I'd like to meet these killers.

View Quote Roger: If we ever get out of this alive, let's go back to New York on the train together, all right?
Eve: Is that a proposition?
Roger: It's a proposal, sweetie.
Eve: What happened to the first two marriages?
Roger: My wives divorced me.
Eve: Why?
Roger: Well, I think they said I led too dull a life.

View Quote [to Vandamm] I want the girl to get what's coming to her. You turn her over to me and I'll see there's enough pinned on her to keep her uncomfortable for the rest of her life. You do that and I'll look the other way tonight.