Wall Street quotes

View Quote Gekko: Money never sleeps pal. I just made $800,000 in Hong Kong gold. It's been wired to you -- play with it. You done good, but you gotta keep doing good. I showed you how the game works, now school's out.
Bud: Mr. Gekko, I'm there for you 110%.
Gekko: No, no, no, no, you don't understand. I want to be surprised. Astonish me, pal, new info, don't care where or how you get it, just get it. My wife tells me you made a move on Darien. Here's some inside info for ya. That Euroflash GQ type she's going with? He's got big bucks but he's putting her feet to sleep. Exit visas are imminent. I don't want you to lose your place in line. [gazing at the surf] Oh, jeez, I wish you could see this... the lights coming up over the water. I've never seen a painting that captures the beauty of the ocean at this moment. I'm going to make you rich Bud Fox, rich enough, you can afford a girl like Darien. This is your wake up call, pal. Go to work.

Bud: Lou, I got a sure thing. Anacott Steel.
Mannheim: No such thing except death and taxes. No fundamentals, not a good company any more. What's goin' on, Bud? You know something? Remember there are no shortcuts, son. Quick buck artists come and go with every bull market, but the steady players make it through the bear market. You're a part of something here, Bud. The money you make for people creates science and research jobs, don't sell that out
Bud: You're right, Lou, you're right. But you gotta make it to the big time first, then you can be a pillar and do good things.
Mannheim: You can't get a little bit pregnant, son.
Bud: Lou, trust me, its a winner. Buy it.

Bud: I guess you're a decorator.
Darien: You got it. Great spender of other people's money.

Gekko: The rarest pistol in the world, Larry. A .45 Luger. Only six of them were ever manufactured.
Wildman: Congratulations. Rarer still is your interest in Anacott Steel.
Gekko: My interest is the same as yours, Larry. Money. I thought it'd be a good investment for my kid.
Wildman: No this time I'm in for the long term, its not a liquidation. I'm going to turn it around. You're getting a free ride on my tail, mate. With the dollars you're costing me to buy back the stock, I could modernize the plant. I'm not the only one who pays here, Gordon. We're talking about lives and jobs, three and four generations of steelworkers.
Gekko: Correct me if I'm wrong, but when you acquired CNX Electronics you laid off, what, 6000 workers? Jemson Fruit, 4000? That airline you bought..umm
Wildman: I could break you, mate, in two pieces over my knees. You know it, I know it. I could buy you six times over. I could dump the stock just to burn your arse. But i happen to want the company, and I want your block of shares.

Wildman: 71?
Gekko: Well now considering you brought my mother into it, 71.50.
Wildman: Done. You'll hear from my lawyers tomorrow, 8 AM. Good Night. [leaves]
Gekko: [to Bud] He's right, I had to sell. The key to the game is your capital reserves, If you haven't got enough, you can't piss in the tall weed with the big dogs.

Carl: He's using you, kid. He's got your prick in his back pocket, but you're too blind to see it.
Bud: No. What I see is a jealous old machinist who can't stand the fact that his son has become more successful than he has!
Carl: What you see is a guy who never measured a man's success by the size of his WALLET!
Bud: That's because you never had the guts to go out into the world and stake your own claim!
[Long Pause] Carl: Boy, if that's the way you feel, I must have done a really lousy job as a father.

Bud: Why do you need to wreck this company?
Gekko: Because it's wreckable, alright? I took another look at it, I changed my mind.

Roger: Still seeing that sexy french chick?
Bud: No, No. She asked the wrong question.
Roger: What was that?
Bud:"What are you thinking?"

Bud: You ****in' used me!
Gekko: Well you're walkin' around blind without a cane, pal. A fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place.

Bud: How much is enough, Gordon? When does it all end, huh? How many yatchs can you water-ski behind? How much is enough, huh?
Gekko: It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a Zero Sum game - somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply, transferred - from one perception to another. Like magic. This painting here? I bought it ten years ago for sixty thousand dollars, I could sell it today for six hundred. The illusion has become real, and the more real it becomes, the more desperately they want it. Capitalism at it's finest.
Bud: How much is enough, Gordon?
Gekko: The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest ac****ulating to widows and idiot sons; And what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own.

Bud: Bluestar, Mr. Mannheim. Put all your clients on it. It's gonna move.
Mannhiem: I don't know where you get your information, son, but I don't like it. The main thing about money, Bud, it makes you do things you don't wanna do.

Bud: Good morning Chuckie. Morning, Lou.
Mannheim: Bud, I like you. Just remember something. Man looks into the abyss. There's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character, and that's what keeps him out of the abyss.

Gekko: Where the hell are you? I am losing MILLIONS! You got me into this company and sure as hell better get me out or the only job you'll have on the Street is SWEEPING IT! You hear me, Fox?
Bud:You once told me, don't get emotional about stock. Don't! The bid is 16 1/2 and going down. As your broker, I advise you to take it.
Gekko: Yeah. Well you TAKE IT! Right in the ass you ****ing s****bag ****!
Bud: It's two minutes to closing, Gordon. What do you want to do? Decide.
Gekko: Dump it.

Gekko: Hiya, Buddy.
Bud: Gordon.
Gekko: Sand bagged me on Bluestar huh? I guess you think you taught the teacher a lesson that the tail can wag the dog huh? Well let me clue you in, pal. The ice is melting right underneath your feet.
[punches Bud] Gekko: Did you think you could've gotten this far this fast with anyone else, huh? That you'd be out there dicking someone like Darien? Naw... you'd still be cold calling widows and dentists tryin' to sell 'em 20 shares of some dog shit stock. I took you in...
[hits him again] Gekko: a NOBODY!
[hits him harder] Gekko: I opened the doors for you... showed you how the system works... the value of information... how to *get it*! Fulham Oil, Brant Resources, Geo Dynamics and this is how you ****ing pay me back you ****ROACH!
[knocks Bud to the ground] Gekko: I GAVE you Darien! I GAVE you your manhood I gave you EVERYTHING!
[calms down] Gekko: You could've been one of the great ones Buddy. I look at you and see myself... WHY?
Bud:I don't know. I guest I realized that I'm just Bud Fox... and as much as I wanted to be Gordon Gekko, I'll always be Bud Fox.

View Quote Wake up, will ya pal? If you're not inside, you're outside, OK? And I'm not talking a $400,000 a year working Wall Street stiff flying first class and being comfortable, I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars buddy. A player, or nothing. Now you had what it took to get into my office; The real question is whether you got what it takes to stay.

View Quote What the hell is Cromwell doin' givin' a lecture tour when he's losing 60 million a quarter? Guess he's giving lectures on how to lose money. Jesus Christ...if this guy owned a funeral parlor, no one would die! This turkey is totally brain-dead! OK, alright, Christmas is over, and business is business. Keep on buying, dilute the son of a bitch! Ollie, I want every orifice in his ****ing body flowing red.

View Quote Most of these Harvard MBA types - they don't add up to dogshit. Give me guys that are poor, smart, hungry - and no feelings. You win a few, you lose a few, but you keep on fighting.

View Quote You're a two bit pirate and a greenmailer. Nothing more... Gekko! Not only will you sell your mother to make a deal, you'd send her C.O.D.

View Quote That's the thing you gotta remember about WASPs - they love animals, they can't stand people.

View Quote Buy a decent suit. You can't come in here looking like this. Go to Morty Sills, tell 'em I sent ya.

View Quote Money never sleeps, pal. Just made 800,000 Hong Kong Gold, it's been wired to ya. Play with it. You done good, but you gotta keep doing good. I Showed you how the game works, now school's out.

View Quote Stick to the fundamentals. That's how IBM and Hilton were built. Good things, sometimes, take time.

View Quote I'm gonna make you rich, Bud Fox. Yeah, rich enough, you can afford a girl like Darien. This is your wake-up call, pal. Go to work.

View Quote Jesus you can't make a buck in this market, the country's goin' to hell faster than when that son of a bitch Roosevelt was in charge. Too much cheap money sloshing around the world. The worst mistake we ever made was letting Nixon get off the gold standard.

View Quote Come on forget charts, will ya? We’re not fund managers here baby. Churn ‘em and burn ‘em. I am offering you the Knicks, and chicks.

View Quote This painting here? I bought it ten years ago for sixty thousand dollars, I could sell it today for six hundred. The illusion has become real, and the more real it becomes, the more desperately they want it. Capitalism at its finest.

View Quote Man looks into the Abyss, and there's nothin' staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character, and that's what keeps him out of the Abyss.

View Quote Now, listen, Jerry, I'm looking for negative control. Okay? No more than 30, 35 percent. Just enough to block anybody else's merger plans and find out from the inside if the books are cooked. If it looks as good as on paper, we're in the kill zone, pal. Lock and load.