Casablanca (1943) · 88 quotes
3rd most-quoted character in Casablanca (1943): in 18 of its 88 quotes
Most scenes with: Rick Blaine (15), Captain Louis Renault (4), Victor Laszlo (2)
I was informed you were the most beautiful woman ever to visit Casablanca. That was a gross understatement.
Ilsa You're very kind.
If you will permit me. Oh, Emil. Please, a bottle of your best champagne and put it on my bill.
Very well, sir.
No, captain, please.
Oh, please, monsieur. It's a little game we play. They put it on the bill. I tear up the bill. It is very convenient.
Ilsa Rick? Who's he?
Mademoiselle, you are in Rick's and Rick is, uh...
Ilsa Is what?
Well, Mademoiselle, he's the kind of man that - well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick. But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.
I never expected to see you again...A lot of water under the bridge.
Ilsa Play some of the old songs, Sam... Where is Rick?
I don't know. I ain't seen him all night.
Ilsa When will he be back?
Not tonight no more. He ain't comin'...He went home.
Ilsa Does he always leave so early?
Oh, he never..., well, he's got a girl up at the Blue Parrot. He goes up there all the time.
Ilsa You used to be a much better liar, Sam.
Leave him alone, Miss Ilsa. You're bad luck to him.
Ilsa Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake.
I don't know what you mean, Miss Ilsa.
Ilsa Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By. (#28 in the AFI's list of the top 100 movie quotations)
Why, I can't remember it, Miss Ilsa. I'm a little rusty on it.
Ilsa I'll hum it for you. [Ilsa hums two bars. Sam starts to play] Sing it, Sam.
You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
And when two lovers woo
They still say, 'I love you'
On that you can rely ,
No matter what the future brings
As Time Goes By.
Lyrics and Music by Herman Hupfeld (1931)
I can't get over you two. She was asking about you earlier, Rick, in a way that made me extremely jealous.
Ilsa I wasn't sure you were the same. Let's see, the last time we met was -
La Belle Aurore.
Ilsa How nice. You remembered. But of course, that was the day the Germans marched into Paris.
Not an easy day to forget.
Ilsa No.
I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray. You wore blue.
Ilsa Yes. I put that dress away. When the Germans march out, I'll wear it again.
Ricky, you're becoming quite human.
Ilsa A franc for your thoughts.
In America, they bring only a penny. I guess that's about all they're worth.
Ilsa But I'm willing to be overcharged. Tell me.
And I was wondering...
Ilsa Yes.
Why I'm so lucky, why I should find you waiting for me to come along?
Ilsa Why there is no other man in my life?
Uh, huh.
Ilsa That's easy. There was. And he's dead.
I'm sorry for asking. I forgot we said no questions.
Ilsa Well, only one answer can take care of all our questions. [she kisses him]
Nothing can stop them now. Wednesday, Thursday, at the latest, they'll be in Paris.
Ilsa Richard, they'll find out your record. It won't be safe for you here.
Henri wants us to finish this bottle, and then three more. He says he'll water his garden with champagne before he'll let the Germans drink it.
This takes the sting out of being occupied, doesn't it, Mr. Richard?
You said it. [toasting] Here's looking at you, kid.
My German's a little rusty.
Ilsa They're telling us how to act when they come marching in. With the whole world crumbling we pick this time to fall in love.
Yeah, it's pretty bad timing. Where were you, say, ten years ago?
Ilsa Ten years ago? Let's see, yes, I was having a brace put on my teeth. Where were you?
Looking for a job.
Ilsa Was that cannon fire or is it my heart pounding?
Ah, that's the new German 77, and judging by the sound, only about thirty-five miles away - and getting closer every minute.
Say, why don't we get married in Marseilles?
Ilsa That's too far ahead to plan.
...
Ilsa I love you so much. And I hate this war so much. Oh, it's a crazy world. Anything can happen. If you shouldn't get away, I mean, if something should keep us apart, wherever they put you and wherever I'll be, I want you to know that...kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.
Why did you have to come to Casablanca? There are other places.
Ilsa I wouldn't have come if I'd known that you were here. Believe me, Rick. It's true. I didn't know.
It's funny about your voice how it hasn't changed. I can still hear it: 'Richard dear. I'll go with you anyplace. We'll get on a train together and never stop.'
Ilsa Please don't. Don't Rick! I can understand how you feel.
Huh! You understand how I feel. How long was it we had, honey?
Ilsa I didn't count the days.
Well I did. Every one of them. Mostly, I remember the last one. The wow finish. A guy standing on a station platform in the rain with a comical look on his face because his insides had been kicked out.
Ilsa Can I tell you a story, Rick?
Does it got a wow finish?
Ilsa I don't know the finish yet.
Go on and tell it. Maybe one will come to you as you go along.
Ilsa It's about a girl who had just come to Paris from her home in Oslo. At the house of some friends, she met a man about whom she'd heard her whole life, a very great and courageous man. He opened up for her a whole beautiful world full of knowledge and thoughts and ideals. Everything she knew or ever became was because of him. And she looked up to him, worshipped him, with a feeling she supposed was love.
Yes, that's very pretty. I heard a story once. As a matter of fact, I've heard a lot of stories in my time. They went along with the sound of a tinny piano, playing in the parlor downstairs. 'Mister, I met a man once when I was a kid,' they'd always begin. Well, I guess neither one of our stories is very funny. Tell me, who was it you left me for? Was it Laszlo or were there others in between? Or aren't you the kind that tells?
Ilsa Last night, I saw what has happened to you. The Rick I knew in Paris I could tell him, he'd understand. But the one who looked at me with such hatred - I'll be leaving Casablanca soon and we'll never see each other again. We knew very little about each other when we were in love in Paris. If we leave it that way, maybe we'll remember those days and not Casablanca. Not last night.
Did you run out on me because you couldn't take it? Because you knew what it would be like, hiding out from the police, running away all the time?
Ilsa You can believe that if you want to.
Well, I'm not running away any more. I'm settled now, above a saloon, it's true, but...walk up a flight. I'll be expecting you. All the same, someday you'll lie to Laszlo - you'll be there.
Ilsa No, Rick. No, you see, Victor Laszlo's my husband and was, even when I knew you in Paris.
Were you lonely in Paris?
Ilsa Yes, Victor, I was.
I know how it is to be lonely. Is there anything you wish to tell me?
Ilsa No, Victor, there isn't.
I love you very much, my dear.
Ilsa Yes, yes I know.
Your unexpected visit isn't connected by any chance with the letters of transit? It seems as long as I have those letters, I'll never be lonely.
Ilsa You can ask any price you want, but you must give me those letters.
I went all through that with your husband. It's no deal.
Ilsa I know how you feel about me, but I'm asking you to put your feelings aside for something more important.
Do I have to hear again what a great man your husband is? What an important Cause he's fighting for?
Ilsa It was your cause too. In your own way, you were fighting for the same thing.
I'm not fighting for anything anymore except myself. I'm the only Cause I'm interested in.
Ilsa Richard. Richard, we loved each other once. If those days meant anything at all to you...
I wouldn't bring up Paris if I were you. It's poor salesmanship.
Ilsa Please, please listen to me. If you knew what really happened. If you only knew the truth.
I wouldn't believe you no matter what you told me. You'd say anything now to get what you want.
Ilsa You want to feel sorry for yourself, don't you? With so much at stake, all you can think of is your own feeling. One woman has hurt you and you take your revenge on the rest of the world. You're a, you're a coward and a weakling. No. Oh Richard, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but, but you, you are our last hope. If you don't help us, Victor Laszlo will die in Casablanca.
What of it? I'm gonna die in Casablanca. It's a good spot for it.
Ilsa All right, I tried to reason with you. I tried everything. Now I want those letters. Get them for me.
I don't have to. I got 'em right here.
Ilsa Put them on the table.
No.
Ilsa For the last time, put them on the table.
If Laszlo and the Cause mean so much to you, you won't stop at anything. All right, I'll make it easier for you. Go ahead and shoot. You'll be doing me a favor.
Ilsa Richard, I tried to stay away. I thought I would never see you again, that you were out of my life.
Ilsa The day you left Paris, if you knew what I went through. If you knew how much I loved you, how much I still love you. [they kiss]
But it's still a story without an ending. What about now?
Ilsa Now? I don't know. I know that I'll never have the strength to leave you again.
And Laszlo?
Ilsa Oh, you'll help him now, Richard, won't you? You'll see that he gets out? Then he'll have his work, all that he's been living for.
All except one. He won't have you.
Ilsa I can't fight it anymore. I ran away from you once. I can't do it again. Oh, I don't know what's right any longer. You have to think for both of us. For all of us.
All right, I will. Here's looking at you, kid.
Ilsa I wish I didn't love you so much.
Ilsa Richard, Victor thinks I'm leaving with him. Haven't you told him?
No, not yet.
Ilsa But it's all right. You were able to arrange everything?
Everything is quite all right.
Ilsa Oh, Rick.
We'll tell him at the airport. The less time to think, the easier for all of us. Please trust me.
Ilsa Yes, I will.
Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you're getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.
Ilsa But, Richard, no, I... I...
Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?
I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist.
Ilsa You're saying this only to make me go.
I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.
Ilsa But what about us?
We'll always have Paris. We didn't have...we'd...we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.
Ilsa When I said I would never leave you...
And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Here's looking at you, kid.
Note: bolded line is ranked #43 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.
Ilsa I can't fight it anymore. I ran away from you once. I can't do it again. Oh, I don't know what's right any longer. You have to think for both of us. For all of us.
All right, I will. Here's looking at you, kid.
Ilsa I wish I didn't love you so much.
Bolded section ranked #5 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.
