Victor Laszlo You seem to think of me as just the leader of a cause, but I am also a human being.
Played by Paul Henreid 
Casablanca (1943) · 88 quotes
Casablanca (1943) · 88 quotes
4th most-quoted character in Casablanca (1943): in 15 of its 88 quotes
Most scenes with: Rick Blaine (3), Captain Louis Renault (3), Strasser (3)
Welcome back to the fight. This time, I know our side will win.
More lines from Victor Laszlo
3 quotes Victor Laszlo Victor Laszlo You know how you sound, Mr. Blaine? Like a man who's trying to convince himself of something he doesn't believe in his heart.
Victor Laszlo In a concentration camp, one is apt to lose a little weight.
Scenes with Victor Laszlo
11 scenes
I was informed you were the most beautiful woman ever to visit Casablanca. That was a gross understatement.
You're very kind.
If you will permit me. Oh, Emil. Please, a bottle of your best champagne and put it on my bill.
Emil
Very well, sir.
Laszlo 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.
Berger We read five times that you were killed, in five different places.
Victor Laszlo As you can see, it was true every single time.
Laszlo I'm sure you'll excuse me if I'm not gracious. But you see Major Strasser, I'm a Czechoslovakian.
You were a Czechoslovakian. Now you are a subject of the German Reich.
Laszlo I've never accepted that privilege and I'm now on French soil.
Laszlo This is a very interesting cafe. I congratulate you.
And I congratulate you.
Laszlo What for?
Your work.
Laszlo Thank you. I try.
We all try. You succeed.
You are an escaped prisoner of the Reich. So far, you have been fortunate enough in eluding us. You have reached Casablanca - it is my duty to see that you stay in Casablanca.
Laszlo Whether or not you will succeed is, of course, problematical.
Not at all. Captain Renault's signature is necessary on every exit visa. Captain, would you think it is possible that Herr Laszlo will receive a visa?
I am afraid not. My regrets, Monsieur.
Laszlo Well, perhaps I shall like it in Casablanca.
You know the leaders of the underground movement in Paris, in Prague, in Brussels, in Amsterdam, in Oslo, in Belgrade, in Athens.
Laszlo Even in Berlin.
Yes, even in Berlin. If you will furnish me with their names and their exact whereabouts, you will have your visa in the morning.
And the honor of having served the Third Reich.
Laszlo I was in a German concentration camp for a year. That's honor enough for a lifetime.
You will give us the names?
Laszlo If I didn't give them to you in a concentration camp, where you had more persuasive methods at your disposal, I certainly won't give them to you now. And what if you track down these men and kill them? What if you murdered all of us? From every corner of your Republic, thousands would rise to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast.
I observe that you are in one respect a very fortunate man, Monsieur. I am moved to make one more suggestion, why, I do not know, because it cannot possibly profit me. Have you heard about Senor Ugarte and the letters of transit?
Laszlo Yes, something.
Those letters were not found on Ugarte when they arrested him.
Laszlo Do you know where they are?
Not for sure, Monsieur, but I will venture to guess that Ugarte left those letters with Monsieur Rick.
Laszlo Rick?
He's a difficult customer, that Rick. One never knows what he'll do or why, but it is worth a chance.
Laszlo You must know it's very important I get out of Casablanca. It's my privilege to be one of the leaders of a great movement. Do you know what I've been doing? Do you know what it means to the work - to the lives of thousands and thousands of people that I be free to reach America and continue my work.
I'm not interested in politics. The problems of the world are not in my department. I'm a saloon keeper.
Laszlo My friends in the Underground tell me that you've got quite a record. You ran guns to Ethiopia. You fought against the Fascists in Spain.
What of it?
Laszlo Isn't it strange that you always happen to be fighting on the side of the underdog?
Yes, I found that a very expensive hobby too, but then I never was much of a businessman.
Laszlo Are you enough of a businessman to appreciate an offer of a hundred thousand francs?
I appreciate it, but I don't accept it.
Laszlo I'll raise it to two hundred thousand.
My friend, you could make it a million francs or three. My answer would still be the same.
Laszlo There must be some reason why you won't let me have them [the exit visas].
There is. I suggest that you ask your wife.
Laszlo Were you lonely in Paris?
Yes, Victor, I was.
Laszlo I know how it is to be lonely. Is there anything you wish to tell me?
No, Victor, there isn't.
Laszlo I love you very much, my dear.
Yes, yes I know.
Don't you sometimes wonder if it's worth all this? I mean what you're fighting for.
Laszlo You might as well question why we breathe. If we stop breathing, we'll die. If we stop fighting our enemies, the world will die.
Well, what of it? It'll be out of its misery.
Laszlo You know how you sound, Mr. Blaine? Like a man who's trying to convince himself of something he doesn't believe in his heart. Each of us has a destiny - for good or for evil.
I get the point.
Laszlo I wonder if you do. I wonder if you know that you're trying to escape from yourself, and that you'll never succeed.
You seem to know all about my destiny.
Laszlo I know a good deal more about you than you suspect. I know, for instance, that you are in love with a woman. It is perhaps a strange circumstance that we both should be in love with the same woman. The first evening I came into this cafe, I knew there was something between you and Ilsa. Since no one is to blame, I, I demand no explanation. I ask only one thing. You won't give me the letters of transit. All right. But I want my wife to be safe. I ask you as a favor to use the letters to take her away from Casablanca.
You love her that much?
Laszlo Apparently, you think of me only as a leader of a Cause. Well, I am also a human being. Yes, I love her that much.
Laszlo And welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win.
