"There is an epidemic failure within the game to understand what is really happening. And this leads people who run Major League Baseball teams to misjudge their players and mismanage their teams. I apologize. (Billy Beane: Go on.) Okay. People who run ball clubs, they think in terms of buying players. Your goal shouldn't be to buy players, your goal should be to buy wins. And in order to buy wins, you need to buy runs. You're trying to replace Johnny Damon. The Boston Red Sox see Johnny Damon and they see a star who's worth seven and half million dollars a year. When I see Johnny Damon, what I see is... is... an imperfect understanding of where runs come from. The guy's got a great glove. He's a decent leadoff hitter. He can steal bases. But is he worth the seven and half million dollars a year that the Boston Red Sox are paying him? No. No. Baseball thinking is medieval. They are asking all the wrong questions. And if I say it to anybody, I'm-I'm ostracized. I'm-I'm-I'm a leper. So that's why I'm-I'm cagey about this with you. That's why I... I respect you, Mr. Beane, and if you want full disclosure, I think it's a good thing that you got Damon off your payroll. I think it opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities."

"[Addressing his baseball scouts] The problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams. Then there's fifty feet of crap, and then there's us. It's an unfair game. And now we've been gutted. We're like organ donors for the rich. Boston's taken our kidneys, Yankees have taken our heart. And you guys just sit around talking the same old "good body" nonsense like we're selling jeans. Like we're looking for Fabio. We've got to think differently. We are the last dog at the bowl. You see what happens to the runt of the litter? He dies."

"It's not the opium - it's my mind. I spend every day trying not to think."

"Samuel West as Robert Southey"

"Emily Woof as Dorothy Wordsworth"

"Samantha Morton as Sara Coleridge"

"John Hannah as William Wordsworth"

"Linus Roache as Samuel Taylor Coleridge"

"Well, as it happens, I care. Of course, you can't libel the dead. But this is dreadfully unfair to the Wordsworths. William never betrayed Coleridge. Their relationship was vexed, but essentially civilised and creative. Mary was a good friend to Coleridge. It is true that Dorothy was a victim of senile dementia - but it was many years after Coleridge died, and not drug-related. Kubla Khan was published quite normally. The Prelude is one of the two or three greatest poems in the English language. I know all this. Probably you do as well. But will those susceptible viewers, boning up the Romantics for their A levels, know it?"

"It's only a mite. It's not as though he created a fully grown Doctor of Philosophy or a strapping great plough boy."

"You have grown such pleasing huge breasts, Sara."

"Sam, opium is not your worst addiction. Your worst addiction is to Wordsworth."

"You can feed him with ideas and images but I go hungry."

"Albatrosses have nothing to do with eel fishing! This is another distraction."

"We came to create a revolution of the mind, not to canoodle on a hillock."

"Audie Murphy — Himself"

"Charles Drake — Brandon"

"Marshall Thompson — Johnson"

"You see, when you have been doing this as long as we have you find out that its no good to make friends. The buddies you came here with you're stuck with; but you don't make no new ones."

"Elizabeth Peña - Rosie Morales"

"Rosanna DeSoto - Connie Valenzuela (Ritchie's mother)"

"Esai Morales - Roberto "Bob" Morales (Ritchie's half-brother)"

"Lou Diamond Phillips - Ritchie Valens"

"Talent made him a star, fate made him a legend. The true story of Ritchie Valens."

"Born to poverty. Destined for stardom. He lived the American Dream."

"Bob Keane [after changing Richard Valenzuela's name to Ritchie Valens]: Look, it could've been worse; you could have been "Ricky Zuela"."

"Rosie Morales: [about Bob] He doesn't want a wife. He wants a love slave, one that he can kick around."

"I will never let anyone get in the way of my feelings for you, ever again."

"You know, my old man wasn't around when I was born. [takes swig of vodka and grimaces] Why should I be?"

"[to Ritchie] You've been laid yet? I'm serious, I know what your problem is. Sperm pressure, it's scientific."

"[singing] Oh Donna, oh Donna. Oh Donna, oh Donna. I had a girl, Donna was her name. Since she left me, I've never been the same. Cause I love my girl, Donna oh where can you be?"

"My mom reckons I'm going to be a star. And stars don't fall from the sky."

"Sam Anderson - Mr. Ludwig (Donna's father)"

"Stephen Lee - The Big Bopper"

"Brian Setzer - Eddie Cochran"

"Howard Huntsberry - Jackie Wilson"

"Marshall Crenshaw - Buddy Holly"

"Rick Dees - Ted Quillin"

"Joe Pantoliano - Bob Keane"

"Danielle von Zerneck - Donna Ludwig"