"Well I guess if I had to swear one way or another, I'd say Lazlo wasn't insane. He just had very strange rhythms. But he stomped on the terra. Lord Buckley said that. It's hard to say he got what he deserved, because he never really got anything, at least not in this story. And right now, this story is all we have ... It's sad. But what's really sad is it never got weird enough for me. I moved to the country when the boat got too crowded. Then I learned that President Nixon had been eaten by white cannibals on an island near Tijuana for no good reason at all. Golly, you hear a lot of savage and unnatural things about people these days. Lazlo and Nixon are both gone now, but I don't think I'm going to believe that 'til I can gnaw on their skulls with my very own teeth. Fuck those people, huh? If they're out there, I'm going to find them, and I'm going to gnaw on their skulls. Because it still hasn't gotten weird enough for me."

"Super Sunday. Dawn. My recollections of the last twelve hours are very dim. All that I know for certain is that shortly after I checked in, two third-world drug abusers disguised as hotel employees forced their way into my room; ransacked it, drank all my liquor, did all my drugs, stole my dinner. If the security precautions aren't beefed up at this hotel; I'm looking for safer accommodations. It's a sad state of affairs when this reporter has to go heavily armed to breakfast."

"He became a man the day of the greatest game he ever played. Everything he ever knew about common decency and morality he learned that day in December from Alan "The Horse" Ameche; and today in the Superbowl he would earn his wings. The crowd had assembled; a crowd of America's elite. Toyata salesmen from all around the country—orientals and even those suspected of being orientals—stacked on the thirty yard line watching him sweat and wipe caked blood from his face. The Gallow brothers—Ernest and Julio—party guys who had skinned a few Mexicans and forced them to carry them on their shoulders down to the pre-game tailgate parties at the colosseum. The Pepsi and Coca Cola bottlers of America—Coke adds life; It's the real thing—bombarded by missiles; flying flaming matchbook covers. The waterheads from General Motors up in the top seats where they belong; getting the worst of the pollution. All sorts of weird motherfuckers were at the game."

"You couldn't invent someone like Carl Lazlo. He was a ... he was one of a kind. He was a mutant. A real heavyweight water buffalo type ... who could chew his way through a concrete wall and spit out the other side covered with lime and chalk and look good in doing it."

"I hate to advocate alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone but they've always worked for me."

"[Reacting to a police officer's testimony in court] You were looking for a bomb in a pack of cigarettes?"

"There, chew on that gibberish for awhile, you heartless scum!"

"[Urging his dog to attack a Nixon mannequin] Bronco ... Nixon."

"No need to panic. I'll just lash together a few raw facts, a little bit of old Negro wisdom, and this nightmare is over."

"When you try to win, sometimes you lose sight of the goal."

"The definition of rehabilitate: To restore to a state of physical, mental, and moral health through treatment and training."

"Stefan Gierasch – Warden James Humson"

"Ben Slack – Jerry Hoolihan"

"Mia Kirshner – Adult Rosetta Young"

"Kyra Sedgwick – Blanche, Hooker"

"R. Lee Ermey – Judge Clawson"

"Brad Dourif – Byron Stamphill"

"Stephen Tobolowsky – Mr. Henkin"

"William H. Macy – D.A. William McNeil"

"Embeth Davidtz – Mary McCasslin"

"Gary Oldman – Milton Glenn"

"Christian Slater – James Stamphill"

"Kevin Bacon – Henri Young"

"One broke his silence. The other broke the system."

""I accuse Alcatraz of crimes against humanity." – The lawyer "I was a weapon, but I ain't no killer." – The accused "I am not on trial here." – The warden"

"The trial that brought down Alcatraz."

"One was condemned. The other was determined. Two men whose friendship gave them the will to take on the system."

"They locked him up. They crushed his spirit. But they couldn't hide the truth."

"Blanche, Hooker: Honey, you're gonna have to get it up first. It's like trying to stick an oyster into a slot machine."

"Judge Clawson: I do not need you to tell me what is, or is not okay. In this courtroom, I am the one who decides what is, or is not okay. Okay?"

"Some men are broken by the laws that they break, unable to resist the forces that are pulling them down. Other men live by the rules that society sets down. You're not one of them."

"I got nothin'. I got nobody. I don't need a lawyer, I need a friend."

"Action: I won. Reaction: you can't never take that away from me."

"Charles Dickens once said that solitary confinement was inhumane. Seven months later, the Supreme Court agreed. As a a result of the facts brought out in the trail of The People vs. Young, the dungeons of Alcatraz were closed forever. Associate warden Glenn was brought up on charges of mistreatment. He was found guilty. He would never work in the penal system again. I remained in private practice. I also became a baseball fan. You did it, Henri!"

"Unlike many men who lived long after, Henri Young did not die in vain. In the end he was not afraid. He lived and he died in triumph. If only we could all do that."

"How far can your imagination take you?"

"He just has to believe it! He imagines life as he wants to see, and he believes in it long enough and strong enough that it never ceases to be so ... ""

"Radha Mitchell as Mary Ansell Barrie"

"Julie Christie as Mrs. Emma du Maurier"

"Dustin Hoffman as Charles Frohman"

"Kate Winslet as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies"

"Johnny Depp as J. M. Barrie"

"Stop giving yourself so much credit. Peter is grieving. It has nothing to do with you."

"Where will your imagination take you?"

"Unlock your imagination."

"Fran: [to a staring crowd] What are you looking at? Dirty old men need love too!"