"Your life is over. You're a dead man. The only thing the doctors are hoping to do is teach you to be less of a burden to the orderlies. And they'll probably never let you go home, wherever that would be. So the question is not "to be or not to be," because you aren't. The question is whether you want to do something about it."

"So you lie to yourself to be happy."

"Am I chasing this guy? [gunshot] No, he's chasing me."

"I don't even know how long she's been gone. It's like I've woken up in bed and she's not here … because she's gone to the bathroom or something. But somehow, I know she's never gonna come back to bed. If I could just … reach over and touch … her side of the bed, I would know that it was cold, but I can't. I know I can't have her back … but I don't want to wake up in the morning, thinking she's still here. I lie here not knowing … how long I've been alone. So how … how can I heal? How am I supposed to heal if I can't … feel time?"

"I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. Do I believe the world's still there? Is it still out there? … Yeah. We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different … now … where was I?"

"Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts."

"Steve Buscemi - Chet"

"Jon Polito - Lou Breeze"

"Lance Davis - Richard St. Claire"

"Megan Fay - Poppy Carnahan"

"Christopher Murney - Det. Deutsch"

"Richard Portnow - Det. Mastrionotti"

"David Warrilow - Garland Stanford"

"There's only one thing stranger than what's going on inside his head. What's going on outside."

"Between Heaven and Hell There's Always Hollywood!"

"C'mon, Barton, you think you know about pain? You think I made your life hell? Take a look around this dump. You're just a tourist with a typewriter, Barton, I live here, don't you understand that? And you come into MY home... and you complain that I'M making too... much... noise."

"Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind! I'll show you the life of the mind!"

"Look, Bart, barring a preference we're going to put you to work on a wrestling picture, Wallace Beery. I say this because they tell me you know the poetry of the streets, so that would rule out westerns, pirate pictures, screwball, Bible, Roman... look, I'm not one of those guys who thinks poetic has got to be fruity. We're together on that, aren't we? I mean I'm from New York myself, well, Minsk if you want to go all the way back. Which we won't, if you don't mind and I ain't asking. Now people are going to say to you, Wallace Beery, wrestling, it's a B picture. You tell them: BULLSHIT! We do NOT make B pictures here at Capitol. Let's put a stop to that rumor RIGHT now!"

"I run this dump, and I don't know the technical mumbo-jumbo. Why do I run it? Cause I got horse sense, goddamit. SHOWMANSHIP! And also, and I hope Lou told you this, I am bigger and meaner and louder than any other kike in this town. Did you tell him that, Lou? And I don't mean my dick is bigger than yours, it's not a sexual thing, although you're the writer, you'd know more about that. Coffee?"

"We're only interested in one thing, Bart. Can you tell a story? Can you make us laugh? Can you make us cry? Can you make us want to break out in joyous song? Is that more than one thing? Okay!"

"Tony Shalhoub - Ben Geisler"

"John Mahoney - W.P. Mayhew"

"Judy Davis - Audrey Taylor"

"Michael Lerner - Jack Lipnick"

"John Goodman - Charlie Meadows"

"John Turturro - Barton Fink"

"William Paterson — Judge Bannerman"

"Curtis Mayfield — Thug who beats Scorpio (uncredited)"

"Ruth Kobart — Bus Driver"

"John Mitchum — Insp. Frank DiGiorgio"

"John Larch — The Chief"

"Andrew Robinson — Scorpio Killer"

"John Vernon — The Mayor"

"Reni Santoni — Insp. Chico Gonzalez"

"Harry Guardino — Lt. Al Bressler"

"Clint Eastwood — Insp. Harry Callahan"

"Marvelous!"

"Clint Eastwood is "Dirty Harry". And boy, does he get all the dirty jobs."

"With his .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, Dirty Harry wipes out crime to hell."

"Dirty Harry and the homicidal maniac. Harry's the one with the badge."

"Detective Harry Callahan. He doesn't break murder cases - he smashes them."

"You don't assign him to murder cases - you just turn him loose."

"Do you feel lucky, punk?"

"Go ahead, make my day."

"Note: bolded portion is ranked #51 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema."

"Lt. Al Bressler: Just go where you're told, do what you're told, play it straight down the line ... Nothing cute, nothing fancy. Just pay the ransom money and report back here."

"Mayor: The City of San Francisco does not pay criminals not to commit crimes. Instead, we pay a police department."