"It was booty. That girl Meg was dumb. Thinkin' her father comin' back from whenever. That's stupid to believe in. That girl and her mom are both trippin'. Cuz where I'm from, don't nobody's father come back."

"Nobody can kick my own ass better than I can!"

"Karen Young - Grace"

"Didier Flamand - Pierre"

"Fisher Stevens - Manny"

"Lili Taylor - Jan"

"Marisa Tomei - Laura"

"Adrienne Shelly - Jerry"

"[voiceover] If you are going to try, go all the way. Otherwise don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs. And Maybe your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery, isolation. Isolation is the gift. All others are a test of your endurance. Of how much you really want to do it. And you'll do it, despite rejection in the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods. And the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is."

"Bar Patron: Kid, I've probably slept longer than you've lived."

"Matt Dillon - Henry Chinaski"

"[voiceover] The racetrack crowd is the world brought down to size, life grinding against death and losing. Nobody wins finally, we are just seeking a reprieve, a moment out of the glare."

"[voiceover] That scene in the office stayed with me. Those cigars, the fine clothes. I thought of good steaks, long rides up winding driveways that led to beautiful homes. Ease. Trips to Europe. Fine women."

"[voiceover] I understood too well that great lovers were always men of leisure. I fucked better as a bum than as a puncher of timeclocks."

"[voiceover] I bought some expensive clothes and a good pair of shoes. The owner of the bike supply house didn't look so powerful anymore. Manny and I took a little longer with our lunches and came back smoking good cigars. The new life didn't sit well with Jan. She was used to her four fucks a day and also used to see me poor and humble."

"[voiceover] Jan was an excellent fuck. She had a tight pussy. And she took it like it was a knife that was killing her."

"[voiceover] Amazing how grimly we hold on to our misery, the energy we burn fueling our anger. Amazing how one moment, we can be snarling like a beast, then a few moments later, forgetting what or why. Not hours of this, or days, or months, or years of this...but decades. Lifetimes completely used up, given over to the pettiest rancor and hatred. Finally, there is nothing here for death to take away."

"[voiceover] Even at my lowest times, I can feel the words bubbling inside of me. And I had to get the words down or be overcome by something worse than death. Words not as precious things but as necessary things. Yet when I begin to doubt my ability to work the word I simply read another writer and then I know that I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself: to do it right, with power and force and delight and gamble."

"[voiceover] As we live we all get caught and torn by various traps. Writing can trap you. Some writers tend to write what has pleased their readers in the past. They hear accolades and believe them. There's only one final judge of writing, and that is the Writer. When he is swayed by the critics, the editors, the publishers, the readers; then he is finished. And, of course, when he is swayed with his fame and his fortune, you can float him down the river with the turds."

"[voiceover] I decided to clean up the apartment. I thought I must be turning into a fag."

"[voiceover] A poem is a city filled with streets and sewers. Filled with saints, heros, beggars, madmen. Filled with banality and booze. Filled with rain and thunder and periods of drought. A poem is a city of war. It's a barbershop filled with cynical drunks. A poem is a city. A poem is a nation. A poem is the world."

"All I want to do is get my check and get drunk."

"Living is an art, it's not bookkeeping. It takes an awful lot of rehearsal for a man to get to be himself."

"James Cagney - Joseph T."

"William Bendix - Nick"

"Wayne Morris - Tom"

"Jimmy Lydon - Dudley Raoul Bostwick"

"Richard Erdman - Willie"

"Pedro de Cordoba - Arab Philosopher"

"Ward Bond - McCarthy"

"James Barton - Kit Carson"

"Paul Draper - Harry"

"Broderick Crawford - Krupp"

"Gale Page - Mary L."

"Jeanne Cagney - Kitty Duval"

"Sir Trenton: Well, well, well. What have we here? [chuckles] 1987 VHS of Songs from Mother Goose."

"It's the filly. It always is. Hey! Hey, she's from Philly. I didn't know she was from Philly. Oh, man, I love those Philly cheese steaks. Or any kind of cheese, really. Or, actually, any kind of food from anywhere... especially candy and poop. What were we talking about?"

"Hey, we made it, man. Nice. I'm sure that beats flying."

"Oh, come on, man. That song's already ruined. You need some good tunes like this. [Imitates guitar and sings] Can't touch this./Music hits me so hard/Makes me say "Oh, my Lord./Thank you for giving me with a mind to rhyme and a do-da-dee...""

"I want to ride on Mother Goose!"

"I want my mommy!"

"How can they allow this to happen?"

"Stop calling me names!"

"Claudette Wells - Various Reporter"

"I love Mother Goose! I also love Nursery songs!"

"Hey, are you a small horse or some sort of an ass? 'Cause you look like an ass to me."

"Boy, will you get a load of this dump? Even old MacDonald wouldn't want this farm. But it's perfect. Miles from the Jersey shore, not an ocean in sight, not even a birdbath. No one will look for a classy guy like the Goose here. Oh, oh, watch where you're going. That's my knees!"

"So, that's how we land in the big city. If there's no parking space, you make one. Any of you mugs got a problem with that?"

"Pepper Sweeney"

"All right, because you look a little slow, I'll skip the salad and get right to the risotto. Let's just say I'm having a little disagreement with my family. We disagree on whether or not they should whack me. Name's Goose."