"War, earthquake, winds, fire, famine, the plague. Year after year, it's been nothing but disasters. And bandits descend upon us every night. I've seen so many men getting killed like insects, but even I have never heard a story as horrible as this. Yes. So horrible. This time, I may finally lose my faith in the human soul. It's worse than bandits, the plague, famine, fire or wars."

"I wanted to hear a story, not one of your sermons."

"Women use their tears to fool everyone. They even fool themselves."

"We all want to forget something, so we tell stories. It's easier that way."

"No one tells a lie after he's said he's going to tell one."

"If men lie in this world, what makes you so sure they'll be honest in the next?"

"It sounded interesting, at least while I kept out of the rain. But if it's a sermon, I'd sooner listen to the rain."

"We didn't get 'em. We didn't get the guys who did it."

"Ah hah, oh ho ho! Bagles and guns."

"They've got a dead cop and dead ends and they're reaching."

"Well generally speaking miss, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"I don't want the case. I want a desk."

"You are messing with something you can't possibly understand."

"I want you to say it "I killed Calvess", "I killed Calvess"! Say it, say it, say it!"

"[about a haunting case he worked once] A little girl being abused has got nothing to do with rules and regulations, but everything to do with right and wrong."

"I'll tell you this much I became a much better cop the day she died. Any hesitation I had about the job was gone. If we were on a bust I'd kick in the door, be the first one in."

"[to a prostitute working in cold weather] Never too cold for pussy."

"I remember one night. I went with the sheriffs on a warrant raid. This dipshit was selling meth out of his apartment. Just a stop-and-pop. Broke down the door, rousted the guy. I was in one of the back rooms looking for junk when I hear something. I turn around and see these... eyes staring at me from a closet. It was a little girl. A little ten year old girl. Naked. Shaking like a leaf; she was scared to death. Her stepfather was pimping her out for rent. I wrapped her in my coat, carried her out to the squad car. I went back... and I beat that motherfucker half to death."

"The only thing you need to know about me is that I am gonna bag the motherfuckers that killed Mike. And if that means breaking any rule, any point of procedure then they're broke."

"Busta Rhymes - Darnell 'Big D Love' Beery"

"John Ortiz - Octavio Ruiz"

"Alan van Sprang - Michael Calvess"

"Stacey Farber - Young Kathryn"

"Anne Openshaw - Kathryn Calvess"

"Lloyd Adams - Walter Dandridge"

"Chi McBride - Captain Cheevers"

"Ray Liotta - Henry Oak"

"Jason Patric - Nick Tellis"

"I don't want to work with him if we're going to be playing eightball in some guy's head."

""Coolio" here tried to cap me."

"You were there before he died. Tell me I'm wrong."

"On the Seventh Day the Lord rested, but befores that he did, he took a squat over the side of England and what came out of him... was Ireland. [To Amsterdam] No offense son."

"We hold in our hearts the memory of our fallen brothers whose blood stains the very streets we walk today. Also on this night we pay tribute to the leader of our enemies, an honorable man, who crossed over bravely, fighting for what he believed in. To defeat my enemy, I extinguish his life, and consume him as I consume these flames. In honor of Priest Vallon."

"Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day."

"My father gave his life, making this country what it is. Murdered by the British with all of his men on the twenty-fifth of July, anno domini, 1814. Do you think I'm going to help you befoul his legacy, by giving this country over to them what's had no hand in the fighting for it? Why, because they come off a boat crawling with lice and begging you for soup?"

"[to Boss Tweed] I don't see no Americans. I see trespassers, Irish harps. Do a job for a nickel what a nigger does for a dime & what a white man used to get a quarter for."

"[to Boss Tweed] Mulberry Street... and Worth... Cross and Orange... and Little Water. Each of the Five Points is a finger. When I close my hand it becomes a fist. And, anytime that I wish, I can turn it against you."

"[to Amsterdam] You get to know a lot butchering meat. We're made up of the same things - flesh and blood, tissue, organs. I love to work with pigs. The nearest thing in nature to the flesh of a man is the flesh of a pig...This is the liver. The kidneys. The heart. This is a wound—the stomach will bleed and bleed. [stabs the pig] This is a kill. [stabs the pig] This is a kill. Main artery. [stabs the pig] This is a kill."

"Everything you see belongs to me, to one degree or another. The beggars and newsboys and quick thieves here in Paradise, the sailor dives and gin mills and blind tigers on the waterfront, the anglers and amusers, the she-hes and the Chinks. Everybody owes, everybody pays. Because that's how you stand up against the rising of the tide."

"In the end, they put candles on the bodies so's their friends, if they had any, could know them in the dark. The city did this free of charge. Shang, Jimmy Spoils, Hell-cat, McGloin, and more. Friend or foe, didn't make no difference now. It was four days and nights before the worst of the mob was finally put down. We never knew how many New Yorkers died that week before the city was finally delivered. My father told me we was all born of blood and tribulation, and so then too was our great city. But for those of us what lived and died in them furious days, it was like everything we knew was mildly swept away. And no matter what they did to build this city up again... for the rest of time... it would be like no one even knew we was ever here."

"Our name is called "The Dead Rabbits" to remind all of our suffering, and as a call to those who suffer still to join our ranks. However far they may have strayed from our common home across the sea. For with great numbers must come great strength in the salvation of our people."

"The past is a torch that lights our way. Where our fathers have shown us the path, we shall follow. Our faith is the weapon most feared by our enemies. For thereby shall we lift our people up against those who would destroy us."

"You know there's more of us coming off those boats everyday? Some say 15,000 Irish a week! Get all of us together and we ain't got a gang, we got an army!"

"It's a funny feeling being taken under the wing of a dragon. It's warmer than you'd think."

"When you kill a king, you don't stab him in the dark. You kill him where the entire court can watch him die."

"Eddie Marsan - Killoran"

"Stephen Graham - Shang"

"Gary Lewis - McGloin"

"Brendan Gleeson - Walter 'Monk' McGinn"