"[launching his attack on the French right] Raise high the black flags, children. No pity. No prisoners. I'll shoot any man I see with pity in him. Forward!"

"[attempting to rally the Imperial Guard] Up to them. Up to them! Do I fight alone? Are you French? Fight with me! Are you the Guard? Stand with me! Do you know me? I am Ney! Ney, Marshal of France!"

"I've been in this position before at the Battle of Marengo. I lost the battle at five o'clock, but I won it back again at seven!"

"I am France, and France is me!"

"[dictating a letter] To my dear Prince Alexis... I did not "usurp" the crown. I found it, in the gutter, and I, I picked it up with my sword, and it was the people, Alexis, the people who put it on my head. He who saves a nation violates no law."

"Soldiers of the 5th, do you recognise me? If... you want to kill your Emperor... here I am. [pause] FIRE!"

"I can't believe my ears. You all stand before me, waving a piece of paper, crying 'abdicate, abdicate!' I WILL NOT!!! I WILL NOT, NOT, NOT!!!"

"[thinks to himself, about Wellington] This Englishman has two qualities I admire: caution, and above all, courage."

"Never interrupt your enemy while he's making a mistake. That's bad manners."

"[as Jeanne puts her hands on his crotch] That is your happiness, and my hap-penis."

"But apart from the film’s many qualities (and I have been able to sketch in only a few of them) there was a special air of excitement that night because there was some doubt if anyone who wasn’t there would ever see the film in its original form. Although shot entirely in Paris, it is an Italo-French co-production, and as such, if it is to benefit from all that the Italian system offers in the way of subsidies etc, it cannot be exported before it is passed by the Italian censorship board. An exception was made for the New York film festival, but the print was whisked in and out of the country too fast for there to be more than the one solitary screening – there was not even a press show. At the same time, the producer Alberto Grimaldi, flew in a half dozen Italian journalists; the idea is that the Italian censorship board is very responsive to foreign opinion. It is generally agreed that Pasolini’s Canterbury Tales would never have got past them if it had not first won the Grand Prize in Berlin. ... What they always can do [the producer and director] if the Italian censors don’t pass the film is to surrender the film’s nationality; it may cost them a little, but they would surely make it up on the film’s American release. But where else can it be shown? Germany, Scandinavia – yes. But France or England: I wonder. It is certainly the best possible test for a censor; everyone here agreed the film is not pornographic. On the other hand, it is graphic and explicit. In fact, it poses something of a quandary. But I dare say it will be solved eventually: Last Tango is manifestly too important a film to be put on the shelf. Meanwhile, the fur is going to fly."

"Darling Légitimus - the Concierge"

"Catherine Allégret - Catherine"

"Maria Michi - Rosa's mother"

"Veronica Lazar - Rosa"

"Massimo Girotti - Marcel"

"Jean-Pierre Léaud - Tom"

"Maria Schneider - Jeanne"

"Marlon Brando - Paul"

"[last line of the film] I didn't know his name..."

"It's better not knowing anything."

"Olympia is the personification of domestic virtue: faithful, economic and racist."

"[to his dead wife at her wake] Our marriage was nothing more than a foxhole for you. And all it took for you to get out was a 10 cent razor and a tub full of water. You cheap, goddamn, fucking, godforsaken whore, I hope you rot in hell. You're worse than the dirtiest street pig anybody could ever find anywhere, and you know why? You know why? Because you lied. You lied to me and I trusted you. You lied and you knew you were lying. Go on, tell me you didn't lie. Haven't you got anything to say about that? You can think up something, can't you? Go on, tell me something! Go on, smile, you cunt! [crying] Go on, tell me... tell me something sweet. Smile at me and say I just misunderstood. Go on, tell me. You pig-fucker... you goddamn, fucking, pig-fucking liar. [sobbing] Rosa... I'm sorry, I... I just - I can't stand it to see these goddamn things on your face! [peels off her fake eyelashes] You never wore make-up... this fucking shit. I'm gonna take this off your mouth, this - this lipstick... Rosa - oh GOD! I'm sorry! I - I don't know why you did it! I'd do it too, if I knew how... I just don't know how... I have to... have to find a way..."

"Well, first you have to take a hot bath and if you don't you're gonna get pneumonia. Right?... and then you know what happens? You get pneumonia... and then you know what happens? You die! And then, you know what happens then when you die? I get to fuck the dead rat!"

"Even if a husband lives 200 fucking years, he'll never discover his wife's true nature. I may be able to understand the secrets of the universe, but... I'll never understand the truth about you. Never."

"(To Pinocchio, regarding Lorenzini) That's not love, he's fooling you! He's got evil plans in the works, and he's using you to make them come true!"

"Miracles don't grow on trees! Miracles are made in the heart!"

"Long, long ago, in a far-away land, a young woodcarver took secretly to the forest. His name was Geppetto, and he was shy, and quiet, oh, and very much in love."

"(Inside Lorenzini's sea monster form) Lorenzini, he must be the sea monster."

"(Lying to save them from Lorenzini) I hate you, Papa. I never ever missed you. I wish I'd never found you. I never wanted to be your son, I want to stay a puppet!"

"(To Geppetto) But... I want to be with you."

"Geppetto made them! I won't let them burn!"

"(To the boys at Terra Magica) Come here! Over here! No, this is all wrong! You gotta believe me! Look, they're trying to trick you! They want us to behave badly. Don't go on the ride, please! We've been acting like jackasses, so that's what we turn into!"