"Martin Scorsese: It’s kind of difficult to talk about how and why [Mean Streets] was made. When I think about the film and think about the time in my life having made the film and having been, in a sense, a part of the way of life that is depicted in the film, it seems to, in my mind, be the final culmination of everything of what I was to do and who I am. In my mind, it’s not really a film — it’s a declaration or a statement of who I am and how I was living; those thoughts and dilemmas and conflicts were very much a part of my life up to that point in time. They couldn’t be expressed in any other way [other than] resulting in this movie.There is no message. It’s something that came out of me organically. The only way to express it was: camera and dialog and actors and color and music. In my mind it was a representation of who I was, my friends, and where I came from. The genesis was my life."

"Honorable men go with honorable men."

"Richard Romanus - Michael Longo"

"George Memmoli - Joey 'Clams' Scala"

"[voiceover] You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it."

"[They all raise their glasses to The Queen] You know what the Queen said? If I had balls, I'd be King."

"You know something? She is really good-lookin'. I gotta say that again. She is really good-lookin'. But she's black. You can see that real plain, right? Look, there isn't much of a difference anyway, is there. Well, is there?"

"You see, I borrow money all over this neighborhood, left and right from every BODY, I never pay them back. So, I can't borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So, who would that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you, because you're the only jerk-off around here who I can borrow money from without payin' back, right? You know, 'cause that's what you are, that's what I think of you: a jerk-off."

"David Carradine - Drunk"

"Hey, sorry lady! I'm sorry! I hate that lady with a passion... with a vengeance."

"It's all bullshit except the pain. The pain of hell. The burn from a lighted match increased a million times. Infinite. Now, ya don't fuck around with the infinite. There's no way you do that. The pain in hell has two sides. The kind you can touch with your hand; the kind you can feel in your heart... your soul, the spiritual side. And ya know... the worst of the two is the spiritual."

"Robert Carradine - Boy With Gun"

"Harvey Keitel - Charlie"

"Listen to me! Please! Please! Listen to me! You don't understand! You have to let me go! I don't understand, why my father died! Why I'm alone! This is my only chance to work. You should understand!"

"Maybe that's why a broken machine always makes me a little sad, because it isn't able to do what it was meant to do... Maybe it's the same with people. If you lose your purpose... it's like you're broken."