"[about Vargas] He's a drug addict. He's got that young wife of his hooked too, but good. If I hadn't seen that hypodermic myself...That's how come he happens to imagine all those crazy things. It's typical. What that wife of his was doing on that dive on skid row. Both a couple of junkies. Course he's using the job as a cover-up."

"30 years of pounding beats and riding cars, 30 years of dirt and crummy pay. For 30 years, I gave my life to this department. And you allow this foreigner to accuse me. Answer, answer, why do I have to answer him? No sir! I won't take back that badge until the people of this county want me back."

"[about his wife's killer] I followed around after him...ate my heart out trying to catch him but I never did. That was the last killer that ever got out of my hands."

"Listen, I got a position in this town, a reputation...somebody's gonna be ruined."

"There's an old lady on Main Street last night picked up a shoe. The shoe had a foot in it. We're going to make you pay for that mess."

"How can I leave here until my wife's name is clean? Clean!"

"Listen, I'm no cop now. I'm a husband! What did you do with her? Where's my wife?"

"There are all kinds of policemen, sir. I don't have to tell you that. A few take bribes... Most are honest, yes, but even some of the honest men abuse their power in other ways."

"This isn't the real Mexico. You know that. All border towns bring out the worst in a country. I can just imagine your mother's face if she could see our honeymoon hotel."

"[Quinlan fires a pistol at Vargas, not hitting him] That wasn't no miss, Vargas. That was just to turn you 'round, so I don't have to shoot you in the back. Unless you'd rather run for it."

"Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of."

"[to Jedediah Leland] Mr. Kane is finishing the review you started. He's writing a bad notice. I guess that'll show you."

"We never lost as much as we made."

"President's niece, huh? Before Mr. Kane's through with her, she'll be a president's wife."

"Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Switzerland... he was thrown out of a lot of colleges."

"You can't buy a bag of peanuts in this town without someone writing a song about you."

"Don't worry about me, Gettys. Don't worry about me. I'm Charles Foster Kane! I'm no cheap, crooked politician, trying to save himself from the consequences of his crimes! [louder] Gettys! I'm going to send you to Sing Sing! Sing Sing, Gettys! Sing Sing!"

"A toast, Jedediah, to love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows - his own."

"I don't think there's one word that can describe a man's life."

"[I entered this campaign] with one purpose only, to point out and make public the dishonesty, the downright villainy of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine, now in complete control of the government of this state. I made no campaign promises, because until a few weeks ago, I had no hope of being elected. Now however, I am something more than a hope. Jim Gettys, Jim Gettys has something less than a chance. Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected. Now I can afford to make some promises. The working man, the working man and the slum child know they can expect my best efforts in their interests. The nation's ordinary citizens know that I'll do everything in my power to protect the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed."

"I run a couple of newspapers. What do you do?"

"I was on my way to the Western Manhattan Warehouse in search of my youth. You see, my mother died a long time ago and her things were put in storage out West. There wasn't any other place to put them. I thought I'd send for them now. Tonight, I was going to take a look at them. You know, a sort of sentimental journey."

"We have no secrets from our readers. Mr. Thatcher is one of our most devoted readers, Mr. Bernstein. He knows what's wrong with every issue since I've taken charge."

"I always gagged on that silver spoon."

"If I don't look after the interests of the underprivileged, maybe somebody else will. Maybe somebody without any money or property, and that would be too bad!"

"You're right. I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year! You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in 60 years."

"It's my duty and — I'll let you in on a little secret — it's also my pleasure to see to it that decent, hard-working people in this community aren't robbed blind by a pack of money-mad pirates, just because they haven't had anybody to look after their interests."

"As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit - you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings - I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars."

"If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough."

"Rosebud..."

"The news goes on for 24 hours a day."

"Philip Van Zandt - Mr. Rawlston"

"George Coulouris - Walter Parks Thatcher"

"Paul Stewart - Raymond"

"William Alland - Jerry Thompson"

"Ray Collins - James W. Gettys"

"Ruth Warrick - Emily Monroe Norton Kane"

"Agnes Moorehead - Mary Kane"

"Dorothy Comingore - Susan Alexander Kane"

"Everett Sloane - Mr. Bernstein"

"Joseph Cotten - Jedediah Leland"

"Orson Welles - Charles Foster Kane"

"Some called him a hero. Others called him a heel..."

"I hate him! I love him! He's a scoundrel! He's a saint! He's crazy! He's a genius!"

"The classic story of power and the press."

"Everybody's talking about it!"

"It's Terrific!"

"Raymond: [last lines] Throw that junk in!"

"Susan Kane: [referring to Xanadu] Oh, a person could go crazy in this dump with nobody to talk to, nobody to have any fun with. Forty-nine thousand acres of nothing but scenery and statues. I'm lonesome."

"Politician: The words of Charles Foster Kane are a menace to every working man in this land. He is today what he has always been, and always will be: a Fascist!"