R

Rod Steiger Quotes

Actor

Memorable Quotes from Rod Steiger

26 quotes
Gratitude and Recovery in Conversation
Joe Leon Thank you. You're a kind God. Thank you. You bastarda-
[looks up; folds newspaper and opens packet to see a locket. He sees a picture of a young May Munro and her parents, as countdown clock sounds. Shocked, he looks up again; bomb blows up]
Ray Quick How you feeling?
May Better.
[they drive off]
A Father's Desire in Challenging Times
Napoleon Bonaparte Le Bedoyere, do you have any children?
Le Bedoyere Yes, sire; one son, very young, no taller than your boot.
Napoleon Bonaparte And if he were with you, would you want him with you here today?
Le Bedoyere Yes, sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte Yes, why?
Le Bedoyere So he could see you, sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte See me? You know, I have a son. I'd give anything in the world to see him. I'd give my heart, I'd give my life, but not here. I wouldn't want him to witness this battle here today.
Humanity's Resolve Against Alien Threat
General Decker You think you can do anything you want? Well, you can't, you see, because we are human beings! And we have the United States Army that'll fight you to the last man! And we'll never surrender! Do you hear me?! ] ] will win! ] will survive! We will never, never surrender! We will win! The eagle will be triumphant!
[''The Martians break into the War Room and Decker approaches them, holding two pistols''; ''Starts shooting at them, to no effect''; ''The Martian Leader uses a shrinking ray to begin miniaturizing Decker, who does not seem to notice, with his voice rising in pitch as he gets smaller and smaller''; [w:We shall fight on the beaches|We'll fight you on the beaches! We'll fight you on the streets! We'll never, never surrender!; [w:Old Glory|Old Glory; ''Now smaller than the Martian Leader's foot''; [Democracy; ''The Martian Leader stomps on Decker, crushing him'']
The Quest for Peace and Quiet
Marilyn Birchfield What makes you so bitter?
Sol Nazerman Bitter? No, no, Miss Birchfield, I am not bitter. No, that passed me by a million years ago. I'm a man of no anger. I have no desire for vengeance for what was done to me. I have escaped from the emotions. I am safe within myself. All I ask and want is peace and quiet.
[chuckles]
Marilyn Birchfield Why haven't you found them?
Sol Nazerman Because people like you will not let me. Miss Birchfield, you have made the afternoon very tedious with your constant search for an answer. And one more thing: please, stay out of my life.
Legacy Beyond Glory
Napoleon Bonaparte When I am dead and gone what will the world say of me?
Le Bedoyere They'll say that you extended the limits of glory, sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte The limits of glory'; is that all I have to leave to my son, the limits of glory'?
Concerns About Martians in Nevada
General Decker You can't have Martians running all over Nevada!
A Moment of Power and Vulnerability
Viktor Komarovsky * after forcing himself on Lara
The Commonality of Humanity
Viktor Komarovsky We're all made of the same clay, you know! Clay! Claaaaay!!
[Reeling drunk]
Reality of Consent and Manipulation
Viktor Komarovsky And don't delude yourself this was rape. That would flatter us both.
A Desperate Offer of Assistance
Viktor Komarovsky Yuri Andreievich, you spent two years with the partisans, fifth division. You have no discharge so you are a deserter. Your family in Paris is involved in a dangerous émigré organisation. Now all these are technicalities. But your style of life; everything you say and think, your published writings are all flagrantly subversive. Your days are numbered unless I help you. Do you want my help?
The Meaning of Life: Money's Role
Jesus Ortiz That's all life is about?
Sol Nazerman That's all life is about!
Jesus Ortiz You mean... money is the whole thing?
Sol Nazerman Money is the whole thing!
The Value of Belief in Money
Sol Nazerman I do not believe in God, or art, or science, or newspapers, or politics, or philosophy.
Jesus Ortiz Then, Mr. Teacher, ain't there nothing you do believe in?
Sol Nazerman Money.
Urgent Military Action Required for National Security
General Decker Screw the press! This is a need-to-know situation. We should make it a top secret, and we should move in right away with DefCon-4!
The Legacy of Mercantile Success
Jesus Ortiz Say, how come you people come to business so naturally?
Sol Nazerman You people? Oh, let's see. Yeah. I see. I see, you... you want to learn the secret of our success, is that right? Alright I'll teach you. First of all you start off with a period of several thousand years, during which you have nothing to sustain you but a great bearded legend. Oh my friend you have no land to call your own, to grow food on or to hunt. You have nothing. You're never in one place long enough to have a geography or an army or a land myth. All you have is a little brain. A little brain and a great bearded legend to sustain you and convince you that you are special, even in poverty. But this little brain, that's the real key you see. With this little brain you go out and you buy a piece of cloth and you cut that cloth in two and you go and sell it for a penny more than you paid for it. Then you run right out and buy another piece of cloth, cut it into three pieces and sell it for three pennies profit. But, my friend, during that time you must never succumb to buying an extra piece of bread for the table or a toy for a child, no. You must immediately run out and get yourself a still larger piece cloth and so you repeat this process over and over and suddenly you discover something. You have no longer any desire, any temptation to dig into the Earth to grow food or to gaze at a limitless land and call it your own, no, no. You just go on and on and on repeating this process over the centuries over and over and suddenly you make a grand discovery. You have a mercantile heritage! You are a merchant. You are known as a usurer, a man with secret resources, a witch, a pawnbroker, a sheenie, a makie and a kike!
Joining a Secret Society Explained
Jesus Ortiz You want to tell me something, Mr. Nazerman? What is that? That... is that a secret society or something?
Sol Nazerman Yeah.
[hesitates]
Jesus Ortiz Well... what do I do to join?
Sol Nazerman What do you do to join? You learn to walk on water.
Disruption of Silence in a Restaurant
Viktor Komarovsky * breaking the uneasy silence in an expensive restaurant caused by the singing of a Bolshevik demonstration on the street outside
Napoleon Faces War and Betrayal
Napoleon Bonaparte Well they've done it! The whole of Europe has declared war against me! Not against France, but against me.
Le Bedoyere They dignify you sire by making you a Nation!
Napoleon Bonaparte Dignify? Dignify? They deny me the decency of law! They make it legal that any clown can kill me.
[laughing]
Michel Ney Well we've fought with mud in our boots before!
Napoleon Bonaparte Yes well, I'll discuss peace over Wellington's dead body, that's my peace table!
General Decker Advocates for Extreme Measures
General Decker We should nuke these assholes with everything we got, sir.
A Brother's Betrayal in Boxing
Charley Malloy Look, kid, I - how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry Malloy It wasn't him, Charley; it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! My night? I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors in a ballpark, and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley; you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charley Malloy Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry Malloy You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.
[Charley takes it in.]
A Regretful Reflection on War Decisions
Officer Sire! The Prussians are in the woods! Blücher is in the woods!
Napoleon Bonaparte If I made one mistake in my life, I should have burned Berlin.
Questioning the Pursuit of Wellington
Michel Ney Wellington's on the run! I caught him at Quatre Bras! He's retreating!
Napoleon Bonaparte If Wellington's retreating, what are you doing here?
Michel Ney But, Sire...
Napoleon Bonaparte If Wellington's retreating, what are you doing here? Why didn't you follow him? Why didn't you pursue?
Michel Ney where are the reinforcements you promised me?
[Raises voice]
Napoleon Bonaparte Don't you dare criticize me! Don't you dare! Don't you see if Wellington's free to choose his ground then everything I've won in this campaign you've lost!
[shouting]
A Desperate Plea for Protection
Viktor Komarovsky But don't you see her position? She's served her purpose. These men who came with me today as an escort will come for her and the child tomorrow as a firing squad! Now I know exactly what you think of me, and why. But if you're not coming with me, she's not coming with me. So are you coming with me? Do you accept the protection of this ignoble Caliban on any terms that Caliban cares to make? Or is your delicacy so exorbitant that you would sacrifice a woman and a child to it?
A Strategic Decision at Waterloo
Napoleon Bonaparte Cross the river. Tomorrow we will dry our boots in Brussels.
Michel Ney God willing, sire.
Napoleon Bonaparte God? God has nothing to do with it.
Understanding the Number of the Beast
Jericho Cane Why don't you stop all this church talk and tell us what the hell is going on? Who's after her?
Father Kovak Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll try to explain. You know anything about the number of the beast? Revelation of St. John from his dream?
Christine York 6-6-6?
Father Kovak The number of the beast is not 6-6-6. Often in dreams, numbers appear upside down and backwards. So, 6-6-6 becomes 9-9-9. Like in 1999, the year of his return.
Christine York What does that have to do with me?
Father Kovak Regressus Diaholi: The Return of Satan. Does any of this look familiar to you? She's been chosen. He's in her blood. The Holy Church has been searching for you since the day you were born.
[Christine shows her birthmark]
Christine York Chosen for what?
Father Kovak Every thousand years, on the eve of the millennium, the Dark Angel comes and takes a body, and then he walks the Earth looking for a woman who will bear his child. It all has to happen in that unholy hour before midnight on New Year's Eve. If he consummates your flesh with this body, then he unlocks the gate of Hell and everything we know it ceases to exist.
Jericho Cane So, the Prince of Darkness wants to conquer the Earth, but has to wait until an hour before midnight on New Year's Eve? Is this Eastern time?
Father Kovak It's got nothing to do with New Year's Eve. It has to do with a temporary celestial alignment. The Gregorian monks studied the heavens. They were able to calculate the precise moment of this event. They created our calendar by mapping this event and counting backwards from that moment.
Jericho Cane It was a mistake to come here.
Father Kovak It doesn't matter whether you believe or not. He's real and he won't rest till he finds this girl.
Christine York Why did he pick me?
Father Kovak Because the stars were right when you were born. A man's body was also chosen, just like yours.
Jericho Cane If the devil does exist, why doesn't your God do anything?
Father Kovak It's not my God. It's our God, and He doesn't say that He will save us. He says that we will save ourselves.
Christine York Save myself? What am I supposed to do? Get a restraining order?
Father Kovak We have to have faith.
Jericho Cane Faith.
Father Kovak Yes, faith. It's an interesting concept. If you read the Bible, you can't miss it. Faith!
Jericho Cane Between your faith and my Glock nine-millimeter, I take my Glock. Come on. Let's go.
[to Christine]
Father Kovak I'm afraid it takes a person of pure heart to defeat pure evil. You did your job. You brought her here to people of faith. We'll protect her. We'll hide her.
Jericho Cane You know, you live in a different world. We have some real serious problems here, and this is not solving them.
Father Kovak Satan's greatest trick was convincing man he didn't exist.
Post-Revolution Harmony and Uncertainty
Viktor Komarovsky No doubt they'll sing in tune after the revolution...
Marriage Proposals and Class Struggles in Oklahoma
Carnes That's enough. In this country that better be a proposal of marriage.
[to Ali, cocking his gun]
Ali Hakim I wanted to marry her when I saw the moonlight shining on the barrel of her father's shotgun.
[about Ado Annie]
Aunt Eller Murphy SING! SING! C'mon now! Sing!
[with gun in hand]
Jud Fry Look at me. I'm a hired hand. I got dirt on my hands. Pig slop. I ain't fit to touch you, am I - you're better. Oh, you're so much better, Miss Laurey Williams! Well we'll see how much better you are, and then you won't be so free and easy and hifalutin with your airs! You such a FINE lady!
[to Laurey]