32 quotes
Negotiating Terms in a Capitalist Context
Mercier
Very good, superb, excellent, it would be foolish to belittle the quality of the merchandise but your terms are impossible. My counter offer is the absolute maximum...We're undertaking this deal only because of the prestige involved. And frankly, we're expected to take a loss.
[examining the jewels]
Iranoff
Capitalistic methods.
[scoffing]
Buljanoff
They accumulate millions by taking loss after loss.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Fear of Being Confined in a Picture
Ninotchka
Oh Leon, don't ever ask me for a picture of myself. I couldn't bear the thought of being shut up in a drawer. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't stand it.
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Focus on Work, Not Gender
Ninotchka
Don't make an issue of my womanhood. We're here for work. All of us. Let's not waste any time. Shall we go?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Cost of Legal Assistance
Swana
There may be a chance, that's all. The French government has recognized Soviet Russia and he doubts that they will risk a war for my poor sake. He might be able to make up some kind of a case but it would cost money, money, money. That's all they are interested in - those lawyers!
[relaying what her lawyer says about retrieving her jewels]
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Concern for the Butler's Well-Being
Ninotchka
Is this what you call the butler? ...Good evening, comrade. This man is very old. You shouldn't make him work...He looks sad. Do you whip him?... The day will come when you'll be free. Go to bed, little father. We want to be alone.
[to Gaston, Leon's butler; She puts her hand on his shoulder]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Parisian Expectations and Personal Convictions
Title card
This picture takes place in Paris in those wonderful days when a siren was a brunette and not an alarm --- and if a Frenchman turned out the light, it was not on account of an air raid!
Hotel manager
The apartment may suit your convenience but I doubt that it will fit your convictions.
[to Kopalski, Iranoff, and Buljanoff]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Seeking Direction in Paris
Ninotchka
Correct me if I'm wrong. We are facing north, aren't we?
[looking at a map]
Leon
Facing north? Well now, I'd have to commit myself without my compass. Pardon me, are you an explorer?
Ninotchka
No, I am looking for the Eiffel Tower.
Leon
Good heavens, is that thing lost again? Oh, are you interested in a view?
Ninotchka
I'm interested in the Eiffel Tower from a technical standpoint.
Leon
Technical? No, no, I'm afraid I couldn't be of much help from that angle. You see, a Parisian only goes to the Tower in moments of despair to jump off.
Ninotchka
How long does it take a man to land?
Leon
Now isn't that too bad. The last time I jumped, I forgot to time it. Let me see now, the Eiffel Tower - ah, your finger please?
Ninotchka
Why do you need my finger?
Leon
It's bad manners to point with your own. There, the Eiffel Tower.
Ninotchka
And where are we?
Leon
Where are we? Let me see. Where are we? Ah, here we are. There you are, and here am I. Feel it?
Ninotchka
I am interested only in the shortest distance between these two points. Must you flirt?
Leon
Well, I don't have to, but I find it natural.
Ninotchka
Suppress it!
Leon
I'll try.
Ninotchka
For my own information, would you call your approach toward me typical of the local morale?
Leon
Mademoiselle, it is that approach which has made Paris what it is.
Ninotchka
You're very sure of yourself, aren't you?
Leon
Well, nothing's happened recently to shake my self-confidence.
Ninotchka
I have heard of the arrogant male in capitalistic society. It is having a superior earning power that makes you that way.
Leon
A Russian! I love Russians! Comrade. I've been fascinated by your Five-Year Plan for the last fifteen years.
Ninotchka
Your type will soon be extinct.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Nature of Humor and Understanding
Leon
Maybe the trouble isn't with the joke, maybe it's with you. I'll give you one more chance. When I first heard this joke, I laughed myself sick! Here goes. A man comes into a restaurant. He sits down at the table and he says, Waiter, bring me a cup of coffee without cream. Five minutes later, the waiter comes back and says, I'm sorry, sir, we have no cream. Can it be without milk?
[trying to make Ninotchka laugh]
Leon
Oh you have no sense of humor! None whatsoever. Not a grain of humor in you. There's not a laugh in you. Everybody laughs at it but not you!
Leon
What's so funny about this?
[he starts laughing]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Conversation About Identity and Connection
Ninotchka
I must go.
Leon
Or should I say Special Envoy Yakushova?
Ninotchka
Let's forget we ever met.
Leon
No, no, no, I have a much better suggestion. Let's forget the telephone ever rang. I never heard that you're Yakushova. You're Ninotchka. My Ninotchka.
Ninotchka
I was sent here by my country to fight you.
Leon
All right, fight me. Fight me as much as you want, only fight me tomorrow morning. There's nothing sweeter than sharing a secret with an enemy.
Ninotchka
You represent white Russia and I represent Red Russia.
Leon
No, tonight, let's not represent anybody but ourselves.
Ninotchka
It's out of the question. If you wish to approach me...
Leon
You know I want to.
Ninotchka
Then do it through my lawyer.
Leon
But Ninotchka, you can't walk out like this. I'm crazy about you. I thought I'd made an impression on you. You liked the white of my eye.
Ninotchka
I must go.
Leon
Oh no, Ninotchka. I held you in my arms. You kissed me!
Ninotchka
I kissed the Polish lancer too, before he died.
[She lowers her eyes]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Social Injustice and the Value of Service
Ninotchka
Why should you carry other people's bags?
Porter
Well, that's my business, Madame.
Ninotchka
That's no business. That's social injustice.
Porter
That depends on the tip.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Waiting for the Policeman's Whistle
Ninotchka
How long must we wait here?
[on a street corner]
Leon
Well, uh, until the policeman blows his whistle again.
Ninotchka
At what intervals does he whistle?
Leon
What?
Ninotchka
How many minutes between the first and second whistle?
Leon
You know that's very funny. I never thought of that before.
Ninotchka
You've never been caught in a similar situation?
Leon
Yes, I have, now that I've come to think about it. It's staggering. Good heavens. If I add it all up, I must have spent years waiting for signals. Imagine, an important part of my life wasted between whistles.
Ninotchka
In other words, you don't know.
Leon
No.
Ninotchka
Thank you.
Leon
You're welcome.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Contrasting Views on Life and Seriousness
Leon
When we first went to my apartment, did I have the slightest idea that you were connected with this deal?
Ninotchka
You know now. And I know now that you are a man who employs business methods which in Russia would be punished by death.
Leon
Ohhh, death, death! Always so glum! What about life, Ninotchka? Do Russians never think about life? Of the moment in which we are living? The only moment we ever really have? Oh, Ninotchka, don't take things so seriously. Nothing is worth it, really. Please...relax...I beg you, Sergeant, smile!
Ninotchka
What?
Leon
Will you smile?
Ninotchka
Why?
Leon
Well, just smile.
Ninotchka
At what?
Leon
At anything. At the whole ridiculous spectacle of life. At people being so serious, taking themselves pompously, exaggerating their own importance. If you can't think of anything else to laugh at, you can laugh at you and me.
Ninotchka
Why?
Leon
Because we are an odd couple.
Ninotchka
Then you should go back to your table.
Leon
No. No, I can't leave you. I won't. Not yet. Not until I've made you laugh...at least once.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Cultural Reflections on Civilization and Frivolity
Leon
I'm glad I saw it before becoming extinct.
[atop the Eiffel Tower]
Ninotchka
Now don't misunderstand me. I do not hold your frivolity against you. As basic material, you may not be bad. But you are the unfortunate product of a doomed culture. I feel very sorry for you.
Leon
Ah, but you must admit that this doomed old civilization sparkles. Look at it. It glitters!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Conflicted Emotions and Unspoken Words
Leon
I have things to tell you about which I can't shout. Darling...I...oh... You see, I couldn't shout that.
[He takes her in his arms and kisses her]
Ninotchka
Oh Leon, Leon, you know the jokes you told me a few days ago? I wake up in the middle of the night and laugh at them. You know that's wrong. They aren't funny, they're silly, they're stupid. And still, I laugh at them...and when I look at Buljanoff and Iranoff and Kopalski I know they are scoundrels and I should hate them - then I realize who made them like that, and instead of sending my report to Moscow I go down and buy a ridiculous hat, and if this keeps on - am I too talkative?
Leon
No, no...go on.
Ninotchka
Leon, I want to tell you something which I thought I would never say, which I thought nobody ever should say, because I didn't think it existed...and, Leon...I can't say it...
[They kiss again and then embrace]
Leon
What a gesture for a Sergeant.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Midnight Reflections on Time and Wonder
Leon
Do you hear that?
Ninotchka
It's twelve o'clock.
Leon
It's midnight. Look at the clock. One hand has met the other hand. They kiss. Isn't that wonderful?
Ninotchka
That's the way a clock works. What's wonderful about it?
Leon
Ninotchka, it's midnight. One half of Paris is making love to the other half.
Ninotchka
You merely feel you must put yourself in a romantic mood to add to your exhilaration.
Leon
I can't possibly think of any better reason.
Ninotchka
That's false sentimentality.
Leon
Oh, you analyze everything out of existence. You'd analyze me out of existence but I won't let you. Love isn't so simple, Ninotchka. Ninotchka, why do doves bill and coo? Why do snails, the coldest of all creatures, circle interminably around each other? Why do moths fly hundreds of miles to find their mates? Why do flowers slowly open their petals? Oh, Ninotchka, Ninotchka, surely you feel some slight symptom of the divine passion? A general warmth in the palms of your hands, a strange heaviness in your limbs, a burning of the lips that isn't thirst but something a thousand times more tantalizing, more exalting, than thirst?
Ninotchka
You are very talkative.
[He kisses her]
Leon
Was that talkative?
Ninotchka
No, that was restful. Again. Thank you.
[After being encouraged, Leon kisses her again]
Leon
Oh, my barbaric Ninotchka. My impossible, unromantic, statistical - Again.
[She takes charge and kisses him back]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Self-Reflection on Personal and Professional Life
Leon
I'm thirty-five years old, just over six feet tall, and weigh 182 pounds stripped.
Ninotchka
What is your profession?
Leon
My profession? Mmmm, keeping my body fit, keeping my mind alert, and keeping the landlord appeased. That's a full time job.
Ninotchka
And what do you do for mankind?
Leon
For mankind? Yes, uh, not so much for mankind. But for womankind, my record isn't quite so bleak.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Cultural Differences and Growing Connections
Ninotchka
You are something we do not have in Russia.
Leon
Thank you.
Ninotchka
That's why I believe in the future of my country.
Leon
Yes. I'm beginning to believe in it myself since I met you. I still don't quite know what it's all about. Confuses me, frightens me. It fascinates me. Ninotchka, you like me just a little bit?
Ninotchka
Your general appearance is not distasteful.
Leon
Thank you.
Ninotchka
The whites of your eyes are clear. Your cornea is excellent.
Leon
Your cornea is terrific. Ninotchka, tell me, you're so expert on things: can it be that I'm falling in love with you?
Ninotchka
Why must you bring in wrong values? Love is a romantic designation for a most ordinary biological - or, shall we say, chemical - process. A lot of nonsense is talked and written about it.
Leon
Oh I see. What do you use instead?
Ninotchka
I acknowledge the existence of a natural impulse common to all.
Leon
What can I possibly do to encourage such an impulse in you?
Ninotchka
You don't have to do a thing. Chemically, we're already quite sympathetic.
Leon
You're the most incredible creature I've ever met. Ninotchka. Ninotchka.
Ninotchka
You repeat yourself.
Leon
Yes, I'd like to say it a thousand times. You must forgive me when I seem a little old-fashioned. After all, I'm just a poor bourgeois.
Ninotchka
It's never too late to change. I used to belong to the petite bourgeoisie myself.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Food and the Future of the Common People
Ninotchka
Bring me something simple. I never think about food.
Mathieu
Madame, if you don't think about food, what do you think about?
[horrified]
Ninotchka
The future of the common people.
Mathieu
That's also a question of food.
Leon
You insulted him, you know that? You hurt his feelings. It was just like telling a musician that you don't like music. Why that good old man believes in food just as you believe in Karl Marx. You can't go around hurting people like that, Comrade Yakushova. But you can make it up to him. Do you know how? By eating everything that he brings you with relish, by drinking everything with gusto, by having a good time for the first time in your natural life!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Choosing the Bayonet Over the Farm
Ninotchka
My father and mother wanted me to stay and work on the farm, but I preferred the bayonet.
Leon
The bayonet? Did you really?
Ninotchka
I was wounded before Warsaw.
Leon
Wounded? How?
Ninotchka
I was a sergeant in the Third Cavalry Brigade. Would you like to see my wound?
Leon
I'd love to.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
From Goats to Grapes: A Toast to Change
Ninotchka
The closest I ever came to champagne was in a newsreel. The wife of some president was throwing it at a battleship.
Leon
It's always good luck to launch something with champagne; a battleship...or an evening.
Ninotchka
It's funny to look back. I was brought up on goat's milk. I had a ration of vodka in the army, and now champagne.
Leon
From goats to grapes. That's drinking in the right direction.
Ninotchka
It's good. From what I read I thought champagne was a strong drink. It's delicate. Does anyone ever get drunk on this?
[After her first taste, her face grimaces but then breaks into a smile; She drinks the whole glass down at once]
Leon
Well, there have been cases...but the headache the next morning is worth while - if you drink it with the right toast. To us, Ninotchka!
[They toast, raising their glasses]
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Final Days in Paris Before Departure
Swana
The only thing we have in common is our ] and that will be settled next week. I understand everything will be over by Thursday. Am I right?...It's too bad you have so few more days here in Paris. Now Leon, be sure and redouble your efforts so that Madame can take some pleasant memories when she returns to Moscow.
[[lawsuit; To Leon]
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Misunderstandings About Inviting Places
Leon
It's such a pleasant little place. It has all the comforts. Easy to reach - near the subway, bus, and streetcar.
[pointing out his apartment]
Ninotchka
Does it mean you want me to go there?
Leon
Oh, now please, please, don't misunderstand me.
Ninotchka
Then you don't want me to go there?
Leon
No, no, no, no! No, no, I didn't say that either. Naturally, nothing would please me more.
Ninotchka
Then why don't we go? You might be an interesting subject of study.
Leon
I'll do my best.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Dining Expectations in a Restaurant Setting
Ninotchka
Raw beets and carrots.
[in a cafe]
Mathieu
Madame, this is a restaurant, not a meadow.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Conversation on Self-Perception and Identity
Swana
It's really a wretched morning, wretched. I can't get myself right. I wanted to look mellow and I look brittle. My face doesn't compose well - it's all highlights. How can I dim myself down, Leon? Suggest something. Oh, I'm so bored with this face. I wish I had someone else's face. Who's face would you have if you had your choice? Oh well, I guess one gets the face one deserves.
Leon
There's one marvelous advantage to your conversation, Swana. However many questions you ask, you never expect an answer.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Finesse and Misunderstanding in Communication
Swana
Oh dear me...I must be losing my finesse. If I'm not careful, I'll be understood by everybody.
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Cogs in the Wheel of Evolution
Leon
What kind of a girl are you anyway?
Ninotchka
Just what you see. A tiny cog in the great wheel of evolution.
Leon
You're the most adorable cog I've ever seen. Ninotchka, let me confess something. Never did I dream I could feel like this toward a sergeant.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Dress Worth Following in Paris
Ninotchka
I don't look too foolish?
Leon
Foolish? If this dress were walking down the boulevard all by itself, I would follow it from one end of Paris to the other, and when I caught up with it, I would say, Wait a moment, you charming little dress. I want you to meet Ninotchka...you two were meant for each other.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Shift in Russian Ideals and Governance
Ninotchka
The last mass trials have been a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.
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Fashion and Perceptions of New Russia
Swana
Is that what they're wearing in Moscow this year?
Ninotchka
No, last year, madame.
Swana
Isn't it amazing? One gets the wrong impression of the new Russia. It must be charming. I'm delighted conditions have improved so. I assume this is what the factory workers wear at their dances.
Ninotchka
Exactly. You see, it would have been very embarrassing for people of my sort to wear low-cut gowns in the old Russia. The lashes of the Cossacks across our backs were not very becoming, and you know how vain women are.
Swana
Yes, you're quite right about the Cossacks. We made a great mistake when we let them use their whips. They had such reliable guns.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Critique of Civilization and Women's Choices
Ninotchka
How can such a civilization survive which permits their women to put things like that on their heads? It won't be long now comrades.
[looking at a ladies' hat in a display window]
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A Request for Change in France
Ninotchka
Here are fifty francs...Bring me back forty-five.
[Giving money to her comrades to enjoy Paris]
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Ninotchka Questions Her Value and Living Conditions
Ninotchka
Which part of the room is mine?...If I stay here a week, I will cost the Russian people seven cows. Who am I to cost the Russian people seven cows?... I'm ashamed to put the picture of Lenin in a room like this.
[seeing the large size of her room; She loyally places a picture of Lenin on the desk]
Iranoff
Do you want to be alone, comrade?
Ninotchka
No.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.