Schindler's List (1994) - Quotes

Goeth Questions Productivity of Laborers

Goeth: What I don't understand is that you've been working since I think what, about six this morning, yet such a small pile of hinges.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Conflict Over Human Lives and Profit

Schindler: I go to work the other day. Nobody's there. Nobody tells me about this. I have to find out, I have to go in. Everybody's gone.

Goeth: They're not gone. They're here.

Schindler: THEY'RE MINE! Every day that goes by, I'm losing money. Every worker that is shot costs me money. I have to find somebody else. I have to train them.

Goeth: We're going to be making so much money, none of this is going to matter.

Schindler: It's bad business.

Goeth: Scherner told me something else about you.

Schindler: Yeah, what's that?

Goeth: That you know the meaning of the word "gratitude". That it's not some vague thing with you like it is with others. You want to stay where you are. You've got things going on the side, things are good. You don't want anybody telling you what to do. I can understand all that. You know, I know you. What you want is your own sub-camp. Do you have any idea what's involved? The paperwork alone? Forget you got to build the fucking thing, getting the fucking permits is enough to drive you crazy. Then the engineers show up. They stand around, they argue about drainage, foundations, codes, exact specifications, parallel fences four kilometers long, twelve hundred kilograms of barbed wire, six thousand kilograms of electrified fences … I'm telling you, you'll want to shoot somebody. I've been through it, you know, I know.

Schindler: [Goeth shrugs] Well, you know, you've been through it. You could make things easier for me. I'd be grateful.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Value of Life in Difficult Times

Adam Levy: [to the SS troops; to Mrs. Dresner] I've searched the building. There's no one here. … Come with me. I will put you in the good line.

Mrs. Dresner: Do you know the saying, "An hour of life is still life"? You are not a boy anymore. I'll say a blessing for you.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Obstructions and Orders in a Dire Situation

Pfefferberg: I respectfully report I've been given orders to clear the bundles from the road so there will be no obstructions to the thoroughfare.

Goeth: [laughing] Finish and join the lines, little Polish clicking soldier.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Irony of Education and Oppression

Reiter: Herr Kommandant! The entire foundation has to be torn down and repoured. If not, there will be at least a subsidence at the southern end of the barracks. Subsidence, and then collapse.

Goeth: And you are an engineer?

Reiter: Yes. My name is Diana Reiter. I'm a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Milan.

Goeth: Ah, an educated Jew … like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharführer!

Hujar: Jawohl?

Goeth: Shoot her.

Reiter: Herr Kommandant! I'm only trying to do my job!

Goeth: Ja, I'm doing mine.

Hujar: Sir, she's foreman of construction.

Goeth: [Hujar starts to drag Reiter away] We're not going to have arguments with these people. No. Shoot her here, on my authority.

Reiter: It will take more than that …

Goeth: [Reiter is shot] I'm sure you're right. Take it down, repour it, rebuild it, like she said.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Consequences of Timing and Mistakes

Stern: I somehow left my work card at home. I tried to explain them it was a mistake, but … I'm sorry, it was stupid.

Schindler: What if I got here five minutes later? Then where would I be?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Role of Luck and War in Success

Schindler: Three hundred and fifty workers on the factory floor with one purpose … to make money – for me! … They won't soon forget the name Schindler, either. I can tell you that. Oskar Schindler, they'll say. Everybody remembers him. He did something extraordinary. He did something no one else did. He came here with nothing, a suitcase, and built a bankrupt company into a major manufactory. And left with a steamer trunk, two steamer trunks, full of money. All the riches of the world. … There's no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing. In every business I tried, I can see now it wasn't me that had failed. Something was missing. Even if I'd known what it was, there's nothing I could have done about it, because you can't create this thing. And it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.

Emilie: Luck.

Schindler: War.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Prioritizing Lunch Over Business Progress

Schindler: I could try to read this, or I could eat my lunch while it's still hot. We're doing well?

Stern: Yes.

Schindler: Better this month than last?

Stern: Yes.

Schindler: Any reason to think next month will be worse?

Stern: The war could end.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Gratitude and Acknowledgment in Difficult Times

Schindler: [Schindler raises his glass to recognize Stern, but the accountant doesn't respond] My father was fond of saying you need three things in life. A good doctor, a forgiving priest, and a clever accountant. The first two, I've never had much use for them. But the third … Just pretend, for Christ's sake.

Stern: Is that all?

Schindler: I'm trying to thank you. I'm saying I couldn't have done this without you. The usual thing would be to acknowledge my gratitude. It would also, by the way, be the courteous thing.

Stern: You're welcome.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Disparities in Labor Costs and Treatment

Stern: The standard SS rate for Jewish skilled labor is seven marks a day, five for unskilled and women. This is what you pay the Reich Economic Office, the Jews themselves receive nothing. Poles you pay wages. Generally, they get a little more. Are you listening? … The Jewish worker's salary – you pay it directly to the SS, not to the worker. He gets nothing.

Schindler: But it's less. It's less than what I would pay a Pole … that's the point I'm trying to make. Poles cost more. Why should I hire Poles?

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Investment Negotiation Amidst Changing Circumstances

Schindler: For each thousand you invest, I will repay you with two hundred kilos of enamelware a month, to begin in July and to continue for one year – after which time we're even. That's it. It's very simple.

Investor: Not good enough …

Schindler: Not good enough? Look where you're living. Look where you've been put. "Not good enough." A couple of months ago, you'd be right. Not anymore.

Investor: Money's still money.

Schindler: No, it is not. That's why we're here. Trade goods, that's the only currency that'll be worth anything in the ghetto. Things have changed, my friend. Did I call this meeting? You told Mr. Stern you wanted to speak to me. I'm here. I've made you a fair offer.

Investor: Fair would be a percentage of the company.

Schindler: [laughs] Forget the whole thing. Get out.

Investor: How do we know that you will do what you say?

Schindler: Because I said I would. Do you want a contract? To be upheld by what court? I said what I'll do, that's our contract.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Value of Nice Things

Pfefferberg: Do you have any idea how much a shirt like this costs?

Schindler: Nice things cost money.

Pfefferberg: How many?

Schindler: I'm going to need some other things too as things come up …

Pfefferberg: This won't be a problem.

Schindler: … from time to time.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Business Discussion Between Schindler and Stern

Schindler: There's a company you did the books for on Lipowa Street, made what – pots and pans?

Stern: By law, I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew.

Schindler: Well, I'm a German, so there we are. A good company, you think?

Stern: Modestly successful.

Schindler: I know nothing about enamelware, do you?

Stern: I was just the accountant.

Schindler: Simple engineering, though, wouldn't you think? Change the machines around, whatever you do, you could make other things, couldn't you? Field kits, mess kits, army contracts. Once the war ends, forget it, but for now it's great. You could make a fortune, don't you think?

Stern: I think most people right now have other priorities.

Schindler: Like what?

Stern: I'm sure you'll do just fine once you get the contracts. In fact, the worse things get, the better you will do.

Schindler: Oh, I can get the signatures I need – that's the easy part. Finding the money to buy the company, that's hard.

Stern: You don't have any money?

Schindler: Not that kind of money. You know anybody? Jews, yeah. Investors. You must have contacts in the Jewish business community working here.

Stern: What "community"? Jews can no longer own businesses. That's why this one's in receivership.

Schindler: Ah, but they wouldn't own it. I'd own it. I'd pay them back in product. Pots and pans.

Stern: Pots and pans.

Schindler: Something they can use. Something they can feel in their hands. They can trade it on the black market, do whatever they want. Everybody's happy. If you want, you could run the company for me.

Stern: Let me understand. They'd put up all the money. I'd do all the work. But what, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?

Schindler: [long pause as Schindler drags on his cigarette] I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache. That's what I'm good at, not the work, not the work – the presentation.

Stern: ...I'm sure I don't know anybody who'd be interested in this.

Schindler: Well, they should be, Itzhak Stern. Tell them they should be.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Injustice of the List

SS officer: [[w:Schutzstaffel|SS] This storm is different. This is not the Romans. This storm is the ].

Jewish Woman: [to the [[w:Judenrat|Judenrat] They come into our house and tell us we don't live there anymore. It now belongs to a certain SS officer … aren't you supposed to be able to help?

Mr. Lowenstein: [to Stern; to Schindler] The SS beat me up. They would have killed me, but I'm essential to the war effort, thanks to you. … I work hard for you. … I'll continue to work hard for you. … God bless you, sir. … You're a good man. … He saved my life. … God bless him. … God bless you.

Clerk: [to Schindler, about Stern] I'm sorry. You can't have him. He's on the list. If he were an essential worker, he would not be on the list … it makes no difference to us, you understand. This one, that one. It's the inconvenience to the list. It's the paperwork.

SS Officer: [to Schindler, about relocating to Płaszów] Since your labor is housed onsite, it's available to you at all times. You can work them all night if you want. Your factory policies, whatever they've been in the past, they'll continue to be, they'll be respected.

Oberführer Scherner: [to Schindler] We give you Jewish girls at five marks a day, Oskar. You should kiss us, not them. God forbid you ever get a real taste for Jewish skirt – there's no future in it. No future. They don't have a future. And that's not just good old-fashioned Jew-hating talk. It's policy now.

Winston Churchill (on radio): [[Dwight Eisenhower|General Eisenhower; [Alfred Jodl|General Jodl] Yesterday morning, at 2:41 AM, at ]'s headquarters, ] signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea, and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command. The German war is therefore at an end. But let us not forget for a moment …

Rabbi Lewartow: [to Schindler] We've written a letter trying to explain things in case you are captured. Every worker has signed it.

End titles: Amon Goeth was arrested while a patient in a sanatorium at Bad Tolz. He was hanged in Kraków for crimes against humanity. … Oskar Schindler failed at his marriage and several businesses after the war. … in 1958, he was declared a righteous person by the council of the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous. It grows there still. … The Schindler Jews today. … There are fewer than four thousand Jews left alive in Poland today. There are more than six thousand descendants of the Schindler Jews. … In memory of the more than six million Jews murdered.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Allure of Corruption in Power

Marcel Goldberg: I'm a policeman now, could you believe it? That's what's hard to believe … it's a good racket, Poldek. It's the only racket here. Look, maybe I could put in a good word for you with my superiors … come on, they're not as bad as everyone says. Well, they're worse than everyone says, but it's a lot of money, a lot of money.

Street Sales and Spiritual Intentions

Marcel Goldberg: It's illegal to buy or sell anything on the street. We don't do that. We're here to pray.

The Value of Saving a Single Life

Itzhak Stern: [To Schindler, presenting a ring; [Talmud] It's Hebrew from the ]. It says, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.

A Plea for Stability Amidst Chaos

Itzhak Stern: Herr Direktor, don't let the things fall apart. I worked too hard.

Amon Goeth's Frustration with the Situation

Amon Goeth: [Supervising the incineration of bodies buried near Płaszów] Can you believe this? As if I don't have enough to do, they come up with this? I have to find every rag buried up here and burn it. The party's over, Oskar. They're closing us down, sending everybody to Auschwitz … as soon as I can arrange the shipments, maybe 30, 40 days. That ought to be fun.

Desire and Manipulation in Amon Goeth's Perspective

Amon Goeth: [Defending Schindler] He likes women. He likes good-looking women. He sees a beautiful woman – he doesn't think. He has so many women. They love him, yeah, they love him. I mean, he's married, yeah, but … all right, she was Jewish, he shouldn't have done it, but you didn't see this girl. I saw this girl. This girl was, wuff, very good-looking. They cast a spell on you, you know, the Jews. When you work closely with them like I do, you see this. They have this power, it's like a virus. Some of my men are infected with this virus. They should be pitied, not punished. They should receive treatment, because this is as real as typhus. I see this all the time. It's a matter of money, hm?

Loneliness and Dehumanization in Amon Goeth's Words

Amon Goeth: [To Helen; He strokes her hair; He decides not to kiss her; He beats her] I came to tell you that you really are a wonderful cook and a well-trained servant. I mean it. If you need a reference after the war, I'd be happy to give you one. It's kind of lonely down here, it seems, with everyone upstairs having such a good time. Does it? You can answer. "What was the right answer?" That's – that's what you're thinking. "What does he want to hear?" The truth, Helen, is always the right answer. Yes, you're right. Sometimes we're both lonely. Yes, I mean, I would like, so much, to reach out and touch you in your loneliness. What would that be like, I wonder? I mean, what would be wrong with that? I realize that you're not a person in the strictest sense of the word. Maybe you're right about that too. You know, maybe what's wrong isn't – it's not us – it's this. I mean, when they compare you to vermin and to rodents and to lice, I just, uh … you make a good point, a very good point. Is this the face of a rat? Are these the eyes of a rat? "Hath not a Jew eyes?" I feel for you, Helen. No, I don't think so. You're a Jewish bitch. You nearly talked me into it, didn't you?

Power and Control in the Camp

Amon Goeth: [To Stern; Stern nods] Goldberg and Chilowicz make sure I see my cut from the factory owners in this camp, leaving you to take care of my main account – the Schindler account. He wants his independence. I gave it to him. But independence costs money. This you understand? Look at me. Don't forget who you are working for now.

The Weight of Historical Memory

Amon Goeth: Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day. Today is history and you are part of it. Six hundred years ago when elsewhere they were footing the blame for the Black Death, Kazimierz the Great – so called – told the Jews they could come to Kraków. They came. They trundled their belongings into the city. They settled. They took hold. They prospered in business, science, education, the arts. They came with nothing. Nothing. And they flourished. For six centuries there has been a Jewish Kraków. Think about that. By this evening, those six centuries are a rumor. They never happened. Today is history.

A Call for Reflection and Humanity

Oskar Schindler: [To the factory's SS guards; The guards gradually exit; he addresses the workers again] The unconditional surrender of Germany has just been announced. At midnight tonight, the war is over. Tomorrow you'll begin the process of looking for survivors of your families. In most cases … you won't find them. After six long years of murder, victims are being mourned throughout the world. We've survived. Many of you have come up to me and thanked me. Thank yourselves. Thank your fearless Stern, and others among you who worried about you and faced death at every moment. I am a member of the Nazi Party. I'm a munitions manufacturer. I'm a profiteer of slave labor. I am … a criminal. At midnight, you'll be free and I'll be hunted. I shall remain with you until five minutes after midnight, after which time – and I hope you'll forgive me – I have to flee. I know you have received orders from our commandant, which he has received from his superiors, to dispose of the population of this camp. Now would be the time to do it. Here they are; they're all here. This is your opportunity. … Or, you could leave, and return to your families as men instead of murderers. In memory of the countless victims among your people, I ask us to observe three minutes of silence.

A Promise of Recognition and Respect

Oskar Schindler: [To his wife, Emilie] No doorman or Maître D will ever mistake you again. I promise.

Factory Regulations and Worker Protection

Oskar Schindler: [To Brinnlitz guards; To the Commanding Officer, Josef Liepold] Under Department W provisions, it is unlawful to kill a worker without just cause. Under the Businesses Compensation Fund, I am entitled to file damage claims for such deaths. If you shoot without thinking, you go to prison, I get paid. That's how it works. So, there will be no summary executions here. There will be no interference of any kind with production. In hopes of ensuring that, guards will no longer be allowed on the factory floor without my authorization. For your cooperation, you have my gratitude.

Defending the Value of Skilled Workers

Oskar Schindler: [To guards pulling girls out of the lines to get the train to Brinnlitz] Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you doing?! These are mine! These are my workers, they should be on my train! They're skilled munitions workers! They're essential. Essential girls! Their fingers polish the insides of shell metal casings. How else am I to polish the inside of a 45-millimeter shell casing? You tell me. You tell me!

Arrival and Hope at the Factory

Oskar Schindler: [[w:Brünnlitz labor camp|Brinnlitz] The train with the women has already left Płaszów and will be arriving here very shortly. I know you've had a long journey, but it's only a short walk further to the factory where hot soup and bread is waiting for you. Welcome to ].

Questioning the Consequences of Racial Laws

Oskar Schindler: I violated the Race and Resettlement Act. Though I doubt anyone can point out the actual provision to me. I kissed a Jewish girl.

Awareness of Consequences in Uncertain Situations

Oskar Schindler: [To [[w:Gestapo|Gestapo] ] men, as they are arresting him] I'm not saying you'll regret it, but you might. You should be aware of that.

Announcement of Operational Status and Quality Assurance

Oskar Schindler: It is my distinct pleasure to announce the fully operational status of Deutsche Email Fabrik – manufacturers of superior enamelware crockery, expressly designed and crafted for military use, utilizing only the most modern equipment. DEF's staff of highly skilled and experienced artisans and journeymen deliver a product of unparalleled quality, enabling me to proffer with absolute confidence and pride, a full line of field and kitchen ware unsurpassable in all respects by my competitors. See attached list and available colors. Anticipating the enclosed bids will meet with your approval, and looking forward to a long and mutually prosperous association, I extend to you, in advance, my sincerest gratitude and very best regards. Oskar Schindler.

Luxurious Requests from Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler: [To Pfefferberg] Boxed teas are good, coffee, pâté, um, kiełbasa sausage, cheeses, beluga caviar. And of course, who could live without German cigarettes, as many as you can find. And some more fresh fruit – the real rarities: oranges, lemons, pineapples. I need several boxes of Cuban cigars, the best. And dark unsweetened chocolate, not in the shape of lady fingers, the chunk chocolate, big as my hand. You sample it at wine tastings. We're going to need lots of cognac, the best – Hennessy. Dom Pérignon champagne. Get L'Espadon sardines. And, oh, try to find nylon stockings.