The Firm Quotes

Avery Tolar Being a tax lawyer's got nothing to do with the law. It's a game. We teach the rich how to play it so they can stay rich. The IRS keeps changing the rules so we can keep getting rich teaching them. It's a game...

Wayne Tarrance How about you get down on your knees and kiss my ass for not indicting you as a co-conspirator right now, you chickenshit little Harvard cocksucker?

Mitch McDeere I haven't done anything, and you know it!

Wayne Tarrance Who gives a fuck? I'm a federal agent! You know what that means, you lowlife motherfucker? It means you've got no rights, your life is mine! I could kick your teeth down your throat and yank them out your asshole, and I'm not even violating your civil rights!

Mitch McDeere You are Agent Wayne Tarrance.

Wayne Tarrance Yeah, you’re goddamn right I am. Maybe local cops can’t…

Mitch McDeere Let me get this straight: you want me to steal files from the firm, turn them over to the FBI, send my colleagues to jail...

Wayne Tarrance They roped you into this.

Mitch McDeere Breach attorney-client privilege, thus getting myself disbarred for life, then testify in open court against the Mafia...

Wayne Tarrance Well, unfortunately, Mitch...

Mitch McDeere Let me ask you something: are you out of your fucking mind?

Avery Tolar Do you think I'm talking about breaking the law?

Mitch McDeere No, I'm just trying to figure out how far you want it bent.

Avery Tolar As far as you can without breaking it.

Royce McKnight He lied about his brother.

Avery Tolar Wouldn't you lie about having a felon in the family to get a job like this?

Bill DeVasher He ought to be kept on a short leash.

Avery Tolar Why? You've got nothing to be suspicious about.

Bill DeVasher I get paid to be suspicious when I've got nothing to be suspicious about.

Mitch McDeere You want to know something funny? I discovered the law again. You actually made me think about it. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that.

Ray McDeere How'd you land a job like that with a brother in the slammer?

Ray McDeere I get it. Don't worry, I'd probably have done the same thing.

Mitch McDeere You're always there for me, Ray...

Ray McDeere I'd have done the same thing. You think I want to tell the guys around here that I got a brother at Harvard?

Avery Tolar Abby, the girl on the beach was a setup. They do things like that, in case the other enticements don't work.

Abby McDeere What are they going to do to you?

Avery Tolar Whatever it is, they did it a long time ago.

Mitch McDeere Hey Ray, wouldn't it be funny if I went to Harvard, you went to jail and we both ended up surrounded by crooks.

Abby McDeere Somewhere, inside, in the dark, the firm is listening.

Taglines They made him an offer he should have refused.

Mitch McDeere What led you to law school?

Avery Tolar It's so far back I don't think I can remember.

Mitch McDeere Sure you can, Counsellor.

Avery Tolar I used to caddy for lawyers and their wives on summer weekends. I looked at those long tan legs and just knew I had to be a lawyer. The wives had long tan legs, too.

Mitch McDeere I got mine, Wayne, you get the rest of them.

Wayne Tarrance Get em with what? Overbilling, mail fraud? Oh, that's exciting.

Mitch McDeere It's not sexy, but it's got teeth! Ten thousand dollars and five years in prison. That's ten and five for each act. Have you really looked at that? You've got every partner in the firm on overbilling. There's two hundred fifty acts of documented mail fraud there. That's racketeering! That's minimum one thousand, two hundred fifty years in prison and half a million dollars in fines. That's more than you had on Capone.

Taglines Power can be murder to resist.

Mitch McDeere Anything I can do for you?

Ray McDeere Sure. Get me out of here.

Mitch McDeere Where to?

Ray McDeere Anywhere I can see a whole lot of sky. I get through the days, I even eat the food. It's amazing how much you miss the sky.

Mitch McDeere Are you saying my life is in danger?

Denton Voyles I am saying that your life as you know it is over.

Mitch McDeere Did I lose you?

Abby McDeere You look tired.

Mitch McDeere Did I?

Abby McDeere I've loved you all my life. Even before we met. Part of it wasn't even you. It was just a promise of you. But these last days... You kept your promise. How could you lose me?

Wayne Tarrance Man, I don't understand you. What'd you do it for? You didn't win a thing.

Mitch McDeere Oh, yes I did. I won my life back. YOU don't run me, and THEY don't run me!