The Maltese Falcon Quotes
Sam Spade : I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Kasper Gutman : These are facts, historical facts, not schoolbook history, not Mr. Wells' history, but history nevertheless.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : He has a wife and three children in England.
Sam Spade : They usually do, though not always in England.
Sam Spade : They usually do, though not always in England.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Mr. Archer was so alive yesterday, so solid and hearty...
Sam Spade : Stop it. He knew what he was doing. Those are the chances we take.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Was he married?
Sam Spade : Yeah, with ten thousand insurance, no children, and a wife that didn't like him.
Sam Spade : Stop it. He knew what he was doing. Those are the chances we take.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Was he married?
Sam Spade : Yeah, with ten thousand insurance, no children, and a wife that didn't like him.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Help me.
Sam Spade : You won't need much of anybody's help. You're good. Chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice when you say things like 'Be generous, Mr. Spade.'
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : I deserve that. But the lie was in the way I said it, not at all in what I said. It's my own fault if you can't believe me now.
Sam Spade : Ah, now you are dangerous.
Sam Spade : You won't need much of anybody's help. You're good. Chiefly your eyes, I think, and that throb you get in your voice when you say things like 'Be generous, Mr. Spade.'
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : I deserve that. But the lie was in the way I said it, not at all in what I said. It's my own fault if you can't believe me now.
Sam Spade : Ah, now you are dangerous.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : I do know he always went heavily armed, and that he never went to sleep without covering the floor around his bed with crumpled newspapers, so that nobody could come silently into his room.
Sam Spade : You picked a nice sort of a playmate.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Only that sort could have helped me, if he'd been loyal.
Sam Spade : You picked a nice sort of a playmate.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : Only that sort could have helped me, if he'd been loyal.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Joel Cairo : I am prepared to pay five thousand dollars for the figure's return. Do you have it?
Sam Spade : No.
Joel Cairo : But if it isn't here, why did you risk serious injury to prevent my searching for it?
Sam Spade : Why should I sit around here and let people come in and stick me up?
Joel Cairo : But certainly it is only natural that I try to save the owner such a considerable expense if possible.
Sam Spade : No.
Joel Cairo : But if it isn't here, why did you risk serious injury to prevent my searching for it?
Sam Spade : Why should I sit around here and let people come in and stick me up?
Joel Cairo : But certainly it is only natural that I try to save the owner such a considerable expense if possible.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : People lose teeth talking like that. If you want to hang around, you'll be polite.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Joel Cairo : I certainly wish you would have invented a more reasonable story. I felt distinctly like an idiot repeating it.
Sam Spade : Don't worry about the story's goofiness. A sensible one would have had us all in the cooler.
Sam Spade : Don't worry about the story's goofiness. A sensible one would have had us all in the cooler.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : All we've got is that maybe you love me and maybe I love you.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : You know whether you love me or not.
Sam Spade : Maybe I do. I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that'll pass.
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : You know whether you love me or not.
Sam Spade : Maybe I do. I'll have some rotten nights after I've sent you over, but that'll pass.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Joel Cairo : Might I remind you Mr. Spade that you may have the falcon, but we certainly have you.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : Haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
Lt. Dundy : And gettin' a lot of lyin' answers!
Sam Spade : Take it easy.
Lt. Dundy : And gettin' a lot of lyin' answers!
Sam Spade : Take it easy.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : Here. [ hands him Wilmer's guns ]
Sam Spade : You shouldn't let him go around with these on him, he might get himself hurt.
Kasper Gutman : Well, well, what's this?
Sam Spade : A crippled newsie took 'em away from him. I made him give 'em back.
Sam Spade : You shouldn't let him go around with these on him, he might get himself hurt.
Kasper Gutman : Well, well, what's this?
Sam Spade : A crippled newsie took 'em away from him. I made him give 'em back.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
[ to Spade ]
Joel Cairo : No, no. Our private conversations have not been such that I am anxious to continue them. Forgive me for speaking so bluntly, but it is the truth.
Joel Cairo : No, no. Our private conversations have not been such that I am anxious to continue them. Forgive me for speaking so bluntly, but it is the truth.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : You gotta convince me that you know what this is all about, that you aren't just fiddling around hoping it'll all... come out right in the end!
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : [ after disarming Wilmer ] This'll put you in solid with your boss.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Kasper Gutman : Well, sir, what do you suggest? We stand here and shed tears and call each other names... or shall we go to Istanbul?
Joel Cairo : Are you going?
Kasper Gutman : Seventeen years I've wanted that little item and I've been trying to get it. If we must spend another year on the quest... well, sir, it will be an additional expenditure in time of only... five and fifteen seventeenths percent.
Joel Cairo : Are you going?
Kasper Gutman : Seventeen years I've wanted that little item and I've been trying to get it. If we must spend another year on the quest... well, sir, it will be an additional expenditure in time of only... five and fifteen seventeenths percent.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
[ first title card ]
Title Card : In 1539, the Knight Templars of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels ~~~~~ but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day ~~~
Title Card : In 1539, the Knight Templars of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels ~~~~~ but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day ~~~
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
[ first lines ]
Sam Spade : Yes, sweetheart?
Effie Perine : There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly.
Sam Spade : A customer?
Effie Perine : I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway. She's a knockout.
Sam Spade : Yes, sweetheart?
Effie Perine : There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly.
Sam Spade : A customer?
Effie Perine : I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway. She's a knockout.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Kasper Gutman : That's an attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgment on both sides. 'Cause as you know, sir, in the heat of action men are likely to forget where their best interests lie and let their emotions carry them away.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Effie Perine : Look at me, Sam. You worry me. You always think you know what you're doing, but you're too slick for your own good. Some day you're going to find it out.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Brigid O'Shaughnessy : What would you do if I didn't tell you? Something wild and unpredictable?
Spade : I might.
Spade : I might.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade : If you kill me, how are you going get the bird? And if I know you can't afford to kill me, how are you going to scare me into giving it to you?
Kasper Gutman : Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening to kill.
Sam Spade : Yes, that's... That's true. But, there're none of them any good unless the threat of death is behind them. You see what I mean? If you start something, I'll make it a matter of your having to kill me or call it off.
Kasper Gutman : That's an attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgment on both sides. Because, as you know, sir, in the heat of action men are likely to forget where their best interests lie and let their emotions carry them away.
Sam Spade : Then the trick from my angle is to make my play strong enough to tie you up, but not make you mad enough to bump me off against your better judgment.
Kasper Gutman : By gad, sir, you are a character.
Kasper Gutman : Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening to kill.
Sam Spade : Yes, that's... That's true. But, there're none of them any good unless the threat of death is behind them. You see what I mean? If you start something, I'll make it a matter of your having to kill me or call it off.
Kasper Gutman : That's an attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgment on both sides. Because, as you know, sir, in the heat of action men are likely to forget where their best interests lie and let their emotions carry them away.
Sam Spade : Then the trick from my angle is to make my play strong enough to tie you up, but not make you mad enough to bump me off against your better judgment.
Kasper Gutman : By gad, sir, you are a character.
Movie: The Maltese Falcon