North by Northwest Quotes

Eve Kendall: [Hanging by their fingers from Mount Rushmore] What happened with your first two marriages?

Roger Thornhill: My wives divorced me.

Eve Kendall: Why?

Roger Thornhill: They said I led too dull a life.

Eve Kendall: I tipped the steward five dollars to seat you here if you should come in.

Roger Thornhill: Is that a proposition?

Eve Kendall: I never discuss love on an empty stomach.

Roger Thornhill: You've already eaten!

Eve Kendall: But you haven't.

Roger Thornhill: And what the devil is all this about? Why was I brought here?

Phillip Vandamm: Games? Must we?

Roger Thornhill: Not that I mind a slight case of abduction now and then, but I have tickets for the theater this evening, to a show I was looking forward to and I get, well, kind of *unreasonable* about things like that.

Phillip Vandamm: With such expert playacting, you make this very room a theater.

Roger Thornhill: When I was a little boy, I wouldn't even let my mother undress me.

Eve Kendall: Well, you're a big boy now.

[Thornhill is wearing sunglasses to hide his identity]

Ticket Seller: Something wrong with your eyes?

Roger Thornhill: Yes, they're sensitive to questions.

Roger Thornhill: The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.

Eve Kendall: What makes you think you have to conceal it?

Roger Thornhill: She might find the idea objectionable.

Eve Kendall: Then again, she might not.

Eve Kendall: It's going to be a long night.

Roger Thornhill: True.

Eve Kendall: And I don't particularly like the book I've started.

Roger Thornhill: Ah.

Eve Kendall: You know what I mean?

Roger Thornhill: Ah, let me think. Yes, I know exactly what you mean.

Eve Kendall: Roger O. Thornhill. What does the O stand for?

Roger Thornhill: Nothing.

Eve Kendall: I'm a big girl.

Roger Thornhill: Yeah, and in all the right places, too.

Eve Kendall: How do I know you aren't a murderer?

Roger Thornhill: You don't.

Eve Kendall: Maybe you're planning to murder me right here, tonight.

Roger Thornhill: Shall I?

Eve Kendall: Please do.

Eve Kendall: I want you to do a favor for me. A big, big favor.

Roger Thornhill: Name it.

Eve Kendall: I want you to leave right now, stay far away from me, and don't come near me again. We're not going to get involved. Last night was last night, and it's all there was, and it's all there is. There isn't going to be anything more between us. So please. Goodbye, good luck, no conversation, just leave.

Phillip Vandamm: What possessed you to come blundering in here like this? Could it be an overpowering interest in art?

Roger Thornhill: Yes, the art of survival.

Eve Kendall: He followed me here from the hotel.

Leonard: He was in your room?

Roger Thornhill: Sure. Isn't everybody?

Roger Thornhill: What's wrong with men like me?

Eve Kendall: They don't believe in marriage.

Roger Thornhill: I've been married twice.

Eve Kendall: See what I mean?

Roger Thornhill: I don't like the games you play, Professor.

The Professor: War is hell, Mr. Thornhill. Even when it's a cold one.

Roger Thornhill: If you fellows can't lick the VanDamm's of this world without asking girls like her to bed down with them and fly away with them and probably never come back, perhaps you ought to start learning how to lose a few cold wars.

The Professor: I'm afraid we're already doing that.

Leonard: You must have had some doubts about her yourself. You still do.

Phillip Vandamm: Rubbish.

Leonard: Why else would you have decided not to tell her that our little treasure here has a belly full of microfilm?

Phillip Vandamm: You seem to be trying to fill mine with rotten apples.

Leonard: Sometimes the truth does taste like a mouthful of worms.

Phillip Vandamm: The truth? I've heard nothing but innuendos.

Leonard: Call it my woman's intuition, if you will. But I've never trusted neatness. Neatness is always the result of deliberate planning.

Leonard: You're not taking her on the plane with you?

Phillip Vandamm: Of course I am. Like our friends, I too believe in neatness, Leonard. This matter is best disposed of from a great height, over water.

Roger Thornhill: How does a girl like you get to be a girl like you?

Eve Kendall: Lucky, I guess.

Phillip Vandamm: Mr. Kaplan, you are quite the performer. First you're the outraged Madison Avenue advertising executive who claims that he has been mistaken for someone else. Next, you play the fugitive from justice supposedly trying to clear himself of a crime he knows he didn't commit. And now, you're the jealous lover spurned by love and betrayal.

Roger Thornhill: Apparently the only performance that will satisfy you is when I play dead.

Phillip Vandamm: Your very next role, and you'll be quite convincing, I assure you.

Roger Thornhill: Now, what can a man do with his clothes off for twenty minutes? Couldn't he have taken an hour?

Eve Kendall: You could always take a cold shower.

The Professor: If I thought there was any chance of changing your mind, I'd talk about Miss Kendall, of whom you so obviously disapprove.

Roger Thornhill: Yes, for using sex like some people use a flyswatter.

Roger Thornhill: You're police, aren't you? Or is it FBI?

The Professor: FBI, CIA, ONI... we're all in the same alphabet soup.

Roger Thornhill: When we get out of this, you can ride the train with me again.

Eve Kendall: Is that a proposition?

Roger Thornhill: It's a proposal, sweetie!

Eve Kendall: You've got taste in clothes, taste in food.

Roger Thornhill: [necks Eve] Hmm, And taste in women. I like your flavor.

Eve Kendall: While I'm calling, you can change your clothes.

Roger Thornhill: Where do you propose I do that? In Marshall Fields' window?

Eve Kendall: I sort of had the men's room in mind.

Roger Thornhill: Did you, now? You're the smartest girl I ever spent the night with on a train.

Larry Wade: [Referring to the drinks] We've gotten a head start here, Mr. Thornhill.

Roger Thornhill: That won't last long.

Roger Thornhill: How do we know it's not a fake? It looks like a fake.

Bidder: Well, one thing we know. You're no fake. You are a genuine idiot.

Eve Kendall: Patience is a virtue.

Roger Thornhill: So is breathing.

Clara Thornhill: Roger, I think we should go.

Roger Thornhill: Don't be nervous.

Clara Thornhill: I'm not nervous, I'll be late for the bridge club.

Roger Thornhill: Tell me, why are you so good to me?

Eve Kendall: Shall I climb up and tell you why?

Roger Thornhill: Then, then your name isn't Kaplan?

Man at Prairie Crossing: Can't say it is, 'cause it ain't.

Roger Thornhill: Well, didn't you hear what I said? I want to be taken to police headquarters. I'm a dangerous assassin, I'm a mad killer on the loose!

Sergeant Flamm - Chicago Policeman: You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Charley - Chicago Policeman: Where are we goin'?

Sergeant Flamm - Chicago Policeman: Airport.

Charley - Chicago Policeman: For what?

Sergeant Flamm - Chicago Policeman: Orders.

Judge Anson B. Flynn: How long have you known your client?

Victor Larrabee: Seven years, Your Honor.

Judge Anson B. Flynn: Do you know him to be a reasonable man?

Victor Larrabee: Absolutely.

Clara Thornhill: Ha!

Roger Thornhill: Mother.

Judge Anson B. Flynn: And you believe there is some...

[Escaping captivity, Roger Thornhill slips in through the window of a darkened hospital room. Immediately the light is snapped on. A woman patient sits up in the bed, reaching for her glasses]

Hospital Patient: STOP!

Roger Thornhill: [stops] Oh. Excuse me.

[resumes moving towards the door]

Roger Thornhill: [She has put on her glasses and gets a good look at him]

Hospital Patient: [plaintively] Stop.

[Thornhill pauses, turns briefly to warn her off with a raised finger, then rushes out the door]

Roger Thornhill: I'm being followed. Can you do something about that?

Taxi Driver #2: Yes I can.

Roger Thornhill: Do it.

Roger Thornhill: Who are you?

Valerian: Mere errand boys carrying concealed weapons. His is pointed at your heart, so, please, no errors of judgment, I beg of you.

Roger Thornhill: What is this? A joke or something?

Licht: Yes, a joke. We'll laugh in the car.

Roger Thornhill: [...] it's something about my face.

Eve Kendall: It's a nice face.

Roger Thornhill: You think so?

Eve Kendall: I wouldn't say it if I didn't.

Roger Thornhill: Oh, you're that type.

Eve Kendall: What type?

Roger Thornhill: Honest.

Roger Thornhill: I don't think I caught your name.

The Professor: I don't think I pitched it.

Roger Thornhill: Jack Philips, manager for Kingby Electronics.

Eve Kendall: No, you're not, you're Roger Thornhill of Madison Avenue, and you're wanted for murder on every front page in America. Don't be modest.

Dr. Cross: Have you been drinking?

Roger Thornhill: Doctor, I am gassed.

[first lines]

Roger Thornhill: [coming out of the crowded elevator, dictating to his secretary] If you accept the belief that a high Trendex automatically means a rising sales curve...

Eddie: Mr. Thornhill?

[last lines]

Roger Thornhill: Come along, Mrs. Thornhill!

Eve Kendall: Roger, this is silly.

Roger Thornhill: I know, but I'm sentimental.

[Roger and his mother are tracking down George Kaplan at the Plaza Hotel, but they need his room key]

Roger Thornhill: Mother, I want you to go over to the desk, put on that sweet and innocent look you do so well, and ask for the key to 796.

Clara Thornhill: [offended] Don't be ridiculous. I wouldn't do a thing like that.

Roger Thornhill: [pulls a ten dollar bill out of his wallet] $10?

Clara Thornhill: [indignant] Not for all the money in the world!

Roger Thornhill: [nodding, pulls out more bills] $50?

Clara Thornhill: You're disgraceful!

Roger Thornhill: [Still nodding] Mmm-hmm.

[She takes the money anyway]

[after the false shooting at the visitor's center at Mt. Rushmore, Roger and Eve are reunited at a nearby forest]

Eve Kendall: Hello.

Roger Thornhill: Hello.

Eve Kendall: Are you alright?

Roger Thornhill: Yes, I think so. I asked the Professor if I could see you again.

Eve Kendall: There's not much time.

Roger Thornhill: Isn't there?

Eve Kendall: I wanted to tell you... I mean, apologize.

Roger Thornhill: No need. I understand. All in the line of duty.

Eve Kendall: I did treat you miserably.

Roger Thornhill: I hated you for it.

Eve Kendall: I didn't want you to go on thinking...

Roger Thornhill: I used some pretty harsh words, I'm sorry.

Eve Kendall: They hurt deeply.

Roger Thornhill: Naturally, if I'd known...

Eve Kendall: I couldn't tell you.

Roger Thornhill: Of course not.

Eve Kendall: Could I?

Roger Thornhill: No. I guess not.

Eve Kendall: You didn't get hurt. I'm so relieved.

Roger Thornhill: [thinking she's talking about her false betrayal] Of course I was.

Eve Kendall: I mean, in the cafeteria when you fell. When I shot you with the blanks.

Roger Thornhill: Oh, that. Ah, I see. No, no.

Eve Kendall: You did it rather well, I thought.

Roger Thornhill: [semi-boastful] Yes, I thought I was quite graceful.

Eve Kendall: Considering it's not really your line of work.

Roger Thornhill: No, I got into it by accident. What's your story?

Eve Kendall: I met Phillip Vandaam at a party one night and saw only his charms.

[Thornhill and Vandaam meeting each other for the first time in Townsend's office, where Vandaam has stolen his identity; they both size each other up silently]

Phillip Vandamm: Good evening.

[beat]

Phillip Vandamm: Not what I expected. A little taller, a little more polished than the others...

Roger Thornhill: Well, I'm so glad you're pleased, Mr. Townsend!

Phillip Vandamm: But I'm afraid just as obvious.

Leonard: What the devil is all this about? Why was I brought here?

Phillip Vandamm: Games? Must we?

Roger Thornhill: Not that I mind a slight case of abduction now and then, but I do have tickets to the theatre tonight, and a show I was looking forward to and I get, well, *unreasonable* about things like that.

Phillip Vandamm: With such play-acting, you make this very room a theatre.

[Leonard, Vandaam's co-conspirator, enters]

Phillip Vandamm: Ah, Leonard. Have you met our distinguished guest?

Leonard: He's a well-tailored one, isn't he?

Phillip Vandamm: My secretary is a great admirer of your methods, Mr. Kaplan. Elusive, however misguided...

Roger Thornhill: Wait a minute. Did you call me "Kaplan"?

Phillip Vandamm: Oh, I know you're a man of many names, but I'm perfectly willing to accept your current choice.

Roger Thornhill: "Current choice"? My name is Thornhill - Roger Thornhill! It's never been anything else!

[Thornhill and Vandaam, masquerading as Townsend, in his office]

Phillip Vandamm: Now, shall we get down to business?

Roger Thornhill: I'm all for that.

Phillip Vandamm: Quite simply, I'd like you to tell me how much you know of our arrangements - and of course - how you've *come* by this information. Naturally, I don't expect to get this for nothing.

Roger Thornhill: [with a sarcastic bow of his head] Of course not.

Phillip Vandamm: Don't misunderstand me. I don't really expect you to fall in with my suggestion, but the least I can do is afford you the opportunity of surviving the evening...

Roger Thornhill: [realizes he's actually being threatened] What the devil is that supposed to mean?

Phillip Vandamm: Now why don't you surprise me, Mr. Kaplan, and say "yes"?