Roma Quotes

Gore Vidal: Well, I suppose you're going to ask me that inevitable question: why do I live in Rome? You could say I live here because its so central - centrale. But, most of all, I like the Romans. They don't care if you live or die. They're like cats. And, of course, this is the city of illusions. It's a city, after all, of the church, of government, of movies. They're all makers of illusions. I'm one too.

Giudizio: Julius Caesar took a chance and led his army into France. In those days the French were Gauls, and Julius Caesar, a man with balls!

Giudizio: Now we've got another meanie by the name of Mussolini.

Narrator: A man who had been to Rome, was a man of importance. Every night at the cafe, our questions were the same: if the women put out, if it was true that Mussolini screwed six times a day, and if at the zoo there was still chimp who could say, "Hello, Where are you from? Up your ass!"

Owner of the Inn: You look like a nice boy. That's all. You can go now. One more thing, before I forget. Look me in the eyes, boy. There's to be no fooling around in this house. Understand? We're churchgoing people. We respect others and want to be respected in return. I would come to your house and do anything dirty. So let's just get that straight! Let's live in peace and not bust each other's balls!

Narrator: This gentlemen is a Roman. A Roman from dawn to dusk. As jealous of Rome as if she were his wife. He is afraid that in my film I might present her in a bad light. He is telling me that I should show only the better side of Rome: her historical profile, her monuments - not a bunch fo homosexuals or my usual enormous whores.

Music Hall Compere: Ladies and gentlemen, the three Kants! I said Kant, and not what your dirty minds are probably thinking.

Narrator: These disenchanted young people, lying in the sun on the Spanish Steps, are hooked together like a basket full of kittens or a brood of chicks, falling asleep or making love or singing. They remind us how different we were. How different our relationship to women. We had to hide to make love: in the kitchen... in the darkness of movie houses, in the bathroom. It was so difficult to have a woman. So, one went to the whore house.

Narrator: There were brothels of all types, hidden away in the narrow streets of the old quarter, squeezed in between the palazzos of the aristocracies, huge baroque churches, and the little shops of the antique dealers. It was furtive, hunted, sinful. And everywhere the sound of bells followed us. They even chased us inside, as a warning, a remorse, but, also as an invitation to sin. A sin that we would then go and confess the next day.

Cardinal Ottaviani: My dear, Princess, today we've had a lot of visitors who want to teach the Pope how to run the church. But, what can you do? We must learn to be patient.

Narrator: On the other side of the Tiber, perhaps the most famous section of Rome. We have come here to complete our portrait of the city. It is where, every Summer, they celebrate the Festa de Noantri. Noantri means "ourselves." Appropriately, the Romans celebrate themselves.

Narrator: [at Festa de Noantri] Of course, people eat and drink. What else? Not much different from a thousand years ago or the beginning of this picture or ever and ever.

Gore Vidal: The last illusion is at hand. And what better place, than in this city which has died so many times and was resurrected so many times. Watch the real end through pollution, overpopulation. It seems to me the perfect place to watch if we end or not.

Antonietta: You afraid of Chinamen? One of our boarders is one, and he's even got kitchen privileges.

Owner of the Inn: Oh, my God, what have I done to deserve such suffering?

Outdoor restaurant hostess: Go on, sit down, sit down. You know the saying: the devil takes whoever eats alone.

Outdoor restaurant hostess: Fettuccine with chicken giblets, bucatini with egg and bacon. And then there's our specialities: kidneys, tripe, snails, veal.

Verna's boyfriend: Hey, Verna! Come on down! Will you forget about it and get down here before I beat the hell out of you?

Mrs. Rossi's little girl: [stands on her chair at an outdoor restaurant] Mary had a little sheep, With the sheep she went to sleep, The sheep turned out to be a man, Mary had a little lamb. Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard, To find her poor dog a bone, But when she bent over, Rover took over, 'Cause he had a bone of his own... Pinocchio's nose was long, As long as Pinocchio's dong!

Woman on Film Crew: The frescos! The frescos are disappearing. It's the air from outside. Michele! Michele! The air's destroying the frescos! Oh, no! Its a tragedy! Michele! Can something be done? We've got to try and save them! Oh, please, do something! Please.

Brothel barker: If you wanna stand there and jack off, then go home and do it! What kind of men are you? If you keep waiting, it's gonna drop off from old age, and not even the cat will eat it then.

Brothel customer: Hey, Chiodo, look at this. Those tits must weigh 40 pounds each!

Prostitute #4: Where's my nice little sailor? Who's gonna ride my ship?