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[last lines]
Streetwalker: Pardon me. Will you give me a light?
Richard Wanley: No. Oh, no. Thank you indeed. Not for a million dollars.
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[first lines]
Richard Wanley: [lecturing] The Biblical injunction "Thou shalt not kill" is one that requires qualification in view of our broader knowledge of impulses behind homicide. The various legal categories such as first and second degree murder, the various degrees of homicide, manslaughter, are civilized recognitions of impulses of various degrees of culpability. The man who kills in self defense, for instance, must not be judged by the same standards applied to the man who kills for gain.
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Dr. Michael Barkstane: We've decided she's our dream girl just from that picture.
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Alice Reed: Well, there are two general reactions. One is a kind of solemn stare for the painting.
Richard Wanley: And the other?
Alice Reed: The other is a long, low whistle.
Richard Wanley: What was mine?
Alice Reed: I'm not sure. But I suspect that in another moment or two you might have given a long, low, solemn whistle.
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Richard Wanley: The flesh is still strong, but the spirit grows weaker by the hour. You know, even if the spirit of adventure should rise up before me and beckon, even in the form of that alluring young woman in the window next door, I'm afraid that all I'll do is clutch my coat a little tighter, mutter something idiotic and run like the devil.
Dr. Michael Barkstane: Not before you got her number, I hope?
Richard Wanley: Probably.
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Richard Wanley: [Talking abstractly about women and sex] The flesh is still strong but the spirit grows weaker by the hour.
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Alice Reed: [Offering him a drink] Let's have another.
Richard Wanley: I should say no, I know, but I haven't the slightest intention of saying it.
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Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor: [In a cautionary tone] In the District Attorney's office we see what happens to middle-aged men who try acting like colts.
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Richard Wanley: Well, what do you think?
Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor: [Distractedly] THe woman?
Richard Wanley: You think she's the one?
Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor: [Cynically] I don't know. She's got something on her conscience, but what woman hasn't?
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Richard Wanley: There are only three ways to deal with a blackmailer. You can pay him and pay him and pay him until you're penniless. Or you can call the police yourself and let your secret be known to the world. Or you can kill him.
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Richard Wanley: [Sees Alice Reed for the first time, after just seeing her painting in the window] I-I couldn't have drunk that much.
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Collins: [Repeated line] It's 10:30, sir.
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Claude Mazard: [Barges in] Who are you?
Richard Wanley: [Stands up] My name is...
Alice Reed: [Runs in from other room] Frank! Frank, darling, listen to me!
Claude Mazard: I told you if you ever-
[slaps Alice in the face]
Richard Wanley: Stop that you fool!
Claude Mazard: [Runs at Wanley] Fool, eh?
[Punches Wanley]
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Alice Reed: Well? Will you say what you've got to say and get out of here?
Heidt: Sure. If you didn't hear it, it was on the radio tonight. Another reward for ten thousand dollars for any information leading to the arrest of the murderer of Claude Mazard. You didn't hear it?
Alice Reed: And if I had, it wouldn't have meant one thing to me.
Heidt: Now, if you're gonna start claiming you never knew him, you can save your breath. 'Cause I've been tailing him for months, and I've tailed him here many a time.
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Richard Wanley: [Indicates the painting in the window] Is it yours?
Alice Reed: No. I wish it were. Then I wouldn't have to come over here every so often to watch people's faces.
Richard Wanley: Is that what you do?
Alice Reed: Now and then, when I'm lonely.
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Heidt: I don't want to make trouble for anybody. I can, of course, but I don't want to.
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Dist. Atty. Frank Lalor: We rarely arrest people just for knowing where the body was.
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Richard Wanley: I hate this solidity, the stodginess I am beginning to feel. To me it's the end of the brightness of life, the end of spirit and adventure.
The Woman in the Window Quotes
Extended Reading
