Chinatown
Important Quotations Explained
1. Man
with Knife: “You’re a very nosy fellow,
kitty cat. Huh? You know what happens to nosy fellows? Huh? No? Wanna
guess? Huh? No? Okay. They lose their noses.”
2. Noah
Cross: “’Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians,
ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long
enough.”
3. Evelyn: “She’s
my daughter.”
[Gittes slaps Evelyn.]
Gittes: “I said
I want the truth!”
Evelyn: “She’s
my sister. . . .”
[slap]
Evelyn: “She’s
my daughter. . . .”
[slap]
Evelyn: “My sister,
my daughter.”
[More slaps.]
Gittes: “I said
I want the truth!”
Evelyn: “She’s my
sister AND my daughter!”
4. Noah
Cross: “You see, Mr. Gittes, most people
never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they’re
capable of anything.”
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