Charlie Kaufman: The only idea more overused than serial killers is multiple personality. On top of that, you explore the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person. See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this.
Donald Kaufman: Mom called it "psychologically taut."
Quotes from Nicolas Cage movies and TV shows - page 2 of 12
Susan Orlean: You FAT piece of shit. He's dead.
Charlie Kaufman: Shut up.
Susan Orlean: You loser. You've ruined my life, you FAT fuck.
Charlie Kaufman: Fuck you lady. You're just a lonely, old, desperate, pathetic drug addict.
Donald Kaufman: A little push, push in the bush.
Donald Kaufman: Okay, well here's the twist. We find out that, that the killer really suffers from multiple personality disorder, right? See, he's actually really the cop and the girl. All of them are him. Isn't that fucked up?
Amos Odell: You give me a million dollars, I give you a hostage. You give me a helicopter, I give you a hostage. You let me fly out of here.
Chief of Police Cecil Tolliver: All right. All right. I saw the damn movie.
Terence McDonagh: I'll kill all of you. To the break of dawn. To the break of dawn, baby.
Terence McDonagh: You think fish have dreams?
Terence McDonagh: You don't have a lucky crack pipe?
Terence McDonagh: Deoxyribonucleic acid.
Terence McDonagh: Everything I take is prescription - except for the heroin.
Joe: I was taught four rules.
Joe: One: Don't ask questions. There is no such thing as right and wrong.
Joe: Two: Don't take an interest in people outside of work. There is no such thing as trust.
Joe: Three: Erase every trace. Come anonymous and leave nothing behind.
Joe: Four: Know when to get out. Just thinking about it means it's time. Before you lose your edge, before you become a target.
Joe: Where there's money, there's competition and the guy paying me usually wins.
Joe: Ok now this is epic.
Frank Pierce: Oh, I see. With all the poor people of this city who wanted only to live and were viciously murdered, you have the nerve to sit here, wanting to die, and not go through with it? You make me sick.
Frank Pierce: Tom, where are the Band-Aids? This is an ambulance, isn't it?
Frank Pierce: I realised that my training was useful in less than ten percent of the calls, and saving lives was rarer than that. After a while, I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply turned up.
Frank Pierce: I'd always had nightmares, but now the ghosts didn't wait for me to sleep.
Tom Wall: Frank, what are you doing back there?
Frank Pierce: I'm sick, Tom. I need a cure. Vitamin B cocktail, followed by an amp of glucose and a drop of adrenaline. Not as good as beer, but it's all I got.
Frank Pierce: The streets are not like the ER. There's no walls, no controls.
Frank Pierce: I gotta get a drink. Sobriety's killing me.