J.J. Gittes Quotes

Yelburton: My goodness, what happened to your nose?
Jake Gittes: I cut myself shaving.
Yelburton: You ought to be more careful. That must really smart.
Jake Gittes: Only when I breathe.

Noah Cross: Well, Mr. Gittes, you don't look too much the worse for wear, I must say! Now where's the girl?
Jake Gittes: I've got her.
Noah Cross: Is she all right?
Jake Gittes: She's fine.
Noah Cross: Well, where is she?
Jake Gittes: With her mother.

What can I tell you, kid? You're right. When you're right, you're right, and you're right.

How do you like them apples?

Have you ever heard the expression "Let sleeping dogs lie"? Sometimes you're better off not knowing.

He's rich! Do you understand? He thinks he can get away with anything.

Jake Gittes: May I speak frankly, Mrs. Mulwray.
Evelyn Mulwray: You may if you can, Mr. Gittes.

Evelyn Mulwray: Tell me, Mr. Gittes: Does this often happen to you?
Jake Gittes: What's that?
Evelyn Mulwray: Well, I'm judging only on the basis of one afternoon and an evening, but, uh, if this is how you go about your work, I'd say you'd be lucky to, uh, get through a whole day.
Jake Gittes: Actually, this hasn't happened to me for a long time.
Evelyn Mulwray: When was the last time?
Jake Gittes: Why?
Evelyn Mulwray: It's an innocent question.
Jake Gittes: In Chinatown.
Evelyn Mulwray: What were you doing there?
Jake Gittes: Working for the District Attorney.
Evelyn Mulwray: Doing what?
Jake Gittes: As little as possible.
Evelyn Mulwray: The District Attorney gives his men advice like that?
Jake Gittes: They do in Chinatown.

Jake Gittes: There's no point in getting tough with me. I'm just...
Evelyn Mulwray: I don't get tough with anyone, Mr. Gittes. My lawyer does.

Jake Gittes: Evelyn, put that gun away. Let the police handle this.
Evelyn Mulwray: He owns the police!

Jake Gittes: There's something black in the green part of your eye.
Evelyn Mulwray: Oh, that. It's a... it's a flaw in the iris.
Jake Gittes: Flaw?
Evelyn Mulwray: Yes, it's a sort of birthmark.

I see you like publicity, Mr. Gittes. Well, you're going to get it.

Jake Gittes: How much are you worth?
Noah Cross: I have no idea. How much do you want?
Jake Gittes: I just wanna know what you're worth. More than 10 million?
Noah Cross: Oh my, yes!
Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can't already afford?
Noah Cross: The future, Mr. Gittes! The future. Now, where's the girl? I want the only daughter I've got left. As you found out, Evelyn was lost to me a long time ago.
Jake Gittes: Who do you blame for that? Her?
Noah Cross: I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING.

Noah Cross: You may think you know what you're dealing with, but, believe me, you don't.
Noah Cross: Why is that funny?
Jake Gittes: That's what the District Attorney used to tell me in Chinatown.

Noah Cross: Exactly what do you know about me? Sit down.
Jake Gittes: Mainly that you're rich, too respectable to want your name in the newspapers.
Noah Cross: Of course I'm respectable I'm old! Politicians ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

Noah Cross: I hope you don't mind. I believe they should be served with the head.
Jake Gittes: Fine... long as you don't serve the chicken that way.

Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water.

You've got a nasty reputation, Mr. Gittes. I like that.

Jake Gittes: Maid's night off?
Evelyn Mulwray: Why?
Jake Gittes: What do you mean, why? Nobody's here, that's why.
Evelyn Mulwray: I gave everyone the night off.
Jake Gittes: Easy. It's an innocent question.
Evelyn Mulwray: No question from you is innocent, Mr. Gittes.
Jake Gittes: I guess you're right.

Jake Gittes: A memorial service was held at the Mar Vista Inn today for Jasper Lamar Crabb. He passed away two weeks ago.
Evelyn Mulwray: Why is that unusual?
Jake Gittes: He passed away two weeks ago and one week ago he bought the land. That's unusual.

Evelyn Mulwray: Hollis seems to think you're an innocent man.
Jake Gittes: Well, I've been accused of a lot of things before, Mrs. Mulwray, but never that.

Ida Sessions: Are you alone?
Jake Gittes: Isn't everybody?

Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter.
Jake Gittes: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister...
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter...
Evelyn Mulwray: My sister, my daughter.
Jake Gittes: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister AND my daughter!

Son of a bitch! Goddamn Florsheim shoe!

Let me explain something to you, Walsh. This business requires a certain amount of finesse.

Hello, Claude. Where'd you get the midget?

All right, Curly. Enough's enough. You can't eat the Venetian blinds. I just had them installed on Wednesday.

Jake Gittes: Do you accept people of the Jewish persuasion?
Mr. Palmer: I'm sorry, we do not.
Jake Gittes: Don't apologize - neither does Dad.

So there's this guy Walsh, do you understand? He's tired of screwin' his wife... So his friend says to him, "Hey, why don't you do it like the Chinese do?" So he says, "How do the Chinese do it?" And the guy says, "Well, the Chinese, first they screw a little bit, then they stop, then they go and read a little Confucius, come back, screw a little bit more, then they stop again, go and they screw a little bit... then they go back and they screw a little bit more and then they go out and they contemplate the moon or something like that. Makes it more exciting." So now, the guy goes home and he starts screwin' his own wife, see. So he screws her for a little bit and then he stops, and he goes out of the room and reads Life Magazine. Then he goes back in, he starts screwin' again. He says, "Excuse me for a minute, honey." He goes out and he smokes a cigarette. Now his wife is gettin' sore as hell. He comes back in the room, he starts screwin' again. He gets up to start to leave again to go look at the moon. She looks at him and says, "Hey, what's the matter with ya? You're screwin' just like a Chinaman!"

Lt. Escobar: How'd you get past the guard?
Jake Gittes: Well, to tell you the truth, I lied a little.

But, Mrs. Mulwray, I goddamn near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it. And I still think you're hiding something.