- Petey Brown: Hello, Buddy. But you didn't have that black eye the last time I saw you.
- Buddy Otis: And you didn't have that color hair the last time I saw you.
- San Thomas: I ran down like a clock. It was just as though I'd been wound up too tight and the spring broke.
- [last lines]
- San Thomas: Remember what you once told me when I was low: all of us are standing in the mud, well...
- Petey Brown: Some of us are looking at the stars.
- San Thomas: Here's lookin' at ya, baby.
- Nicky Toresca: I've been noticing him sitting out there night after night. Its a funny thing, he ain't out there tonight.
- Petey Brown: Maybe he's getting tired of the watered liquor.
- Petey Brown: She still does something to you, doesn't she?
- San Thomas: Oh, I don't know, Petey. There've been months at a time I never gave her a thought. Then, something happens, it reminds me of her. A screwy hat on some girl passing in the street. A pair of slim legs. High heels clicking in the pavement.
- Petey Brown: I saw her at Toresca's New Year's Eve.
- Sally Otis: With her girlfriend?
- Petey Brown: Well, if it was a girlfriend, she was wearing a moustache and smoking a cigar.
- Sally Otis: What?
- Petey Brown: Honey, why be a sucker all your life? She wouldn't give you the time of day if she had two watches.
- Johnny O'Connor: I work the night shift - I can't take her anywhere.
- Petey Brown: Well, honey, all I can say is you better change to the day shift.
- Sally Otis: It's not her fault that Johnny spoils her so.
- Petey Brown: What she needs from Johnny is a swift kick - in the right place.
- San Thomas: I kept trying to make that piano do a lot of things I guess no one guy can do. It started me drinking too much.
- Petey Brown: Yeah. I know what you mean. Everything looks nice and sharp when you've had a couple. But, when the edge wears off, the whole works is a dull finish. It's no good.
- San Thomas: Yeah, that's the way it was with me. Then, I really went haywire.
- San Thomas: I don't know what makes me tick, Petey. I just know that I've been running away from life for a long time and it keeps catching up with me.
- Nicky Toresca: I kind of go for that dress you're wearing.
- Petey Brown: I was afraid of that when I put it on.
- San Thomas: Isn't life difficult enough without mixing it up with memories?
- Petey Brown: I don't know. Mine don't go back far enough yet.
- Nicky Toresca: Stick around tonight. Maybe I'll take you home after we close.
- Cigarette Girl: Thank you!
- Singer at Bamboo Club: [singing] If I could be with you, I'd love you strong, If I could be with you, I'd love you long, I want you to know that I wouldn't go, Until I told you honey why I love you so, If I could be with you, one hour tonight, If I was free to do the things that I might, I'm telling you true, I'd be anything but blue, If I could be with you...
- San Thomas: Why do you think I came down to a joint like this as soon as I could?
- Petey Brown: Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Music. Bad liquor.
- San Thomas: It's hard to break the habit.
- Petey Brown: Well, why would you want to break the habit?
- San Thomas: Petey, you're swell. I don't want to mess up your life too.
- Petey Brown: Look, let me handle my funeral in my own way, will you?
- [kiss]
- Petey Brown: You certainly worked hard at running away from yourself, haven't you? And you're still unhappy.
- San Thomas: Who's looking for happiness? At the present time, my life's a comfortable blank and that's okay with me.
- Nicky Toresca: Do you think I haven't been keeping my eyes open, don't you? I found out quite a lot about this Mr. Thomas.
- Petey Brown: What are you doing now? Playing cop?
- Petey Brown: She put you through the wringer, didn't she? I wonder what women like that have got?
- San Thomas: I don't know; but, she had it. Whatever it is.
- Johnny O'Connor: You know, I always wondered what a couple of dames talk about when they're alone. Now I know. Meow!
- Petey Brown: Johnny, I get a kick out of you calling her "your wife." She's not your wife. You never gave her a chance to be. Well, she's just a pretty little girl you like to spoil and walk down the street with so the guys will turn and whistle. Make you feel important.
- Nicky Toresca: What's the matter with you?
- Joe Brown: Nothing's the matter.
- Nicky Toresca: Maybe you're allergic to blondes with husbands. Is that it?
- Gloria O'Connor: Ah, I bet you're one of those nightclub wolves I've heard so much about.
- Riley: [laughs] Yeah, I'm so dangerous that I oughta be wearing a red lantern. All my life, it's been cherchez la femme.
- Gloria O'Connor: Cherchez la femme?
- Riley: Yeah, that's French for: get 'em while they're young.
- Petey Brown: I want to try to do something for her when I get out there. She slings spaghetti for a living. You get awfully tried carrying those trays.
- Petey Brown: [singing] Someday he'll come along, The man I love, And he'll be big and strong, The man I love, And when he comes my way, I'll do my best to make him stay...
- Petey Brown: I know quite a few things and - I sing.
- Nicky Toresca: Oh, so you're a canary too?
- Petey Brown: Some people like it. Care for a sample?
- Nicky Toresca: Maybe you ought to stick around.
- Petey Brown: You think maybe I should?
- Nicky Toresca: I think maybe this town could do a lot for you.
- Petey Brown: I think maybe I could do a little something for this town.
- Petey Brown: [singing] Why was I born? Why am I living? What do I get? What am I giving? Why do I want of things, I daren't hope for? What can I hope for? I wish I knew...
- Sally Otis: I brought you a carton of your favorite cigarettes.
- Roy Otis: No thank you.
- Sally Otis: Don't tell me you've given up smoking after all these years? I just started.
