- Alex Cutter: I don't drink. You know, the routine grind drives me to drink. Tragedy, I take straight.
- Alex Cutter: I watched the war on TV like everybody else. Thought the same damn things. You know what you thought when you saw a picture of a young woman with a baby lying face down in a dictch, two gooks. You had three reactions, Rich, same as everybody else. The first one was real easy: 'I hate the United States of America'. Yeah. You see the same damn thing the next day and you move up a notch. 'There is no God'. But you know what you finally say, what everybody finally says, no matter what? 'I'm hungry.'
- George Swanson: [in a parade] Hey guys, how do I look?
- Alex Cutter: Hey, you look like a fat man on a horse, Georgie.
- Richard Bone: You know, you've got one big problem.
- Alex Cutter: What's that?
- Richard Bone: Your imagination.
- Alex Cutter: These are just the facts, Rich. I mean, I haven't even begun to let my imagination loose on this one.
- Maureen Cutter, 'Mo': [to Alex] I'm like your leg. Your leg? Sending messages to your brain, and there's nothing there anymore.
- Alex Cutter: I watched the war on TV just like everyone else, okay? Thought the same damn things. You know, what you thought when you saw a picture of a young woman with a baby lying face down in a ditch. Two gooks. You had three reactions Rich. Same as everybody else. First one was real easy. I hate the United States of America. Yeah.
- [snickers]
- Alex Cutter: You see the same damn thing the next day and you move up a notch. There is no God. But you know what you finally say, what everybody finally says. No matter what. I'm hungry.
- [laughs]
- Alex Cutter: I'm hungry, Rich. I'm fuckin' starved.
- Richard Bone: So you pick out somebody you blackmail him.
- Alex Cutter: I didn't pick him out, you did. And he isn't somebody. He's responsible.
- Maureen Cutter, 'Mo': [after Alex comes home after a night's drinking] What'll it be, Alex - coffee or sleep?
- Alex Cutter: Any other choices?
- Maureen Cutter, 'Mo': Speaking of which, you're home awfully early, aren't you? Couldn't you find a matron with a taste for gutter squalor?
- George Swanson: [to Richard] Sooner or later you're going to have to make a decision about something.
- George Swanson: I'm going to score one for you, Alex.
- Alex Cutter: You've been watching too many Babe Ruth movies, George.
- Alex Cutter: [after insulting a black patron, whose friends surround the group menacingly] What? Do I detect some tension? Oh. Come now, gentlemen, simple matter of semantics. What are we white, well-intentioned liberals supposed to call you cats these days? Blacks? Coloreds? Negroes? Darkies? Jeez, you know, I don't know. What would you call 'em, Rich?
- Richard Bone: I'd call 'em sir if I were you.