- Melchior Incza: Senor, I suspect that you were a very fine flyer and before that perhaps a promising shoe salesman, but you're a gross amateur at intrigue. You cannot expect to catch a trout by shouting at it from the riverbank proclaiming that you're a great fisherman. You need a hook with feathers on it.
- Manuel Satana: If you continue to follow Madame Jarnac now, the consequeces may be serious.
- Laurence Gerard: That's what I had in mind,
- Manuel Satana: Senor, I must warn you, I must command you - do not follow Madame Jarnac!
- Laurence Gerard: [Flippantly] I'll tell you what. I thought it over and decided not to pay any attention to you.
- Laurence Gerard: She couldn't have made a mistake. I knew her well. Who betrayed her?
- Etienne Rougon: If there was any betrayal, I betrayed her by fathering her in a century of violence. She died well. Celeste made no mistakes.
- Laurence Gerard: [Referring to the police] I better stick around. They might be confused by all the bodies.
- Laurence Gerard: What are you, French or German?
- Melchior Incza: I'm an epicure.
- [He offers Gerard food]
- Laurence Gerard: No, thanks.
- Melchior Incza: A camp follower of culture. My blood is a mixture of excellent European vines. My ancestots have always been less interested in a woman's nationality than the quality of her complexion.
- Laurence Gerard: Where is the grave? I would like to see it.
- Etienne Rougon: The grave is the wind. Let the grave be the way we remember her.
- Laurence Gerard: [Insistent] I would like to see it now.
- [the sound of the wind is heard howling]
- Señora Camargo: [after two kisses] I could make you forget.
- Laurence Gerard: [Nastily] But not for long and not enough. For that you've got to have a heart.
- Marcel Jarnac: I'm afraid the Anglo-Saxon is a poor fanatic. He only takes action when you disturb his visceral emotions. He thinks with his gall bladder.
- Laurence Gerard: [Sarcastically] We're stinkin' poor fighters too! We got lucky and plastered you off the map by accident.
- Señora Camargo: Giving a party here is not as easy as it was in Europe. These romantic Latins are really a fraud - so placid and normal.
- [Indicating the men in the room]
- Señora Camargo: Look, not an ounce of intrigue in their blood.
- Laurence Gerard: I thought I noticed a little.
- Señora Camargo: Oh, business and politics. You can't count that.
- [Referring to marital infidelity and cuckolds]
- Señora Camargo: Not more than three husbands will be compromised here tonight at best.
- Laurence Gerard: [Pointedly] Who are the other two?
- Perchon, German Banker: The gun is unnecessary, this is a friendly meeting.
- Laurence Gerard: Just want to be sure I'm chairman
- Melchior Incza: There are still one or two good things left in this sordid world if one knows where to look for them. I'm afraid, however, that the quality of the liquor is holding up better than the quality of the women. You an American?
- Laurence Gerard: No.
- Melchior Incza: Good. I find Americans a little abrupt in their approach to both subjects.
- Laurence Gerard: As far back as I can remember the men in my family have gotten mad when their wives were murdered.