- Slade: [clumsily attempting to comfort Rosa who has just been sexually assaulted] C'mon, Rosa, settle down. Earthquakes bring out the worst in some guys, that's all
- Chief Inspector: [as the diver surfaces] Find anything?
- Diver at Hollywood Reservoir: All OK as far as I can tell! I'll check again!
- Chief Inspector: [after the diver submerges again] I guess we won't find anything until after the shaft is pumped out, but everything looks fine.
- Asst. Caretaker: Right. People drown in elevators every damn day of the week!
- Denise: I'm not a nympho. Mind you, I'm not Mary Poppins either but I'm far from being, what's the male equivalent of a nympho?
- Denise: Oh, and the character I'm playing is also supposed to be a nymphomaniac. And the director of the picture is a strong believer in type casting. But, anyway, I'll cope with that.
- Graff: I think there are still people alive down there and I want to get them out.
- Brawny Foreman: Well, nobody else is... and you can't do it alone.
- Graff: Yeah, well I won't be alone.
- Graff: [pointing to Slade] He's coming with me.
- Slade: [explaining to his irate captain why he punched a rival police officer in the face] That kid stole a car. Then, he got stoned, and he slammed into a little girl, a little Mexican girl. That girl was thrown fifteen feet in the air, she was probably dead before she hit the sidewalk. Blood covered three whole cement squares, not splattered, solid, just like paint! The driver never even slowed down. And, he almost got away because some pecker-wood, rich man's whore in cop's uniform was worried about a hedge!
- Sal: Now, Rosa, would you listen to me. Daredevil motorcyclists always have to have beautiful, sexy broads hangin' around.
- Miles: Rosa, I'm your best friend. What do you want us to look like? Phonies or what?
- Sal: Right.
- Rosa: Sal, I'm your sister! What about Maureen? She's your girlfriend.
- Miles: Come on, Rosa. Maureen is too flat-chested!
- Drunk: [after major earthquake, sitting on a barstool in a wrecked neighborhood bar, injuries and damage everywhere] Who do you have to know to get a drink around here?
- Slade: [to the citizens bombarding him for help] Now look. *Stop*! You're all going to have to help yourselves! Most of the police in this district were killed in that station house. And the guys that were on patrol when the quake hit, well they probably got more to do than they can handle. Now look you, get as many volunteers as you can, go to that hardware store over there. Now if it's locked, break in, find as many picks and shovels as you can, and start looking for people who are buried alive, there are plenty of them believe me. Give him a hand. *Move your ass*!
- Loudspeaker Voice: Please keep moving. More doctors are waiting in the first garage level. All cars must leave the garage area after dropping off patients. Hot coffee and food is available in basement shopping levels two and three.
- Loudspeaker Voice: This is a precautionary evacuation. We repeat. There is no present danger of the dam collapsing. Move to high ground west of Highland Avenue and north of Franklin. It is a precautionary evacuation. We repeat. This is a precautionary evacuation.
- Graff: [referring to a model of a tall building, shaking on a motorized platform] Now, the motion of this model was programmed from the actual recorded ground motions of a six point four earthquake. Long Beach, thirty-three. Now, a motion of eight would...
- Cameron: What's your point?
- Graff: Bill, we live in an earthquake zone, what can I tell you?
- Cameron: Have I failed to meet city building and safety codes?
- Graff: That's not the point, I think we should go beyond the codes. You remember the Sylmar Quake... a lot of buildings that met the codes collapsed.
- Cameron: Do you know how much money I pour into this company every year?
- Graff: You bet I do.
- Cameron: And, you're willing to risk losing my business for something like this?
- Graff: Yes, I am.
- Carl Leeds: [enters Graff's office] Revised prints of the interior in my office, Mr. Cameron, I figured you'd want to go over them.
- Cameron: I'll see what it costs me.