- Jose Maria Corcoran: What's the matter with him? Is he crazy?
- Pilon: They say that a little love is like a little wine. Too much of either makes a man sick.
- [last lines]
- Pablo: Where do we go now?
- Jose Maria Corcoran: Let's go down on the beach. We will go to sleep in the moonlight, under the sky.
- Pilon: The sky is a good place to sleep under. It is one roof that will never burn down - and it is one roof that will always be there tomorrow when you wake up, amigos.
- Jose Maria Corcoran: That's right!
- Pilon, Jose Maria Corcoran, Pablo, Portagee Joe: [singing] Ai, Ai, paisano, La vida es asi...
- Pablo: You know what would be nice, Pilon? If you had a trained pelican and every time you wanted to fish, all you have to do, just send him out to dive for one. You could train a pelican like that, yes?
- Pilon: No.
- Pablo: Oh. Why not?
- Pilon: Because you are dumb. A pelican is dumb, too. But, not that dumb. He would eat the fish himself.
- Pilon: Come on. You stay away from her. She's a Portagee girl. Portagee girls are no good.
- Daniel Alvarez: Why?
- Pilon: They always want to get married.
- Daniel Alvarez: Hello Sweets.
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: My people name me Dolores.
- Daniel Alvarez: Your people don't see what I see. You gonna be around in awhile, Sweets? Maybe I come and help you milk your goats, huh?
- Pilon: Mrs. Marellis may be a little, you know, in places. But, those people are very lively, Danny. And very friendly. And with unselfish thoughts.
- Pilon: It is strange. When a man is poor, he thinks to himself, "If I had money, I would share it with my friends." Then the money comes and his beautiful thoughts fly away. He forgets his friends - who shared things with him when he was poor.
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: A man with two houses, what does he need?
- Daniel Alvarez: You can't kiss a house.
- Pilon: Jose, you think the good Lord floated that little boat to the shore so you could take it down to Monetery and sell it, to buy pink silk things for a girl who hits you in the head with at rock?
- Mr. Brown: I met Miss Ramirez in town and she said be sure and come up tonight. She said you might come. She said maybe we could play cards.
- Daniel Alvarez: She did, huh?
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: Yeah. Hearts, maybe. Three-handed.
- Daniel Alvarez: I bet you're falling down from surprise, eh?
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: Maybe yes. Maybe no.
- The Pirate: Saint Francis - he looked at me and smiled like a good Saint. And he said, "Be good to little dogs, you dirty man."
- Pilon: He called you that?
- The Pirate: Well, I was. And Saints, they never lie, you know.
- The Pirate: Now, here is the true miracle of St. Francis. Once, the birds were making a lot of noise and bothering St. Francis. And he said to them, "Be quiet, my little sisters. You do not have to work for a living. The good Lord gives you clothes and feeds you. And gives you trees to nest in. The least you can do is to stop quarreling amongst yourselves and disturbing other people." And what do you think? They were quiet and St. Francis blessed them. And they flew together, singing sweetly, some to the north, some south, others east, others west. In close, straight lines they flew, so that they make the sign of the cross in the sky. And the earth was full of peace.
- Pilon: Mrs. Marellis, you know, since the death of her husband, she has been a very lonely woman. She has only her chickens!
- Daniel Alvarez: Well, let her have her chickens.
- Daniel Alvarez: Work. All the time work. Why's a girl with a face like peaches want to work for?
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: I've got a face like peaches?
- Daniel Alvarez: You got more than that.
- Dolores Sweets Ramirez: No, I haven't. But, I'm going to get what I can.
- Daniel Alvarez: What's the matter?
- Pablo: What's the matter? Your house is on fire!
- Daniel Alvarez: Which one?
- Pablo: The one - I mean - the one Pilon is renting.
- Daniel Alvarez: How did it happen?
- Pablo: I don't know. Honest, I don't. I was asleep and a burning shingle fell on my face.
- Pilon: Women like that crawl around after their husbands like a cat after quail. They are very dangerous.
- Young Doctor: A steady diet of beans is slow poison.
- Daniel Alvarez: My grandfather said, "The thing you were used to, that's the only thing that's good for you." He was born on a cattle ranch, but he only ate bull meat. He said cow meat made you weak. It's only good for women.
- Young Doctor: What do you have for breakfast?
- Alfredo Teresina: Tortillas and beans.
- Young Doctor: Go to school?
- Alfredo Teresina: Sure. 1-B.
- Young Doctor: What do you - you take your lunch with you?
- Alfredo Teresina: Sure.
- Young Doctor: What do you take?
- Alfredo Teresina: Some beans wrapped up in a tortilla.
- Young Doctor: Well, at night, for supper, what do you eat then?
- Alfredo Teresina: Tortillas and beans.
- Young Doctor: Is that all you eat? Tortillas and beans?
- Alfredo Teresina: Sure. What more do you want?
- Pilon: Danny was a good man.
- Portagee Joe: Strong too. He had a punch like a mule.
- Pablo: Yeah, could make love, too. Make girls spin dizzy.
- Portagee Joe: [drunkenly singing] All the girls, they love me.
- [talking]
- Portagee Joe: Good evenings, my brothers! The world is made of the white breast of chickens - and I am deep inside of it.
- Pilon: Where have you been all day? Did you have a nice day?
- Portagee Joe: I met. a nice, fat girl from Castroville. Red hair like a flame, eyes like the stars. I can see them now.