Other Titles • Citizen Kane (1941) • American (1941) • John Citizen, U.S.A. (1941)
Quotes from Citizen Kane (1941)
1
"It'll probably turn out to be a very simple thing."--Mr. Rawlston (Philip Van Zandt), referring to Rosebud
(10 votes)
2
"I am, have been, and will always be only one thing--an American."--Kane
(5 votes)
3
"I think it would be fun to run a newspaper!"--Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris)
(5 votes)
4
"You provide the prose poems, I'll provide the war."--Kane
(5 votes)
5
"Rosebud."--the dying word of Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles)
(4 votes)
6
"I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all. But I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl."--Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane) to Jerry Thompson (William Alland)
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[first lines] Charles Foster Kane: Rosebud.
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Female reporter: If you could've found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would've explained everything. Thompson: No, I don't think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece.
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Charles Foster Kane: You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man. Thatcher: Don't you think you are? Charles Foster Kane: I think I did pretty well under the circumstances. Thatcher: What would you like to have been? Charles Foster Kane: Everything you hate.
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Charles Foster Kane: Hello Jedediah. Leland: Hello, Charlie. I didn't know we were speaking... Charles Foster Kane: Sure, we're speaking, Jedediah: you're fired.
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Charles Foster Kane: I always gagged on the silver spoon.
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[Quoting from Kane's letter] Walter Parks Thatcher: I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.
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Bernstein: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Switzerland... he was thrown out of a lot of colleges.
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Emily: Really Charles, people will think-... Charles Foster Kane: - -what I tell them to think.
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Bernstein: President's niece, huh? Before Mr. Kane's through with her, she'll be a president's wife.
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Bernstein: There's a lot of statues in Europe you haven't bought yet. Charles Foster Kane: You can't blame me. They've been making statues for some two thousand years, and I've only been collecting for five.
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Bernstein: We never lost as much as we made.
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Charles Foster Kane: The news goes on for 24 hours a day.
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Charles Foster Kane: We have no secrets from our readers. Mr. Thatcher is one of our most devoted readers, Mr. Bernstein. He knows what's wrong with every issue since I've taken charge.
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Jedediah Leland: You still eating? Charles Foster Kane: I'm still hungry.
21
Charles Foster Kane: You're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars *next* year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... 60 years.
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Leland: Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt? Am I a horse-faced hypocrite? Am I a New England school marm? Bernstein: Yes. If you thought I'd answer you any differently than what Mr. Kane tells you...
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Reporter: Mr. Kane, how did you find business conditions in Europe? Charles Foster Kane: How did I find business conditions in Europe? With great difficulty.
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Charles Foster Kane: I run a couple of newspapers. What do you do?
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Charles Foster Kane: This gentleman was saying... Boss Jim Gettys: I am not a gentleman. I don't even know what a gentleman is.
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Charles Foster Kane: Don't believe everything you hear on the radio.
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Bernstein: Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of.
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Thompson: He made an awful lot of money. Bernstein: Well, it's no trick to make a lot of money... if what you want to do is make a lot of money.
29
Bernstein: A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.
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Emily: He happens to be the president, Charles, not you. Charles Foster Kane: That's a mistake that will be corrected one of these days.
31
Thatcher: You're too old to be calling me Mr. Thatcher, Charles. Charles Foster Kane: You're too old to be called anything else.
32
Charles Foster Kane: As Charles Foster Kane who owns eighty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-four shares of public transit - you see, I do have a general idea of my holdings - I sympathize with you. Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of one thousand dollars.
33
Charles Foster Kane: Read the cable. Bernstein: "Girls delightful in Cuba. Stop. Could send you prose poems about scenery, but don't feel right spending your money. Stop. There is no war in Cuba, signed Wheeler." Any answer? Charles Foster Kane: Yes. "Dear Wheeler: you provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war."
34
Charles Foster Kane: Are we going to declare war on Spain, or are we not? Jed Leland: The Inquirer already has. Charles Foster Kane: You long-faced, overdressed anarchist. Jed Leland: I am not overdressed. Charles Foster Kane: You are too. Mr. Bernstein, look at his necktie.
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Susan: Forty-nine thousand acres of nothing but scenery and statues. I'm lonesome.
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Charles Foster Kane: I don't think there's one word that can describe a mans life.
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Reporter 1: What's that? Reporter 2: Another Venus. Reporter 1: Twenty-five thousand bucks. That's a lot of money to pay for a dame without a head.
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Rawlson: It isn't enough to tell us what a man did. You've got to tell us who he was.
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Charles Foster Kane: Don't worry about me Gettys. Don't worry about me. I'm Charles Foster Kane. I'm no cheap, crooked politician, trying to save himself from the consequences of his crimes. [Screams louder] Charles Foster Kane: Gettys. I'm going to send you to Sing Sing. Sing Sing Gettys. Sing Sing.
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Bernstein: [to Leland] Mr. Kane is finishing the review you started - he's writing a bad notice. I guess that'll show you.
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[Susan is leaving Kane] Kane: [pleading] Don't go, Susan. You mustn't go. You can't do this to me. Susan: I see. So it's YOU who this is being done to. It's not me at all. Not how I feel. Not what it means to me. [laughs] Susan: I can't do this to you? [odd smile] Susan: Oh, yes I can.
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[last lines] Raymond: Throw that junk in.
43
Reporter: [at beginning of news reel on Charles Foster Kane's death] In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree.
44
Leland: I suppose he had a private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself.
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