Chinatown Quotes

• I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

  Woody Allen

  Funny, Humor, Science

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• Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place they're capable of anything.

  John Huston

  People, Faces, Facts

  "Fictional character: Noah Cross". "Chinatown", www.imdb.com. 1974.

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• You wouldn't think such a place as San Francisco could exist. The wonderful sunlight there, the hills, the great bridges, the Pacific at your shoes. Beautiful Chinatown. Every race in the world. The sardine fleets sailing out. The little cable-cars whizzing down The City hills. And all the people are open and friendly.

  Dylan Thomas

  Beautiful, Thinking, Race

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• Either you bring the water to L.A. or you bring L.A. to the water.

  Robert Towne

  Water, Los Angeles

  "Chinatown". www.imdb.com. 1974.

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• I goddamn near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it.

  Jack Nicholson

  Hiding Something, Breathing, Noses

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• I'm not in business to be loved, but I am in business.

  Robert Towne

  Business

  Robert Towne (1997). “Chinatown ; The Last Detail: Screenplays”, p.34, Grove Press

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• Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

  Robert Towne

  Respect, Long, Ugly

  Robert Towne (1997). “Chinatown ; The Last Detail: Screenplays”, p.80, Grove Press

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• You're dumber than you think I think you are.

  Robert Towne

  Thinking, Hiding Something, Stupidity

  Robert Towne (1997). “Chinatown ; The Last Detail: Screenplays”, p.119, Grove Press

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• During the 1960s, one neighborhood in San Francisco had the lowest income, the highest unemployment rate, the highest proportion of families with incomes under four thousand dollars a year, the least educational attainment, the highest tuberculosis rate, and the highest proportion of substandard housing ... That neighborhood was called Chinatown. Yet, in 1965, there were only five persons of Chinese ancestry committed to prison in the entire state of California.

  James Q. Wilson

  Educational, San Francisco, Years

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• Hiro watches the large, radioactive, spear-throwing killer drug lord ride his motorcycle into Chinatown. Which is the same as riding it into China, as far as chasing him down is concerned.

  Neal Stephenson

  Drug, Motorcycle, Riding

  Neal Stephenson (2003). “Snow Crash”, p.158, Spectra

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• Human beings are like detectives. They love a mystery. They love going where the mystery pulls them. What we don't like is a mystery that's solved completely. It's a letdown. It always seems less than what we imagined when the mystery was present. The last scene in `Blow Up' is so perfect because you leave the theater still dreaming. Or the end of `Chinatown,' where the guy says `Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.' It explains so much but it only gives you a dream of a bigger mystery. Like life. For me, I want to solve certain things but leave some room to dream.

  David

  Dream, Blow, Giving

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• I love mysteries. To fall into a mystery and its danger ... everything becomes so intense in those moments. When most mysteries are solved, I feel tremendously let down. So I want things to feel solved up to a point, but there's got to be a certain percentage left over to keep the dream going. It's like at the end of Chinatown: The guy says, 'Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.' You understand it, but you don't understand it, and it keeps that mystery alive. That's the most beautiful thing.

  David Lynch

  Beautiful, Dream, Fall

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• My daughter Alexandra once told me, "Mother, you're a pioneer. Now, hardly anybody cooks, but you were one of the first to stop." After 20 years of cooking, I started to appreciate the value of other people's work. So I would, say, go get a duck in Chinatown. I always had the salad and set the table, but I didn't have to clean the pots.

  Nancy Pelosi

  Daughter, Mother, Years

  Source: www.harpersbazaar.com

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• I became addicted to the movie-going experience in the 1970s, when I attended multiple screenings of films such as 'Chinatown', 'Jaws', 'Star Wars' and the original 'Rocky'.

  Richard Roeper

  Stars, War, Film

  "Meet a Critic: Richard Roeper". Interview with Jen Yamato, editorial.rottentomatoes.com. December 5, 2007.

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• I try to always have flowers in the house. I have a florist in Chinatown, and they deliver orchids every two weeks. I like living with living things.

  Phillip Lim

  Flower, Orchids, Two

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• prepare a little hot tea or broth and it should be brought to them . . . without their being asked if they would care for it. Those who are in great distress want no food, but if it is handed to them, they will mechanically take it ' ... There was something arresting about the matter-of-fact wisdom here, the instinctive understanding of the physiological disruptions... I will not forget the instinctive wisdom of the friend who, every day for those first few weeks, brought me a quart container of scallion-and-ginger congee from Chinatown. Congee I could eat. Congee was all I could eat.

  Joan Didion

  Understanding, Tea, Hot

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• My mother imparted her daily truths so she could help my older brothers and me rise above our circumstances. We lived in San Francisco's Chinatown. Like most of the other Chinese children who played in the back alleys of restaurants and curio shops, I didn't think we were poor. My bowl was always full, three five-course meals every day, beginning with a soup full of mysterious things I didn't want to know the names of.

  Amy Tan

  Family, Mother, Brother

  Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club”, p.89, Penguin

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• I guess 'The Player' was a pretty good L.A. movie. And 'Chinatown.' Was there ever a better L.A. movie about a certain period in L.A.? That was terrific.

  Albert Brooks

  Player, Periods, Certain

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• I got in my car and followed [Marlon Brando] down to Chinatown, and got about twelve shots. Brando called me over and said, What else do you want that you don't have already? And I said, I'd like a picture without the sunglasses. He said no and punched me right in the jaw, It was so fast I didn't see it coming. Blood was gushing out of my mouth. I drove to Bellevue. The jawbone and five teeth were broken... To this day he has scars on his knuckles from my teeth.

  Ron Galella

  Blood, Broken, Car

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