Quotes

Yuri Orlov: There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?

Yuri Orlov: The first and most important rule of gun-running is: Never get shot with your own merchandise.

Yuri Orlov: I sell to leftists, and rightists. I sell to pacifists, but they're not the most regular customers. Of course, you're not a *true* internationalist until you've supplied weapons to kill your *own* countrymen.

Yuri Orlov: There are two types of tragedies in life. One is not getting what you want, the other is getting it.

Jack Valentine: Do you know why I do what I do? I mean, there are more prestigeous assignments. Keeping track of nuclear arsenels - you'd think that be more critical to world security. But it's not. No, nine out of ten war victims today are killed with assault rifles and small arms - like yours. Those nuclear weapons sit in their silos. Your AK-47, that's the real weapon of mass destruction.

Yuri Orlov: I don't want people dead, Agent Valentine. I don't put a gun to anybody's head and make them shoot. But shooting is better for business. But, I prefer people to fire my guns and miss. Just as long as they are firing. Can I go now?

Angel: My name is Angel.

Vitaly Orlov: Her name really is Angel! Let's put her on the Christmas tree!

Jack Valentine: I would tell you to go to hell, but I think you're already there.

Vitaly Orlov: [in Russian] Oh God!

Yuri Orlov: [voice-over] Always resort to your native tongue in times of anger. And in times of ecstasy.

Yuri Orlov: They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."

Andre Baptiste Sr.: Welcome to Democracy!

Yuri Orlov: Democracy? What have you been drinking Andy?

Andre Baptiste Sr.: Heh, you have not seen the news. You know, they accuse me of rigging elections. But after this -

[holds up a newspaper with the headline "U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Recount Ruling"]

Andre Baptiste Sr.:

• with your Florida and your Supreme Court of Kangaroos, now, the U.S. will shut up forever!

[laughs]

Yuri Orlov: The reason I'll be released is the same reason you think I'll be convicted. I *do* rub shoulders with some of the most vile, sadistic men calling themselves leaders today. But some of these men are the enemies of *your* enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss - the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year - sometimes it's embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can't be seen supplying. So. You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I'm a necessary evil.

Simeon Weisz: The problem with gun runners going to war, is that there is no shortage of ammunition.

Yuri Orlov: Of all the weapons in the vast soviet arsenal, nothing was more profitable than Avtomat Kalashnikova model of 1947. More commonly known as the AK-47, or Kalashnikov. It's the world's most popular assault rifle. A weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple 9 pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood. It doesn't break, jam, or overheat. It'll shoot whether it's covered in mud or filled with sand. It's so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. The Soviets put the gun on a coin. Mozambique put it on their flag. Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists. One thing is for sure, no one was lining up to buy their cars.

Yuri Orlov: The second rule of gun-running is always ensure you have a foolproof way of getting paid.

Yuri Orlov: I was an equal opportunity merchant of death. I supplied everyone but the Salvation Army. I sold Israeli-model Uzis to Muslims. I sold Communist-made bullets to Fascists... I even shipped cargo to Afghanistan when they were fighting my fellow Soviets. I never sold to Osama bin Laden. Not on any moral grounds: back then, he was always bouncing checks.

Yuri Orlov: You know who's going to inherit the world? Arms dealers. Because everyone else is too busy killing each other.

[first lines]

Yuri Orlov: [voiceover] You don't have to worry. I'm not gonna tell you a pack of lies to make me look good. I'm just gonna tell you what happened.

Yuri Orlov: Some of the most successful relationships are based on lies and deceit. Since that's where they usually end up anyway, it's a logical place to start.

Vitaly Orlov: You fuck! You fucking fuck! You fuck- you fucking fuck! What the fuck is the matter with you?

Jack Valentine: I don't think you fully appreciate the seriousness of your situation.

Yuri Orlov: [pauses,sighs] My family has disowned me... my wife and son have left me... my brother is dead. Trust me, I fully appreciate the seriousness of my situation.

Yuri Orlov: I had a flair for languages. But I soon discovered that what talks best is dollars, dinars, drachmas, rubles, rupees and pounds fucking sterling.

Yuri Orlov: Where there's a will, there's a weapon.

Yuri Orlov: The primary market was Africa, Eleven major conflicts involving twenty three countries in less than a decade. A gunrunner's wet dream. At the time the West couldn't care less, they had a white war in what was left of Yugoslavia.

Yuri Orlov: [when Andre suddenly shoots a subordinate with the sample gun] WHY'D YOU DO THAT?

Andre Baptiste Sr.: What did you say?

[aims at Yuri]

Yuri Orlov: [pulls himself together] Well, now you're gonna have to buy it. It's a used gun!

[pulls it out of Andre's hand. Andre's bodyguards draw on him]

Yuri Orlov: How can I sell a used gun?

[Yuri huffs and busies himself wiping and polishing it]

Vitaly Orlov: Yuri... What do you know about guns?

Yuri Orlov: I know which end I'd rather be on.

Yuri Orlov: You can't force someone to fall in love with you but, you can definitely improve your odds.

Yuri Orlov: The ones who know don't care anymore, and the ones who care don't know.

Yuri Orlov: I think I've been cursed, with the curse of invincibility.

Yuri Orlov: We saw something in each other that neither one of us liked, or maybe we were just looking in the mirror.

Yuri Orlov: You read the newspapers, Vit?

Vitaly Orlov: Newspaper? It's always the same.

Yuri Orlov: You're right. Every day there's people shooting each other. You know what I do when I see that? I look to see what guns they're using and I think to myself, why not my guns?

Yuri Orlov: Vitaly, I've tasted your borscht. You're no fucking chef. I can eat in the restaurant for free and I still don't eat there.

Vitaly Orlov: Fuck you.

Yuri Orlov: We're doing nothing with our lives. I mean, this is shit! This is shit!

Vitaly Orlov: It's true. But maybe doing nothing's better than doing this.

Jack Valentine: Since your so concern with the law, you must know that I am legally permitted to hold for 24 hours without charging you. You might ask why I would do that, and I can assure you its not because I enjoy you company because I don't. *No*. The *Reason* why I will delay you for *every sec* of the permissible 24 hours is I'm delaying your deadly trade and the deaths of *your* victims. I don't think of it as taking a day away from you but giving a day to them. Some innocent man, woman or child is going to have an extra day on this Earth because you're not *free*. So I will see you in 23 hours and 55 mins.

Yuri Orlov: Here, I have been running away from violence my whole life. I should have been running towards it. It's in our nature. Earliest human skeletons had spearheads in their heads and ribcages.

Yuri Orlov: [when a gun is aimed at him point-blank] Oh, the new MP-5. Would you like a silencer for that?

Yuri Orlov: [on the brisk trade in USSR weapons right after the Cold War ended] I have a feeling it wasn't exactly what Comrade Lenin had in mind when he advocated the redistribution of wealth. But I wasn't the only one offering a crash course in capitalism.

Yuri Orlov: I am not a fool. I know that just because they needed me that day didn't mean they wouldn't make me a scapegoat the next.