Quotes

Travis Bickle: Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

Travis Bickle: Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up.

Travis Bickle: [Travis is trying his guns on the mirror] Huh? Huh?

[Draws]

Travis Bickle: Faster than you, fucking son of a... Saw you coming you fucking... shitheel.

[Reholsters]

Travis Bickle: I'm standing here; you make the move. You make the move. It's your move...

[Draws]

Travis Bickle: Don't try it you fuck.

[Reholsters]

Travis Bickle: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? OK.

[Draws]

Travis Bickle: June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pullups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.

Travis Bickle: I got some bad ideas in my head.

Travis Bickle: I'll tell you why. I think you're a lonely person. I drive by this place a lot and I see you here. I see a lot of people around you. And I see all these phones and all this stuff on your desk. It means nothing. Then when I came inside and I met you, I saw in your eyes and I saw the way you carried yourself that you're not a happy person. And I think you need something. And if you want to call it a friend, you can call it a friend.

Betsy: Are you gonna be my friend?

Travis Bickle: Yeah.

Travis Bickle: Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man... June 8th. My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.

[last lines]

Betsy: Travis, I'm... how much was it?

[Travis clears meter]

Travis Bickle: So long.

Betsy: You know what you remind me of?

Travis Bickle: What?

Betsy: That song by Kris Kristofferson.

Travis Bickle: Who's that?

Betsy: A songwriter. 'He's a prophet... he's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction. A walking contradiction.'

Travis Bickle: [uneasily] You sayin' that about me?

Betsy: Who else would I be talkin' about?

Travis Bickle: I'm no pusher. I never have pushed.

Betsy: No, no. Just the part about the contradictions. You are that.

Wizard: Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for thirteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? I envy you, your youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, ya know.

Travis Bickle: I don't know. That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard.

Wizard: It's not Bertrand Russell. But what do you want? I'm a cabbie. What do I know? I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.

Travis Bickle: Maybe I don't know either.

Travis Bickle: The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.

Travis Bickle: I would say he has quite a few problems. His energy seems to go in the wrong places. When I walked in and I saw you two sitting there, I could just tell by the way you were both relating that there was no connection whatsoever. And I felt when I walked in that there was something between us. There was an impulse that we were both following. So that gave me the right to come in and talk to you. Otherwise I never would have felt that I had the right to talk to you or say anything to you. I never would have had the courage to talk to you. And with him I felt there was nothing and I could sense it. When I walked in, I knew I was right. Did you feel that way?

Betsy: I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

Iris: God, you're square.

Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?

Travis Bickle: Shit... I'm waiting for the sun to shine.

Betsy: Taking me to a place like this is about as exciting as saying to me "Let's fuck."

Sport: You're a funny guy - but looks aren't everything.

Travis Bickle: May 10th. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks. I'm workin' long hours now, six in the afternoon to six in the morning. Sometimes even eight in the morning, six days a week. Sometimes seven days a week. It's a long hustle but it keeps me real busy. I can take in three, three fifty a week. Sometimes even more when I do it off the meter. All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me.

Travis Bickle: I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized".

Betsy: You mean organized?

Travis Bickle: Organezized. Organezized. It's a joke. O-R-G-A-N-E-Z-I-Z-E-D...

Betsy: Oh, you mean organezized. Like those little signs they have in offices that says, "Thimk"?

Iris: I don't like what I'm doing, Sport.

Sport: Ah, baby, I don't want you to like what you're doing. If you like what you're doing, then you won't be my woman.

Sport: I once had a horse, on Coney Island. She got hit by a car.

[first lines]

[a telephone rings loudly]

Personnel Officer: [to the dispatcher] Harry, answer that.

[to Travis]

Personnel Officer: So whaddya want to hack for, Bickle?

Travis Bickle: I can't sleep nights.

Personnel Officer: There's porno theaters for that.

Travis Bickle: Yeah, I know. I tried that.

Personnel Officer: So what do you do now?

Travis Bickle: Well, I ride around nights mostly... subways, buses... I figure, you know, if I'm gonna do that I might as well get paid for it.

Wizard: Hey Travis, this here's Doughboy. We call him that 'cause he'll do anything for a buck.

Doughboy: Hi Travis. Got change of a nickel?

Wizard: In the middle of the bridge she changes her pantyhose.

Travis Bickle: I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway. She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess, she is alone. They... cannot... touch... her.

Street drummer: Now back to Gene Krupa's syncopated style

Travis Bickle: I tried several times to call her, but after the first call, she wouldn't come to the phone any longer. I also sent flowers but with no luck. The smell of the flowers only made me sicker. The headaches got worse. I think I got stomach cancer. I shouldn't complain though. You're only as healthy, you're only as healthy as you feel. You're only as... healthy... as... you... feel.

Travis Bickle: How's everything in the pimp business?

Senator Charles Palantine: I think I know what you mean, Travis.

Travis Bickle: All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person like other people.

Travis Bickle: Dear Iris: This money should be used for your trip. By the time you read this, I will be dead. Travis.

Doughboy: Sometimes, I like to hold a midget.

Concession Girl: Can I help you?

Travis Bickle: Hi, what's your name. My name's Travis.

Concession Girl: That's nice. What can I do for you?

Travis Bickle: Well, I'd like to know your name.

Concession Girl: [sighs] Give me a break.

Travis Bickle: I realize now how much she's just like the others - cold and distant, and many people are like that. Women for sure. They're like a union.

Senator Charles Palantine: When we came up with our slogan, 'We are the People,' when I said let the people rule, I felt that I was being somewhat overly optimistic. I must tell you that I am more optimistic now than ever before. The people are rising to the demands that I have made on them. The people are beginning to rule. I feel it is a groundswell. I know it will continue through the primary. I know it will continue in Miami. And I know it will rise to an unprecedented swell in November.

Iris: I don't like what I'm doing, Sport.

Sport: Baby, I never wanted you to like what you're doing. If you ever liked what you were doing, you wouldn't be my woman.

Iris: You never spend any time with me anymore.

Sport: I've got to attend to business, baby. You miss your man, don't you? I don't like to be away from you, either. You know how I feel about you. I depend on you. I'd be lost without you. Don't you ever forget that. How much I need you. Come to me, baby. Let me hold you. When you're close to me like this, I feel so good. I only wish every man could know what it's like to be loved by you. That every woman everywhere... had a man that loves her like I love you. God, it's good so close. You know, at times like this... I know I'm a lucky man. Touching a woman who wants me and needs me. Yeah, it's only you that keeps me together.

Charlie T: My man is loaded.

Travis Bickle: Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man. June 8th. My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.

Wizard: Then I pick up these two fags. They're going downtown. They're wearing rhinestone T-shirts. They start arguing, yelling. The other says, "You bitch!" Starts beating him on the head. I say, "l don't care what you do in the privacy of your own home. This is an American free country. We've got a pursuit of happiness thing. You're consenting. You're adult. But in my fucking cab, don't go busting heads. You know? God loves you. Do what you want." Tell them to go to California. In California, when two fags split up, one's gotta pay the other alimony. Not bad. They're way ahead out there. You know what I mean? California. I tell them to get out of the fucking cab.

Charles Palantine: Nothing that is right and good has ever been easy.