The Best Goodfellas Quotes of All Time
Goodfellas is the most quotable serious film in American cinema history. It has the quotable density of a comedy with the dramatic weight of a tragedy, which is an almost impossible combination — and it's achieved because every character in the film has a distinct voice and the screenplay (by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese) trusts those voices completely. Here are the lines that have lasted.
Henry Hill
Ray Liotta's opening narration sets the tone for everything that follows:
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
Simple, direct, and immediately establishing Henry as someone who has romanticized his own story. The line is also Scorsese's thesis statement for the entire film — this is not a cautionary tale, or not only that. It's a love story about a world, told by someone who still loves it even at the end.
"For us to live any other way was nuts. Ting-a-ling-a-ling, sign here, nine to five, two weeks off at Christmas, up your ass with overtime? No. Heh, never. For us to live any other way was nuts."
"Jimmy was the kind of guy who rooted for the bad guys in the movies."
Tommy DeVito
Joe Pesci won the Oscar. The "funny how" scene is the reason:
"Funny how? Like I'm a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I'm here to f****** amuse you?"
The scene works because the audience doesn't know, for a genuine moment, whether Tommy is going to kill Henry. Pesci plays the uncertainty perfectly — you can't read where it's going until Henry starts laughing and Tommy breaks into a grin. The relief is enormous. And then you realize you were just as scared as the characters in the room.
"I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers."
Billy Batts
Frank Vincent creates one of cinema's great villain exits in about ten minutes of screen time:
"Now go home and get your shine box."
This is the line that gets Tommy killed, eventually. It's the provocation that Tommy can never get past. Billy Batts says it casually, as a throwaway humiliation, and it destroys him — because Tommy will wait as long as necessary to respond to a slight. Batts just doesn't know that yet.
"Ya feel strong? Ya feel good? That's nice. That's real nice."
Paulie Cicero
Paul Sorvino's Paulie delivers most of his best material not through memorable individual lines but through the weight of presence. His most quoted exchange is with Jimmy:
"He's gonna be talking about us for the rest of his life. This is Morrie. He's selling rugs with Tommy's money and he's crying. You know what I mean? This is Morrie. [pause] Too many onions."
The pivot to onions is the scene's punchline and its character study simultaneously. Paulie's power is in his calm — nothing is ever urgent enough to raise his voice.
"You took your first pinch like a man and you learned the two greatest things in life... Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut." — actually Jimmy's line, but Paulie's philosophy.
Karen Hill
Lorraine Bracco's voiceover narration gives the film its second moral perspective:
"It turned me on."
Delivered over footage of Henry showing off, this line does more work in three words than most films do in scenes. Karen's attraction to danger — her complicity in the life — is the film's most uncomfortable truth, and Bracco states it with complete directness.
"I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn't. I got to admit the truth — it turned me on."
Jimmy Conway
Robert De Niro plays Jimmy as the most dangerous because the most controlled. His best lines are instructions:
"Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut."
"I'm not mad, I'm proud of you. You took your first pinch like a man and you learned the two greatest things in life."
Jimmy's warmth is genuine and that's what makes him terrifying. He loves the people around him up to the point where money or survival makes them inconvenient. You never see the exact moment when he stops loving them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous Goodfellas quote?
"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" is Henry Hill's opening line and the film's thesis. "Funny how? Like a clown?" is Tommy DeVito's most quoted exchange. Both are frequently cited as the film's most memorable lines.
Who said "never rat on your friends" in Goodfellas?
Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) delivers the line "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut" when congratulating a young Henry Hill on his first arrest. It's the mob code condensed to its essence.
Where can I find Goodfellas merchandise?
Natural Birdies carries a collection of Goodfellas t-shirts featuring Billy Batts, Paulie, and Karen — the film's most quotable supporting characters.