What did you want me to do? Be reasonable. You…

What did you want me to do? Be reasonable. You didn’t expect me to give myself up…’It’s a far, far better thing that I do.’ The old limelight. The fall of the curtain. Oh, Holly, you and I aren’t heroes. The world doesn’t make any heroes outside of your stories.

Harry Lime

Other The Third Man Quotes

[about Harry] An accident, knocked over by a car in front of the house, have seen it myself, killed at once, immediately. Already in hell [pointing up] or in heaven [pointing down]. Sorry for the grave diggers. Hard work, in this frost. - View Quote Details on [about Harry] An accident, knocked over by a car in…
[about Anna being turned over to the Russians] What can I do, old man? I’m dead, aren’t I? - View Quote Details on [about Anna being turned over to the Russians] What can…
[to Anna] I’ve just seen a dead man walking. I saw him buried, but now I’ve seen him alive. - View Quote Details on [to Anna] I’ve just seen a dead man walking. I…
We should have dug deeper than a grave. - View Quote Details on We should have dug deeper than a grave.
I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and its easy charm. I really got to know it in the classic period of the Black Market. They could get anything if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay. [image of body floating in river] Of course, a situation like that does tempt amateurs, but of course, they don’t last long, not really, not like professionals. Now the city - [A sign announces: "ENTERING THE AMERICAN ZONE."] is divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power - American, British, Russian, and the French. But the center of the city - that’s international, policed by an International Patrol, one member of each of the four powers. Wonderful. You can imagine what a chance they had, all of them strangers to the place and no two of them speaking the same language. Oh, they were good fellows on the whole, did their best. Vienna doesn’t look any worse than a lot of other European cities, bombed a little, of course. Anyway, I was dead broke when I got to Vienna. A close pal of mine had wired me, offering me a job doing publicity work for some kind of charity he was running. I’m a writer, name’s Martins, Holly Martins. Anyway, down I came, all the way to old Vienna, happy as a lark and without a dime. - View Quote Details on I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with…
[to Holly] You shouldn’t get mixed up in this…Why don’t you leave this town - go home? - View Quote Details on [to Holly] You shouldn’t get mixed up in this…Why don’t…
[to Holly] You know, you ought to get yourself a girl. - View Quote Details on [to Holly] You know, you ought to get yourself a…
That’s a nice girl, that. But she ought to go careful in Vienna. Everybody ought to go careful in a city like this. - View Quote Details on That’s a nice girl, that. But she ought to go…
[to man standing in the shadows, with a cat rubbing against him] What kind of a spy do you think you are, satchel-foot? What are you tailing me for? Cat got your tongue? Come on out. Come out, come out, whoever you are. Step out in the light. Let’s have a look at ya. [to the cat] Who’s your boss? [Harry is revealed by a light turning on] - View Quote Details on [to man standing in the shadows, with a cat rubbing...
[to Holly] Hello, old man, how are you? - View Quote Details on [to Holly] Hello, old man, how are you?