From the movie
Seventy years in a man's life. That's a lot to try to get into a newsreel.
— News on the March crewman.
Charles: I'll provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. I will also provide...
Jed Leland: That's two sentences starting with "I".
Jed Leland: That's two sentences starting with "I".
I can remember absolutely everything, young man. That's my curse. That's one of the greatest curses ever inflicted on the human race: Memory. I was his oldest friend, and as far as I was concerned, he behaved like a swine. Not that Charlie was ever brutal. He just did brutal things. Maybe I wasn't his friend, but if I wasn't, he never had one. Maybe I was what you nowadays call a stooge...You're a reporter and you want to know what I think about Charlie Kane. I suppose he had some private sort of greatness. But he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away. He just left you a tip. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had a conviction except Charlie Kane in his life. I suppose he died without one. That must have been pretty unpleasant. Of course, a lot of us check out without having any special convictions about death. But we do know what we're leaving. We do believe in something. Are you absolutely sure you haven't got a cigar?
— Jed Leland
I was on my way to the Western Manhattan Warehouse...in search of my youth. You see, my mother died a long time ago. Her things were put in storage out West. There wasn't any other place to put them. I thought I'd send for them now. Tonight I was going to take a look at them. A sort of sentimental journey.
— Charles Foster Kane
Raymond the Butler: He just said: "Rosebud. " Then he dropped the glass ball and it broke on the floor. He didn't say anything after that, and I knew he was dead. He said all kinds of things that didn't mean anything.
Reporter Jerry Thompson: Sentimental fellow, aren't you?
Raymond: (shrugs) Yes and no.
Reporter Jerry Thompson: Sentimental fellow, aren't you?
Raymond: (shrugs) Yes and no.
Throw that junk in.
— Last lines of the film, as the Rosebud sled is tossed into the flames
"Charlie Kane" Song
There is a man - a certain man -
And for the poor you may be sure
That he'll do all he can!
Who is this one?
This fav'rite son?
Just by his action
Has the Traction magnates on the run?
Who loves to smoke?
Enjoys a joke?
Who wouldn't get a bit upset
If he were really broke?
With wealth and fame,
He's still the same.
I'll bet you five you're not alive
If you don't know his name.
What is his name?
It's Charlie Kane.
(Chorus: It's Mister Kane!)
He doesn't like that Mister
He likes good old Charlie Kane.
And for the poor you may be sure
That he'll do all he can!
Who is this one?
This fav'rite son?
Just by his action
Has the Traction magnates on the run?
Who loves to smoke?
Enjoys a joke?
Who wouldn't get a bit upset
If he were really broke?
With wealth and fame,
He's still the same.
I'll bet you five you're not alive
If you don't know his name.
What is his name?
It's Charlie Kane.
(Chorus: It's Mister Kane!)
He doesn't like that Mister
He likes good old Charlie Kane.
Who says a miss
Was made to kiss?
And when he meets one, always tries
To do exactly this?
Who buys the food?
Who buys the drinks?
Who thinks that dough was made to spend,
And acts the way he thinks?
Now is it Joe?
(Chorus: No, no, no, no!)
I'll bet you ten you aren't men
If you don't really know!
Was made to kiss?
And when he meets one, always tries
To do exactly this?
Who buys the food?
Who buys the drinks?
Who thinks that dough was made to spend,
And acts the way he thinks?
Now is it Joe?
(Chorus: No, no, no, no!)
I'll bet you ten you aren't men
If you don't really know!
— Song lyrics for "Charlie Kane", written by Herman Ruby
Quotes about Citizen Kane
Rachel: (talking about The Shining) What's the big deal? It's not like it's Citizen Kane.
Joey: Have you watched Citizen Kane?
Rachel: It's pretty boring but it's like a really big deal.
Joey: Have you watched Citizen Kane?
Rachel: It's pretty boring but it's like a really big deal.
— Friends
Kane would not have become the unquestionable masterpiece it is without the crystalline point of view of the director and the actor, as mapped out in the script that Welles guided and co-wrote. The film could have been fashioned as a roman a clef of the life of William Randolph Hearst, which was only one of its inspirations. Co-scenarist Herman Mankiewicz was tempted by that line of approach. Kane could have been depicted as an ogre, a despot, which to some extent he is—but not entirely. Welles had a larger idea of the character that makes any historical knowledge of Hearst irrelevant to appreciating the film nowadays. Welles saw Kane not as Hearst but as a prototypical American sultan for whom money can buy everything, except votes and love. But Welles humanized the character in the script and by his acting—the dancing Kane, the ear-wiggles, and more. By the end of the film, one feels a genuine pity for Kane, his self-destruction, and the Rosebud that eluded him.
Peter: (taping over the video store copy of the film) It's his sled. It was his sled from when he was a kid. There, I just saved you two long, boobless hours.
