When I introduce you, I'm gonna say, "This is a friend of mine." That means you're a connected guy. Now if I said instead, "This is a friend of ours," that would mean you're a made guy. Capiche?
— Lefty
[referring to Donnie] Look, Left, I said I knew him. I didn't say I fucked him.
— Jilly
In all the five boroughs, I'm known, forget about it. I'm known all over the fucking world. Anybody, ask anybody about Lefty from Mulberry Street, eh? You pissing up the wrong fucking tree, my friend.
— Lefty
* "Forget about it," it's like, uh, if you agree with someone. You know, like, "Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass, forget about it." But then, if you disagree, like, "A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it!" You know? But then, it's also like, if something is the greatest thing in the world, like, "Minghia, those peppers! Forget about it!" But it's also like saying "go to hell," too. You know, like, uh, "Hey, Paulie, you got a one-inch pecker," and Paulie says, "Forget about it!"... Sometimes it just means, uh, "forget about it."
— Donnie Brasco
Sonny Black: [sees the front page of a newspaper entitled "The Nation mourns"] How can John Wayne die?
Lefty: Fuckin' Indians got him.
[repeated line when attempting to avoid the question that's asked to him] Ain't that the question.
— Lefty
Sonny Black: [Lefty is banging a parking meter very loudly with a hammer] Hey, will you fuckin' stop that?
Lefty: How am I gonna get this thing open?
Lefty: [looks back at the meter] Open Sesame!
[said with a mixture of regret and indignation] Twenty-six guys I clipped. Do I get upped? No, they pass me by!
— Lefty
Whackin' the boss... another thing I get left out of.
— Lefty
Lefty: There's the boss. And, under him, there's the skipper. You know how this works?
Donnie Brasco: Yeah, it's like in the army.
Lefty: Bullshit. The army is some guy you don't know telling you to go whack some other guy you don't know.
[to Donnie] In our thing, you get sent for, you go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it.
—Lefty
A wise guy's always right; even when he's wrong, he's right.
— Lefty
Japanese Waiter: Take your shoes off.
Donnie: [while concealing a wire in his boot] Take my shoes off? You take your pants off, what the fuck.
Lefty: [while cooking dinner] Punch of salt.
Donnie Brasco: Punch?
Lefty: Punch. Punch of salt.
Donnie Brasco: Punch or pinch?
Lefty: Punch, punch. Not pinch. What'd I say? I say pinch?
Donnie Brasco: Nah, you said... you said punch.
Lefty: Sometimes you don't make no fuckin' sense, Donnie.
[to Donnie, aftering killing Nicky] Who the fuck am I? Who am I? I'm a, a spoke on a wheel. And so was he, and so are you.
— Lefty
Donnie Brasco: [as Lefty points a revolver at him] You think I'm a fuckin' rat?
Lefty: How many times I have you into my own house?
Donnie Brasco: Twice a week. Twice a week, at least.
Lefty: There it is. "At least." I cook for you.
Donnie Brasco: Yeah.
Lefty: If ever I had any money, I'd give you... I never had any money, but if ever I had a hundred bucks in my pocket, I'd give you fifty, right?
Donnie Brasco: Yeah, you did.
Lefty: If you're a rat... [puts revolver to his own head] ...if you're a rat, then I'm the biggest fuckin' mutt in the history of the Mafia.
Maggie Pistone: God, why do you hate me when I love you so much?
Donnie Brasco: You think I hate you? I don't hate you. This job is eating me alive. I can't breathe anymore. And if I come out, this guy Lefty dies. They're gonna kill him because he vouched for me. Because he stood up for me. I live with that every day. That's the same thing if I put the bullet through his head myself, you understand? I spend all these years trying to be the good guy, you know? The man in the white fuckin' hat. For what? For nuthin'. I'm not becoming like them, Maggie, I am them.
And listen to me, if Donnie calls... tell him... if it was gonna be anyone, I'm glad it was him. All right?
— Lefty
