Goodfellas is regarded as one of the best gangster films ever made, and it has a bunch of iconic quotes. Martin Scorsese has explored various genres throughout his career as a filmmaker – from black comedy with After Hours to historical drama with Silence – but he’s still best known for his crime and gangster movies. The movie considered not only his best from this genre but his best, in general, is Goodfellas, based on the nonfiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Goodfellas chronicles the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who was part of the Lucchese crime family and ended up becoming an FBI informant.
During his time with the mob, Henry became close to some big mafia names, as were Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), Jimmy “The Gent” Conway (Robert De Niro), and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), with whom he got involved in different crimes. Although Goodfellas is narrated by Henry (with some parts narrated by his wife, Karen, played by Lorraine Bracco), Henry isn’t the only one delivering memorable quotes throughout the movie, and some were so good and had such a strong impact on the story that they have become part of pop culture, and have been referenced and mocked in many other movies and TV shows.
15 "I like this one. One dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way" - Tommy DeVito
Tommy DeVito was the most dangerous, impulsive, and aggressive member of Paulie’s crew, and he often got himself and the others in trouble for not thinking before throwing punches. However, Goodfellas also showed a different side of Tommy in his interactions with his mother (played by Martin Scorsese’s mother, Catherine Scorsese), where he was calmer and a very caring son. After beating Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) almost to death, Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry stopped at Tommy’s mother’s house to pick up a shovel, but as a traditional Italian mother, she cooked a meal for them.
Tommy’s mother then showed them her painting of a man in a boat with two dogs. Tommy jumped in to say how much he liked the painting, especially the position of the dogs. It’s a simple line, but it shows how much Tommy cared for his mother, showing a more human side to the most ruthless killer in Paulie’s crew.
14 "One day, some of the kids from the neighborhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was outta respect" - Henry Hill
Henry Hill started his association with Paulie’s crew when he was a teenager. Henry ran errands for Paulie and his people and he earned their trust, but with that also came the fear of those outside their circle. In a voiceover, adult Henry explained how his life changed when he started working for Paulie: he didn’t have to wait in line at the bakery anymore, the neighbors didn’t park in the Hills’ driveway anymore, and he had more money than the adults in his neighborhood. Everyone started to fear Henry but also respected him and that extended to his family too, as he explained how the kids from the neighborhood carried his mother’s groceries out of respect.
13 “I like going this way. It’s better than waiting in line” - Henry Hill
When Henry and Karen started dating, he did a couple of things to impress her, such as taking her to the Copacabana. As Henry was well-known by everyone at the restaurant, he didn’t have to wait in line or enter through the front door, and instead, he took Karen through the back door, all the way through the kitchen, and to their table at the front of the stage. When Karen asked why they weren’t going through the front door, Henry simply said he liked it this way as it was better than waiting in line, showing that he was not a regular guy and that the way he lived and did things was far from “normal”.
12 “Why don’t you go f**k yourself, Tommy?” - Spider
Spider (Michael Imperioli) was a young man working for Paulie’s crew, similar to what Henry did when he was young, but he made a couple of major mistakes when interacting with Tommy. While serving food and drinks during a card game, Tommy got angry at Spider for not bringing him his drink, but it was a misunderstanding. Spider wasn’t scared to talk back to Tommy and defend himself, but that led Tommy to shoot him in the foot. Days later, an injured Spider served the crew again during a card game and Tommy teased him about his injury, so Spider defended himself one last time and told Tommy to “go f**k” himself. These were Spider’s last words, as Tommy shot him multiple times after Tommy and the rest teased him about it.
11 "Only cops talk that way. If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would've been dead" - Henry Hill
Henry’s downfall began when he started selling drugs, something that Paulie forbade in his crew as it was a dangerous business for them. Henry’s chaotic life touched rock bottom when, while high on cocaine and trying to set up a drug deal, he was arrested by narcotics agents. Being arrested was actually a relief for Henry as that meant he wouldn’t be killed and could get another chance, but had he been intercepted by wiseguys, he wouldn’t have even known that he was caught as they would have killed him immediately. This quote further shows how dangerous the mob is and how they don’t hesitate to get rid of those who are causing them trouble, even if it’s one of them.
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10 "For us, to live any other way is nuts" - Henry Hill
Through Henry’s story, Goodfellas showed the attractive side of the mob and the dangerous parts of it, and Henry often reminded the audience that being part of the mob was his ideal way of living. In the Bamboo Lounge scene where Henry introduced various gangsters, he mentioned that for them to live any other way was inconceivable and that the “goody-good people” with traditional jobs were “dead”. It was easy for them as they could take whatever they wanted, and they never had to deal with anyone as they were feared and respected.
9 "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 it the truth. It turned me on" - Karen Hill
When Karen met Henry Hill, she was unaware of what his job was really about, and it wasn’t until he beat her neighbor from across the street (because he attacked Karen) that she realized what she was getting herself into. Henry gave Karen a gun to hide, which instead of prompting Karen to stay away from Henry, only made her more attracted to him. This is the moment when Karen became an accomplice, and it was the beginning of an unstable ride alongside Henry, as they dealt with death threats, lost all their money, and ended up ing the witness protection program.
8 "We always called each other goodfellas. Like you'd say to somebody 'you're gonna like this guy, he's right. He's a goodfella. He's one of us'. You understand? We were goodfellas, wiseguys" - Henry Hill
Between two key moments in Goodfellas – the murders of many of the gangsters involved in the Lufthansa heist and Tommy’s execution –, Henry explained what the relationship between gangsters is really like. A wiseguy or goodfella is a “made man”, those who are fully initiated into the mafia, and for that, they have to be Italian or of Italian descent. Henry and Jimmy didn’t qualify but Tommy did, but his supposed ceremony to turn him into a made man was actually his execution. While there’s a strong sense of loyalty among wiseguys, there’s also a lot of betrayal, and that’s punished with death.
7 "By the time I finished meeting everybody, I thought I was drunk" - Karen Hill
Although by the time she married Henry she knew well what his business was about, Karen definitely wasn’t expecting meeting a bunch of gangsters and their partners at her wedding – and even worse, she wasn’t expecting their families to have similar names. Karen was so overwhelmed by the amount of people she had to greet at her wedding that, understandably, she felt very dizzy when she was done.
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6 "Now go home and get your f***in' shinebox" - Billy Batts
Tommy did a lot of horrible things in Goodfellas, and arguably, the most horrible one was the murder of Billy Batts. Batts was a made man from the Gambino family, and as he had known Tommy since he was young, he constantly mocked him for his past as a shoe shiner. The final straw was when Batts told Tommy to go home and get his shinebox, and after Tommy drove his date home, he returned to the bar to beat Batts to almost death.
