- David Merrill: You asked me how I'm doing. You wanna know how I'm doing? I can't get a job... can't get a job. All my friends - gone. I'm being followed by the FBI everywhere I go. I lost my house. I can't even buy my son a bike for Christmas.
- Felix Graff: They want the names, David, that's why we're here. C'mon, you can't beat these bastards. You keep this up and they'll tear up your head off.
- David Merrill: They've already done that.
- David Merrill: [after a brief moment] Fuck them!
- Felix Graff: I beg to be excused, Mr. Chairman. My client has just dismissed me!
- [walks off]
- Ruth Merrill: Uh, I'm seeing Dorothy tonight. Paulie's gonna stay at his friends. I thought I'd take her to one of those places out by Malibu.
- David Merrill: Malibu, can you afford that?
- Ruth Merrill: Can you believe you said that?
- David Merrill: No, I'd never say anything like that.
- Ruth Merrill: Wanna go?
- David Merrill: Sure, do you mind?
- Ruth Merrill: Yeah.
- [she leaves]
- David Merrill: [to Joe Lesser] You just can't let them do this to you, you can't let them get away with this.
- David Merrill: I'm a filmmaker. That's all I am, I don't know what else to do. What the hell do they think I'm gonna do? Blow all the bridges if the Red Army comes invading Manhattan?
- David Merrill: [about Dorothy Nolan] She was a good wife, a good mother, and you're responsible for her death. She was falsely accused, she couldn't get work, her son was taken away from her - all because of this committee. In the name of ridding the world of Communism, you destroyed her life.
- David Merrill: I might not be the best citizen in this country, but I was raised to stand up for what I believe in, and I'm going to raise my son in the same way, and as hard as that is sometimes, I'm gonna try to live it, and if that isn't what a real American is, then we've failed!
- Congressman Velde: I wanna know how many Communists you knew. I wanna know how many you know, how many you've worked with. I wanna know what your association is with them.
- Bunny Baxter: [Larry is burning books that can be considered subversive] Good idea, Larry. James Joyce. Can't write like him, burn him.