- Lionel Essrog: But there's no upside in lyin' to a woman who's smarter than you, so, I told her the truth.
- Lionel Essrog: Fuckin' mess is right. The nun said my soul wasn't at peace with God and I should do penance. Frank said anyone teaching God's love while they hit you with a stick should be ignored on every subject.
- Lionel Essrog: Frank told me once, if you're up against someone bigger than you, someone you can't beat toe to toe, make 'em think you respect their size, and then cut a deal that lets you walk out in one piece. Then figure out a way to stick it to 'em later without leaving your prints on the knife.
- Frank Minna: [grimacing] Got through Guadalcanal without a scratch, and I get shot with my own gun - in Queens!
- Danny Fantl: I had a sergeant once in the Bulge. Told me, "Sometimes you do everything you're supposed to, and it all still goes to shit."
- [first lines]
- Lionel Essrog: [narrating] Frank always used to say, "Tell your story walkin', pal." He was more philosophical than your average gumshoe, but he liked to do his talkin' on the move, so here's how it all went down. I got somethin' wrong with my head. That's the first thing to know.
- Lionel Essrog: [real life] If!
- Lionel Essrog: [narrating] It's like having glass in the brain. I can't stop pickin' things apart... twistin' 'em around, reassembling 'em. Words and sounds, especially. It's like an itch that has to be scratched.
- Gilbert Coney: [about a sweater snag] Quit pullin' at it! You're gonna make a fuckin' mess out of things.
- Lionel Essrog: [real life] I got threads in my heads. I got threads in my heads! I got threads in my heads, man!
- Lionel Essrog: [narrating] And I twitch a lot. It's hard to miss. It makes me look like a goddamn spastic, but if I try to hold it back, it just makes it worse.
- [last lines]
- Lionel Essrog: [sitting together on their new porch] "Brooklyn's big... Brooklyn's big, but there's things even bigger."
- Laura Rose: What's that?
- Lionel Essrog: I think it's something Frank said to me, but I. I can't remember when.
- Laura Rose: Maybe this is what he meant.
- Lionel Essrog: [twitching again] If! If!
- Lionel Essrog: There's something going down, and it's big, and they were not happy about what he found.
- Moses Randolph: Power is feeling, knowing, that you can do whatever you want, and not one fuckin' person can stop you.
- Lionel Essrog: [on his disability] Nuns thought they could beat it out of me... one in particular, that was until Frank snatched the yard stick away from her and threatened to hit her twice as hard
- Trumpet Man: [bludgeoning Lou] Fucker ruined my best trumpet
- Trumpet Man: [on Lionel's disability] It's another way of calling it a brain affliction