Robert Ryan credited as playing...
William Shrike
- William Shrike: ...I enjoy seeing youth betray their promises. It lights up all the numbers on my pinball machine.
- William Shrike: [Of White] He's a fake. A scribbling punk trying to play the part of Goody Two-Shoes. He'll steal my fillings when I lie dead on the street.
- Florence Shrike: Then why keep him?
- William Shrike: Because I enjoy seeing youth betray their promises. It lights up all the numbers on my pinball machine.
- Adam White, nee Lassiter: Mr. Shrike, I think you're guilty of a sin, giant-sized: you're cynical. What kind of a world would it be if everyone were created in your image?
- William Shrike: Save your slop for the slobs.
- William Shrike: [to White] Well, it's not the farm or the South Seas. How about art: be an artist or a writer? When you're cold, warm yourself before the flaming tints of the masters, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael. When you're hungry, nourish yourself on spiritual food dished out by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Tell society to keep its call girls and pressed duck and oranges. You're at home in your garret with hi-fi sound, and Shakespeare's plays in one volume.
- William Shrike: He showed up for work this morning, in case you were wondering.
- Florence Shrike: I wasn't. He didn't have any choice.