“- Benjamin Kapanay: My heart always told me that people are inherently good. My experience suggests otherwise. But what about you, Mr. Archer? In your long career as a journalist, would you say that people are mostly good?
- Danny Archer: No. I'd say they're just people.
- Benjamin Kapanay: Exactly. It is what they do that makes them good or bad.”
Basil Wallace - Benjamin Kapanay
Leonardo DiCaprio - Danny Archer

“- Madeleine: How can we know who is good - and who is evil?
- Coulmier: All we can do is guard against our own corruption.”
Kate Winslet - Madeleine
Joaquin Phoenix - Coulmier

“How did we loose all the good that was given us? Let it slip away. Scattered careless.”
Jim Caviezel - Pvt. Witt

“- Mr. Sparks, the Tennis Pro: Do you feel that grip?
- Voltri, First Mate: I do sir. I do.
- Mr. Sparks, the Tennis Pro: Powerful enough to snap the neck of a small beast, and yet sensitive enough to caress the tender throat of a young castrato. Coax a song out of him.”

Billy Connolly - Mr. Sparks, the Tennis Pro
Tony Shalhoub - Voltri, First Mate

“I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things.”
Richard Tiffany Gere - Martin Vail