Investigation quotes

“I was an investigator. I'd investigate the claims to see which ones were phony. I had to see through people's bullshit. It was an useful experience, 'cause now it's my life.”
Guy Pearce - Leonard Shelby

“I'm a prosecutor. I'm part of the business of accusing, judging and punishing. I explore the evidence of a crime and determine who is charged, who is brought to this room to be tried before his peers.”
Harrison Ford - Rusty Sabich

“I couldn't detect horse manure if I stepped in it!”
Sir Michael Caine - Sherlock Holmes

“- Jack Potter: Who was it?
- Skinny Woman: We're talking about... Washington.
- Marty Mackenzie: My God, what, the governments involved?
- Skinny Woman: No, George Washintgon. That's right! The kid who couldn't tell a lie. Shocked? So was I. He's livin' right up in that old mine up on the hill. Him and Elvis and M.L. King and JFK and John Lennon...” (continue)(continue reading)

Leslie William Nielsen - Jack Potter
Suzanne Krull - Skinny Woman
Lochlyn Munro - Marty Mackenzie

“There are five basic contaminants in a crime scene. I'll skip to the worse one. Other cops.”
Denzel Washington - Lincoln Rhyme

“- Paul Miller: You were born to be a detective!
- Donald Wilson: I was?
- Paul Miller: You reek of detective!
- Donald Wilson: I reek?”
Lorin Dreyfuss - Paul Miller
David Landsberg - Donald Wilson

“- Daniel: Who are you?
- Laura: Daniel McTeague?
- Daniel: No shit! That's my name too.
- Laura: No, I'm a private investigator.
- Daniel: You're a detective? Great, help me find my pants.”

Michael J. Fox - Daniel
Khandi Alexander - Laura

“Three things I learned being a private eye: never trust a girl, always get it on tape, and bring backup.”
Lochlyn Munro - Marty Mackenzie

“- Walter Neff: What do the police figure?
- Barton Keyes: That he got tangled up in his crutches and fell off the train. They're satisfied. It's not their dough.”

Fred MacMurray - Walter Neff
Edward G. Robinson - Barton Keyes

“- Ruth Lanier: How much do I get for the information I gave you on Waxman?
- Richard Chance: No arrest, no money.
- Ruth Lanier: It's my fault he's dead? It took me six months to get next to him. I got expenses, you know.
- Richard Chance: Guess what? Uncle Sam don't give a shit about your expenses. You want bread, fuck a baker.”
Darlanne Fluegel - Ruth Lanier
William Petersen - Richard Chance

“- Consul Phil Putnam: Please try to understand. There are so many cases. They're all so important, and this isn't the only one we're working on.
- Ed Horman: It's the only one I care about.”
David Clennon - Consul Phil Putnam
Jack Lemmon - Ed Horman

“Being a private eye may not be much, but we do have a code of honor. It's all right to fool around with your partner's wife, but once he's dead it makes it all so dirty.”
Peter Falk - Lou Peckinpaugh

“What I do for a living may not be very reputable... but I am. In this town I'm the leper with the most fingers.”

Jack Nicholson - Jake Gittes

“A great detective relies on perception, intelligence, and imagination.”

Nicholas Rowe - Sherlock Holmes

“To a cop the explanation is never that complicated. It's always simple. There's no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. If you got a dead body and you think his brother did it, you're gonna find out you're right.”
Kevin Spacey - Verbal

“- Keaton: I'm a businessman now.
- Interrogation Cop: Yeah? What's that, the restaurant business? No. From now on, you're in the gettin'-fucked-by-us business.”
Gabriel Byrne - Keaton
Christopher McQuarrie - Interrogation Cop

- Sheila: Aw, baby, if your shit was a rocketship, you could fly to the moon. Now, why do you have to stick your nose in matters that don't pertain to you? And don't give me some bullshit about love.
- Romulus: The dead boy knew me, Sheila. He called me, "The Voice".
- Sheila: It's Lulu, isn't it? You want to prove yourself to her? You want to... (continue)(continue reading)
Tamara Tunie - Sheila
Samuel L. Jackson - Romulus

“- Jeff Grant: What the hell kind of investigation is this, anyway? Are you going to tell me or aren't you?
- Roy Parmenter: You're asking all the right questions, Jeff. Something big is coming down.”
River Phoenix - Jeff Grant
Sir Sidney Poitier - Roy Parmenter

“- Captain David Trilling: I'll never... give you the code.
- Travis Dane: The psychological profile we have on you says you will.”
David Gianopoulos - Captain David Trilling
Eric Bogosian - Travis Dane

"Unexpected accumulations of mail can be a sign of trouble. If the carrier notices this, he takes the initiative. It either means the inhabitants have left unexpectedly, and the mail must be saved. Or it means something is wrong and should be investigated".

Owen Wilson - Vann

“- Jack Potter: We're headed out to a town full of devil-worshipers on a tip from a dame who sees two-headed mules.
- Marty Mackenzie: Jack, in the detective business you cannot leave any stone unturned.”
Leslie William Nielsen - Jack Potter
Lochlyn Munro - Marty Mackenzie

“- Chicago: Is this considered interfering with a police investigation?
- Jericho: Hey... we're private citizens having a conversation with another citizen. I mean, I don't think they found a way to outlaw that... at least not yet.”
Kevin Pollak - Chicago
Arnold Schwarzenegger - Jericho

“Why am I the only one who can see that to solve crimes we must use our brains, assisted by reason, using up-to-date scientific techniques?”
Johnny Depp - Ichabod Crane

“- Helen Grayle: I hadn't supposed there were enough murders these days to make detecting very attractive to a young man.
- Philip Marlowe: I stir up trouble on the side.”
Claire Trevor - Helen Grayle
Dick Powell - Philip Marlowe

“- John Clifford: I spent almost a year alone on the case of Curt Duncan with the trial and the testimonies and the background investigations. Now, I didn't come here today to look in your God damn folders, in fact I probably wouldn't be here at all if you had done your job right.
- Dr. Monk: This is a hospital, Mr. Clifford, not a penitentiary.”
Charles Durning - John Clifford
Rachel Roberts - Dr. Monk