Now why did I do it, Sarah, why did I do it? I couldve beat that guy, — The Hustler

"They called him "Fast Eddie"... He was a winner... He was a loser... He was a hustler."

"[After discovering that Charlie kept some money from him] With that fifteen hundred, I could have beat him. Thats all I needed, Charlie... Youd love to keep me hustlin for ya, huh, wouldnt ya? I mean, a couple more years with me scufflin around in them little towns and those back alleys, you might make yourself enough to get a little pool room back in Oakland, six tables and a handbook on the side... Lay down and die by yourself."

"[to Eddie] George Findley is a very rich man. His grandfather left him twenty-five percent of his tobacco company... Hes a gentleman. Gentlemen gamble. He gets his kicks playin a hustler. Hes got an old Southern mansion with a pool table in the basement, drinks eight-year-old bourbon, smokes a cork-tipped cigarette... I never saw him play. They say hes one of the best... Ive got confidence in Findley... That means Ive got confidence that hes a loser, all the way a loser. You happen to be about only one-half loser, the other half winner."

"He is great! Geez, that old fat man. Look at the way he moves, like a dancer... And those fingers, them marshmellow fingers. And that stroke, its like hes, uh, like hes playin a violin or somethin."

"A motion picture that probes the stranger... the pick-up... why a man hustles for a buck or a place in the sun!"

"Only the angel who falls knows the depths of hell."