- 'Googi': [His dying words after being shot by a hoodlum he thought was unarmed] Ah, gee, never figured on that at all.
- Danny Kenny: [Startled, after getting bussed on the cheek from Eddie] Say, what am I... a French general getting a medal or somethin'?
- Peggy Nash: You know, Danny, someday I'd love to take a long ocean trip.
- Danny Kenny: We can do that on our honeymoon. We can take a cruise down to Atlantic City. Eh, I think I can get the boss to give me a week off.
- Peggy Nash: No, no. I mean far away. Europe... South America... traveling on big ships. Seeing the world from a front seat. Oh, Danny, if I'm successful, I can go anywhere.
- Danny Kenny: Aw, get off that express and take a local.
- Eddie Kenny: Danny, you're still pretty set on that kid, aren't you?
- Danny Kenny: You ought to know. She's a part of me by now. Like my right arm. Everything was going along so good until that sharpie came along and gave her a fancy line of gab.
- Peggy Nash: Danny, I just know I could be a great dancer. Maybe... maybe even up there someday up on Broadway in a big show. My name in bright lights.
- Danny Kenny: What do you want that for? We can be happy together without all that noise and fancy stuff.
- Peggy Nash: Together?
- Danny Kenny: Yeah, sure. Married. Why not?
- Peggy Nash: Well, I wasn't exactly thinking about that just yet.
- Eddie Kenny: Danny, I know Peggy and I certainly know you well. I can't exactly explain this to you, but call it applause, call it ambition, call it whatever you like, but it would take a lot more than a man to come between you two. You see, Danny, when she rubs her eyes open in the morning, she sees her name up in bright lights "Peggy Nash, Dancer." And all day long she keeps moving those lights around in different theatres and different cities. At night, she goes to sleep with the music of applause in her ears. And Danny, she can't see you and she can't hear you because she's blinded by those lights and deafen by that applause.
- Danny Kenny: It's like you nailed it, Ed. But, whatever it is, I'm not going to let it take her away from me.
- Peggy Nash: Danny, sometimes I don't understand you. Everybody in New York wants to do something... be somebody. Except you.
- Danny Kenny: Aw, I just want to be happy.
- Peggy Nash: But you've got to have ambition. You can't drive around this town on one foot. You've got to run like the rest or you'll be left behind.
- Danny Kenny: I didn't know you wanted it, Peggy. I'd do anything, ya know, if you just told me you wanted it.
- Peggy Nash: Oh, Danny, I guess we want different things.
- Danny Kenny: Yeah, maybe you're right.
- Murray Burns: [Dancing] I don't mind saying, kid, you're a natural. You sure can spiel. And believe you me, I've tripped the light fantastic with only the best.
- Peggy Nash: Well, thank you, Mr. Burns. Of course, I'm a little nervous now. I've never before had a partner like you.
- Murray Burns: I figured. Sure, but that's okay. You'll get over that nervous feeling.
- [They do a dance move]
- Murray Burns: That's the idea. You'll follow me like a ghost, kid.
- Scotty MacPherson: What is it? Money or a dame?
- Danny Kenny: Both. Now look, Scotty, I don't want to waste your time or my own. I'll take a few quick fights, but I've got to get some real dough.
- Scotty MacPherson: I think you've got the wrong number. Now look, Danny, I don't know what reasons you've got, but I've only got one reason to back you. I want a champion. So, get this straight. If you're gonna fight for me, you're gonna fight my way. Is that clear?
- Peggy Nash: Oh, Danny. I'm so happy. It's like... like running through a dark alley and suddenly finding your way in warm sunlight.
- Peggy Nash: [Crying] Please leave me alone. Why did you have to come here now?
- Danny Kenny: Because I was crazy to see ya. I wouldn't hurt you, Peggy. I'd cut my arm off first.
- Scotty MacPherson: Sure, I know Cannonball, and I don't trust him. He's mean, and he's dangerous.
- 'Googi': Danny 'll stop him.
- Scotty MacPherson: Yes, and he might stop Danny, and I'm taking no chances in over-matching him.
- 'Googi': Go on. Danny'll throw a stiff right in his breadbasket. By the time he pulls his glove out, he'll be champ.
- Danny Kenny: [to Scotty, after beaten badly after a fight] You aint' sore at me, are you? I did the best I could, but I just couldn't see him. Couldn't find him.
- Scotty MacPherson: Danny, I want to stop the fight. Let's stop the fight. I never should have let you into this.
- Danny Kenny: No, no, no, Scotty! Don't do that to me! Don't do that to me! All I need is one shot at this guy. Scotty, promise me something. Promise me you won't throw in the towel, hear? Promise me that. I gotta win. I gotta beat this guy!
- Peggy Nash: Scotty! Scotty, where's Danny? Is he all right?
- Scotty MacPherson: Yes, he's all right.
- Peggy Nash: Well, can I see him, Scotty? He's in there, isn't he?
- Scotty MacPherson: Yes, he's in there, flat on his back. And you put him there. Only you, not Cannonball Wales, because Danny never would have fought this fight. He took a worse licking from you than he ever took from Cannonball Wales.
- Peggy Nash: Well, I've got to see him. You can't stop me. You've got to let me in.
- Scotty MacPherson: Now, just a minute, Peggy. I'm gonna tell you something, and I'm not gonna pull any punches. I've seen you give that boy there the rawest deal a woman ever gave a man, and I'm not gonna let you do it again. I'm not gonna let you go in there and hold his hand, and say hello for a while, and then break his heart with another runner.
- Peggy Nash: No, no, I'm all through with that. Please, you've got let me in. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him.
- Scotty MacPherson: You bet your sweet life you won't. You've done all you're going to do to him.
- Peggy Nash: But, Scotty, you don't understand.
- Scotty MacPherson: I understand well enough to know you're no good for him and he's no good for you, because, well, never mind, he's no good for you. Now try to get that through your head.
- Murray Burns: How about it, baby? Wanna try the contest? We'll show 'em some real steppin'.
- Peggy Nash: That'd be wonderful, but I ought to ask Danny first.
- Murray Burns: What's that mug got, a mortgage on ya? Just relax, kid. That cup's in the bag.
- Band Conductor and Emcee: And now, folks, for the regular Rose Garden contest. To the winners, this beautiful silver loving cup. The judges will conduct the eliminations from the bandstand if they'll please come up. Will all the palookas and clucks kindly save their shoe leather and our time by sitting this one out? Let's go.
- Danny Kenny: Well, look, kid. Here's the way I feel about it. Your business is like any other business. You either do it, or you don't. You're either a main eventer or a four-round preliminary boy. Look, down on Forsyth Street, you used to play by the hour, and I'd listen. And you'd tell me about those big shot composers who really took it on the chin and really went through the mill. Beethoven, who got the toughest break of all. Lost his hearing. He didn't quit, he didn't lay down. He just moved in and kept right on punching.
- Eddie Kenny: Yes, but then what? You work, you tear your heart out, and in the end, nobody's interested. Nobody wants to hear it. They're only interested after you're dead a hundred years.
- Danny Kenny: Ed, that's an alibi. That's an alibi used by guys who are afraid they can't deliver. But you can do it, and if it's good, they listen. They gotta listen!
- Danny Kenny: The doctor didn't say nothing. Just routine talk. What are you trying to do, kidding me? Why don't you tell the truth? I know it and you know it. I'm as blind as a bat.
- 'Mutt': Take it easy, Danny. Take it easy. Don't lose your head. This is only the first round. You got a long fight in front of ya.
- Danny Kenny: Yeah, I know. Left hand out and keep moving.
- Old Timer: Yes, brother, it's beautiful. Didn't I tell you there was a heart beating in the city? I've been all over... East Side, West Side... down in the subways, up in the elevators, flat with the river. And I report success. There's a heart beating in the city. You won't find it in the timetables and you'll never see it advertised. But take it from me, brother, there's love in New York. And I know, because I got clothes on my back.
- Peggy Nash: You know, Gladys, it's funny. After all the places I've been, things I've done, I've just moved across town, that's all. From East Side to West Side. You look out and see the same back alleys, the same fire escapes, the same clotheslines. I'm back just where I started.
- Gladys: Wished I was back where I started, baby, with a wonderful guy named Jake Smith right over in Jersey City. He was just a grease monkey in a junkyard garage. He only made 20 bucks a week, but he was great on this thing called love. I was a dizzy dope. I was gonna burn up the world. I got burned myself. Ever watch a moth fly in the flame? Can't stop 'em till their wings burn off. Believe you me, if Jake would take me back now, l'd crawl on my knees right over to Jersey City, so help me. We girls never get wise until it's too late.
- Danny Kenny: Don't like that tear-jerking sob stuff. "One of life's little tragedies." I don't want nobody crying over me. I don't want no benefits. I'm on my own, and I got no complaints.
- Eddie Kenny: Ladies and gentlemen... Once in each man's lifetime there comes a supreme moment. For me, here and now, this is it. Not only because of the generous way in which you have received my symphony, but because I can share this moment with one whose contribution to this music is far greater than any that I could have made. I am speaking of and to my brother. He truly inspired the music that you have heard tonight. For in his life story was a story of the great city as I felt it in terms of music. No, he's not a musician. He couldn't read a single note, but in his heart and soul there was such wealth of music. Music of the city. The music that led him on to glory, to conquest, to tragedy and defeat. But in that very defeat, he conquered. For of all the men that I have come to know, who have loved and lost, this boy retained a great nobility that far surpassed any possible conquest. Yes, my brother made music with his fists so that I might make a gentler music the symphony that you have heard tonight. It is his as much as mine. And so, with deep pride and gratitude, I dedicate this music to my brother, known to most of you, as Young Samson.