- Roland Cassard: I've thought a lot about you and me. It doesn't matter now. It's not your fault or mine. It's just how it is. We're alone and we stay alone. But what counts is to want something, no matter what it takes. There's a bit of happiness in simply wanting happiness.
- Lola: [singing] It's me, Lola! The girl who laughs at anything, And says love's a lovely thing, Wins men's hearts without fear, And gives without a tear, To older guys or brave young men, Is always asking where or when, Likes to please them every day, Without going all the way, It's me, Lola!
- Lola: As a kid, I dreamed of being tall, with a nice figure, and of being a dancer -- at the Opéra, of course. Seems I took a wrong turn somewhere. But, I have no regrets.
- Lola: We barely know each other.
- Roland Cassard: Call it love at first sight. You know how that is.
- Lola: At 16, yes, but we're not 16 anymore. Admit you just want to sleep with me.
- Roland Cassard: Of course I do. But I want the feeling to be mutual.
- Roland Cassard: I was set on finishing this fascinating novel.
- Le directeur de Roland: Let me see. It's a great novel. It was my bedtime reading for years.
- Roland Cassard: Then you understand. There's a line on page 55: "There's no dignity nor real life for a man who works 12 hours a day without knowing what he's working for." It's true. I don't know what I'm working for.
- Le directeur de Roland: Very well. Come back when you've figured it out.
- Roland Cassard: I'm leaving. I saw a Gary Cooper movie this afternoon. It was a beautiful place. The people seemed happy.
- Claire, the bar owner: Where?
- Roland Cassard: At the Katorza.
- Claire, the bar owner: I meant what country.
- Roland Cassard: Matareva, a Pacific island near Tahiti.
- Claire, the bar owner: It's always beautiful in the movies.
- Lola: I should sew some fancy stuff on mine. Something flossy, you know? And something glittery here. It'd look great. And a big plume like Marilyn Monroe's.
- Lola: [singing] I see a ship tied to a buoy, Then I meet a sailor boy, We sing and we dance, We play with romance, We whirl and we spin, Then I say with a grin, That I mean no, It's time to go, That's enough, Don't get rough...
- Madame Desnoyers: What's the matter?
- Cécile Desnoyers: You're always scolding me.
- Madame Desnoyers: For your own good, my child.
- Cécile Desnoyers: I'm not a child. I'll be 14 tomorrow.
- Madame Desnoyers: You're an angel.
- Lola: I thought you were a friend, but you're like all the other men. I've never had a male friend, just guys chasing after me. But, I'm nobody special.
- Madame Desnoyers: We had such fun at the fair - with Suzanne.
- Madame Desnoyers: The fair! With a man you don't even know! My daughter out partying with servicemen and getting home at 7:00! And me, sick with worry, fearing the worst!
- Madame Desnoyers: Where was the sailor from?
- Cécile Desnoyers: Chicago, Illinois.
- Madame Desnoyers: A sailor from Chicago -- you and your geography! Chicago has no sailors, only gangsters!
- Madame Desnoyers: What's all this about?
- Cécile Desnoyers: I didn't do anything wrong.
- Madame Desnoyers: I should hope not! You're to stay away from servicemen, and other men too... for now.
- Cécile Desnoyers: He was very nice.
- Madame Desnoyers: All the more reason.
- Roland Cassard: I walked around all night. I thought about our childhood and all sorts of memories came flooding back - with you at the center of them all. I've lived on dreams till now. That was wrong. You give me a reason to live.
- Lola: I laugh because no one calls me Cecile anymore. My stage name is Lola, everyone calls me that.
- Le directeur de Roland: My father always used to say, "Punctuality is the mark of kings," to which he'd add, "If you wish to succeed in life, be punctual." You'll say you're no king and succeeding means little to you. Right?
- Roland Cassard: More or less.
- Le directeur de Roland: You're no doubt intelligent -- No, don't deny it. I've been observing you. But you have a major fault. You're off in the clouds.
- Roland Cassard: I do dream a bit.
- Le directeur de Roland: That's not good. Look things square in the face.
- Madame Desnoyers: You mustn't think the whole world's rotten. Some people deserve our trust. Some are good, even if appearances can deceive. You can't judge a book by its cover.
- Roland Cassard: We don't know how to live here anymore. Me with my boss, you with your drunks.
- Claire, the bar owner: You know how to live?
- Roland Cassard: I figure I'll learn.
- Claire, the bar owner: By traveling?
- Roland Cassard: To each his own, but for me, it's the only cure.
- Claire, the bar owner: For what?
- Roland Cassard: Boredom.
- Lola: I had my mother's apartment till she got evicted and died. People laugh when I say she died from being evicted, but it's true.
- Lola: Isn't life a beautiful thing?
- Roland Cassard: In theory, but what we do with it isn't always great.
- Madame Desnoyers: I'm all alone. I lost everything during the war. My mother, my house, furniture, books, my husband. I had nothing left. Not even a handkerchief or a sheet. Nothing. I became a penniless widow overnight. You see, my husband was a gambler. He had every vice. God save us from gamblers.