"Hunted by men ... Sought by WOMEN!"
The Third Man - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
— Harry Lime
Context:
Harry delivers this speech to Holly while they are on the Wiener Riesenrad (the giant Ferris wheel), looking down on the people below. He has just finished comparing the people to insignificant dots and is trying to persuade Holly to join his criminal enterprise.
Meaning:
This is Harry Lime's cynical justification for his amoral actions. He argues that chaos and conflict, while destructive, are the crucibles of great human achievement, whereas peace and stability lead to mediocrity. It's a powerful expression of his nihilistic worldview, dismissing conventional morality in favor of a self-serving philosophy. The line was famously ad-libbed by Orson Welles.
Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.
— Harry Lime
Context:
This line is spoken during the tense confrontation between Holly and Harry on the Ferris wheel. Harry is defending his actions and trying to pull Holly into his cynical way of thinking, dismissing Holly's moral objections as naive.
Meaning:
This quote encapsulates Harry's complete detachment from empathy and his equation of his own criminal racketeering with the impersonal, often brutal, policies of nation-states. It reveals his sociopathic belief that individual lives are meaningless in the grand scheme of power and profit, whether wielded by a government or a black marketeer like himself.
Death's at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death to the professionals.
— Major Calloway
Context:
Major Calloway says this to Holly early in the film in a bar, trying to persuade him to stop his investigation into Harry's death and return home. Calloway sees Holly as a naive outsider who is out of his depth.
Meaning:
This is a world-weary and cynical piece of advice from a man who deals with the grim realities of post-war Vienna on a daily basis. It serves as a warning to the amateur Holly Martins to stop meddling in dangerous affairs that are beyond his comprehension and control. It highlights the gulf between Holly's fictional world of cowboys and the very real, and deadly, world he has stumbled into.
Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and Mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils.
— Harry Lime
Context:
Spoken during the Ferris wheel scene after Holly, horrified by Harry's lack of remorse, reminds him, "You used to believe in God." Harry's response is a glib dismissal of the moral weight of his actions.
Meaning:
This is a chillingly ironic statement that further illustrates Harry's profound amorality. He pays lip service to religious belief while simultaneously justifying the deaths he has caused. By claiming the dead are better off, he absolves himself of any guilt, twisting faith into another tool for his self-serving nihilism.