Robert Goren quotes from Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Goren

Killing Carmine - he was really killing himself.

Eames

There was a step in between that he skipped.

Wallace

You're insane to think I'd be willing to go back to prison. I have a child to care for.

Goren

You can't possibly think you can have anything to do with Gwen's life. You think about your own child, Nicole.

Wallace

That was an accident... I never meant for her to die, I didn't. I loved her.

Goren

You couldn't stop yourself.

Wallace

[crying] She was just a little girl.

Goren

You couldn't control yourself, and you can't guarantee that that won't happen again.

Wallace

Gwen is a good girl with a good heart. She wouldn't love me if there wasn't anything good about me.

Goren

What about your own child? Wasn't she a good little girl? Didn't she love you, even more than Gwen? One day Gwen will do something, or maybe she`ll do nothing, and you`ll snap.

Wallace

No...no...that won`t happen.

Goren

You`re not safe to be around, Nicole...too much damage has been done.

Wallace

No, with her it`ll be healed ...it will be all right.

Goren

No. If you want to save yourself, you have to face up to who you are.

Wallace

That`s it? That`s all you have for me? Confess...go to prison?

Goren

[trying to get a man's description] Was he big, like me?

Not so big. And not so... Caucasian.

I ask myself, where was this zeal 17 years ago when my brother's skull was cracked open?

Goren

It must gall you to know these men are walking free.

You know what galls me? Those trials of old white men who killed civil rights workers. Bombed churches 40 years ago. Their convictions hailed as victories of American justice. But for 40 years these old men sat down to dinner with their families. Slept in their own beds. Woke up free men. And now that they're old and dying, now that they have nothing left to lose, now they go to jail.

Goren

He resisted the cavity search.

I don't blame him.

Goren

I'm just checking which ones are fresh.

Eames

They must love you in the produce section.

Eames

I'm sorry, Bobby. I should have told you.

Goren

I am an acquired taste. I'm lucky you withdrew your letter.

Goren

You just sidestepped our question.

I thought it was more polite than saying, "It's none of your business."

Eames

[about Boatman] Everyone told us he wouldn't harm a fly. Torture changed him.

Goren

Evil changes everyone.

Eames

Have you heard from her lately?

Nicole is a fugitive, thanks to you two. And, no, she'd never put me in that kind of danger. She's very protective.

Goren

Well, you'd be very proud of your star pupil.

I can't take the credit. She's a natural.

Goren

Well, she's very adept at poisons. Is that something that you taught her?

I'll take a pass on that.

[in Chinese] You speak Chinese like my little dog!

She said...

Goren

[embarrassed] I know, I got it.

Eames

[amused] So did I.

Goren

See, we wanna know why Benny Boy jumped because, as you say, he was in a good mood.

Well, do you ever really know what's going on inside a fellow human being?

Goren

You mean like, one minute you're talking to a good Samaritan, the next you're charging him with murder?

Woo-hoo! Look at that!

Goren

You like car races?

Oh yeah! I got a need for speed! I'm– not that I break the law any more, officer. I got plenty enough tickets to last me a lifetime, but no DUI's. I don't drink. I got an allergy.

Goren

Your job. You're always climbing around in those vents, that's dangerous, huh?

It's fun!

Goren

Dangerous and fun.

Eames

[deadpan] Woo hoo.

Eames

[to Goren, privately] I'm supposed to keep an eye on you.

Goren

Let me know if I can help.

He told me. About your mother. Your father. He said you could've gone either way.

Goren

Either way?

He said... some homes are like... labs for creating serial killers.