Law & Order quotes

Ross

Governments are like elephants. They never forget.

Admit it, Mr. McCoy. We won.

McCoy

You didn't win. The system you want to destroy did.

Curtis

You ever pay for it, Lennie?

Briscoe

I was married, wasn't I?

[mis-reads Munch's guest pass] "Defective Monk"?

That's Detective Munch, with a "ch".

Defective monk. That's like a fallen angel. That's what Brittany was.

[sighs] Yeah, I can see that.

You're about to look into a very ugly corner of the human heart. Bring a shovel.

First I killed Karen because she had a child by another man, then I killed her because she had my child?

Curtis

Because she wanted to keep your child.

Briscoe

And because everybody in your "just us white folks" executive suite was going to find out you're Black, Josh.

That's absurd. I mean, look at me.

Lt. Van Buren

I wanna talk to him.[Briscoe and Curtis leave] Hello, my brother. Damn, look at you. You did it. You passed. You know, I thought up close, I'd be able to tell, but I swear I can't. So, what's it like when it's just you and them? You laugh along when they tell jokes? Oh, you know what I'm talkin' about, right? Or do you tell nigger jokes, too, just to keep up appearances?

If you don't mind...

Lt. Van Buren

Oh, am I sitting too close? I remind you of somebody? Your mother? Was she dark-skinned? High yellow? Redbone? You scared now, aren't you? You've been scared for almost 40 years, and all that fear came gushing out Sunday morning. You panicked, isn't that right? You go ahead, tell me what happened. Take the weight off, my brother. You'll feel better.

Ross

His whole life was a charade. It's pathetic.

McCoy

Maybe thirty, forty years ago, it made more sense.

Schiff

Back then, they had lynch mobs and bull-whips. Now, they use toilet plungers. Progress.

Schiff

I won't go down like the Titanic.

It went too far; I am sorry about that. Try to understand, Jamie.

Ross

It's not in the job description.

Briscoe

OK, let me see if I got this straight: Stanley Somebody who's a fashion photographer someplace, lives in some apartment probably in a building at 114th and Riverside, and has a message about a murder of somebody who might be named Dee-dee.

That's right!

Briscoe

Yeah, thanks for coming in.

Ross

[about Anderton] Last year he made a surprise takeover bid for Commonwealth Airlines. One week later, he withdrew the bid, and accused the FAA and the stockholders of conspiring against him. It's classic manic-depressive behavior.

Schiff

Doesn't make sense. Runs a Fortune 500 company.

McCoy

So did Howard Hughes.

Briscoe

Your car came back from Russia, Bernie, with love.

McCoy

He kills 3 people and hides behind the bottle.

Ross

The law says he can.

McCoy

The law. [scoffs] Probably written on a cocktail napkin. Intent follows the bullet! It shouldn't matter if it was fired by a drunk or Carrie Nation.

McCoy

Doctors, the question is very simple: at the time she fired the gun, did Lindsay Carson appreciate the consequences of her action, and did she know it was wrong?

Yes.

No.

Ross

Terrific.

[after McCoy refuses to talk about a plea deal until she speaks] I needed him to help us with the appeal. I thought he owed us. Dad told me to forget it, but I couldn't. I tracked Mayer to his hotel.

Ross

And you brought the gun with you?

Yes. Just to scare him. He wouldn't speak to me. I followed him everywhere. The theater, the restaurant. I waited to talk to him. When I thought he was going to duck out the back of the restaurant, I went after him. I told him he was a bastard for abandoning a good man. And he laughed. Said he wasn't the problem. The problem was my father was a murderer. And then he went into the restroom, and I didn't believe him. I couldn't. I was just so angry that I went in there and started shooting, and then when I saw that other man, I just kept on firing. I'm sorry. I didn't know...