Neal Caffrey quotes from White Collar

Peter

How did you leave things with Sara?

Neal

Why??

Peter

Look behind you.

Sara

I am looking for agent Burke.

Neal

Sara.

Sara

Neal. How did your island trip go?

Neal

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sara

Until the hangover.

Peter

We have the highest closure rate of any C.I. team in the country. They wanna know what makes our partnership work.

Neal

I've been wondering the same thing lately.

Neal

May I borrow Percy? [Sam gives them a strange look.]

Mozzie

My pet rat. He eats all the fancy cheeses that I... can't. In many ways I live through him.

Many ways?

Neal

Don't get him started.

Peter

Anderson is targeting a cutting edge bulletproof vest from the Hudson group.

Diana

Word is, this will be the best protection on the market.

Neal

My favorite method of protection is avoiding situations where people might shoot at me.

Peter

You ever wonder what would've happened if I hadn't made you my C.I.?

Neal

I'd still be in jail and your arrest rate would be in the low 70s.

Peter

High 80s.

Neal

Why did you take my deal?

Peter

I told you, your expertise.

Neal

That's all?

Peter

I realized... all those crimes you were committing, they were never about money, or greed.

Neal

What do you think they were about?

Peter

The challenge. That's what we have in common. I love the challenge.

Neal

I know you do.

Peter

And after all those years of chasing you, your cryptic clues, your late-night phone calls from international numbers...

Neal

Yeah, and the cookies, and birthday cards...

Peter

Yeah. I realized I liked you. That's why I took your deal.

Neal

...I may or may not have faked my death on multiple occasions -- Panama City, Bangalore.

Peter

Monterey Bay. I remember -- gored by a great white shark.

Neal

Thought you might appreciate that.

Peter

Who doesn't love a good shark mauling?

There has to be immense trust between you two...

Peter

Usually. But when there isn't, there's always faith... Faith that whatever the other is doing, it's for a good reason.

Neal

As long as Peter has faith in me, I'll have faith in him.

Neal

I don't know whether to be mad or impressed that my own dad conned me.

Mozzie

Well at least you learned where you inherited that particular skill from.

Neal

I keep thinking I should've known it was him. That even after all these years a man should know his own father when he's right in front of him.

Mozzie

And here he is. Yet you seem hesitant to seize that opportunity.

Neal

To do what Moz? Go out in the backyard and throw a baseball. He doesn't get to come back here and make up for lost time.

Hey, you know, you inherited your old man's impatience, you've just got a little bit more self-control.

Neal

Okay. What else did I get from my old man?

James

"Well, you've got my height...extraordinary good looks. Everybody said you got my eyes."

Neal

When I was five, Mom told me that you were the blue in my eyes. And I'd run upstairs and crawl right up next to the bathroom mirror and look so hard for you.

James

You think that what's in there [the evidence box] will tell you who I am.

Neal

And if it does?

James

Then, you will finally know who you are. You know, you're not me, Neal.

Neal

No, but you are the blue in my eyes.

James

Don't forget the extraordinary good looks.

Neal

First time we met, you were chasing me. First time we spoke, you called me a sociopath—

Sara

Well, that was at your trial, and I'm not entirely sure I was wrong.

Neal

—First time we had dinner, you asked me what I wanted from you. And the first time we kissed, I realized that I don't want anything...except you. And now I'm asking if you'll go on one more adventure with me. Sara Ellis, will you marry me?

Sara

Yes, I will. [They kiss.] You bastard, that was a little too real. And it was damn good.

Neal

Well, make it look good. That's my job.

Neal

Forensics matched the bullet to your service revolver. You told me they stole your spare firearm.

James

I might've mixed up the details..

Neal

You're smarter than that. You choose your words carefully. Like me.

James

Who put this in your head?

Neal

[irritated] You did! That day cost you 30 years of your life, you don't forget that! Those are details you would never mix up.

Elizabeth

Do we have any options?

Neal

We do, but they mostly involve you two living under new identities in Alaska.

Elizabeth

Anything less nuclear?

Neal

Not yet.

Elizabeth

Well I've always wanted to drive a snowmobile to work, so... Do whatever you have to do, okay?

Neal

How are we gonna convince Peter to break out of prison?

Mozzie

Who says we have to convince him?

Neal

What, are you gonna carry him out?

Tell me, what kind of change are you looking to make with your life?

Neal

I guess I'm looking for some normalcy. [picks up glass] Thank you.

And what if that's not possible?

Neal

[chuckles] That doesn't sound very encouraging.

I'm not here to encourage you. I'm here to help you discover the truth about yourself, so you can accept it.

Neal

I have to accept that I can't be normal?

You're too interesting to be normal.

Neal

What makes me so interesting?

Your pathological assumption that you need to be the smartest person in the room at all times.

Neal

Maybe you're the one assuming things. According to all these diplomas on your wall, you're a lot smarter than me, but then again, those are just papers, not people.

Do you think you're good with people?

Neal

No more than you.

It's my job.

Neal

Mine too. You have an aggressive approach.

And you're already withholding. But that's natural. We need to know one another better to build trust.

Neal

You don't think I'm being honest?

Not yet. But you will be. In time.