Vertigo is considered one of the most important works in the history of cinema in terms of Hitchcock’s technique and subject matter.
If you like Vertigo quotes you may also check: ‘North by Northwest’ (1959) Quotes
1- “There’s no way for them to understand. You and I know who killed Madeleine.” –Gavin Elster, ‘Vertigo’.
2- “Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past – someone dead – can enter and take possession of a living being?” –Gavin Elster, ‘Vertigo’.
3- “Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren’t you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me?” –Scottie, ‘Vertigo’.
4- “You shouldn’t keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn’t have been that sentimental.” –Scottie, ‘Vertigo’.
5- “Anyone could become obsessed with the past with a background like that!” –Scottie, ‘Vertigo’.
6- “One final thing I have to do… and then I’ll be free of the past.”-Scottie, ‘Vertigo’.
7- “Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.” –Madeleine, ‘Vertigo’.
8- “Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.” –Madeleine, ‘Vertigo’.
9- “Give me your hand. Give me your hand.” –Officer on rooftop, ‘Vertigo’.
10- “He did nothing. The law has little to say on things left undone.” –Coroner, ‘Vertigo’.
11- ““The law has little to say on things left undone.” –Coroner, ‘Vertigo’.
12- “I talked to the woman in musical therapy, and she said that Mozart’s the boy for you.” –Midge, ‘Vertigo’.
13- “God, have mercy.” –Nun, ‘Vertigo’.
14- “Judy: If… if I let you change it, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?
Scottie: Yes. Yes.” –‘Vertigo’.
15- ” Elster: Is it a permanent, physical disability?
Scottie: No, no. It just means that I can’t climb stairs that are too steep or go to high places like the bar at the Top of the Mark. But there are plenty of street-level bars in this town.” –‘Vertigo’.
16- ” Madeleine: There is something I must do, there is something I must do.
Scottie: There is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do.” –‘Vertigo’.
17- ” Scottie: Midge, who do you know that’s an authority on San Francisco history?
Midge: That’s the kind of greeting a girl likes! Not this “Hello-you-look-wonderful” stuff, just a good straight “Who do you know that’s an authority on San Francisco his – -” –‘Vertigo’.
18- ” Judy: If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?
Scottie: Yes. Yes.
Judy: All right. All right then, I’ll do it. I don’t care anymore about me.” –‘Vertigo’.
19- “Scottie: Madeleine, where are you now?
Madeleine: Here with you.
Scottie: And it’s all real. It’s not merely as it was 100 years ago, or a year ago, or six months ago, or whenever it was you were here to see it. Now, Madeleine, think of when you were here.” –‘Vertigo’.
20- “Madeleine: Why did you run?
Scottie: Well, I’m responsible for you now. You know, the Chinese say that once you’ve saved a person’s life, you’re responsible for it forever. So, I’m committed. I have to know.
Madeleine: There’s so little that I know.” –‘Vertigo’.
21- ” Scottie: Don’t you think it’s a waste, to wander separately?
Madeleine: Only one is a wanderer. Two together are always going somewhere.
Scottie: No, I don’t think that’s necessarily true.” –‘Vertigo’.
22- “Madeleine: Oh Scottie. I’m not mad. I’m not mad. I don’t want to die. There’s someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don’t let me go.
Scottie: I’m here. I’ve got you.
Madeleine: I’m so afraid.
Madeleine: Don’t leave me. Stay with me.
Scottie: All the time. ” –‘Vertigo’.
23- “Gavin Elster: She’ll be talking to me about something. Suddenly the words fade into silence. A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank. She’s somewhere else, away from me, someone I don’t know. I call her, she doesn’t even hear me. Then, with a long sigh, she’s back. Looks at me brightly, doesn’t even know she’s been away, can’t tell me where or when.
Scottie: How often does this happen?
Gavin Elster: More and more in the past few weeks. And she wanders – God knows where she wanders. I followed her one day, watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn’t know. She even walked a different way. Got into her car and drove off to Golden Gate Park. Five miles. Sat by the lake, staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore. You know, Portals of the Past. Sat there a long time without moving. I had to leave, get back to the office. When I got home that evening, I asked her what she’d done all day. She said she’d driven out to Golden Gate Park and sat by the lake, that’s all.
Scottie: Well.
Gavin Elster: The speedometer on her car showed that she’d driven ninety-four miles. Where did she go? I’ve got to know, Scottie, where she goes and what she does before I get involved with doctors.” –‘Vertigo’.
24- ” Scottie: So this is where it happened. The two of you hid back there and waited for it to clear, and then you sneaked down and drove into town, is that it? And then, you were his girl, huh? Well, what happened to ya? What happened to ya? Did he ditch ya? [off her silence] Oh Judy, with all of his wife’s money and all that freedom and that power and he ditched you. What a shame! But he knew he was safe. He knew you couldn’t talk. Did he give you anything?
Judy: Just some money.
Scottie: And the necklace. Carlotta’s necklace. There was where you made your mistake, Judy. You shouldn’t keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn’t have been… You shouldn’t have been that sentimental. I loved you so, Madeleine.
Judy: Scottie, I was safe when you found me. There was nothing that you could prove. When I saw you again, I couldn’t run away. I loved you so. I walked into danger, let you change me because I loved you and I wanted you. Oh, Scottie, oh Scottie, please. You love me. Please keep me safe, please…
Scottie: It’s too late. It’s too late. There’s no bringing her back.” –‘Vertigo’.
25- ” Madeleine: [describing her dream] It was so very clear for the first time, all of it…It was a village square in a green with trees and an old white-washed Spanish church with a cloister. Across the green, there was a big gray wooden house with a porch and shutters and a balcony above, a small garden, and next to it a livery stable with old carriages lined up inside…At the end of the green, there was a white-washed stone house with a lovely pepper tree at the corner…
Scottie: And an old wooden hotel from the old California days? And a saloon, dark, low ceilings, with hanging oil lamps?
Madeleine: Yes.
Scottie: It’s all there. It’s no dream. You’ve been there before. You’ve seen it.
Madeleine: No never!” –‘Vertigo’.
26- “Judy: Couldn’t you like me, just me the way I am? When we first started out, it was so good; w-we had fun. And… and then you started in on the clothes. Well, I’ll wear the darn clothes if you want me to, if, if you’ll just, just like me.
Scottie: The color of your hair…
Judy: Oh, no!
Scottie: Judy, please, it can’t matter to you.” –‘Vertigo’.
27- “Scottie: What’s this doohickey?
Midge: It’s a brassiere! You know about those things, you’re a big boy now.
Scottie: I’ve never run across one like that.
Midge: It’s brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: No shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do. Works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it; he worked it out in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby, a do-it-yourself kind of thing!” –‘Vertigo’.
28- ” Madeleine: There’s a tower and a bell and a garden below. It seems to be in Spain, a village in Spain, it clicks off, it’s gone.
Scottie: A portrait. Do you see a portrait?
Madeleine: No.
Scottie: If I could just find the key, the beginning and put it together…
Madeleine: …to explain it away? There is a way to explain it you see. If I’m mad, that would explain it, wouldn’t it?
…
Madeleine: Oh Scottie. I’m not mad. I’m not mad. I don’t want to die. There’s someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don’t let me go.
Scottie: I’m here. I’ve got you.
Madeleine: I’m so afraid. [They kiss] Don’t leave me. Stay with me.
Scottie: All the time.” –‘Vertigo’.
29- ” Scottie: No, no, I have to tell you about Madeleine now. [points to the livery stable] Right there… We stood there and I kissed her for the last time. And she said, ‘If you lose me, you’ll know that I loved you and wanted to keep on loving you.’ And I said, ‘I won’t lose you.’ But I did. And then she turned and ran into the church. [forces Judy towards the church] And when I followed her, it was too late.
Judy: I don’t want to go in there. [They begin climbing the tower’s steps]
Scottie: I couldn’t find her. And then I heard footsteps on the stairs. She was running up to the tower. Right here. You see, she was running up the stairs and through the trap door at the top of the tower. And I tried to follow her, but I couldn’t get to the top. I tried but I couldn’t get to the top. One doesn’t often get a second chance. I want to stop being haunted. You’re my second chance, Judy. You’re my second chance.
Judy: Take me away.
Scottie: You look like Madeleine now. Go up the stairs…Go up the stairs! Go up the stairs, Judy, and I’ll follow. This was as far as I could get…but you went on, remember? The necklace Madeleine, that was the slip. I remember the necklace” –‘Vertigo’.
30- ” Scottie: I love you, Madeleine.
Madeleine: I love you too. It’s too late.
Scottie: No, no, we’re together.
Madeleine: It’s too late, there’s something I must do.
Scottie: No, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do. No one possesses you. You’re safe with me.
Madeleine: No, it’s too late.
…
Madeleine: Look, it’s not fair. It’s too late. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It shouldn’t have happened.
Scottie: But it had to happen. We’re in love. That’s all that counts.
Madeleine: Look. Let me go. Please let me go.
Scottie: Listen to me. Listen to me.
Madeleine: You believe I love you?
Scottie: Yes.
Madeleine: And if you lose me, then you’ll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.
Scottie: I won’t lose you.” –‘Vertigo’.
31- ” Scottie: But you knew that day that I wouldn’t be able to follow you, didn’t you? Who was up there when you got up there? Elster and his wife?
Judy: Yes!
Scottie: Yes! And she was the one who died! The real wife, not you! You were the copy. You were the counterfeit, weren’t you? Was she dead or alive when you got there?
Judy: Dead! Dead! He’d broken her neck!
Scottie: He’d broken her neck. He wasn’t taking any chances, was he? So when you got up there, he pushed her off the tower. But it was you that screamed. Why did you scream?
Judy: I wanted to stop it, Scottie! I ran up to stop it! I…
Scottie: You wanted to stop it. Why did you scream? Since you tricked me so well up to then? You played the wife very well, Judy. He made you over, didn’t he? He made you over just like I made you over. Only better. Not only the clothes and the hair. But the looks and the manner and the words. And those beautiful phony trances. And you jumped into the Bay, didn’t you? I’ll bet you’re a wonderful swimmer, aren’t you? Aren’t you? Aren’t you?
Judy: Yes!
Scottie: And then what did he do? Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do and what to say? You were a very apt pupil, too, weren’t you? You were a very apt pupil. Why did you pick on me? Why me?
Judy: Your accident! Your…
Scottie: The accident! I was the set-up. I was the set-up, wasn’t I? I was a made-to-order witness. I was…” –‘Vertigo’.
32- ” Scottie: It’s because of this fear of heights I have, this acrophobia. I wake up at night seeing that man fall from the roof and I try to reach out to him, it’s just…
Midge: It wasn’t your fault.
Scottie: I know. That’s what everybody tells me.
Midge: Johnny, the doctors explained to you.
Scottie: I know. I know. I have acrophobia which gives me vertigo and I get dizzy. Boy, what a moment to find out I had it!
Midge: Well, you’ve got it and there’s no losing it. And there’s no one to blame, so why quit?
Scottie: You mean and sit behind a desk, chair-bound…
Midge: …where you belong.
Scottie: What about my acrophobia? What about… Now, suppose, suppose I’m sitting in this chair behind a desk, here’s the desk, and a pencil falls from the desk down to the floor, and I reach down to pick up the pencil – BINGO – my acrophobia’s back.
Midge: [Laughing.] Oh, Johnny-O.” –‘Vertigo’.
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