The Hustler Quotes

Bert Gordon: Eddie, is it alright if I get personal?

Fast Eddie: Whaddaya been so far?

Bert Gordon: Eddie, you're a born loser.

Fast Eddie: What's that supposed to mean?

Bert Gordon: First time in ten years I ever saw Minnesota Fats hooked... really hooked. But you let him off.

Fast Eddie: I told you I got drunk.

Bert Gordon: Sure you got drunk. You have the best excuse in the world for losing; no trouble losing when you got a good excuse. Winning... that can be heavy on your back, too, like a monkey. You'll drop that load too when you got an excuse. All you gotta do is learn to feel sorry for yourself. One of the best indoor sports, feeling sorry for yourself. A sport enjoyed by all, especially the born losers.

Fast Eddie: Thanks for the drink.

[last lines]

Fast Eddie: Fat man, you shoot a great game of pool.

Minnesota Fats: So do you, Fast Eddie.

[Fast Eddie is bothered because Bert called him a born loser]

Fast Eddie: Cause, ya see, twice, Sarah... once at Ames with Minnesota Fats and then again at Arthur's, in that cheap, crummy pool room, now why'd I do it, Sarah? Why'd I do it? I coulda beat that guy, coulda beat 'im cold, he never woulda known. But I just hadda show 'im. Just hadda show those creeps and those punks what the game is like when it's great, when it's REALLY great. You know, like anything can be great, anything can be great. I don't care, BRICKLAYING can be great, if a guy knows. If he knows what he's doing and why and if he can make it come off. When I'm goin', I mean, when I'm REALLY goin' I feel like a... like a jockey must feel. He's sittin' on his horse, he's got all that speed and that power underneath him... he's comin' into the stretch, the pressure's on 'im, and he KNOWS... just feels... when to let it go and how much. Cause he's got everything workin' for 'im: timing, touch. It's a great feeling, boy, it's a real great feeling when you're right and you KNOW you're right. It's like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue's part of me. You know, it's uh - pool cue, it's got nerves in it. It's a piece of wood, it's got nerves in it. Feel the roll of those balls, you don't have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody's ever made before. I can play that game the way... NOBODY'S ever played it before.

Sarah Packard: You're not a loser, Eddie, you're a winner. Some men never get to feel that way about anything.

Bert Gordon: I don't think there's a pool player alive shoots better pool than I saw you shoot the other night at Ames. You got talent.

Fast Eddie: So I got talent. So what beat me?

Bert Gordon: Character.

Fast Eddie: I'm the best you ever seen, Fats. I'm the best there is. And even if you beat me, I'm still the best.

Bert Gordon: Stay with this kid; he's a LOSER.

Sarah Packard: How did you know my name was Sarah?

Fast Eddie: You told me.

Sarah Packard: I lie. When I'm drunk I lie.

Fast Eddie: Okay, so what's your name today?

Sarah Packard: Sarah.

Charlie Burns: Quiet.

Fast Eddie: Yeah, like a church. Church of the Good Hustle.

Charlie Burns: Looks more like a morgue to me. Those tables are the slabs they lay the stiffs on.

Fast Eddie: I'll be alive when I get out, Charlie.

Charlie Burns: How do you feel?

Fast Eddie: Fast and loose, man.

Charlie Burns: In the gut, I mean.

Fast Eddie: I feel tight, but good.

Bert Gordon: You're here on a rain check and I know it. You're hangin' on by your nails. You let that glory whistle blow loud and clear for Eddie and you're a wreck on a railroad track... you're a horse that finished last. So don't make trouble, Miss Ladybird. Live and let live! While you can. I'll make it up to you.

Sarah Packard: How?

Bert Gordon: You tell me.

Fast Eddie: Look, I... um... can always buy a bottle. A fifth of scotch?

Sarah Packard: What'ya want me to do - just step out in the alley? Is that it?

Big John: You Eddie Felson.

Fast Eddie: Who's he?

Big John: What's your game? Whaddaya shoot?

Fast Eddie: You name it, we shoot it.

Big John: Look, friend, I'm not trying to hustle. I don't never hustle people that walk in a poolroom with leather satchels. Don't try to hustle me.

Fast Eddie: Okay, I'm Eddie Felson. I shoot straight pool.

[Eddie watching Minnesota Fats during their first game, whispers to Charlie]

Fast Eddie: Boy, he is great! Jeez, that old fat man. Look at the way he moves: like a dancer... And those fingers, them chubby fingers. That stroke... it's like he's, uh, like he's playin' the violin or somethin'.

Sarah Packard: I'm a college girl. Two days a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays - I go to college.

Fast Eddie: You don't look like a college girl.

Sarah Packard: I'm the emancipated type. Real emancipated.

Fast Eddie: No, I didn't mean that... whatever that means. I mean you just don't look young enough.

Sarah Packard: I'm not.

Fast Eddie: So why go to college?

Sarah Packard: Got nothing else to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Fast Eddie: What do you do on the other days?

Sarah Packard: I drink.

Sarah Packard: Eddie, look, I've got troubles... and I think maybe you've got troubles. Maybe it'd be better if we just leave each other alone.

Fast Eddie: I have my things over at the hotel. I'll bring them over later.

Sarah Packard: I'm not sure. I don't know.

Fast Eddie: Well, what do you want to know? And why?

Sarah Packard: I love you, Eddie.

Fast Eddie: You know, someday, Sarah, you're gonna settle down... you're gonna marry a college professor and you're gonna write a great book. Maybe about me. Huh? Fast Eddie Felson... hustler.

Sarah Packard: I love you.

Fast Eddie: You need the words?

Sarah Packard: Yes, I need them very much. If you ever say them I'll never let you take them back.

[in their $3,000 game, after Minnesota Fats breaks, it's Eddie's shot]

Fast Eddie: How should I play that one, Bert? Play it safe? That's the way you always told me to play it: safe... play the percentage. Well, here we go: fast and loose. One ball, corner pocket. Yeah, percentage players die broke, too, don't they, Bert?

[he makes the shot and the spectators applaud]

Fast Eddie: How can I lose?

Fast Eddie: No bar?

Cashier: No bar, no pinball machines, no bowling alleys, just pool... nothing else. This is Ames, mister.

Fast Eddie: Fats, let's you and me shoot a game of straight pool.

Minnesota Fats: Hundred dollars?

Fast Eddie: Well, you shoot big time pool, Fats. I mean, that's what everybody says: you shoot big time pool. Let's make it $200 a game.

Minnesota Fats: Now I know why they call you Fast Eddie.

Bert Gordon: How's your hand?

Fast Eddie: Fine.

Bert Gordon: Good. I'd hate to think I was puttin' my money on a cripple.

Fast Eddie: Hey, whaddaya say somethin' like that for?

Sarah Packard: It's alright, Eddie. I'm sure Mr. Gordon meant no offense. It was a figure of speech.

Bert Gordon: That's right, Miss Packard.

Sarah Packard: And a fact is a fact.

Bert Gordon: Smart girl, Eddie.

Fast Eddie: What if I don't pay ya, Bert?

Bert Gordon: [laughs] You don't pay me? You're gonna get your thumbs broken again. And your fingers. If I want 'em to, they're gonna break your right arm in three or four places.

Minnesota Fats: You better pay him, Eddie.

Fast Eddie: So you figure you're still my manager, huh?

Bert Gordon: I'm a business-man, kid.

Fast Eddie: Fats, you can't run out on me!

Minnesota Fats: You watch me.

Fast Eddie: You sure don't leave much when you miss, do you, Fats?

Minnesota Fats: That's what the game's all about

Fast Eddie: You saw me beat Minnesota Fats for eighteen thousand dollars.

Bert Gordon: Look, you wanna hustle pool, don't you? This game isn't like football. Nobody pays you for yardage. When you hustle you keep score real simple. The end of the game you count up your money. That's how you find out who's best. That's the only way.