Paul Newman delivered dozens of great performances in films for parts of six decades, but among those great performances was the ability to deliver great lines, whether they be humorous, wise, deep, or simply surprising. Here are my twelve favorite. What are yours?
As Fast Eddie Felson in “The Hustler”: “Anything can be great. I don’t care, bricklaying can be great if a guy knows what he’s doing and why and if he can make it come off.”
As Frank Galvin in “The Verdict,” giving a summation to the jury: “Today you are the law. You are the law. Not some book. Not the lawyers. Not a marble statue or the trappings of the court. See, those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are…they are, in fact, a prayer. A fervent and a frightened prayer.”
As Butch Cassidy in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”: “I don’t know where I’ve been and I’ve just been there!”
As Brick Pollitt in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”: “People like to do what they used to do after they’ve stopped being able to do it.”

As Chance Wayne in “Sweet Bird of Youth”: “The big difference between people is not between the rich and the poor, the good and the evil. The biggest of all differences between people is between those who have had pleasure in love and those who haven’t.”
As Henry Gondorff in “The Sting”: “You can’t play your friends like marks, Hooker.”
As Fast Eddie Felson in “The Color of Money”: “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.”
As Butch Cassidy in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”: “Boy I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals…”
As Michael Gallagher in “Absence of Malice”: “You (newspapers) say somebody’s guilty, everybody believes you. You say he’s innocent, nobody cares.”
As Frank Galvin in “The Verdict”: “Your Honor, with all due respect, if you’re going to try my case for me, I wish you wouldn’t lose it.”
As Butch Cassidy, preparing for the knife fight in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”: “Listen, I don’t mean to be a sore loser, but, uh, when it’s done, if I’m dead, kill him.”
As Michael Gallegher in “Absence of Malice”: “Suppose you picked up this morning’s newspaper and your life was a front page headline… And everything they said was accurate… But none of it was true….”