Matt Dow: That's right, I was a jailbird. Six years in a stinkin' cell because I happened to look like another man. Six years out of my life, because men made up their minds too fast - men like you, so righteous, so willing to condemn.


--James Cagney (as ) in Run for Cover

Matt Dow: Why don't you stop feeling sorry for yourself? You think you're the only one in the world ever got a raw deal... There's a lot of people in this world who've had a tougher time than you or me. It comes with the ticket. Nobody guarantees you a free ride. The only difference is, most people don't run for cover. They keep right on going, picking up the pieces the best way they can. But you never hear of them. It's the ones who can't take it, like you - the ones looking for a free ride - who cause all the trouble, everywhere.


--James Cagney (as ) in Run for Cover

Matt Nolan: Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!


--James Cagney (as ) in Taxi!

Matt Nolan: I wouldn't go with that dame if she was the last woman on earth, and I just got out of the Navy.


--James Cagney (as ) in Taxi!

Matt Nolan: I'd like to bury the hatchet - right in their thick skulls.


--James Cagney (as ) in Taxi!

Matt Nolan: Why, if I thought you meant that...


--James Cagney (as ) in Taxi!

Nick Condon: Forgive your enemies, but first get even.


--James Cagney (as ) in Blood on the Sun

Ralph Cotter: And now, would one fugitive from justice care to fix another fugitive from justice... a sandwich?


--James Cagney (as ) in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Robert Law: Talk about scope sweep. Boy, what a set up!
J. Carlyle 'J.C.' Benson: What a love story!
Robert Law: A great love story.
J. Carlyle 'J.C.' Benson: A baby brings them together, splits them apart, brings them together again,
Robert Law: Boy meets girl.
J. Carlyle 'J.C.' Benson: Boy loses girl.
Robert Law: Boy gets girl.
C. Elliott 'C.F.' Friday: Boy, I think you got something. Let's try it out on B.K. while it's hot.
Larry Toms: Wait a minute. You can't act with a baby. They'll steal every scene.
Robert Law: Are you selling motherhood short?
J. Carlyle 'J.C.' Benson: Come on!
Robert Law: Come on!


--James Cagney (as ) in Boy Meets Girl

Rocky Sullivan: [on the phone to Mac] Mac, did I get you out of bed? Oh, I'm so sorry.
[to James]
Rocky Sullivan: I think he's sore.


--James Cagney (as Rocky Sullivan) in Angels with Dirty Faces