Breathless (1960)

Jean-Paul Belmondo: Michel Poiccard a.k.a. Laszlo Kovacs

Photos 

Quotes 

• Michel Poiccard : When we talked, I talked about me, you talked about you, when we should have talked about each other.

• Michel Poiccard : There's no need to lie. It's like poker. The truth is best. The others still think you're bluffing, so you win.

• Patricia Franchini : Do you know William Faulkner?

  Michel Poiccard : No. Who's he? Have you slept with him?

• Michel Poiccard : Informers inform, burglars burgle, murderers murder, lovers love.

• Michel Poiccard : If you don't like the sea... or the mountains... or the big city... then get stuffed!

• Patricia Franchini : Listen. The last sentence is beautiful. "Between grief and nothing, I will take grief." Which would you choose?

  Michel Poiccard : ...Grief's stupid, l'd choose nothing. It's not better, but grief's a compromise. l want all or nothing.

• Liliane : Do you support youth?

  Michel Poiccard : I like the old.

• Michel Poiccard : I always get interested in girls who aren't right for me.

• Michel Poiccard : Why won't you sleep with me?

  Patricia Franchini : Because I'm trying to find out what it is that I like about you.

• [first lines] 

  Michel Poiccard : After all, I'm an asshole. After all, yes, I've got to. I've got to!

• Michel Poiccard : I told you: being afraid is the worst sin there is.

• Michel Poiccard alias Laszlo Kovacs : It's silly, but I love you. I wanted to see you, to see if I'd want to see you.

• Michel Poiccard : [to Patricia]  All right, I'll count to 8, and if you haven't smiled, I'll strangle you.

• Michel Poiccard : Women will never do in eight seconds what they would gladly agree to in eight days.

• Patricia Franchini : I want us to be like Romeo and Juliet.

  Michel Poiccard : That's just like a girl!

  Patricia Franchini : See? You said last night you couldn't live without me, but you can. Romeo couldn't live without Juliet, but you can.

  Michel Poiccard : No, I can't live without you.

  Patricia Franchini : That's just like a guy!

• Michel Poiccard : How old are you?

  Patricia Franchini : A hundred.

  Michel Poiccard : You don't look it.

• Michel Poiccard : Don't use the brakes. Cars are made to go, not to stop!

• Michel Poiccard : Shall we steal a Cadillac?

• Michel Poiccard : Seen Antonio?

  Hood : I'll tell you if I can kiss the girl.

• Michel Poiccard : Reminds me of the one about the condemned man. Climbing the scaffold stairs, he trips, and says, "It figures... "

• Michel Poiccard : Don't brake for a 4CV! You're being overtaken by a scooter!

• Michel Poiccard : You Americans are dumb. You admire Lafayette and Maurice Chevalier. They're the dumbest of all Frenchmen.

• Michel Poiccard : Up close, you look like a Martian.

  Patricia Franchini : Yes, because my head's in the clouds.

• Michel Poiccard alias Laszlo Kovacs : I'm tired. I'm going to sleep.