The Diamond Arm (1969)

Nonna Mordyukova: Varvara Sergeevna Plyushch

Quotes 

• House manager : The people of OUR kind do not ride taxi to the bakery!

• Semyon Gorbunkov : As they say in London, dog is man's best friend.

  Superintendent : I don't know what they say in London - I haven't been there - but over here the house manager is man's best friend!

• Dog Owner : Well, where am I supposed to walk my dog?

  Superintendent : You were presented with your own apartment - do your walking in there!

• Superintendent : On Wednesday you're giving a lecture. We've put up the posters. You're the only one from our community who has ever been there. The subject is 'New York, City of Contrasts'.

  Semyon Gorbunkov : I haven't been to New York, I've been to Istanbul.

  Superintendent : 'Istanbul, City of Contrasts'. What difference does it make?

• Superintendent : Something has to be done. We won't put up with drunkenness!

  Nadezhda Gorbunkova : But you know very well, Varvara Sergeyevna, that...

  Superintendent : I know a lot more than you do, my dear. Where did he get the money?

  Nadezhda Gorbunkova : He was invited by a friend who had gotten a bonus.

  Superintendent : According to police records, just for one bay window he broke, he paid ninety seven rubles and eighteen kopecks. Where did he get that kind of money? Your husband has changed since that cruise. The corruptive Western influence. Those idiotic toys. And the thing he said about dogs. 'The best friend of man.' It's odd, and this is only an understatement. All those elements of 'la dolce vita'! I wouldn't be surprised to hear that your husband's secretly seeing a mistress.

• Captain Mikhail Ivanovich : Have you known citizen Gorbunkov for long?

  Superintendent : Yes, ten years, sorry to say.

  Captain Mikhail Ivanovich : So for ten years he hit the bottle, debauched and led an immoral life?

  Superintendent : For ten years he has very cleverly masked himself as a decent person. I didn't trust him, though.

  Captain Mikhail Ivanovich : Don't you think we must always trust people?

  Superintendent : I don't think you can ever trust a man except in the most extreme cases.

  Captain Mikhail Ivanovich : That's really your opinion?

  Superintendent : Yes. Listen... who are you anyway?

  Captain Mikhail Ivanovich : I work with him. Say, he's a colleague.

  Superintendent : I see. Booze partner. You get out of here! As you say among yourselves, back to your cage!