- Peppy Miller: [trying to pressure the studio into letting her do a film with George] I won't work anymore. It's either him or me.
- [Zimmer appears bemused]
- Peppy Miller: What I mean is, it's him AND me! Or it's neither of us!
- [everybody is still looking at her blankly]
- Peppy Miller: Hey, I'm blackmailing you! Get it?
- George Valentin: [to his own shadow] Look what's become of you... You've been stupid! You've been proud!
- [the shadow walks away]
- George Valentin: Get back here, you loser!
- Al Zimmer: You and I belong to another era, George. The world is talking now. People want new faces, talking faces. I wish it wasn't like this, but the public wants fresh meat, and the public is never wrong.
- George Valentin: I'm the one people come to see. They never needed to hear me.
- Al Zimmer: Don't laugh, George ! That's the future.
- George Valentin: If that's the future, you can have it !
- Journalist: Your movie doesn't come out until tomorrow and you're already Hollywood's new sweetheart ! How do you explain that?