David Mamet is one of the most prolific writers of the modern era. Renowned for his crackling and profane dialogue, Mamet has written theater, literature, and film. Some of his works cross the line between those mediums, with one being his 1984 Pulitzer-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross.

Glengarry Glen Ross was adapted to film in 1992. Mamet himself wrote the script while James Foley directed. The story is about a quarter of real estate salesmen, most of them struggling. With only a week to turn their sales figures around and avoid being fired, some take desperate, criminal action. The film is a modern fable about the intersections of capitalism and masculinity and boasts one of the most quotable scripts in history. It’s difficult to narrow it down to only 20 quotes!

UPDATE: 2025/01/13 17:47 EST BY BRIAN CRONIN

I’ve updated this look at the best quotes in Glengarry Glen Ross, a film that is overstuffed with great quotes, to add five more quotes to the list. I also did some formatting updates.

20

“Coffee Is For Closers Only.”

Blake

Put that coffee down! Coffee is for closers only.

The film’s first act includes a scene absent from the play, one that serves to better establish the story’s stakes. This scene wound up becoming the most famous part of the film. Blake (Alec Baldwin, who was recently cleared of manslaughter charges), a successful salesman, is sent by the main characters’ bosses (Mitch and Murray) to deliver an abuse-filled motivational speech.

Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) goes to pour himself some coffee, but Blake orders him to put the coffee down — “Coffee’s for closers.” On the surface, this is just a demeaning quip, but it’s also a pretty damning statement about sales: if you don’t close, you don’t deserve the good things in life. The statement also reflects Mamet’s view of capitalism, the economic setting in which buying and selling are king. This whole list could just be Blake quotes, but the other actors will be included as well.

19

” Second Prize’s a Set of Steak Knives. Third Prize is You’re Fired.”

Blake

As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody wanna see second prize? Second prize’s a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.

Besides being a great line, expertly delivered by Baldwin, the point about the prize in that month’s sales contest is essentially the drama that drives the entire movie. There is just a week left in the month for the sales contest. There are four salesmen, and Blake has just announced that only the top two salesmen for the month will be keeping their jobs.

Could that be a bluff? It almost certainly IS a bluff, but it’s a compelling bluff, nonetheless, and it is fascinating to see how the desperation to keep their jobs will motivate the men in different ways.

18

“The Leads Are Weak? You’re Weak!”

Blake

The leads are weak? Fucking leads are weak? You’re weak.

One of the central ironies of the film, and one that we revisit a few times in this list, is the question of what makes the sale? The salesman or the leads? Blake keeps contradicting himself about the importance of leads. He consistently talks about how he can close a sale if you give him the lead, but then he tries to act like a good salesman is better than a lead.

The veteran salesmen who work at this office, of course, believe that the leads are the key, and so when Blake keeps telling them to work the leads that they are given, Levene insists that the leads are weak, and Blake, of course, berates him and tells him that HE is weak, but, of course, the truth is that even Blake needs leads to close.

17

“A-B-C. A – Always. B- Be. C – Closing.”

Blake

A-B-C. A – Always. B – Be. C – Closing. Always be closing.

To illustrate his point to the salesman and audience, Blake deploys a whiteboard and chalk with two acronyms. “ABC — Always. Be. Closing [a sale].” He repeats the acronym and the meaning a few times to hammer home his point.

The second acronym is just as memorable as the first: AIDA. “Attention — Do I have your attention? Interest — Are you interested? I know you are ’cause it’s f**k or walk… Decision — have you made your decision for Christ?! And action.” He lets the last one speak for itself because it’s clear that the four salesmen in the film have to take drastic action to keep their jobs. But the action one of them takes is not the one their manager, John Williamson, expects.

16

“It Takes Brass Balls To Sell Real Estate”

Blake

You want to know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate.

After repeating his acronyms, Blake asks the salesmen if they’re going to take the money the customers offer them — if they’re man enough to take money. It’s no coincidence that he phrases it like that, nor is it a mere taunt. A salesman who can’t sell is a professional eunuch.

To further link their manhood and livelihoods, Blake says that it takes brass balls to sell real estate. While doing so, he holds a pair of literal brass balls in front of his crotch, to make sure no one misses his point. By this time, the point has just become another way to shame them and disguise it very thinly as motivation.

15

“How Come You’re Coming Down Here To Waste Your Time . . . ?”

Dave Moss

You’re such a hero, you’re so rich, how come you’re coming down here to waste your time with a bunch of bums?

During Blake’s motivational diatribe, Levene silently glares while George Aronow (Alan Arkin) sits passively and averts his eyes. The only one who actually talks back is Dave Moss (Ed Harris, who is reportedly joining the MCU), asking why a success story like Blake has any business interacting with “bums” like him.

Blake doesn’t really answer the question. Instead, he verbally abuses Moss and the others and presents them with a catch-22 that is the crux of the film. To be good salesmen they have to be aggressive and close deals. The money is out there lying around, Blake says, all they have to do is pick it up. To find the money, they need leads, but Williamson refuses to give them the good leads, the Glengarry leads, because they don’t close the deals. It’s a vicious trap that starts several of the salesmen thinking of ways around it.

14

“This Watch Costs More Than Your Car.”

Blake

You see this watch? You see this watch I’m wearing? . . . This watch costs more than your car.

When Blake isn’t verbally abusing the other salesmen during his motivational speech, he intimidates them with status, the first real reason he gives for being a top salesman. Blake is able to buy more expensive cars and watches that cost more than the cars they drive because he makes almost a million dollars in commission from his sales every year. His quote here is notable for how succinctly he describes the difference between him and them.

As a motivational speech, this really says it all. Blake’s attitude is a ruthless version of the old and ironic adage: He who has the most toys when he dies wins. Blake seeks to ignite their worst materialistic instincts to make them better salesmen, regardless of whether it makes them worse people.

13

“You’re a Nice Guy? I Don’t Give a S**t.”

Blake

You’re a nice guy? I don’t give a s**t. Good father? F**k you! Go home and play with your kids.

During his diatribe, Blake shames the other salesmen for wanting anything other than closing a sale. In one quote, he brutally demonstrates the second reason why he is the top salesman. He doesn’t care about anything else except selling and the status that being a top seller brings him.

Blake tells them that if they don’t like his verbal abuse, then they can leave. He further shames them by claiming that he can sell $15,000 in two hours by going out with leads and materials. The constant and debilitating irony is that Blake has the leads and materials. And yet, in his harassment, he tells the other salesmen to close the deal and do it without good leads.

12

If Everyone Thinks One Thing, Then I Say, Bet the Other Way”

Richard Roma

If everyone thinks one thing, then I say, bet the other way

Mamet does such a great job with the one-liners in the film that even seemingly throwaway lines would be the best line in another movie, and that’s sort of how Roma’s first key one-liner is treated in the film. It’s definitely a great line, and seemingly describes Roma’s personality, that he is an unconventional type of guy who goes against the crowd.

Soon, though, you realize that, like so much of what Roma says, it is just nonsense designed to make people think that he is more interesting than he actually is. He claims to detest conventions, but he is ultimately a very conventional salesman in the film.

11

“When You Die, You’re Gonna Regret the Things You Didn’t Do.”

Richard Roma

10

When you die, you’re gonna regret the things you don’t do.

The most charming, and thus most successful salesman is Ricky Roma (portrayed by Al Pacino in one of his best performances). Absent from Blake’s scene, he’s in a restaurant working an easy mark named James Lingk (Jonathan Pryce). Roma monologues about nothing in particular, but enthralls Lingk all the same.

This comment about regrets has some truth to it, but Roma deploys it just to sucker Lingk in. He doesn’t want Lingk to consider or prioritize the regrets he would have. For Roma, it’s a plot to close the deal. Notably, the scene’s palette is dripped in red, even their tablecloth. Roma’s a shark who smells blood in the water.

9

” Did You Ever Take a Dump . . .?”

Richard Roma

Did you ever take a dump made you feel like you’d just slept for 12 hours?

While trying to talk Lingk into buying into the property, Roma goes into his philosophy of life, which may just be a talk he gives to butter up prospects. But one of the most memorable lines is about taking a dump. Roma is trying to get Mr. Lingk to see that there is only looking ahead and looking behind and that the great moments of life aren’t truly great until they are over.

Although Lingk says very little during the scene, even when Roma asks him a question (that Roma usually answers before Lingk has a chance to), he is critical of it because he expresses Roma’s end-game, which is getting Lingk off his guard to such an extent that the man stops thinking critically. If it’s a textbook scene about how to do a hard sell, it’s also a textbook commentary on the morality of it.

8

“There’s An Absolute Morality? Maybe.”

Richard Roma

You cheat on your wife? You did it, live with it. You f**k little girls, so be it. There’s an absolute morality? Maybe. And then what?

While most of Roma’s spiel to Lingk is bemusing nonsense, there are some nuggets of truth buried beneath the blather. One of the tangents Roma goes on is some philosophizing about the nature of morality and whether Hell really exists. His opinion on both matters is “no.”

It’s important to hear this quote in the context of what Roma says before it, citing his own indifference to immoral crimes that many people would probably find repulsive. This cynical, materialist outlook on the world is the rotten truth of business. Who you are doesn’t matter, it’s what you do that does. More importantly, it’s what you buy and sell that matters. As a result, in America, the only thing worth doing is making money.

7

“Stocks, Bonds, Objects of Art, Real Estate. What are They? An Opportunity.”

Richard Roma

Stocks, bonds, objects of art, real estate. What are they? An opportunity. To what? To make money? Perhaps. To lose money? Perhaps. To indulge and to learn about ourselves? Perhaps! So fucking what? What isn’t? They’re an opportunity. That’s all they are. They’re an event.

Roma’s brilliance comes from the fact that he can just essentially ramble on, and yet it sounds compelling enough that you find yourself trusting the guy. The film handles this sequence beautifully. Roma has Lingk in the booth at the bar, they’re both pretty drunk, and they’ve been talking for a while, as Roma slowly but surely primes Lingk for the sale.

The camera then zooms in on Roma’s face as he gets to the closing part of his speech, where he essentially challenges Lingk’s manhood, telling him that buying real estate is not about making money or losing money (since Roma knows very well that this deal could be a terrible one for Lingk), but it is about making a mark for yourself. The humdrum Lingk craves being part of an “event,” and Roma preys on that to close a big sale that Lingk almost immediately regrets.

6

“Cop Couldn’t Find His Dick With Two Hands and a Map.”

Dave Moss

Cop couldn’t find his dick with two hands and a map.

Known for its crass language, visceral call-outs, and lewd put-downs, Glengarry Glen Ross has a host of one-liners that come low and fast. Dave Moss says this after being interviewed by the police over the burglary. He also adds, in reference to the detective, “Anybody talks to this a**hole’s a f**kin’ a**hole,” after he just came out from talking to him.

While the quote is crass, it illustrates one of the key themes of the movie, which is how many of the salesmen are arrogant and claim to know what is what, and yet are not self-aware. They see everything wrong with everyone else, but not themselves.

5

” . . . Until You Know What the Shot Is.”

Richard Roma

You never open your mouth until you know what the shot is.

This line is a kind of thesis statement for the film, one that is juxtaposed with Blake’s catch-22. Roma delivers this line after Williamson unintentionally exposes Roma’s bluff to his client, Lingk. Roma is trying to make Lingk believe that the company has not cashed his check when they actually have. Mr. Lingk leaves distraught and Roma unloads on Williamson.

Levene then tries to explain to Williamson that his partner (and, by implication, the rest of the team) needs support that Williamson refuses to give. Specifically, Levene is referring to the lack of competent leads. As a parting shot, Roma delivers his line, but the irony is that it could apply to any one of the characters at any given time in the film.

4

“Always Tell The Truth, George.”

Richard Roma

Always tell the truth, George. It’s the easiest thing to remember.

Aronow is the most hapless of the salesmen, and not coincidentally, the most innocent. Moss spends a good chunk of the play trying to convince Aronow to help him steal the leads from Williamson’s office. Even though he’s the firm’s bottom earner and the one most likely to be on the chopping block, Aronow (played with characteristic stoicism by the late Arkin) is reluctant to go along with the scheme.

In the film’s latter half, when the characters come into work, the office has been burgled and the leads are missing. Aranow confesses to Roma that he feels nervous about talking to a detective. Roma asks him if he knows who doesn’t feel nervous talking to the police. When Aranow asks who, Roma replies, “Thieves.” Roma then offers some surprisingly decent advice, suggesting Aronow tell the truth to the investigating police officers, not for moral, but self-serving reasons. But it’s probably true that the only reason he gives Aranow this advice is that he knows the man is not guilty.

“Who The Hell Are You? You’re a F**king Secretary.”

Sheldon “Shelley the Machine” Levene

What the hell are you? You’re a fuckin’ secretary. Fuck you. Yeah, that’s my message to ya: fuck you and kiss my ass, and if you don’t like it baby, I’m going across the street to Jerry Graff, period. Fuck you.

Another one of the great ironies of this film is that the salesmen, who rely on good will to make their living, often treat other people just terribly. Shelley is really the most fascinating guys of the bunch in this regard. His whole shtick is that whole, “Gee, fellas, I sure would like to work you” routine, but he will turn vicious at a moment’s notice.

When he berates Williamson (who, to be fair, IS a total jerk, as well), Shelley is so caught up in his own rage that he doesn’t even seem to get that berating a guy so central to the business is not something that will likely pay off for Shelley, and at the same time, though, he doesn’t even put two and two together when Williamson later turns on him.

3

“A Man Is His Job.”

Sheldon “Shelley the Machine” Levene

A man is his job, and you’re f**cked at yours.

If the film has a central conflict, it’s this: The salesmen are at odds with office manager Williamson, who holds the leads (names and numbers of potential buyers). Levene in particular tries to corral Williamson into giving him better leads, to no avail.

The next day, Williamson has found his office burgled while Levene has closed an $80,000 sale with a couple named the Nyborgs. Levene rubs it into Williamson. If the audience feels some kind of moral victory on behalf of Levene, they shouldn’t. While he is one of the sympathetic characters, he ultimately believes in just another version of what Blake preaches.

2

“They Just Like Talking To Salesmen”

John Williamson

The people are insane. They just like talking to salesmen.

It turns out Levene was the one who conspired with Moss to rob the office. He attempts to bribe Williamson into staying silent by offering him escalating amounts of money from the Nyborg deal and every deal he closes after that one. That’s when Williamson pulls the rug out from under him.

In a brutal performance from the embattled Kevin Spacey, we learn that Williamson has known about the Nyborgs for years. They are people who simply like talking to salesmen so they can pretend to buy things. Williamson knew the lead was bad, but he shames Levene for not paying attention to how the Nyborgs were living in their current circumstances. The Nyborgs’ check is no good because the signers don’t have the money to back it up. Levene’s one spot of good luck was false hope.

1

“Because I Don’t Like You.”

John Williamson

Leven asks Williamson “Why?” The question specifically refers to why Williamson is choosing to turn him in, but Levene seems to be asking about Williamson’s general treatment of him as well. The question could be a suitable response to Williamson not giving Levene good leads and to Williamson intentionally giving Leven false ones. Williamson’s answer? “Because I don’t like you.”

It’s a brutal truth. The movie has been working its way toward this revelation with Williamson, but the reality is that at that moment, he’s a stand-in for other salesmen. They are all guilty of doing things to others just because they don’t like them. If someone ever goes out of their way to antagonize another, these five words are the simplest, most likely answer.