Schindler's List (1993)

Ben Kingsley: Itzhak Stern

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Quotes 

• Oskar Schindler : I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just... I could have got more.

  Itzhak Stern : Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.

  Oskar Schindler : If I'd made more money... I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just...

  Itzhak Stern : There will be generations because of what you did.

  Oskar Schindler : I didn't do enough!

  Itzhak Stern : You did so much.

  [Schindler looks at his car] 

  Oskar Schindler : This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.

  [removing Nazi pin from lapel] 

  Oskar Schindler : This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.

  [sobbing] 

  Oskar Schindler : I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!

• Itzhak Stern : It's Hebrew, it's from the Talmud. It says, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

• Itzhak Stern : This list... is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.

• [Stern brings a report to Schindler at lunchtime] 

  Oskar Schindler : I could try to read this or I could eat my lunch while it's still hot. We're doing well?

  Itzhak Stern : Yes.

  Oskar Schindler : Better this month than last?

  Itzhak Stern : Yes.

  Oskar Schindler : Any reason to think next month will be worse?

  Itzhak Stern : The war could end.

• Itzhak Stern : By law I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew.

  Oskar Schindler : Well, I'm a German, so there we are.

• Oskar Schindler : [Schindler and Stern are writing the list]  How many?

  Itzhak Stern : 400, 450.

  Oskar Schindler : More. More.

• Itzhak Stern : How many cigarettes have you smoked tonight?

  Oskar Schindler : Too many.

  Itzhak Stern : For every one you smoke, I smoke half.

• Itzhak Stern : I'm sorry, Herr Direktor, you're running very late. Here, this is for the Obersturmbahnführer and this is for his niece, it's her birthday, Greta. Greta as in Garbo.

  Oskar Schindler : By the way, don't *ever* do that to me again. Didn't you notice that man only had one arm?

  Itzhak Stern : Did he.

  Oskar Schindler : What's his use?

  [gets into his car] 

  Itzhak Stern : Very useful.

  Oskar Schindler : [shouts from car window]  How?

  Itzhak Stern : [shouts back]  Very useful! Success!

• Oskar Schindler : I've been speaking to Goeth.

  Itzhak Stern : I know the destination. These are the evacuation orders, I'm to help arrange the shipments, put myself on the last train.

  Oskar Schindler : That's not what I was going to say. I made Goeth promise to put in a good word for you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you there, you'll receive special treatment.

  Itzhak Stern : The directives coming in from Berlin talk about "special treatment" more and more often. I'd like to think that's not what you mean.

  Oskar Schindler : Preferential treatment. All right? Do we have to create a new language?

  Itzhak Stern : I think so.

• Itzhak Stern : Let me understand. They put up all the money. I do all the work. What, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?

  Oskar Schindler : I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache. That's what I'm good at. Not the work, not the work... the presentation.

• [the morning after Schindler leaves Brinnlitz, a Russian officer finds the workers] 

  Russian officer : You have been liberated by the Soviet army!

  Itzhak Stern : Have you been in Poland?

  Russian officer : I just came from Poland.

  Itzhak Stern : Are there any Jews left?

  Michael Lemper : Where should we go?

  Russian officer : Don't go east, that's for sure. They hate you there. I wouldn't go west either, if I were you.

  Chaim Nowak : We could use some food.

  Russian officer : Isn't that a town over there?

• Itzhak Stern : Do you have any money hidden away someplace that I don't know about?

  Oskar Schindler : No. Why, am I broke?

  Itzhak Stern : Uh, well...

• Itzhak Stern : What did Goeth say about this? You just told him how many people you needed, and...

  [suddenly realizing what Schindler is planning] 

  Itzhak Stern : You're *not* buying them?

  [Schindler says nothing; Stern is stunned] 

  Itzhak Stern : You're *buying* them? You're paying him for each of these names?

  Oskar Schindler : If you were still were still working for me, I'd expect you to talk me out of it. It's costing me a fortune.

• Itzhak Stern : The standard SS rate for skilled Jewish workers is seven marks a day, five for unskilled and women. This is what you pay to the Reich Economic Office. The Jews themselves receive nothing. Poles you pay wages. Generally, they get a little more. Are you listening?

  Oskar Schindler : What was that about the SS? The rate? The what?

  Itzhak Stern : The Jewish worker's salary - you pay it directly to the SS, not to the worker. He gets nothing.

  Oskar Schindler : But it's less. It's less than what I would pay to a Pole.

  Itzhak Stern : It's less.

  Oskar Schindler : That's the point I'm trying to make. Poles cost more. Why should I hire Poles?

• Oskar Schindler : Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.

  Itzhak Stern : I think I'd better have it now.

• [after Schindler pulls him off a train bound for the work camps] 

  Itzhak Stern : Somehow I left my work card at home. I tried to explain to them that it was a mistake, but... I'm sorry. It was stupid!

  Oskar Schindler : What if I got here five minutes later? Then where would I be?

• Itzhak Stern : [Oskar has apparently handed him cyanide capsules]  Don't let things fall apart, Oskar. I work too hard.

• S.S. Guard : Occupation?

  Moses : I am a writer. I play the flute.

  Itzhak Stern : But Moses is also a skilled metal worker. He can make pots, he can make tanks, he can make whatever Mr Schindler asks.

• Itzhak Stern : That's it, there's no more.

  Oskar Schindler : I will not accept that.

• Oskar Schindler : People die! It's a fact of life! He wants to kill everybody? Great. What am I supposed to do about it? Bring everybody over? Is that what you think? Send them over to Schindler. Send them all. His place is a haven, didn't you know? It's not a factory. It's not an enterprise of any kind. It's a haven! For rabbis, and orphans, and people with no skills whatsoever! You think I don't know what you're doing? You're so quiet all the time. I know. I know!

  Itzhak Stern : Are you losing money?

  Oskar Schindler : No, I'm not losing money. That's not the point!

  Itzhak Stern : What other point is there?

  Oskar Schindler : It's dangerous! It's dangerous to me.

• Oskar Schindler : [after informing Itzhak he's going to be sent to Auschwitz]  Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.

  Itzhak Stern : I think I better have it now.

• Oskar Schindler : You have to understand, Goeth is under enormous pressure. You have to think of it in his situation. He's got this whole place to run, he's responsible for everything that goes on here, all these people, he's got a lot of things to worry about. And he's got the war. Which brings out the worst in people. Never the good, always the bad. Always the bad. But in normal circumstances, he wouldn't be like this. He'd be all right. There'd just be the good aspects of him, which... he's a wonderful crook. A man who loves good food, good wine, the ladies, making money...

  Itzhak Stern : Killing.

  Oskar Schindler : He can't enjoy it.

  Itzhak Stern : Boyevski told me the other day. Somebody escaped from a work detail outside the wire. Goeth lined up everybody from the missing man's barracks. He shot the man to the left of Boyevski, the man to the right. He walked down the line, shooting every other man with a pistol... Twenty-five.

  Oskar Schindler : [defensively]  What do you want me to do about it?

  Itzhak Stern : Nothing, nothing. We're just talking.

• Itzhak Stern : Is that all?

  Oskar Schindler : I'm trying to thank you. I'm saying I couldn't have done this without you. The usual thing would be to acknowledge my gratitude. It would also, by the way, be the courteous thing.

  Itzhak Stern : You're welcome.

• Itzhak Stern : You need a secretary. Pick one.

  Oskar Schindler : I don't know how. They're all so - qualified.

  Itzhak Stern : You have to choose.

• Itzhak Stern : He's a very important man. Just give him two minutes of your time. Since when did time cost money? Just sit down and listen.

• Oskar Schindler : I'm going home. I've done what I came here for. I've got more money than any man can spend in a lifetime. Some day, this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.

  Itzhak Stern : I think I better have it now.