Casablanca is one of the most iconic films of all time, and arguably one of the best, with its many memorable quotes contributing to its great, long-lasting legacy. The 1942 romantic drama film starring classic Hollywood legends Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman was written by twin brothers Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein along with Howard Koch. While Julius went on to have a long, great career after Casablanca and his twin brother’s untimely death, Koch was blacklisted from the industry in 1951. Yet, the impact of Casablanca’s scripts, which is full of quotable lines, cannot be denied over 80 years after its initial release.
There has been a long debate over the title of the greatest movie ever, and Casablanca’s dialogue makes it easy to see why it’s frequently brought up as a contender. Casablanca tells the story of American expatriate and gin joint owner Rick (Bogart), who is confronted with his past when his ex-lover, Ilsa (Bergman), shows up in Casablanca with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Ilsa and Laszlo, a renowned fugitive, need to leave Casablanca, and Rick is in possession of the letters that can help them. The intriguing plot, complicated characters, heartbreaking romance, and iconic lines have made Casablanca stand the test of time.
“Louis, I Think This Is The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship.”
Casablanca’s bittersweet ending is a major part of what has cemented its legacy and is the scene from which multiple of the lines on this list were uttered. There is great dialogue from the Epsteins and Koch throughout the film, but the final line is one of the best and most enduring when viewers think of Casablanca. Throughout Casablanca, Louis Renault (Claude Rains), the local corrupt prefect of police, has an interesting relationship with Rick. He clearly respects the bar owner, but Rick is insistent on staying neutral and not getting close to anyone despite Renault’s best efforts to get him on his side.
By the end of Casablanca, both Rick and Renault have undergone great growth as individuals and as a pair. This leads to Rick’s final line, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” The closest friend Rick has in Casablanca is his house pianist, Sam, who he knew long before he became the hardened man viewers meet at the start of the film, but the ending sees him opening up to a brighter future. The burgeoning friendship between Rick and Louis would have been explored further in the scrapped Casablanca 2, but fortunately for the film’s legacy, this was the true last line from Rick Blaine.
“Of All The Gin Joints In All The Towns In The World, She Walks Into Mine.”
Casablanca’s story unfolds over two timelines, the present one that takes place in Casablanca in 1942 and the past one that takes place in Paris in 1940 just before the Battle of France where Vichy France was established and parts of the country were placed under Nazi occupation. Rick and Ilsa had planned to flee Paris together upon the news of the invasion, but Ilsa didn’t show up at the train station as planned, leaving Rick with a note but no explanation. The first time Rick saw Ilsa again in those two years that had passed was at his bar with her husband, leaving him understandably angry and confused.
After they first see each other, Rick drank his sorrows away while Sam attempted to lift his spirits. Rick told Sam in this iconic Casablanca line, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.” This quote conveyed all of his complicated emotions at Ilsa appearing in Rick’s Café Américain, including shock. It also suggested that their reunion was perhaps fated, as she could have ended up anywhere in the world, but she found herself in Casablanca and with Rick once again.
“Play It, Sam.”
“Play it, Sam,” is not only one of the most famous lines from Casablanca, but it’s one of the most misquoted lines in film history. It is said by Ilsa when she requests Sam play the 1931 jazz song that Casablanca made a classic, “As Time Goes By.” It is sung in the movie by Dooley Wilson (Sam) at multiple points, as it had become Ilsa and Rick’s song back when they were in Paris. Due to the fact that she’d heard him play it again, many have misquoted the Casablanca line as “play it again, Sam,” rather than “play it, Sam,” which has just made it even more iconic.
“Here’s Looking At You, Kid.”
Casablanca features multiple romantic quotes that still make audiences swoon, but none can top “Here’s looking at you, kid,” said twice by Rick to Ilsa. The first time he said it to her was in Paris as a toast to Ilsa and what he believed would be their bright future away from France and the impending invasion. Rick was so in love with her that just looking at her face is something to be celebrated, but the second time he said it, it carried a much greater weight.
“Here’s looking at you, kid” is the heartbreaking line that Rick delivered to Ilsa before he sent her away with Laszlo to Lisbon, having made the difficult decision to stay behind. When he said what has become Casablanca’s most instantly recognizable line, it was both an acknowledgment of their past and the future that they could sadly never have. It was another way for Rick to tell Ilsa he loved her one last time, making for a bittersweet ending to Casablanca and their relationship.
“We’ll Always Have Paris.”
In the same tearful goodbye between Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca, she was reluctant to leave him, having already done it once before. She told him that she promised she’d never leave him again, to which Rick replied, “We’ll always have Paris.” This small part of the longer quote, in which he explained that they lost it once but were able to get it back the night before in Casablanca, is what has stood out for all these years.
The line was said by Rick to let Ilsa know he’d never forget their time together in Paris and that nothing that had happened or would happen could change or tarnish it. It’s such a great quote that it has a life far beyond Casablanca, with people using, “we’ll always have …” to reference any special, untouchable time. The line was even used as the title of a 1988 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which had a plot line inspired by the classic film.
“Round Up The Usual Suspects.”
Renault’s character growth in Casablanca was shown through the movie’s last scene when he decided not to turn Rick in for murdering German Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) and helping Ilsa and Laszlo escape. Despite Louis having worked on Strasser’s side and against Laszlo for the majority of the movie, his telling the officers to “round up the usual suspects” when they arrived and discovered Strasser’s body proved where his true loyalties lay. The Casablanca line even inspired the title of The Usual Suspects, making the quote even more popular in the 1990s.
“Kiss Me. Kiss Me As If It Were The Last Time.”
Bogart’s Rick wasn’t the only character capable of delivering memorable, romantic lines in Casablanca, with Ilsa having a few of her own. In a flashback to their time together in Paris just before the invasion, Ilsa told Rick, “Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.” Rick does, but he was unaware that it actually would be the last kiss between the two of them as she wasn’t truly planning to follow him out of Paris. Bogart and Bergman’s incredible chemistry is one of the reasons every planned Casablanca remake or sequel hasn’t happened, and this moment justifies those rightful decisions.
“With The Whole World Crumbling, We Pick This Time To Fall In Love.”
In that same Casablanca scene of their last moments together in Paris, there are sounds of warfare outside their window. The juxtaposition of the bombs going off in the background as Rick and Ilsa kiss and Sam plays the piano encapsulated the complex nature of their relationship and Casablanca itself. Ilsa vocalized this with the line, “With the whole world crumbling, we pick this time to fall in love.” In saying this, she acknowledged that timing isn’t on their side, contributing to the longstanding trope, “right person, wrong time,” while also slyly hinting to Rick that they won’t be able to stay together because of the war.
“Go Ahead And Shoot. You’ll Be Doing Me A Favor.”
One of the most dramatic scenes in Casablanca happened when Isla came to Rick in his closed club to ask him for the letters. When Rick refused, she pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot him. Rick reacted to this by telling Ilsa, “Go ahead and shoot. You’ll be doing me a favor.” It’s a calm delivery from Bogart that revealed just how in love Rick still was.
The moment that Isla pulled a gun on him, Rick realized what she was willing to do for Laszlo. By saying, “you’ll do me a favor,” he shared his belief that if she were to choose Laszlo over him, his life would be over anyway, so she might as well shoot. Fortunately, Ilsa didn’t do what Rick told her to, instead confessing that she was still in love with him. Though they didn’t end up together in Casablanca, this line is further proof of their deep, complicated love for each other.
“I Came To Casablanca For The Waters.”
From any other actor, the line “I came to Casablanca for the waters” might have been a throwaway. However, Humphrey Bogart makes it iconic with his performance of the cynical Rick, whose deadpan gives him a sense of humor that works for the character and the tone of the film. When Louis pointed out to him that Casablanca is a desert, he dryly said, “I was misinformed.” Rick is a character that spends most of Casablanca holding his cards close to his chest, but his relationship with Isla reveals great emotional depth as the story unfolds.
