J. Edgar Hoover: Do I kill everything that I love?
Congressman: But your agency is already one of the most well-funded in Washington, is it not?
J. Edgar Hoover: Yes, that is true sir, but our car and bank robbery recoveries totaled 6.5 million last year, and our budget is only, well, 2 million. Unlike other departments in Washington, we actually run a profit.
[J. Edgar Hoover arrives home to go to bed]
J. Edgar Hoover: [narrating] The very essence of our democracy is rooted in a belief in the worth of the individual. That life has meaning that transcends any man-made system, that love is the greatest force on earth... far more enduring than hatred or the unnatural divisions of mankind.
Agent Stokes: The crimes we are investigating aren't crimes, they are ideas.
Annie Hoover: We are the sinners, Edgar. We tolerated lawlessness in the land until it grew to diabolical proportions.
J. Edgar Hoover: It's easy to be the expert if you're the only person in the world with any interest.
Clyde Tolson: He does also claim he can tell as much from a cut of wood as a doctor can from an autopsy.
J. Edgar Hoover: Ah.
Clyde Tolson: He has, um, social difficulties.
J. Edgar
Hoover: He is mentally ill, isn't he?
Clyde Tolson: He's only as mad as you are - sir.
[first lines]
J. Edgar Hoover: Let me tell you something. The SCLC has direct Communist ties. Even great men can be corrupted, can't they? Communism is not a political party. It is a disease. It corrupts the soul, turning men, even the gentlest of men, into vicious evil tyrants.
J. Edgar Hoover: It's time we at least have one thing the bad guys don't.
Clyde Tolson: Decorating skills?
[Edgar looks out his balcony window at the newly elected President Richard Nixon, who drives down the crowded street of American citizens]
J. Edgar Hoover: [narrating] When morals decline and good men do nothing, evil flourishes. Every citizen has a duty to learn of this that threatens his home, his children. A society uninterested and unwilling to learn from the past is
doomed. We must never forget our history. We must never lower our guard. Even today, there are organizations that have America as their prime target. They would destroy the safety and the happiness of every individual and thrust us into a condition of lawlessness, immorality that passes the imagination.
[J. Edgar Hoover and Helen Gandy are on a date in the public library]
J. Edgar Hoover: Well, would you like to stay here, or go somewhere else?
Helen Gandy: It's up to you.
Helen Gandy: [Edgar chuckles and makes an attempt to kiss Helen] Mr. Hoover. I'm not sure where you think this is headed.
J. Edgar
Hoover: Right, of course. Miss Gandy.
[Edgar holds out his hand to hers and gets on one knee]
J. Edgar Hoover: I know we've only known each other a brief time, but you would make the finest of companions. Your strength, and your character, and your education.
Helen Gandy: Are you poking fun at me?
J. Edgar
Hoover: No. No, no, no. No, no, of course not.
Helen Gandy: Then please, Mr. Hoover, stand up.
J. Edgar Hoover: I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't share this with any of the other women at the typing pool.
Helen Gandy: No, of course not.
J. Edgar Hoover: All right. May I ask what - what - what
particular flaw you seem to find in my character?
Helen Gandy: No. We just met.
J. Edgar Hoover: Right, of course. But I believe that I am a fast and accurate judge of character. We've gone out three times, but I don't need more. Most people do, but I don't. I see people right off for what they are. And please, call me Edgar. It's what my mother
uses.
Helen Gandy: Edgar?
J. Edgar Hoover: Yes?
Helen Gandy: Can you keep a secret?
J. Edgar Hoover: Yes. Of course. You have my word.
Helen Gandy: I'm not interested in getting married. My work comes first.
J. Edgar Hoover: Hmm. Then perhaps you would
consider a position as my personal secretary.
Helen Gandy: [chuckles and nods] Yes.
J. Edgar Hoover: [Edgar smiles] Shall we.
[later in the night Annie Hoover passes away, Edgar is alone in his bedroom and wakes up to grab his rosary]
Annie Hoover: [in the air he hears his mothers voice] Stay strong, Edgar.
[Edgar then goes to the mirror as his mother helped teach him to, to get over his childhood stutter, holding out and dressing into his mothers shirt]
Annie
Hoover: [again in the air Edgar hears his mothers voice] You stay strong, Edgar.
J. Edgar Hoover: [Edgar screams out and tears apart his rosary in a frantic shiver] Stay strong! Uhh!
[Edgar finally collapses in tears and curls himself in a ball]