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Jake (rehearsing his stage act in his dressing room at the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel, New York):
"I remember those cheers,
They still ring in my ears,
And for years they remain in my thoughts.
'Cause one night I took off my robe,
And what'd I do? I forgot to wear shorts.
I recall every fall, every hook, every jab,
The worst way a guy can get rid of his flab,
As you know, my life wasn't drab.
Though I'd rather hear you cheer
When I delve into Shakespeare …
'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!'
I haven't had a winner in six months.
And though I'm no Olivier,
If he fought Sugar Ray, he would say
That the thing ain't the ring, it's the play.
So give me a stage
Where this bull here can rage,
And though I can fight,
I'd much rather recite.
That's entertainment."

Radio announcer's remark during La Motta-Reeves fight: "The Bronx Bull has taken a lot of punishment in this bout."

Jake La Motta (to his first wife as she prepares a steak for him): "Don't overcook it. You overcook it, it's no good. It defeats its own purpose."

Jake (lamenting to his brother Joey): "I got these small hands. I got a little girl's hands."

Joey (making a fateful introduction at the swimming pool): "Vickie, this is my brother Jake. He's gonna be the next champ."

Jake (on his first date with Vickie, showing her a photo of himself and Joey posed as if they are sparring): "That's me and my brother. We were foolin' around."

Radio announcer's remark during the second La Motta-Robinson fight: "You can see the contrast in their styles—the speedy Ray Robinson up on his toes, the dancing master; La Motta, the brawler, moves in flatfooted most of the time."

Jake (to his brother, after losing to Robinson in their third fight): "I've done a lotta bad things, Joey. Maybe it's comin' back to me."

Joey (to Jake, explaining the strategy of fighting Janiro as a steppingstone to the title): "Ya understand? If you win, you win. If you lose, you still win."

Mafia big shot Tommy Como (about Janiro, whose face has been pulverized by Jake after Vickie's earlier remark about Janiro being "good-lookin'"): "He ain't pretty no more."

Vickie (when confronted by Joey at the Copacabana about being there without Jake): "I feel like I'm a prisoner. I can't walk, I look at somebody the wrong way, I get smacked."

Mafia big shot Tommy Como (to Joey, about Jake): "He's embarrassin' me with certain people, and I'm lookin' very bad. I can't deliver a kid from my own goddamn neighborhood. What is it with him? Why does he have to make it so hard on himself? He comes to me, I make it easier for him."

Jake (to Joey, about Vickie): "I know she's doin' somethin'. I just wanna catch her once. Just once."

Joey (to Jake, relaying the gist of a conversation with Mafia big shot Tommy Como): "He gave me the old 'good news, bad news' routine. The good news is you're gonna get the shot at the title. The bad news is they want you to do the old flip-flop for 'em."

Jake (to the boxing commissioner, before fighting Fox): "There's no way I'm goin' down. I don't go down for nobody."

Jake (sobbing uncontrollably, after throwing the Fox fight): "What'd I do?!"

Jake (looking at newspapers reporting on his fight with Fox): "Look how they made me look. Like a bum, like a mammalucco."

Ring announcer at Briggs Stadium, Detroit: "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? Cerdan unable to continue, the referee stops the fight. And the winner by a technical knockout in the tenth round and the new Middleweight Champion of the World, the Bronx Bull, Jake La Motta!"

Radio announcer calling the fight where Jake successfully defends his title: "La Motta is taking terrible punishment on the ropes as Dauthuille bangs him with lefts and rights to the head. Another left, another right to the jaw. And La Motta turns around, he's been playing possum!"

Jake (to Robinson, immediately after losing the championship to him by a technical knockout): "You never got me down, Ray. Ya hear me? Never got me down."

Vickie (to Jake, outside his Miami nightclub): "I got a lawyer, we're gettin' a divorce, and I'm gettin' custody of the kids."

Miami jeweler (to Jake, who is offering to sell him diamonds): "The belt of a champion is a very rare item. I wish you'd come to me in the first place, Mr. La Motta."

Jake (sobbing in his Dade County Stockade cell after he pounds his head and fists against the wall): "They called me an animal. I'm not an animal."

Jake (to Joey, awkwardly attempting reconciliation after they have spent years apart): "You gonna forgive and forget? It's a long time ago, we're gonna forget about it. Just gimme a kiss, come on."

Jake (psyching himself up in his dressing room to go on stage at the Barbizon-Plaza Hotel and do his act): "I'm the boss. I'm the boss."

Text on screen (from John IX, 24-26): "So, for the second time, [the Pharisees] summoned the man who had been blind and said: 'Speak the truth before God. We know this fellow is a sinner.' 'Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know,' the man replied. 'All I know is this: once I was blind and now I can see.'"