There Will Be Blood (2007)

Daniel Day-Lewis: Daniel Plainview

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Quotes 

• Eli Sunday : Why are you talking about Paul?

  Daniel Plainview : I did what your brother couldn't.

  Eli Sunday : Don't say this to me.

  Daniel Plainview : I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He's the prophet. He's the smart one. He knew what was there and he found me to take it out of the ground, and you know what the funny thing is? Listen... listen... listen... I paid him ten thousand dollars, cash in hand, just like that. He has his own company now. A prosperous little business. Three wells producing. Five thousand dollars a week.

  [Eli cries] 

  Daniel Plainview : Stop crying, you sniveling ass! Stop your nonsense. You're just the afterbirth, Eli.

  Eli Sunday : No...

  Daniel Plainview : You slithered out of your mother's filth.

  Eli Sunday : No.

  Daniel Plainview : They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantlepiece. Where were you when Paul was suckling at his mother's teat? Where were you? Who was nursing you, poor Eli? One of Bandy's sows? That land has been had. Nothing you can do about it. It's gone. It's had.

  Eli Sunday : If you would just take...

  Daniel Plainview : You lose.

  Eli Sunday : ...this lease, Daniel...

  Daniel Plainview : Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? Watch it. Now, my straw reaches acroooooooss the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I... drink... your... milkshake!

  [sucking sound] 

  Daniel Plainview : I drink it up!

  Eli Sunday : Don't bully me, Daniel!

  [Daniel roars and throws Eli across the room] 

  Daniel Plainview : Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Eli? I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!

• [last lines] 

  Daniel Plainview : I'm finished.

• Daniel Plainview : What are you looking so miserable about? There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet! No one can get at it except for me.

• Daniel Plainview : Are you an angry man, Henry?

  Henry : About what?

  Daniel Plainview : Are you envious? D'you get envious?

  Henry : I don't think so. No.

  Daniel Plainview : I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.

  Henry : That part of me is gone. Working and not succeeding- all my, uh... failures has left me, uh... I just don't... care.

  Daniel Plainview : Well, if it's in me, it's in you. There are times when I... I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to earn enough money I can get away from everyone.

  Henry : What will you do about your boy?

  Daniel Plainview : I don't know. Uhhhh, maybe it'll change. Does your sound come back to you? I don't know. Maybe no one knows that. A doctor might not know that.

  Henry : Where's his mother?

  Daniel Plainview : I don't want to talk about those things. I see the worst in people, Henry. I don't need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I've built up my hatreds over the years, little by little. Having you here gives me a second breath of life. I can't keep doing this on my own... with these, umm... people.

  [laughs] 

• Daniel Plainview : Ladies and gentlemen... I've traveled over half our state to be here tonight. I couldn't get away sooner because my new well was coming in at Coyote Hills and I had to see about it. That well is now flowing at two thousand barrels and it's paying me an income of five thousand dollars a week. I have two others drilling and I have sixteen producing at Antelope; so, ladies and gentlemen, if I say I'm an oil man, you will agree. Now, you have a great chance here, but bear in mind, you can lose it all if you're not careful. Out of all men that beg for a chance to drill your lots, maybe one in twenty will be oilmen; the rest will be speculators - that's men trying to get between you and the oilmen - to get some of the money that ought by rights come to you. Even if you find one that has money and means to drill, he'll maybe know nothing about drilling and he'll have to hire the job out on contract, and then you're depending on a contractor who'll rush the job through so he can get another contract just as quick as he can. This is... the way that this works.

  Man : Well, what is your offer? W-w-we're wasting time.

  [crowd responds: "Yes." "Please."] 

  Daniel Plainview : I do my own drilling, and the men that work for me work for me. and they're men I know. I make it my business to be there and to see their work. I don't lose my tools in the hole and spend months fishing for them; I don't botch the cementing off and let water in the hole and ruin the whole lease. I'm a family man. I run a family business. This is my son and my partner, H.W. Plainview.

  [indicates H.W] 

  Daniel Plainview : We offer you the bond of family that very few oilmen can understand. I'm fixed like no other company in this field and that's because my Coyote Hills well has just come in. I have a string of tools all ready to put to work. I can load a rig onto trucks and have them here in a week. I have business connections so I can get the lumber for the derrick - such things go by friendship in a rush like this - and this is why I can guarantee to start drilling and to put up the cash to back my word. I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, no matter what the others promise to do, when it comes to the showdown, they won't be there.

• Daniel Plainview : [pitching his company to the people of Little Boston]  Ladies and gentlemen? Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for visiting with us this evening. Now, I've traveled across half our state to be here and to see about this land. Now, I daresay some of you might have heard some of the more extravagant rumors about what my plans are; I just thought you'd like to hear it from me. This is the face. There's no great mystery. I'm an oilman, ladies and gentlemen. I have numerous concerns spread across this state. I have many wells flowing at many thousand barrels per day. I like to think of myself as an oilman. As an oilman, I hope that you'll forgive just good old-fashioned plain speaking. Now, this work that we do is very much a family enterprise; I work side by side with my wonderful son, H.W. - I think one or two of you might have met him already - and, uh, I encourage my men to bring their families, as well. Of course, it makes for an ever so much more rewarding life for them. Family means children; children means education; so, wherever we set up camp, education is a necessity, and we're just so happy to take care of that. So let's build a wonderful school in Little Boston. These children are the future that we strive for and so they should have the very best of things. Now something else, uh... and please don't be insulted if I speak about this - bread. Let's talk about bread. Now to my mind, uh, it's an abomination to consider that any man, woman or child in this magnificent country of ours should have to look upon a loaf of bread as a luxury. We're gonna dig water wells here and, uh, water wells means irrigation. Irrigation means cultivation. We're gonna raise crops here where before it just simply wasn't impossible. You're going to have more grain than you know what to do with. Bread will be coming right out of your ears, ma'am. New roads, agriculture, employment, education - these are just a few of the things we can offer you, and I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that if we do find oil here - and I think there's a very good chance that we will - this community of yours will not only survive, it will flourish.

• Daniel Plainview : I'm gonna bury you underground, Eli.

• HW's Interpreter, George : [speaking for deaf H.W]  I'd prefer to speak to you in private.

  Daniel Plainview : You can't speak. so why don't you flap your hands about and have what's-his-name tell me where you've been. Or do you think I don't know?

  HW's Interpreter, George : This is hard for me to say. I'll tell you first: I love you very much. I've learned to love what I do because of you. I'm leaving here. I'm going to Mexico. I'm taking Mary, and I'm going to Mexico. I miss working outside. I miss the fields. It'll only be for a time, for me to do my own drilling and start my own company. It's time to make a change.

  Daniel Plainview : This makes you my competitor.

  HW's Interpreter, George : No. No, it's not like that.

  Daniel Plainview : It is like that - boy. Your own company, huh?

  HW's Interpreter, George : That's right.

  Daniel Plainview : In Mexico.

  HW's Interpreter, George : Yes.

  Daniel Plainview : You're making such a misstep. So, what are you doing?

  HW's Interpreter, George : I know you and I have disagreed over many things. I'd rather keep you as my father than my partner.

  Daniel Plainview : Then say it! You got something to say to me then say it. I'd like to hear you speak instead of your little dog, woof woof woof woof woof woof woof!

  H.W. Plainview - Older : I'm going to Mexico with my wife. I'm going away from you.

  Daniel Plainview : That wasn't so hard, was it? - killing us with what you're doing. You're killing my image of you as my son.

  HW's Interpreter, George : You're stubborn. You won't listen.

  Daniel Plainview : You're not my son.

  HW's Interpreter, George : Please don't say that. I know you don't mean it.

  Daniel Plainview : It's the truth. You're not my son. Never have been. You're an... you're an orphan. D'you ever hear that word?

  Daniel Plainview : [to George]  Tell 'em what I said!

  Daniel Plainview : [back to H.W]  You operated here today like one. I should have seen this coming. I should have known that under this, all these past years, you've been building your hate for me piece by piece. I don't even know who you are because you have none of me in you. You're someone else's. This anger, your maliciousness, backwards dealings with me. You're an orphan from a basket in the middle of the desert, and I took you for no other reason than I needed a sweet face to buy land. D'you get that? So now you know.

  [Plainview whistles mockingly] 

  Daniel Plainview : Look at me. You're lower than a bastard. You have none of me in you. You're just a bastard from a basket.

  HW's Interpreter, George : I thank God I have none of you in me.

  Daniel Plainview : [H.W. and George get up and begin to leave the room]  You're not my son. You're just a little piece of competition. Bastard from a basket. Bastard from a basket! You're a bastard from a basket!

• Daniel Plainview : I told you I would to eat you!

  Eli Sunday : [terrified]  We're family!

  Daniel Plainview : I told you I would eat you up!

• H.M. Tilford : We'll make you a millionaire while you're sitting here from one minute to the next.

  Daniel Plainview : What else would I do with myself?

  H.M. Tilford : You asking me?

  Daniel Plainview : What else would I do with myself?

  H.M. Tilford : Take care of your son. I don't know what you would do.

  Daniel Plainview : If you were me and Standard offered to buy what you had for a million dollars, why? So, why?

  H.M. Tilford : You know why.

  Daniel Plainview : Yeah, you fellows just scratch around in the dirt and find it like the rest of us instead of buying up someone else's hard work.

  J.J. Carter : [defensively]  I've scratched around the dirt, son.

  Daniel Plainview : You gonna change your shipping costs?

  H.M. Tilford : We don't dictate shipping costs. That's railroad business.

  Daniel Plainview : O-oh! You don't own the railroads? Course you do. Of course you do.

  H.M. Tilford : Where you gonna put it all? Where? Build a pipeline, make a deal with Union Oil? Be my guest, but if you can't pull it off, you've got an ocean of oil under your feet, with nowhere to go. Why not turn it over to us? We'll make you rich. You spend time with your boy. It's a great discovery. Now let us help you.

  Daniel Plainview : [after a long pause]  D'you just tell me how to run my family?

  H.M. Tilford : It might be more important now that you've proven the field and we're offering to buy you out.

  Daniel Plainview : [stares at Tilford for a long moment]  One night, I'm gonna come to you, inside of your house, wherever you're sleeping, and I'm gonna cut your throat.

  H.M. Tilford : What? What are you taking about? Have you gone crazy, Daniel?

  Daniel Plainview : Did you hear what I said?

  H.M. Tilford : I heard what you said. Why did you say it?

  Daniel Plainview : You don't tell me about my son.

  H.M. Tilford : Why are you acting insane and threatening to cut my throat?

  Daniel Plainview : You don't tell me about my son.

  H.M. Tilford : I'm not telling you anything! I'm asking you to be reasonable. If I've offended you, I apologize.

  Daniel Plainview : [leans towards him]  You'll see what I can do.

• Eli Sunday : When do we get our money, Daniel?

  [Daniel slaps Eli across the face] 

  Daniel Plainview : [continuing to slap Eli]  Aren't you a healer and a vessel for the holy spirit? When are you coming over and make my son hear again? Can't you do that?

• Paul Sunday : Mr. Plainview?

  Daniel Plainview : Yes?

  Paul Sunday : Are you Daniel Plainview?

  Daniel Plainview : Yes. What can I do for you?

  Paul Sunday : You look for oil.

  Daniel Plainview : That's right.

  Paul Sunday : What do you pay for a place that has it?

  Daniel Plainview : Well, that depends.

  Paul Sunday : What does it depend on?

  Daniel Plainview : On a lot of things.

  Paul Sunday : If I told you I knew a place that had oil, where land could be bought cheaply, what do you think that would be worth?

  Daniel Plainview : Oh, I think that, uh... you should let me know what you know, and, uh, and then we'll try and work something out.

  Paul Sunday : Can I sit down?

  Daniel Plainview : Please.

  Paul Sunday : [Paul sits]  What church do you belong to?

  Daniel Plainview : I, um... I enjoy all faiths. I don't belong to one church in particular. I... I like them all. I like everything. Where are you from?

  Paul Sunday : That would be telling you. That's what I want to sell you.

  Daniel Plainview : What are you doing in Signal Hill?

  Paul Sunday : We have oil and it seeps through the ground. Do you want to pay me to know where it is...

  Daniel Plainview : Well, just because there's something on the ground doesn't mean there's anything beneath it.

  Paul Sunday : Why did Standard Oil buy up land?

  Daniel Plainview : Is it in California?

  Paul Sunday : Maybe.

  Daniel Plainview : How much land they buy?

  Paul Sunday : I'd like it better if you didn't think I was stupid.

• Daniel Plainview : [mumbles]  Abandoned my child.

  Eli Sunday : Say it louder... say it louder!

  Daniel Plainview : I've abandoned my child! I've abandoned my child! I've abandoned my boy!

  Eli Sunday : Now beg for the blood!

  Daniel Plainview : [sotto voce]  Please, give me the blood, Eli. Let me get out of here.

  Daniel Plainview : [aloud]  Give me the blood, Lord, and let me get away!

• Eli Sunday : Oh, Daniel... Oh, Daniel... please... I-I-I'm in... I'm in desperate times.

  Daniel Plainview : I know.

  Eli Sunday : I need a friend.

  Daniel Plainview : Yes, of course you do.

  Eli Sunday : I've sinned! I need help! I'm a sinner! I've let the Devil grab hold of me in ways I never imagined! I'm so full of sin.

  Daniel Plainview : The Lord sometimes challenges us, doesn't he?

  Eli Sunday : Oh, yes, he does. Daniel, yes, he does!

  Daniel Plainview : Yes, he does!

  Eli Sunday : Oh! He's completely failed to alert me to the recent panic in our economy and this! I-I... I must have this. I must, I must, I must, I must, I must have this. My investments have... Daniel, I won't bore you, but I... If I could grab the Lord's hand for help, I would, but he does these things all the time, these mysteries that he presents and while we wait... while we wait for his word...

  Daniel Plainview : Because you're not the chosen brother, Eli. It was Paul who was chosen. Yes, he-he found me and he told me about your land. You're just a fool.

• Eli Sunday : We have a sinner with us here who wishes for salvation. Daniel, are you a sinner?

  Daniel Plainview : Yes.

  Eli Sunday : Oh, the Lord can't hear you, Daniel. Say it to him. Go ahead and speak to him. It's all right.

  Daniel Plainview : Yes.

  Eli Sunday : Down on your knees and to him. Look up to the sky and say it.

  Daniel Plainview : What do you want me to say?

  Eli Sunday : Oh, Daniel, you've come here and you've brought good and wealth, but you have also brought your bad habits as a backslider. You've lusted after women, and you have abandoned your child - your child that you raised. You have abandoned all because he was sick and you have sinned. So say it now - "I am a sinner."

  Daniel Plainview : I am a sinner.

  Eli Sunday : Say it louder - " I am a sinner! "

  Daniel Plainview : I'm a sinner.

  Eli Sunday : Louder, Daniel. I am a sinner!

  Daniel Plainview : I am a sinner.

  Eli Sunday : I am sorry, Lord!

  Daniel Plainview : I am sorry , Lord.

  Eli Sunday : I want the blood!

  Daniel Plainview : I want the blood.

  Eli Sunday : You have abandoned your child!

  Daniel Plainview : I've abandoned my child.

  Eli Sunday : I will never backslide!

  Daniel Plainview : I will never backslide.

  Eli Sunday : I was lost, but now I am found!

  Daniel Plainview : I was lost but now I'm found.

  Eli Sunday : I have abandoned my child!

  [Plainview glares at him] 

  Eli Sunday : Say it... say it!

• Daniel Plainview : What's this? Why don't I own this? Why don't I own this?

  Al Rose : That's the Bandy tract. He was the holdout, when we were doing the buying? He had hoped to speak with you. Can't you just build the pipeline around this tract?

  Daniel Plainview : Can I build around fifty miles of Tehachapi Mountains? Don't be thick in front of me, Al.

  Al Rose : I can go to him again...

  Daniel Plainview : No, I'll go and talk to the man. I'll talk to him, show you how it's done.

• Fletcher Hamilton : H.W. okay?

  Daniel Plainview : No, he isn't.

• Daniel Plainview : What would you like, Eli?

  Eli Sunday : Ten thousand dollars.

  Daniel Plainview : For what?

  Eli Sunday : For my church.

  Daniel Plainview : That's good. That's a good one.

• H.M. Tilford : How's your boy?

  Daniel Plainview : Thank you for asking.

  H.M. Tilford : Is there anything we can do?

  Daniel Plainview : "Thanks for asking" is enough.

• [They stand at a map] 

  Paul Sunday : This is us, here. Spur Station, here at Little Boston. The Sunday ranch is what you're looking for. There's a sheep trail that takes you there. It's a mile out of town, headed west, not far. Just through a small pass here, near the base of the hills. You'll pass a church, and just follow the sheep trail.

  Daniel Plainview : Where's Standard buying up?

  Paul Sunday : [pointing at map]  Here, and here.

  Daniel Plainview : And your family name is Sunday, yes?

  Paul Sunday : That's right.

  Daniel Plainview : How many's in your family?

  Paul Sunday : My father and mother and sisters, and my brother, Eli.

  H.W. Plainview : How many sisters do you have?

  Paul Sunday : Two.

  Daniel Plainview : What's your name?

  Paul Sunday : Paul.

  Fletcher Hamilton : Does any of your family know about the oil that you say is there?

  Paul Sunday : I don't know. Uh, my uncle always said there was oil there, but I don't know what they heard or what they think.

  Fletcher Hamilton : What do you grow?

  Paul Sunday : It's goats. Uh, it's a goat farm. I told you, nothing grows but weeds.

  Fletcher Hamilton : Is there water?

  Paul Sunday : It's salty. You drill a well, it's hard not to get salt water. The oil is there. I'm telling you. I want to go now, so...

  Daniel Plainview : Uh, you can stay tonight.

  Paul Sunday : No, I want to go now. I wanna leave.

  Daniel Plainview : Listen, Paul... If I travel all the way up there and I find that you've been lying to me, I'm gonna find you, and I'm gonna take more than my money back. Is that all right with you?

  Paul Sunday : Yes, sir.

  Daniel Plainview : All right then.

  Paul Sunday : Nice luck to you and God bless.

  Daniel Plainview : And to you, young man.

• Daniel Plainview : [Daniel, suspicious of Henry, aims a gun at him]  I want you to tell me something.

  Henry : What?

  Daniel Plainview : What's the name of the farm next to the Hill house? What was the name of the farm next to the Hill House?

  Henry : I... I can't remem...

  Daniel Plainview : Who are you?

  Henry : I'll leave, Daniel.

  Daniel Plainview : Who are you?

  Henry : I'm no one. Just... let me get up and go.

  Daniel Plainview : Do I have a brother?

  Henry : I met a man in King City who said he was your brother. We were friends for months, working in King City, and he wanted to make his way to you, Daniel. We didn't have any money... He died of tuberculosis. He wasn't harmed, wasn't killed, nothing bad, but he told me about you and I just took his story... used his diary... Daniel... Daniel, I'm your friend. I'm not trying to hurt you. Never. Just survive...

  [Daniel fires the gun] 

• Prescott : [Plainview has just left a town meeting]  Mr. Plainview! No! Where are you going?

  Daniel Plainview : I don't need the lease, thank you.

  Prescott : We need you, we need you to...

  Daniel Plainview : Too much confusion! Thank you for your time.

  Prescott : No, no, no! There's no confusion! If you just...

  Daniel Plainview : [stops in his tracks, stares down Prescott]  I wouldn't take the lease if you gave it to me as a gift.

• Daniel Plainview : There's that house in Fond Du Lac that, uh, John Hollister built. Do you remember it?

  Henry : Mmm.

  Daniel Plainview : I thought as a boy that was the most beautiful house I'd ever seen, and I wanted it. I wanted to live in it, and eat in it, and clean it... And even as a boy, I wanted to have children to run around in it.

  Henry : You can have anything you like now, Daniel, and you should. Where are you gonna build it?

  Daniel Plainview : Here, maybe. Near the ocean.

  Henry : Would you make it look like that house?

  Daniel Plainview : I think if I saw that house now, it'd make me sick.

• Daniel Plainview : [Daniel has covered his face with a napkin]  So Standard offered us a million dollars for the Little Boston leases, and I told H. M. Tilford where he could shove that, and we made a deal with Union! On the pipeline! And that whole ocean of oil underneath our fields!

  H.M. Tilford : [to his tablemates]  ... 150,000 dollars...

  Man : We needed the money to drill.

  Man : I go out to meet him. He's getting oil on the property. We're trying to make a claim on it. Offered him a million dollars. Turned us down flat.

  Daniel Plainview : [growing frustrated]  All right.

  [stands up, walks over and leans in to Tilford's face] 

  Daniel Plainview : I want you to look over there.

  [points towards H.W] 

  H.M. Tilford : Daniel, let me introduce you...

  Daniel Plainview : Look over there, you see. That's my son. You see him? You SEE?

  H.M. Tilford : I see him.

  Daniel Plainview : You don't tell me how to raise my family. I told you not to tell me how to raise my family. So, what do you see?

  H.M. Tilford : I'm very happy for you that...

  Daniel Plainview : Yes, I've made a deal with Union and my son is happy and safe.

  H.M. Tilford : Congratulations. Excellent...

  Daniel Plainview : I'm taking care of him now, so... You look like a fool, don't you Tilford?

  H.M. Tilford : [long pause]  Yes.

  Daniel Plainview : Y-y-y-yes, you do.

  H.M. Tilford : [embarrassed]  Excuse me gentlemen...

  Daniel Plainview : Oh, excuse me gentlemen. Excuse him, gentlemen.

  [to Tilford] 

  Daniel Plainview : I told you what I was gonna do.

  [drinks Tilford's whiskey] 

• Eli Sunday : How is all the work coming?

  Daniel Plainview : Everything's good.

  Eli Sunday : All the men are provided for?

  Daniel Plainview : Of course.

  Eli Sunday : Spirits seem high. Is there... anything that you need from me? Anything the church can do for you?

  Daniel Plainview : I don't believe so, no. Thank you.

  Eli Sunday : I understand you've asked the people to gather round and watch the well begin tomorrow, is that right?

  Daniel Plainview : That's right.

  Eli Sunday : I will bless the well. Before you begin, you should introduce me. You'll see me walk up towards the oil well, and...

  Daniel Plainview : The derrick.

  Eli Sunday : You'll see me walk up, and then you can say my name.

  Daniel Plainview : When you walk up?

  Eli Sunday : Yes. You'll see me walk up, and then you could say "The proud son of these hills, who tended his father's flock", and then you could say my name.

  Daniel Plainview : That's fine.

  Eli Sunday : And what happens then?

  Daniel Plainview : Well, then we start the drill.

  Eli Sunday : It's a simple blessing, Daniel, but an important one. It's just a few words, it won't take long. What time?

  Daniel Plainview : What time's good for you, Eli?

  Eli Sunday : Four o'clock.

  Daniel Plainview : Well, let's make it four o'clock then. My thanks for your visit.

  Eli Sunday : Good day. Thank you.

• William Bandy : I'm Bandy.

  Daniel Plainview : Uh, yes. Yes. Um... William Bandy, huh? Yeah, I'd like to lease your land.

  William Bandy : I had asked for you to come and talk to be me before. When you were leasing land.

  Daniel Plainview : That's right, yes. My boy's been very sick, you know.

  William Bandy : This was before your boy got sick. Now, I know that you would like to build a pipeline through my property. Is that right, what I've heard?

  Daniel Plainview : It's absolutely right, and, uh... well... It's an eight-inch pipe. It can buried with your consent. I guarantee you absolutely no disruption...

  William Bandy : God. God has told me what you must do.

  Daniel Plainview : And what is that?

  William Bandy : You should be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

  Daniel Plainview : Oh, but I... I... I am. I have been washed, Mr. Bandy. I... I have been.

  William Bandy : It's your only way to salvation AND your only way for what you want. You can take it at the Church of the Third Revelation.

  Daniel Plainview : I'll pay you three thousand dollars.

  William Bandy : I'd like you to be part of our church.

  Daniel Plainview : I'll pay you five thousand dollars.

  William Bandy : Be baptized, be forgiven for the sin that you've done.

  Daniel Plainview : What sin are you, uh, referring to, Mr. Bandy? My... my sin of drilling?

• Daniel Plainview : [Eli is intending to bless the well]  I thank you all so much for visiting with us at this time. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of you, and I hope, very much in the months to come, I'll be able to visit with each and every one of you. Ah... I'm better at digging holes in the ground than making speeches, so let's forget the speech for this evening, just make it a simple blessing. You see, one man doesn't prospect from the ground. It takes a whole community of good people, such as yourselves... and, uh, this is good. We stay together. We pray together, we work together and, if the good Lord smiles kindly on our endeavor, we share in the wealth together. Now before we spud in Mary's Well number one - named for the lovely Miss Mary Sunday here by my side, a proud daughter of these hills - I'd just like to say God bless these honest labors of ours; and, of course, God bless you all. Amen.

• [first words] 

  Daniel Plainview : There she is. There she is.

• Daniel Plainview : Eli! Tragedy at the well last night.

  Eli Sunday : Yes, I heard.

  Daniel Plainview : Joe Ghunda was a man of considerable faith, so if you wish to say a few words, his burial's at noon, tomorrow.

  Eli Sunday : Daniel, this accident could have been avoided. It is terrible to think of that well working away out there, unblessed...

  Daniel Plainview : Yes, it could have. These men are working twelve hour shifts and they need their rest. If they don't have it, they start to make stupid mistakes...

  Eli Sunday : I've seen some of the men drinking. Don't you think that has something to do with it...

  Daniel Plainview : We need these men well rested to bring in this well. They can't get that if they're up here listening to your gospel, and then the well can't produce and blow gold all over the place...

  Eli Sunday : I wish I had more time with Joe Ghunda. More could have been done...

  Daniel Plainview : And then the well can't produce and blow gold all over the place. Now, would you see to it that his personal possessions find their way back to his family, please? Thank you. Heard you were planning some renovations?

  Eli Sunday : Yes. Our congregation is growing strongly. We need more room.

  Daniel Plainview : Well, that was one goddamn helluva show.

  [chuckles and walks off] 

  Eli Sunday : We were happy to have you, Daniel.

• H.W. Plainview : How much are we gonna pay them?

  Daniel Plainview : Who's that?

  H.W. Plainview : Sunday family.

  Daniel Plainview : Well, I'm not gonna give them oil prices. I'll give them quail prices.

• Daniel Plainview : Now go. Go and play some more, and don't come back.

• Daniel Plainview : Mr. Bankside, I'm not going to waste your time; I'd certainly appreciate it if you didn't waste mine. Now, if you wish to sign with me, we can have a well drilling within ten days, but your lot is further north from the discovery well up here, and so... Well, that means we'll probably have to dig deeper. And if there's as much oil here as I think there is, it'll be harder to reach, but once we find it, we can take it right out. You have to act quickly, because very soon these fields will be dry. Now... I need you to know what you want to do. Now, because of the distance from the discovery well, I'll pay you a smaller royalty than you'd get down there, but I'm prepared to give you a thousand dollar bonus on your lot.

  Mr. Bankside : What kind of royalty are you talking about?

  Daniel Plainview : 1/6th, plus a guarantee to start drilling within ten days. Now, that's something you won't find anywhere else.

  [long silence] 

  Daniel Plainview : What age your children, ma'am?

  Mrs. Bankside : 10 and 12. Mr. Plainview, a question, sir. Where is your wife?

  Daniel Plainview : She died in childbirth, Mrs. Bankside, so I... so... Well, it's just me and my son now.

• Daniel Plainview : [Paul Sunday has offered to sell Plainview information]  Why'd you come to me?

  Paul Sunday : You just brought this well in?

  Daniel Plainview : That's right.

  Paul Sunday : Yes, so just give me five hundred dollars in cash, right now, and I'll tell you where it is.

  Daniel Plainview : I'll tell you what I'll do, son. I'll give you a hundred dollars now and, if it proves to be a promising lease, then give a thousand dollar bonus...

  Paul Sunday : Six hundred dollars.

  Daniel Plainview : Just tell me one thing to help me decide. What else have you got up there. What do you grow?

  Paul Sunday : We have a big ranch, but it's mostly rocks. We can plant things; nothing will grow but weeds. What makes you think it's up?

  Fletcher Hamilton : Is there sulfur around, or alkali deposits?

  Paul Sunday : Alkali, nearby. I don't know sulfur.

  [notices H.W] 

  Paul Sunday : Is that your son?

  Daniel Plainview : Yes.

  Paul Sunday : [to H.W]  Hi.

  H.W. Plainview : Hi.

  Paul Sunday : [to Fletcher]  Who are you?

  Fletcher Hamilton : I'm Fletcher Hamilton. Nice to meet you, son. What's your name?

  Paul Sunday : What do you do?

  Fletcher Hamilton : I work with Mr. Plainview.

  Daniel Plainview : Here's five hundred dollars. You tell me something worth hearing, this money's yours.

  Paul Sunday : I come from a town called Little Boston, in Isabella County.

• Daniel Plainview : I want you to look over there.

  [points towards H.W] 

  H.M. Tilford : Daniel, let me introduce you...

  Daniel Plainview : Look over there. You see? That's my son. You see him?

  H.M. Tilford : Yes.

  Daniel Plainview : You SEE?

  H.M. Tilford : I see him.

  Daniel Plainview : You don't tell me how to raise my family. I told you not to tell me how to raise my family.

  H.M. Tilford : Daniel...

  Daniel Plainview : So, what do you see?

  H.M. Tilford : I'm very happy for you that...

  Daniel Plainview : Yes, I've made a deal with Union. My son is happy. He's safe.

  H.M. Tilford : Congratulations.

  Daniel Plainview : I'm taking care of him now, so...

  H.M. Tilford : Excellent.

  Daniel Plainview : You look like a fool, don't you, Tilford?

  H.M. Tilford : [long pause]  Yes.

  Daniel Plainview : J-j-j-j-j-j-yes. Yes, you do.

  H.M. Tilford : [embarrassed]  Excuse me gentlemen...

  Daniel Plainview : Oh, excuse me gentlemen. Excuse him, gentlemen.

  Daniel Plainview : [to Tilford]  I told you what I was gonna do.

  [drinks Tilford's whiskey] 

• Daniel Plainview : I want to earn enough money, I can get away from everyone.

• Daniel Plainview : I wouldn't take the lease if you gave it to me as a gift.

• Daniel Plainview : There are times when I see people and see nothing worth liking.

• Eli Sunday : Do you understand?

  Daniel Plainview : Do you understand, Eli? That's more to the point. Do you understand? I drink your water. I drink it up every day. I drink the blood of Lamb.

• Eli Sunday : What is it that brought you here, sir?

  Daniel Plainview : The Good Lord's guidance.

• Henry : We can eat and get some women.

  Daniel Plainview : Take them to the Peachtree dance. l say, get liquored up and take them to the Peachtree dance.

• Daniel Plainview : Who are you?

  Henry : I'm no one.

• Eli Sunday : What about our oil?

  Daniel Plainview : What about it?

  Eli Sunday : We have oil here. That's worth something.

  Daniel Plainview : Do you have someone who can drill for it? Do you think there's oil here?

  Eli Sunday : I know there is.

  Daniel Plainview : lt's very expensive to drill. To get it up and out of the ground. You ever tried that before?

  Eli Sunday : How much is it?

  Daniel Plainview : Costly.

  Eli Sunday : Well, our oil sits right up on top of the ground.

  Daniel Plainview : l believe that's called seepage. Doesn't necessarily mean there's anything underneath.

  Eli Sunday : What would you give us for it?

• Daniel Plainview : -I'd be happy to work with you.

  Eli Sunday : -You would?

  Eli Sunday : Yes, yes, of course. That's wonderful.

  Daniel Plainview : But there is one condition for this work.

  Eli Sunday : All right.

  Daniel Plainview : I'd like you to tell me that you are a false prophet.

  Daniel Plainview : I'd like you to tell me that you are, and have been a false prophet.

  Daniel Plainview : And that God is a superstition.

  Eli Sunday : But that's a lie.

  Eli Sunday : It's a lie. I cannot say it.

  [grinning] 

  Eli Sunday : -When can we begin to drill?

  Daniel Plainview : -Very soon.

  Eli Sunday : How long will it take to bring in the well?

  Daniel Plainview : It shouldn't take long.

  Eli Sunday : I would like a $100,000 signing bonus, plus the five that is owed to me with interest.

  Daniel Plainview : That's only fair.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet, and God is a superstition.

  Eli Sunday : If that's what you believe, then I will say it.

  Daniel Plainview : -Say it like you mean it.

  Eli Sunday : -Daniel.

  Daniel Plainview : Say it like it's your sermon.

  Daniel Plainview : Don't smile.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet. -God is a superstition.

  Daniel Plainview : -Why don't you stand up? Put your glass down.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet. God is a superstition.

  Daniel Plainview : -Eli, stop. Just imagine this is your church here and you have a full congregation, so...

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet. God is a superstition.

  Daniel Plainview : Say it again.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet. God is a superstition.

  Daniel Plainview : They can't hear you at the back.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet. God is a superstition.

  Daniel Plainview : Say it again.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!

  Daniel Plainview : Say it again.

  Eli Sunday : I am a false prophet! God is a superstition!

  Daniel Plainview : Those areas have been drilled.

• Daniel Plainview : Bastard in the basket