Kane : Rosebud ...

Journaliste : How did you find the business conditions in Europe ?
Kane : Uh, how did I find business conditions in Europe, Mr. Bones ? With great difficulty.

Kane : Anything else ? When I was a reporter, we asked them quicker than that.

Rawlston : All we saw in that screen was that Charles Foster Kane is dead. I
know that. I read the papers. You see, Thompson. It isn't enough to tell us what the man did.
You've got to tell us who he was.
Journaliste : Needs an angle ...
Rawlston : Certainly ! Wait a minute ! What were Kane's last words ? Do you remember, boys ?
Journaliste : Yes. Yeah.
Rawlston : What were the last words he said on earth ? Maybe he told us all about himself on his death bed.
Thompson : Yeah, maybe he didn't. Maybe he was ...
Rawlston : All we saw on that screen was a big American.
Thompson : One of the biggest.
Rawlston : But how was he different from Ford or Hearst for that matter, or John Doe ?
Journaliste : Yeah, sure.
Rawlston : I tell you, Thompson. A man's dying words.
Journaliste : What were they ?
Thompson : You don't read the papers.
Rawlston : When Charles Foster Kane died, he said just one word.
Thompson : Rosebud.
Journaliste : Is that all he said ?
Thompson : Yeah.
Journaliste : Tough guy, huh ? Dies calling for Rosebud.
Rawlston : Yes. Rosebud. Just that one word. But who is she ?
Journaliste : What was it ?
Rawlston : Here's a man who could have been President, who was as loved and hated and talked about as any man in our time. But when he comes to die, he's got something on his mind called Rosebud. Now, what does that mean ?
Journaliste : A racehorse he bet on once.
Journaliste : Yeah, it didn't come in.
Rawlston : All right ! But where was the race ?
Journaliste : Rosebud.
Rawlston : Thompson!
Thompson : Yes, Mister ?
Rawlston : Hold this picture up for a week. Two weeks if you have to.
Thompson : But don't you think right after his death it might be better ...
Rawlston : Find out about the Rosebud ! Get in touch with everybody that ever knew him, or knew him well. That manager of his, uh, … Bernstein. His second wife, she is still living.
Journaliste : Susan Alexander Kane. She's running a nightclub in Atlantic City.
Journaliste : Yeah, I'll try it.
Rawlston : See them all. Get in touch with everybody that ever worked for him, whoever loved him, whoever hated his guts. I don't mean go through the City Directory, of course.
Thompson : I'll get on it right away, Mr. Rawlston.
Rawlston : Good! Rosebud, dead or alive. It'll probably turn out to be a very simple thing.

Secrétaire : Sorry. But I'm not interested in gold mines, oil wells, shipping or real estate...
Thatcher : Not interested ? Not ... « One item on your list intrigues me, the New York Inquirer, a little newspaper I understand we acquire in a foreclosure proceeding. Please don't sell it. I'm coming back to America to take charge. I think it would be fun to run a newspaper. I think it would be fun to run a newspaper !! »

Thatcher : Is that really your idea of how to run a newspaper ?!
Kane : I don't know how to run a newspaper, Mr. Thatcher. I just try everything I can think of.

Bernstein [Lisant le cable] : « Girls delightful in Cuba. Stop. Could send you prose poems about scenery but don't feel right spending your money. Stop. There is no war in Cuba. Signed, Wheeler. » Any answer ?
Kane : Yes. "Dear Wheeler. You provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war."

Kane : I am the publisher of the Inquirer ! As such, it is my duty, I'll let you in on a little secret, it is also my pleasure, to see to it that decent, hard-working people of this community aren't robbed blind by a pack of money-mad pirates just because they haven't anybody to look after their interests ! I'll let you in on another little secret, Mr. Thatcher. I think I'm the man to do it. You see I have money and property. If I don't look after the interests of the underprivileged, maybe somebody else will, maybe somebody without any money or property and that would be too bad.

Thatcher : Don't you think it's rather unwise to continue this philanthropic enterprise, this Inquirer, that's costing you a million dollars a year ?
Kane : You are right, Mr. Thatcher. I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year ! You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year I'll have to close this place in ... sixty years.

Thatcher : Too old to call me Mr. Tatcher, Charles.
Kane : You’re too old to be calling anything else.

Kane : I've got to make the New York Inquirer as important to New York as the gas in that light.

Kane : I know you're tired, gentlemen. But I brought you here for a reason. I think this little pilgrimage will do us good.
Leland : The Chronicle is a good newspaper.
Kane : The Chronicle is a good idea for a newspaper. Notice the circulation.
Bernstein : Four hundred ninety-five thousand. But, Mr. Kane, look who's working for the Chronicle. With them fellows, it's no trick to get circulation.
Kane : You're right, Mr. Bernstein.
Bernstein : You know how long it took the Chronicle to get that staff together ? Twenty years !
Kane : Twenty years. Well ... Six years ago I looked at the picture of the world's greatest newspapermen. I felt like a kid in front of a candy store. Well, tonight six years later I got my candy, all of it. Welcome, gentlemen, to the Inquirer ! Make up an extra copy of the picture and send it to the Chronicle.

Kane : I said, are we going to declare war on Spain, or are we not ?

Chanteur : Good evening, Mr. Kane. There is a man.
(There is a man)
A certain man.
(A certain man)
And for the poor you may be sure that he'll do all he can. Who is this one ?
(Who is this one ?)
This favorite son.
(This favorite son)
Just by his action has the traction magnets on the run. Who loves to smoke ?
(Who loves to smoke ?)
Enjoys a joke.
(Ha ha ha ha)
Who wouldn't get a bit upset if he were really broke. With wealth and fame.
(With wealth and fame)
He's still the same.
(He's still the same)
I'll bet you five you're not alive if you don't know his name.

Kane : I don't know how to dance.

Chanteur : What is his name ?
Bernstein : What is his name?
(It's Charlie Kane)
(It's Mr. Kane. He doesn't like the Mister. He likes good old Charlie Kane)
Bernstein : Isn't it wonderful ? Such a party !
Leland : Yes.
Bernstein : What's the matter ?
Chanteur : Who said the Miss?
(Who said the Miss ?)
Was made to kiss.
(Was made to kiss)
And when he meets one always tries to do exactly this. Who buys the food?
(Who buys the food)
Who buys the drinks ?
(Who buys the drinks ?)
Who thinks that dough was made to spend and acts the way he thinks. Now, is it Joe? No, no, no, no.
(No, no, no, no)

Leland : Well, after the first couple of months, she and Charlie didn't see much of each other
except at breakfast. It was a marriage just like any other marriage.
Emily : Oh, God !
Kane : You're beautiful.
Emily : Oh, I can't be.
Kane : Yes, you are. You’re very, very beautiful.
Emily : I've never been to six parties in one night in my whole life.
Kane : Extremely beautiful.
Emily : I've never been up so late.
Kane : It's just matter of a habit.
Emily : I wonder what servants will think.
Kane : They'll think we enjoyed ourselves.
Emily : They are.
Kane : Didn't we ?
Emily : I don't think why do you have to go straight out to the newspaper ?
Kane : You never should have married a newspaperman. They are worse than sailors. I absolutely adore you.
Emily : Oh, Charles, even newspapermen have to sleep.
Kane : I'll call Mr. Bernstein and have him put off my appointments until noon. What time is it ?
Emily : Why, I don't know. It's late.
Kane : It's early.

Emily : Charles, do you know how long you kept me waiting last night while you went to the newspaper for ten minutes ? What do you do with the newspaper in the middle of the night ?
Kane : Emily, my dear. Your only correspondent is the Inquirer.

Emily : Sometimes I think I'd prefer a rival of flesh and blood.
Kane : Oh, Emily. I don't spend that much time on the newspaper.
Emily : It isn't just the time. It's what you print. Attacking the President.
Kane : You mean uncle John.
Emily : I mean the President of the United States.
Kane : He's still uncle John. He's still a well-meaning fat head ...
Emily : Charles !
Kane : ... who's letting a pack of high pressure crooks run his administration. This whole oil scandal.
Emily : He happens to be the President, Charles. Not you.
Kane : That's a mistake that will be corrected one of these days.

Emily : Your Mr. Bernstein sent junior the most incredible atrocity yesterday, Charles. I simply can't have it in the nursery.
Kane : Mr. Bernstein is apt to pay a visit to the nursery now and then.
Emily : Does he have to ?
Kane : Yes.

Emily : Really, Charles. People will think ...
Kane : ... What I tell them to think !

Kane : Hello, Jedediah.
Leland : Hello, Charlie. I didn't know we were speaking.
Kane : Sure we're speaking, Jedediah. You're fired.

Assistante : What's Rosebud ?
Raymond : That's what he said when he died.
Journaliste : Did you ever find out what it means ?
Thompson : No, I didn't.
Photographe : What did you find out about him, Jerry ?
Thompson : Not much, really. We'd better get started.
Journaliste : What have you been doing all this time ?
Thompson : Playing with a jigsaw puzzle.
Assistante : If you could have found out about what Rosebud meant, I bet that would've explained everything.
Thompson : No, I don't think so. No. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything. I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. A missing piece.