How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Chinatown.
Quote #1
GITTES: Look, pal—I make an honest living. People don't come to me unless they're miserable and I help 'em out of a bad situation. I don't kick them out of their homes like you jerks who work in the bank.
Jake is defensive about his work. He knows how it looks to some people—like he's breaking up marriages—and it's important to him that he believes in the fundamentally moral nature of the work he's doing.
Quote #2
EVELYN: Whoever's behind my husband's death, why have they gone to all this trouble?
GITTES: Money. How they plan to make it by emptying the reservoirs—that I don't know.
Money is the "root of all evil." But it's apparently worth a murder and worsening drought…at least in the eyes of the bad guys.
Quote #3
GITTES: Did you know that you're a very wealthy woman?
EMMA: I'm not!
Emma is being unwittingly exploited. She seems to be leading a fairly happy life at this retirement home, but she's actually being used to further the greedy designs of Noah Cross. Noah is buying land under her name and those of the other residents, and transporting the stolen water to their property.