How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Artist.
Quote #1
ZIMMER: Don't laugh, George! That's the future.
GEORGE: If that's the future, you can have it!
There's a specific focus on the Exit sign above the door in this scene, and when George leaves through that door, there's a foreboding feeling that he might be exiting the movie biz for good.
Quote #2
ZIMMER: You and I belong to another era, George. The world is talking now. […] I wish it wasn't like this, but the public wants fresh meat, and the public is never wrong.
GEORGE: I'm the one people come to see. They never needed to hear me!
The public sure is brutal, cannibalizing all these entertainers, always jonesing for the next big thing…
Quote #3
PEPPY: Out with the old, in with the new. Make way for the young!
In what becomes a kind of mantra of the era, Peppy betrays her own self-absorption.
Quote #4
GEORGE: How long has it been since I last paid you, Clifton?
CLIFTON: One year, sir.
GEORGE: You're fired…keep the car and find yourself another job.
CLIFTON: I don't want another job.
The times they are a changin', but Clifton is that dude that always stays the same. He's unfazed by George's new poverty and he can't imagine working for anyone else.