Glengarry Glen Ross Respect/Reputation Quotes

You know how people will say that if you do certain things they'll stick with you forever? People say stuff like that a lot, and here we see that Levene believes it. He knows that people get ideas in their heads about other people, and those ideas just don't go away. He's been down for a while, and he knows if he stays down much longer, that reputation will stick.

This is the reputation Levene used to have—people used to think of him as a closer who made other people's fortunes. Not so anymore, but he desperately wants to be remembered for it.

You know what Levene loves talking about? Yep—reputation. This is an important moment in the play because he's dropping some wisdom on the hated Williamson, and trying to show him that a man makes a name for himself by acting with honor whether he's on top or not. Notice that Levene says otherwise instead of being down or on the bottom. He just can't bring himself to say those words about himself.

Reputation is like nostalgia for Levene, and he loves recounting how big time he used to be. What he seems to miss is that Williamson doesn't care what Levene did in the past—he's not closing now, so it just doesn't matter.

At his core, Moss cannot stand what he sees as the utter disrespect the head office shows him and the others who are out on the street trying to make sales happen. In his mind, if they're grinding it out every day, they should be the ones getting paid for it. This mentality is what leads Moss to plot the robbery. There's some hypocrisy to this though, right? He plots it, but doesn't want to actually do it… and yet he still wants the pay off. Sound like the head office to you?

Even if his name wasn't right there, you would know who said this, because you've caught on to what Levene is all about. Levene is all about the reputation he used to have in the past.

This quote is gold because it covers respect and reputation. Once again, Levene is talking about how great he was in the past and how he gained the incredible rep he had. At the same time, he's showing how little respect these salesmen have for their clients. They don't care what they; they're just going to sell them whatever it is they have to sell. There's nothing quite like taking advantage of people to get yourself a great reputation.

Quick—guess who Levene is talking to. Yeah, you know it: he's talking to Williamson, and showing him some of that sweet disrespect that's going to come back to bite him in the end.

Man, Aaronow just cannot catch a break. He's getting killed on the board, he hates his job, he got pushed around by Moss, and now the cop doesn't even show him any respect. If you read the play quickly, you might find a connection between Aaronow and Levene. They're both older guys and they're both down on their luck as far as work goes.

Take a closer look though, and you'll see some real differences between the two. Aaronow craves respect just like Levene, but Aaronow doesn't seem to have the past to fall back on like Levene. Aaronow doesn't spend time talking about how great he used to be, and one gets the sense that Aaronow might never have been the #1 guy in the room. He comes in and works, but he doesn't quite seem to have that killer instinct that the other guys have.

In the end, Levene's old reputation doesn't matter at all. It doesn't save him from the cops, and Roma can't even get the full nickname out there before the cop shouts him down and sends Levene to the back room. This is it—Levene's journey has come to an end.