Citizen Kane Pride Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Citizen Cane.

Quote #7

KANE: Don't you worry about me. I'm Charles Foster Kane. I'm no cheap, crooked politician, trying to save himself from the consequences of his crimes—

Charles hates to think that he and Gettys are similar in any way. In his mind, he's completely different from the crooked politicians who spent most of their time in office covering up their crimes. He thinks of himself as a sort of messiah, but he's no good to anyone if he can't get his ego under control.

Quote #8

EMILY: Why should anyone vote for him? He's made it quite clear to the people what he thinks of them. Children—to be told one thing one day, something else the next, as the whim seizes him.

It doesn't take Emily long to see what's at the core of Charles Kane: pure pride. He thinks of all the other people in the world as little children who need to be told what to think.

Quote #9

BERNSTEIN: Mr. Kane is finishing your piece the way you started it.

When Leland wakes up from a drunken stupor, he thinks that Charles has taken his review to rewrite it. But on the contrary, Charles is going to finish the review just the way Leland wanted it. The reason for this is that he wants to show Leland that he's an honest person. But here's the thing—he still can only do something like this if he's the one controlling the typewriter. It's not like he lets Leland control the situation, which means that he still can't get over his pride.