- Mrs. Merryweather: This whole thing is... ghastly!
- 'Knuckles' Greer: I can think of a better word than that for it.
- Mrs. Merryweather: You can?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: Why don't they lock you up with the rest of us? What have you got, a pipeline direct to the big brass?
- Rita King: Why should they lock me up with a group of people who have been fools enough to let themselves get trapped in China? They had plenty of time to get out. I've always lived at this hotel. It's comfortable. I like comfort. Besides, I'm not a citizen of the western nations. I was born in Tangiers. And I am a woman of all countries. With no politics.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: No politics?
- Rita King: That's right. I'm not on anybody's team. I'm strictly on my own.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: Are you happy that way?
- Rita King: What difference does it make?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: I don't think you are. I can see in that.
- Rita King: What else can you see?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: I'm not sure. But I think there might be an old dream there.
- Rita King: But it's dying out, is that it?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: It does for all of us.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: You gotta name?
- 'Knuckles' Greer: I gotta whole bunch of 'em... on a police blotter.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: An artist, eh? What do you hope to paint around here.
- Paul Grant: A portrait of despair, perhaps. Human panic.
- Colonel Zorek: Did you forget our curfew law, doctor? No one is allowed on the streets after 7 without a permit. Why did you try to escape?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: Is that what I was trying to do?
- Colonel Zorek: [Reading notes] Left your office at 9:21. Cross Nanjing Road at Khartoum through narrow winding alley to Honan Road one block north. Reach Soochow Creek at 9:38 by way of still another alley. Do you like dark, rat-infested alleys, doctor?
- Dr. Dan Maynard: Which one did you crawl out of?
- Colonel Zorek: You will speak to civil authorities with respect.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: A stooge and a Commie!
- Colonel Zorek: [Slaps Maynard's face] You will be held in protective custody.
- Dr. Dan Maynard: Just make sure you have someone around to protect you.