How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Schindler's List.
Quote #1
SCHERNER: Who is that man?
MAITRE D': That's Oskar Schindler!
SCHERNER: And who is Oskar Schindler?
MAITRE D': Um… I don't know, he's just this good-looking guy with a lot of money. Must be important.
Oskar is the epitome of faking it 'til you make it. He convinces everyone that he's so important until suddenly he really is. He knows the value of reputation.
Quote #2
[Poldek Pfefferberg, on his way into a black market meeting, is looking at a poster showing the dimensions of a Jewish brain—smaller than a normal brain, of course.]
The Nazis trotted out fake science to prove that Jews by their very biological makeup were an inferior species of humans. You could be a complete atheist, but if you were of Jewish descent, you were still a Jew and worthy of extermination.
Quote #3
PFEFFERBERG: Ordnungsdienst. I'm a policeman now, could you believe it? I know it's hard to believe.
MAN: Oh no, it's not hard to believe.
The suggestion here is that labels are less important than who the person is underneath… and conversely, that there isn't much difference between crooks and cops.