"The plan I've come up with is flawless."
Hugo says this to O to ensure him that the plan he has to kill Mike and Desi is perfect. This quotation is both a sign of Hugo's hubris, as well as O's flawed willingness to believe the one person who is trying to sabotage him.
"You make sure you tell them the truth. You tell them I loved that girl."
O says this toward the end of the film, pleading with anyone within earshot to tell the truth about what happened between him and Desi. O finally understands that his jealousy impeded his ability to see what was real, and before taking his own life, he wants to right the reputation that was destroyed.
"All my life I always wanted to fly."
The film opens with these lines from Hugo, as he explains that he has always desired to soar above others. This quotation sets the film up to show how Hugo attempts to achieve this goal by ruining the life of his teammate and friend. It also suggests that Hugo is a type of narrator for the film, which is also the case with Iago in Shakespeare's Othello.
"I love him like my own son."
After the first game in the film, Coach Goulding awards O Most Valuable Player. He notes in his speech that he loves O as if he were his own son, and the camera quickly pans to Hugo, Coach Goulding's actual son. This is one of the early instances in the film in which Hugo's jealousy is spiked by his father's adoration of O and negligence toward his own son.
"Black like the slave ship belly that brought us here."
During one of the basketball games, the rap song "Astronomy" by Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) plays in the background. The lyrics of the song celebrate blackness and unity among Black people, while also acknowledging the long-standing oppression of Black people by white people. This song, which plays at the height of O's basketball career, emphasizes O's success and subtly attaches that success to the Black community.
"Sometimes I see things that aren't really there."
Hugo says these words to O when he is trying to plant the seed in O's mind that Desi is cheating on him with Mike. Hugo is clearly lying to O, but his words actually come to define O's behavior for the rest of the film. As O unravels more and more, he starts to have visions that run counter to reality.
"I thought he wrote movies."
In a moment of meta-cinematic comic relief, Hugo's teacher asks him if he is able to name any of Shakespeare's poems. Hugo replies with this quotation, an ironic moment as the film itself is based on a Shakespeare play. This moment also remains true to Shakespeare's own style, as many of his plays featured meta-theatrical moments that made audiences aware they were watching a performance.
"They don't know who they fuckin' with."
O says this about Desi and Mike to Hugo just before the slam dunk contest, after O has started using drugs. His aggressive language suggests that his jealousy has started to escalate. This is the point in the film where O's "fall" starts to become clear to others, as shortly after this conversation he intentionally shatters the basketball hoop.
"They call you 'the nigger,' man."
When O comes to Hugo for confirmation that Desi is cheating on him, Hugo tells O that this is how Mike and Desi talk about O when they are together. This quotation is significant because it is clearly hurtful to O, but even more important, it actually contradicts a previous conversation O has with Desi at the beginning of the film. When O refers to himself as "that type of nigga," Desi is noticeably bothered and asks him not to use that word. Thus, this moment represents an instance where O could have realized Hugo was lying to him if he was not blinded by his own jealousy, misogyny, and insecurity.
"You tell them where I'm from didn't make me do this."
At the end of the film, O realizes that he has been set up by Hugo and has effectively led himself down a path of self-destruction. Just before taking his own life, O exclaims to anyone in earshot that his fall had nothing to do with his upbringing or his blackness. Instead, he says that he was destroyed by a wealthy white prep school student (Hugo). Here, O acknowledges that his reputation has been ruined but desperately wants people to know that his fall is the fault of Hugo – and Hugo's prejudice – rather than his past or his race.
