Eddie Felson: Do you smell that?
Vincent Lauria: What, smoke?
Carmen: No, Money.
Eddie Felson: Human moves, kid. You study the watch... while I study you.
Eddie Felson: The balls roll funny for everybody, kiddo.
Eddie Felson: Pool excellence is not about excellent pool.
Carmen: You really think Vincent's that good?
Eddie Felson: Well, he's got the eye, he's got the stroke, he's got the flake... he's got the flake down cold. But can he flake on and flake off? I don't know. That's not clear.
Eddie Felson: Where's the Balabushka?
Carmen: Vincent took it.
Eddie Felson: You said he was out.
Carmen: He was in and out.
Eddie Felson: He took the cue stick?
Carmen: Yes.
Eddie Felson: And you let him?
Carmen: Well, so what?
Eddie Felson: Shit.
Carmen: Oh, man, I'm sorry.
Eddie Felson: Jesus. Goddamn. Child care.
Vincent Lauria: Hey Julian I just want your best game.
Eddie Felson: Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.
Eddie Felson: I'm not your daddy, I'm not your boyfriend, so don't be playing games with me. I'm your partner.
Carmen: You win one more game, you're gonna be humping your fist for a long time. Got that, Vincent?
Eddie Felson: I can always go back to whiskey, it's been very good to me.
Eddie Felson: It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it.
Orvis: You know who you got stakehorsin' here for you? This here's Fast Eddie Felson. Who the hell are you? The end of the world?
Eddie Felson: This ain't pool. This is for bangers. Straight pool is pool. This is like hand-ball, or cribbage, or something. Straight pool, you gotta be a real surgeon to get 'em, you know? It's all finesse. Now, every thing is nine-ball, 'cause it's fast, good for T.V., good for a lot of break shots... Oh, well. What the hell. Checkers sells more than chess.
Answer: Because it wasn't about the money or a personal issue with Vincent. Eddie had a sudden realization about his own integrity and what he was doing (helping to rig games' outcome to skew betting odds). He wanted to win legitimately against Vincent. Earlier, he had become rather fed up with Vincent's egotistical nature and arrogance, which led to them parting ways.
raywest ★