How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Departed.
Quote #1
COLIN: Queenan is compartmentalizing. He's splitting everything up. He's f***ing smart. You know this. I can get the rat. You just gotta let me do it my way, Frank.
Colin is right, you know. Captain Queenan is a smart dude, and sooner or later, he's going to find a way to figure out who the rat in his department is. Now, Costello thinks that just threatening Colin is the best way to get something out of him. But Colin thinks he can do things a whole lot better if he stays calm and does things his way.
Quote #2
COSTELLO: Non Serviam.
COLIN: James Joyce.
COSTELLO: Smart, Colin.
When Colin is a young boy, he already understands quotes from James Joyce—though to be fair, the quote is actually something James Joyce himself took from John Milton's Paradise Lost, but we'll give the kid a free pass on this one. He's still smart, as we come to understand from the moment we meet him. This is one of the things that Frank Costello likes about him, too.
Quote #3
DIGNAM: You had 1400 on your SATs, kid. You're an astronaut, not a statie.
As Dignam not so subtly puts it, he thinks that Billy Costigan shouldn't be a cop, because the kid is just too darn smart. He thinks that Billy is just a kid who's out to prove something to himself by joining the police force—and a knucklehead like Dignam has no time for this.