How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from West Side Story.
Quote #4
ACTION: Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease.
RIFF: Hey! I got a social disease!
Of all the characters in the film, Riff is the one who really feels the most youthful: the guy for whom the world is his oyster, and there's no problem so big it can't be laughed away.
Quote #5
DOC: When do you kids stop? You make this world lousy!
ACTION: We didn't make it, Doc.
This is a surprisingly astute observation from a no-good street punk, and if you've ever been young, you know exactly how it feels. Grown-ups wrecked the world, and then pass it on to their kids with the assumption that those problems are all the kids' fault.
Quote #6
ACTION: When you was my age? When my old man was my age, when my brother was my age... You was never my age, none of ya! And the sooner you creeps get hip to that, the sooner you'll dig us!
DOC: I'll dig you an early grave, that's what I'll dig.
These kids only see Doc's age; they can't imagine that he might once have been feeling what they're feeling. Action doesn't believe in "older but wiser."