Edward Arnold Quotes

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff You're an idiot, Mr. Kirby.

Anthony P. Kirby What?

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff A stupid idiot.

Anthony P. Kirby You can't talk to me like that.

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff Oh, yes I can. Scum, are we? What makes you think you're such a superior human being? Your money? If you do, you're a dull-witted fool, Mr. Kirby. And a poor one at that. You're poorer than any of these people you call scum, because I'll guarantee at least they've got some friends. While you with your jungle and your long claws, as you call em, you'll wind up your miserable existence without anything you can call friend. You may be a high mogul to yourself, Mr. Kirby, but to me you're a failure - failure as a man, failure as a human being, even a failure as a father. When your time comes, I doubt if a single tear will be shed over you. The world will probably cry, "Good riddance." That's a nice prospect, Mr. Kirby. I hope you'll enjoy it. I hope you'll get some comfort out of all this coin you've been sweating over then!

Daniel Webster What are you looking for, Colonel? What's your name?

Martin Van Buren Aldrich Martin Van Buren Aldrich. My pa is the only Democrat in Cross Corners. He said you had horns and a tail, Mr. Webster, but I ain't seen them yet.

Daniel Webster You see, Martin, I only wear them when I'm in Washington. That's the trouble. But if you ever get down there, I'll be glad to show them to you.

Martin Van Buren Aldrich Gee, would you, Mr. Webster? Honest?

Daniel Webster Of course! And you tell your father for me, that we may be on opposite sides of the fence, but I'm always glad to hear of a man who holds to his own opinion. As long as the people do that, this country is all right.

Jabez Stone What do you have on your mind?

Daniel Webster You, Jabez Stone. You and a lot of poor farmers hereabouts... all good men of the earth and in trouble because of you. Or am I wrong about those contracts?

Jabez Stone Without me and my money they wouldn't have anything.

Daniel Webster They'd have a good neighbor - and that's worth more than anything else... much, much more.

Daniel Webster Oh, it's you again. What do you want?

Mr. Scratch Well, with the presidential election coming up, I thought I could be of some help, sir.

Daniel Webster I'd rather see you on the side of the opposition.

Mr. Scratch Oh, I'll be there, too.

Daniel Webster Gentlemen of the jury, tonight it is my privilege to address a group of men I've long been acquainted with in song and story, but men I had never hoped to see. My worthy opponent, Mister Scratch, called you Americans all. Mister Scratch is right. You were Americans all. Oh, what a heritage you were born to share. Gentlemen of the jury, I envy you, for you were present at the birth of a mighty union. It was given to you to hear those first cries of pain and behold the shining babe, born of blood and tears. You are called upon tonight to judge a man named Jabez Stone. What is his case? He's accused of breach of contract. He made a deal to find a shortcut in his life, to get rich quickly, the same kind of a deal all of you once made.

Daniel Webster Mister Scratch once told you that your soul meant nothing. And you believed him. And you lost your freedom. ] isn't just a big word. It is the morning and the bread and the risen sun. It was for freedom we came to these shores in boats and ships. It was a long journey and a hard one and a bitter one. Yes, there is sadness in being a man... but it is a proud thing, too. And out of the suffering and the starvation and the wrong and the right, a new thing has come: a free man. And when the whips of the oppressors are broken and their names forgotten and destroyed, free men will be talking and walking under a free star. Yes, we have planted freedom in this earth like wheat. And we have said to the skies above us, "A man shall own his own soul... " Now, here is this man. He is your brother. You were Americans all. You can't be on his side, the side of the oppressor. Let Jabez Stone keep his soul, a soul which doesn't belong to him alone but to his family, his son, and his country. Gentlemen of the jury, don't let this country go to the devil. Free Jabez Stone. God bless the United States and the men who made her free.

Mr. Scratch You shall have your trial, Mr. Webster. But I'm sure you'll agree, this is hardly the case for an ordinary jury.

Daniel Webster Let it be the quick or the dead, so long as it is an American judge and an American jury!

Mr. Scratch The quick or the dead! You have said it. You must pardon the leathery toughness of one or two.

Jabez Stone Mr. Webster!

Mr. Scratch Captain Kidd, he killed men for gold. Simon Girty, the renegade; he burned men for gold. Governor Dale, he broke men on the wheel. Asa, the Black Monk, he choked them to death. Floyd Ireson and Stede Bonnet, the fiendish butchers. Walter Butler, the king of the massacre. Big and Little Harpe, robbers and murderers. Teach, the cutthroat. Morton, the vicious lawyer. And General ], you remember him, no doubt.

Daniel Webster A jury of the damned.

Mr. Scratch Dastards, liars, traitors, knaves.

Daniel Webster This is monstrous.

Mr. Scratch You asked for a jury trial, Mr. Webster. Your suggestion – the quick or the dead.

Daniel Webster I asked for a fair trial.

Mr. Scratch Americans all.

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff What if all your deals fall through? It might be a good thing for you.

Anthony P. Kirby Man, you're crazy.

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff Well, maybe I am. I used to be just like you. Then, one morning when I was going up the elevator, it struck me I wasn't having any fun. So, I came right down and never went back. Yes sir. That was 35 years ago.

Anthony P. Kirby Admirable. You haven't done a thing since, huh?

Grandpa Martin Vanderhoff Oh, yes, yes, yes. Just the things I wanted to do. I collected stamps. Went to the zoo when I got the notion. Took up the harmonica. And even found time to notice when Spring came around.

Daniel Webster This appears - mind you, I say appears - to be properly drawn. But you shan't have this man. A man isn't a piece of property. Mr. Stone is an American citizen... and an American citizen cannot be forced into the service of a foreign prince.

Mr. Scratch Foreign? Who calls me a foreigner?

Daniel Webster Well, I never heard of the de... I never heard of you claiming American citizenship.

Mr. Scratch And who has a better right? When the first wrong was done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put out for the Congo, I stood on the deck. Am I not still spoken of in every church in New England? It's true the North claims me for a Southerner and the South for a Northerner, but I'm neither. Tell the truth, Mr. Webster - though I don't like to boast of it - my name is older in the country than yours.

Daniel Webster Then I stand on the Constitution. I demand a trial for my client.

Mr. Scratch You mean a jury trial?

Daniel Webster I do! And if I can't win this case with a jury you'll have me, too. If two New Hampshire men aren't a match for the devil, we better give the country back to the Indians.

Daniel Webster How long do we have to wait?

Jabez Stone Til midnight.

Daniel Webster Oh, that's fine - then we have time to christen a jug. Old Medford rum: aahh, there's nothing like it. You know, somehow or other, waiting becomes wonderfully shorter with a jug. I saw an inchworm once take a drop of this and he stood right up on his hind legs and bit a bee! Will you have a nip?

Jabez Stone No, there's no joy in it for me.

Daniel Webster Oh, come, come now. Just because you sold your soul to the devil that needn't make you a teetotaler.

Daniel Webster You, ]. I speak to you first because you are better known than the rest of your colleagues here. What a different song yours could have been. A friend of ] and ], a soldier. General Arnold, you fought so gallantly for the American cause till - let me see, what was the date? - seventeen seventy-nine. That date, burned in your heart. The lure of gold made you betray that cause.

Daniel Webster I could go on and on and name you all but there's no need of that. Why stir the wounds? I know they pain enough. You were fooled like Jabez Stone, fooled and trapped in your desire to rebel against your fate. Gentlemen of the jury, it is the eternal right of every man to raise his fist against his fate. But when he does, these are crossroads. You took the wrong turn. So did Jabez Stone. But he found it out in time. He's here tonight to save his soul. Gentlemen of the jury, I ask you to give Jabez Stone another chance to walk upon this earth, among the trees, the growing corn, and the smell of grasses in the Spring. What would you all give for another chance to see those things you must all remember and often yearn to touch again? For you were all men once. Clean American air was in your lungs and you breathed it deeply. For it was free and blew across an earth you loved. These are common things I speak of, small things, but they are good things. Yet without your soul, they mean nothing. Without your soul, they sicken.

Daniel Webster It is the eternal right of every man to raise his fist against his fate!