Memorable Quotes from Fred Astaire
43 quotesFrustration Over Unfair Odds in Love
Danny Reed
How'd he get that far in five minutes?
Ted Hanover
The lady must have been willing.
Danny Reed
The world can't do this to us!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Debate Over Legality of Local Ordinance
Senator Billboard Rawkins
You've been violating the law, here.
Finian McLonergan
Since when?
Senator Billboard Rawkins
This afternoon. I just finished drafting this. Local ordinance number 7428: be it known that in the county of Rainbow Valley, it is a felony for members of the Caucasian and Negro races...
[reading]
Finian McLonergan
But it seems to me that this law could not be a legal law...
Senator Billboard Rawkins
Of course it's legal! I don't know where you immigrants get these radical, foreign ideas!
Sharon McLonergan
From a wee book the immigration officer handed us. It's called The United States Constitution.
Finian McLonergan
Haven't you read it?
Senator Billboard Rawkins
I don't have time to read it, I'm too busy defending it!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Meaning Behind a Mysterious Look
Lila Dixon
He gets a look.
[about Jim]
Ted Hanover
He always has that look! It doesn't mean anything emotionally. It has something to do with his... liver.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Misguided Pursuits and Financial Realities
Jim Hardy
Lila's back in New York. I got a letter from her yesterday.
Ted Hanover
What happened to her millionaire?
Jim Hardy
Slight mistake there. He didn't own millions, he owed them.
Ted Hanover
Poor girl. Always straying to greener pastures and finding spinach.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Improving the Act for Tomorrow's Performance
Sam
How did the act go, Mr. Hewes?
Don Hewes
One bow.
Sam
Too bad.
Don Hewes
Tomorrow we'd better get some dogs in the act.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Exotic Dancers and Their Fruit Comparisons
Don Hewes
A girl dancer has to be exotic; she has to be - a peach.
Hannah Brown
I suppose I'm a lemon!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Cultural Differences Between America and Ireland
Finian McLonergan
What do you think makes America different from Ireland?
Sharon McLonergan
It has more Irishmen?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Friendship and Farewells at Holiday Inn
Ted Hanover
I like it here... with you and Linda.
Jim Hardy
And we love having you. When are you leaving?
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Flying Plans and Lunch Preferences
Fred Ayres
Well, I usually fly with you, don't I? Or, am I just a fly in the carburetor?
Roger Bond
Oh, well, I tell you, Freddy, old man, you see, it's this way: I met a friend, a very old friend who asked me as a very special favor, you know how it is, so, you'll have to fly down with the boys. You don't mind, do ya? See that they all have a dill pickle with their box lunch.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Humorous Exchange About Geology and Identity
Waiter
I have an unnatural passion for rocks.
Guy Holden
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Waiter
Professor Brown, he's a geologist. Him and his wife stopped at the last place I worked. Do you know sir, it was Professor Brown who told me that this sea coast round here is really a... an igneous intrusion.
Guy Holden
You know, you're somewhat of an igneous intrusion yourself.
Waiter
Oh thank you sir!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Dispute Over Ownership of Gold
Sharon McLonergan
It's gold!
[looking in Finian's bag]
Finian McLonergan
Aye, it's a pot of gold.
Sharon McLonergan
And you stole it!
Finian McLonergan
I did not steal it! I only borrowed.
Sharon McLonergan
Who did you borrow it from?
Finian McLonergan
Why do you want to know?
Sharon McLonergan
So we can lend it right back to him, that's why!
Finian McLonergan
That's impossible! He's not mortal.
Sharon McLonergan
You killed him!
Finian McLonergan
Of course not! He never was mortal. He's a leprechaun.
Sharon McLonergan
A leprechaun?
Finian McLonergan
Of course! Who else would have gold in Ireland?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Tense Moment of Departure
Mimi Glossop
Please don't ask me to stay.
Guy Holden
All right, I won't. Don't go!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Wealth and Poverty in America
Finian McLonergan
America is full of millionaires.
Sharon McLonergan
But Father, are there no ill clad or ill housed in America?
Finian McLonergan
Aye, but they're the best ill clad and the best ill housed in the world.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Complexity of War and Responsibility
Julian Osborn
The trouble with you is you want a simple answer. There isn't any. The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained — by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn't possibly use — without committing suicide. Everybody had an atomic bomb, and counter-bombs, and counter-counter bombs. The devices outgrew us; we couldn't control them. I know, I helped build them. God, help me. Somewhere, some poor bloke probably looked at a radar screen and thought he saw something. He knew that if he hesitated one-thousands of a second — his own country would be wiped off the map. So, So, he pushed a button - and the world went — crazy. And, and...
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Defiance in the Face of Adversity
Morgan
They pushed us too far! They didn't think we'd fight, no matter what they did!
Julian Osborn
And they were wrong. We fought. We expunged them. And we didn't do such a bad job on ourselves.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Misunderstandings About Dancing Talent
Don Hewes
Miss Brown, what idiot ever told you you were a dancer?
Hannah Brown
You did.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Dilemma of Hope and Reality
Julian Osborn
There was a choice. It was build the bombs, and use them — or risk the United States, the Soviet Union, and the rest of us, would find some way... to go on living
Morgan
That's wishful thinking if ever I heard it.
[scoffs]
Julian Osborn
I'm not against wishful thinking. Not now.
[softly]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Question About Eye Color
Hannah Brown
What color are my eyes?
[her eyes are closed]
Don Hewes
Brown.
[kissing her, causing her to open her eyes in surprise]
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The Gay Divorcee - Dialogue 5
Guy Holden
I wonder if she resented me tearing her skirt?
Egbert Fitzgerald
Well, I wouldn't at all be surprised. That's the usual reaction. What did you do that for?
Guy Holden
She couldn't move.
Egbert Fitzgerald
Sounds very unsporting of you, Guy, really!
Guy Holden
Well, you don't understand... uh... it was an accident.
Egbert Fitzgerald
It usually is.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Encouragement in Dance and Performance
Hannah Brown
Was I too terrible?
Don Hewes
No. No.
Hannah Brown
I've never really danced before.
Don Hewes
You're going to be fine.
Hannah Brown
Mr. Hewes, Mr. Hewes... You know you don't have to go on with this.
Don Hewes
Now look...
Hannah Brown
No, I mean it. You're the most wonderful dancer I've ever seen. You could get anyone to dance with you. You could get the very best.
Don Hewes
I don't want the very best. I want you.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Childhood Reflections on Gender Roles
Mimi Glossop
I don't care what you did as a boy.
Guy Holden
Well, I did nothing as a girl, so there goes my childhood.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Dual Nature of a Gentle Smile
Ted Hanover
A gentle smile often breeds a kick in the pants.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Questioning Reality and Yearning for Truth
Finian McLonergan
How dare you come back here! Didn't I tell you you were an optical delusion?
Og
I was ready to believe you yesterday but not today. Today I have proof!
Finian McLonergan
What proof?
Og
Does an optical illusion feel such a hungry yearning burning inside of him? Does an optical illusion feel the beat, beat, beat of the tom-tom in the roaring traffic's boom in his lonely room?
Finian McLonergan
Are you flying high and wide on a magic carpet ride full of butterflies inside?
Og
Aye, and what's worse, smoke keeps coming out of me eyes.
Finian McLonergan
You go round like an elevator lost in the tide?
Og
That's the feeling! Day and night, night and day!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Promise of Full Confession
Harlee Claiborne
I promised myself if I every saw you again I'd make a full confession-
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Playful Banter About Everyday Expressions
Josh Barkley
Well, gotta go put on the old feed bag!
Dinah Barkley
What kind of talk is that? "Gotta go put on the old feedbag!
Josh Barkley
Can I help it if that guy brings out the gangster in me?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Men Don't Pine, They Just Suffer
Egbert Fitzgerald
Guy, you're not pining for that girl?!
Guy Holden
Pining? Men don't pine. Girls pine. Men just... suffer.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Concern for Safety with a Stranger
Guy Holden
You think I'm going to leave you alone with a strange Italian? He might be a tenor!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Proposal Amidst Unconventional Offerings
Guy Holden
Can I offer you anything? Frosted chocolate? Cointreau? Benedictine? Marriage?
Mimi Glossop
What was that last one?
Guy Holden
Benedictine?
Mimi Glossop
No, the one after that.
Guy Holden
Oh, marriage?
Mimi Glossop
Do you always propose marriage as casually as that?
Guy Holden
There is nothing casual about it. In fact, I've given it long and sincere thought.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Human folly in self-destruction
Julian Osborn
Who would ever have believed that human beings would be stupid enough to blow themselves off the face of the Earth?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Counting Days Until the Next Holiday
Ted Hanover
Come out and relax on a farm, music, dancing, home cooking. Open holidays only. Open holiday's only? Say, how many of them are there?
[reading; skeptical]
Jim Hardy
About 15. That gives me 350 days to kick around in!
[excited]
Ted Hanover
You would think of that!
[laughing]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Advice Against Superstition
Finian McLonergan
Don't be superstitious, it's bad luck.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Chance and Fate: A Fool's Perspective
Guy Holden
Chance is the fool's name for fate.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Lighthearted Exchange Over Drinks
Don Hewes
Can you drown a brunette in this?
Mike the Bartender
How tall is she?
Don Hewes
Five foot six.
Mike the Bartender
Try this.
[filling the glass a little more]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Fragility of Civilization and Technology
Julian Osborn
In the end, somehow granted the time for examination, we shall find that our so called civilization was gloriously destroyed by a handful of vacuum tubes and transistors. Probably faulty.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Hope Amidst Despair
Julian Osborn
We're all doomed, you know. The whole, silly, drunken, pathetic lot of us. Doomed by the air we're about to breathe. We haven't got a chance!
Mary Holmes
Stop it! I won't have it, Julian. I won't! There is hope. There has to be hope. There's always hope. We just can't go on like this. We can't. We - we...
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Significance of Green in Ireland
Finian McLonergan
Green is the color of the shamrocks /and the grass on Blarney hill / Oh, the darlin green of Ireland /and the good old dollar bill.
[singing]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Existence and Imagination in Conflict
Finian McLonergan
Leprechaun, I've come to a decision! I deny your existence! You're only a figment of me imagination!
Og
I am?
Finian McLonergan
And I'll prove it to myself by walking right through you! Step aside! There, you see?
[He walks toward Og; Og jumps out of the way]
Og
Oh, this is dreadful! I don't exist.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Reflections on Drinking and Insight
Julian Osborn
I shouldn't drink, you know. I inevitably say something brilliant.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Unexpected News and Lighthearted Banter
Fred Ayres
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is really good news. Rog has outdone himself.
Honey Hale
I'll bet he's broken both legs running after two women at the same time.
Fred Ayres
Well, I usually fly with you, don't I? Or, am I just a fly in the carburetor?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Chasing and Consequences in Relationships
Guy Holden
I was chasing you, you shouldn't run away like that.
Mimi Glossop
Why not?
Guy Holden
It's bad for my health.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Complicated Love Among Friends
Lila Dixon
I love you... and Jim.
Ted Hanover
Well, I love Jim too... but let's not get too chummy.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Confession of Hidden Love
Don Hewes
Why didn't you tell me I was in love with you?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Blight Falls Over Ireland
Finian McLonergan
How are things in Glocca Morra?
Og
Oh, alas, alack, and willy-wally! I weep for Ireland.
Finian McLonergan
Why, what's happened?
Og
A blight has fallen over Ireland!
Finian McLonergan
The British are back?
Og
Never have I seen such a curse befall a folk in all me four hundrend and fifty... nine years! Poor Ireland!
Finian McLonergan
Poor Ireland!
Og
Suffering Ireland! The native land!
Finian McLonergan
Me native land! A fine lot of faery folk you are! You and your associates letting all this happen! Why don't you wish it away?
Og
We've lost the power!
Finian McLonergan
You've lost the power to make wishes? What has Ireland to live for now! Answer me that!
Og
Doom and gloom! DOOOOOOOOM AND GLOOOOOOOOM!
Finian McLonergan
Who's the author of this foul outrage?
Og
A monster, McLonnergan!
Finian McLonergan
A monster? You mean the old flame-breathing type with the head of a dragon?
Og
Oh, no, this is a tiny wee monster, about... your size.
Finian McLonergan
Lead me to him! Who is this monster?
Og
You'll excuse me for pointing, Mr. McLonnergan... but it's you.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.