Katharine Hepburn Quotes

Eleanor of Aquitaine I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How's that for blasphemy. I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn... but the troops were dazzled.

Terry Randall You may as well go to perdition in ermine. You're sure to come back in rags.

Kip Lurie Well, good luck tomorrow, Amanda. I'm on your side, I guess you know that. You've got me so convinced, I may even go out and become a woman. Goodnight.

Adam Bonner And he wouldn't have far to go, either.

Amanda Bonner Shh!

Adam Bonner What's a matter?

Kip Lurie He can hear you.

Rose Sayer Dear. What is your first name?

Sam Craig I don't want to be married to Tess Harding any more than I want you to be just Mrs. Sam Craig. Why can't you be Tess Harding Craig?

Tess Harding I think it's a wonderful name.

Eleanor of Aquitaine I'd hang you from the nipples, but you'd shock the children.

Sam Craig There's something I have to get off my chest...

Tess Harding I'm too heavy...

Sam Craig No. I love you.

Tess Harding You do?

Sam Craig Positive.

Tess Harding That's nice. Even when I'm sober?

Sam Craig Even when you're brilliant.

Eleanor of Aquitaine My, what a lovely girl. How could her king have left her?

Ethel Thayer Don't be such an old poop!

Amanda Bonner For years, women have been ridiculed, pampered, chucked under the chin. I ask you, on behalf of us all, be fair to the fair sex.

Adam Bonner We'll be here a year.

Charlie Allnut Well, Miss, ‘ere we are, everything ship shape, like they say. Ah, it's a great thing to have a lady aboard with clean habits. It sets the man a good example. A man alone, he gets to livin like a hog. Ha, ha. Then, too, with me, it's always: Put things off. Never do today what you can put off til tomorrow. But with you: Business before pleasure. Every time. Do all your personal laundry. Make yourself spic-and-span, get all the mending out of the way, and then - and only then - sit down for a nice quiet hour with the Good Book. I tell you, it's a model - like an inspiration. Why, I ain't had this old engine so clean in years, inside and out. Ha, ha. Just look at her, Miss. See how she practically sparkles. Myself, too. Guess you ain't never had a look at me without my whiskers and all cleaned up. I bet you wouldn't hardly recognize me, works that much of a change. Freshens ya up, too. If I only had some clean clothes, like you. Now you - why you could be at high tea. Say, that's an idea, Miss. How's about a nice little cup of tea? Now don't you stir, I'll be glad to make it for you.

Charlie Allnut Uh, how's the Book, Miss? Well, not that I ain't read it. That is to say, my poor old Mum used to read me stories out of it. How's about reading it out loud? I could sure do with a little spiritual comfort, myself. And you call yourself a Christian! Do you hear me? Don't ya? Don't ya? Huh? What ya being so mean for, Miss? A man takes a drop too much once in a while. It's only human nature.

Rose Sayer Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.

Charlie Allnut Miss, I'm sorry. I apologize. What more can a man do than say he's sorry, huh? You done paid me back, Miss. You didn't even leave me a drop. Miss, have a heart. Fair is fair. You gotta say somethin', I don't care what it is, but you gotta say something. I'll be honest with ya, Miss. I, I just can't stand no more of this. I-I just ain't used to it, that's all.

Eleanor of Aquitaine I'm locked up with my sons... what mother doesn't dream of that?

Rose Sayer Don't be worried, Mr. Allnut.

Charlie Allnut Oh, I ain't worried, Miss. Gave myself up for dead back where we started.

Eleanor of Aquitaine He had a mind like ] and a form like mortal sin.

Tess Harding I'm going to be your wife. You don't think that I can do the little ordinary things that any idiot can do, do you?

Sam Craig No.

Tess Harding Why not?

Sam Craig Because you're incapable of doing them, that's why. You can't expect Seabiscuit to stop in the middle of the stretch, drink a glass of water, and count to seven at the same time, you know. That takes training.

Tess Harding Well, I'm not Seabiscuit.

Ethel Thayer That son of a bitch happens to be my husband.

Susan Vance I was born on the side of a hill!

Amanda Bonner Now, you look here, Kip. I'm fighting my prejudices, but it's clear that you're behaving like a, like a - well, I'd hate to put it this way - like a man.

Kip Lurie You watch your language.

Ethel Thayer Chelsea, Norman is eighty years old. He has heart palpitations and trouble remembering things. Just when did you expect this friendship to begin?

Eleanor of Aquitaine I wonder... do you ever wonder... if I slept with your father.

Charlie Allnut I don't blame you for being scared, Miss, not one little bit. Ain't no person in their right mind ain't scared of white water.

Rose Sayer I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!

Charlie Allnut How's that, Miss?

Rose Sayer I've only known such excitement a few times before - a few times in my dear brother's sermons when the spirit was really upon him.

Charlie Allnut You mean you want to go on?

Rose Sayer Naturally.

Charlie Allnut Miss, you're crazy.

Rose Sayer I beg your pardon.

Charlie Allnut You know what would have happened if we would have come up against one of them rocks?

Rose Sayer But we didn't. I must say I'm filled with admiration for your skill, Mr. Allnut. Do you suppose I'll try practice steering a bit that someday I might try? I can hardly wait... Now that I've had a taste of it. I don't wonder you love boating, Mr. Allnut.

Amanda Bonner What I said was true, there's no difference between the sexes. Men, women, the same.

Adam Bonner They are?

Amanda Bonner Well, maybe there is a difference, but it's a little difference.

Adam Bonner Well, you know as the French say...

Amanda Bonner What do they say?

Adam Bonner Vive la difference!

Amanda Bonner Which means?

Adam Bonner Which means hurrah for that little difference.

Terry Randall The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died...Have you gathered here to mourn, or are you here to bring me comfort?... I've learned something about love that I never knew before. That I never knew before. You speak of love when it's too late. Help should come to people when they need it. Why are we always so helpful to each other when it's no longer any use?...This is my home. This is where I belong. Love was in this house once, and for me it will always be here, nowhere else...One should always listen closely when people say goodbye because sometimes they're, they're really saying farewell.

Adam Bonner What are ya? Sore about a little slap?

Amanda Bonner No.

Adam Bonner Well, what then?

Amanda Bonner You meant that, didn't you? You really meant that.

Adam Bonner Why, no, I...

Amanda Bonner Yes, you did. I can tell. I know your type. I know a slap from a slug.

Adam Bonner Well, OK, OK.

Amanda Bonner I'm not so sure it is. I'm not so sure I care to expose myself to typical instinctive masculine brutality.

Adam Bonner Oh come now.

Amanda Bonner And it felt not only as though you meant it, but as though you felt you had a right to. I can tell.

Adam Bonner What've you got back there? Radar equipment?

Susan Vance He's three years old, gentle as a kitten, and likes dogs." I wonder whether Mark means that he eats dogs or is fond of them?

Eleanor of Aquitaine Oh, my piglets, we are the origins of war, not history's forces, nor the times, nor justice, nor the lack of it, nor causes, nor religions, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor any other thing. We are the killers. We breed wars. We carry it like syphilis inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can't we love one another just a little? That's how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children. We could change the world.

Terry Randall I suppose that I should thank you on behalf of the company - and I know that I'm grateful to you for your applause. But I must tell you that I don't deserve it. I'm not responsible for what happened on this stage tonight. The person you should be applauding died a few hours ago. A young and brilliant actress who could no longer find a spot in the theater, and it was for her more than for anyone else that I was able to go on. And I hope that wherever she is, she knows and understands and forgives.

Christina Drayton Now I have some instructions for you. I want you to go straight back to the gallery – Start your motor – When you get to the gallery tell Jennifer that she will be looking after things temporarily, she's to give me a ring if there's anything she can't deal with herself. Then go into the office, and make out a check, for "cash," for the sum of $5,000. Then carefully, but carefully Hilary, remove absolutely everything that might subsequently remind me that you had ever been there, including that yellow thing with the blue bulbs which you have such an affection for. Then take the check, for $5,000, which I feel you deserve, and get – permanently – lost. It's not that I don't want to know you, Hilary – although I don't – it's just that I'm afraid we're not really the sort of people that you can afford to be associated with. Don't speak, Hilary, just... go.

Rose Sayer You're the bravest man that ever lived.

Tess Harding Are all these people unemployed?

Sam Craig No, they're all attending their grandmother's funeral.

Tess Harding You mean our paper sends two people to cover the game?

Phil Whittaker No, I cover the game, he just kicks it around in his column.

Tess Harding We've got only one man at Vichy...

Sam Craig Vichy, are they still in the league?

Ethel Thayer Don't you think that everyone looks back on their childhood with a certain amount of bitterness and regret about something? You're a big girl now. Aren't you tired of it all? Bore, bore. It doesn't have to ruin your life, darling. Life marches by, Chels. I suggest you get on with it.

Christina Drayton He's right about Joey too. You know that, don't you? Thank God he is. That's the way I feel. Thank God he's right. She's 23 years old, and the way she is is just exactly the way we brought her up to be. We answered her questions. She listened to our answers. We told her it was wrong to believe that white people were somehow essentially superior to black people... or the brown or the red or the yellow ones, for that matter. People who thought that way were wrong to think that way. Sometimes hateful, usually stupid, but always wrong. That's what we said. And when we said it, we did not add "But don't ever fall in love with a colored man.

Tess Harding Sam, why can't we sit down like adults and patch this thing up?

Sam Craig I'm afraid that might become a habit. Then we'd wind up with a patchwork quilt for a marriage.

Amanda Bonner And so the question here is equality before the law, regardless of religion, color, wealth, or, as in this instance, sex...Law, like man, is composed of two parts: Just as man is body and soul, so is the law, letter and spirit. The law says, Thou shalt not kill, yet men have killed, and proved a reason, and been set free. Self-defense, defense of others, of wife, of children, and home. If a thief breaks into your house, and you shoot him, the law will not deal harshly with you, nor indeed should it. So here, you are asked to judge not whether or not these acts were committed, but to what extent they were justified. Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I request that you join me in a revealing experiment. I ask you all to direct your attention to the defendant, Mrs. Attinger. Now keep looking at her, keep watching. Listen carefully and look at her. Look at her hard. Now imagine her a man. Go on now, use your imaginations. Think of her as a man sitting there accused of a like crime -- a husband, who is only trying to protect his home. Now hold it. Hold that impression and look at Beryl Caighn. Look at her. Look at her hard, a man, a slick home wrecker, a third party, a wolf! You know the type. Alright, hold that impression and look at Mr. Attinger, and suppose him a woman. Try, try hard. Ah, yes, there she is. The guilty wife! Look at her! Does she arouse your sympathy?! Alright! Now you have it! Judge it so! An unwritten law stands back of a man who fights to defend his home. Apply this same law to this maltreated wife, and neglected woman. We ask you no more: equality. Deep in the heart of South America, there thrives today a civilization far older than ours: a people known as the Loquiňanos, descended from the Amazons. In this vast tribe, members of the female sex rule and govern, and systematically deny equal rights to the men, made weak and puny by years of subservience, too weak to revolt. And yet, how long have we lived in the shadow of a like injustice?Consider this unfortunate woman's act as though you yourselves had each committed it. Every living being is capable of attack, if sufficiently provoked. Assault lies dormant within us all. It requires only circumstance to set it in violent motion. I ask you for a verdict of not guilty. There was no murder attempt here, only a pathetic attempt to save a home.

Eleanor of Aquitaine Hush dear, mother's fighting.

Amanda Bonner No part of marriage is the exclusive province of any one sex.

Ethel Thayer You know, Norman, you really are the sweetest man in the world, but I'm the only one who knows it.