6 quotes
Questioning Sanity and Clarity of Mind
Mother Miriam Ruth
Is she totally bananas or just slightly off-center?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Seeking Meaning in Memory and Miracle
Martha Livingston
I don't know the meaning behind the song she sang. Perhaps it was a song of seduction, and the father was a field hand. Perhaps the song was simply a lullaby she remembered from many years ago, and the father was hope, and love, and desire and a belief in miracles. I want to believe that she was blessed. And I do miss her. And I hope she's left something; some little part of herself with me. That would be miracle enough, wouldn't it?
[last lines of the movie]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Struggle with Smoking Addiction
Martha Livingston
Smoking is an obsession with me. Maybe someday I'll become obsessed with something else and give up smoking.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Mother Miriam Ruth Invites Questions
Mother Miriam Ruth
So, you have questions. Fire away!
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Conflict Over a Woman's Happiness and Choices
Mother Miriam Ruth
I am saying that you have a beautifully simple woman here.
[about Sister Agnes]
Martha Livingston
An unhappy woman.
Mother Miriam Ruth
She's happy with us, and she could go on being happy if she were left alone.
Martha Livingston
Then why did you call the police in the first place, Mother, huh? Why didn't you just throw the baby into the incinerator and be done with it?
Mother Miriam Ruth
Because I am a moral person.
Martha Livingston
Bullshit.
Mother Miriam Ruth
Bullshit yourself.
Martha Livingston
The Catholic Church doesn't have a corner on morality.
Mother Miriam Ruth
Who said anything about the Catholic Church?
Martha Livingston
You just did.
Mother Miriam Ruth
What the hell does the Catholic Church got to do with you?
Martha Livingston
Nothing.
Mother Miriam Ruth
What have we done to hurt you? And don't deny it, I can smell an ex-Catholic a mile away. What did we do? Burn a few heretics, sell some indulgences? That was in the days when the Church was a ruling body, we let Governments do those things today. So what did we do to you, hey?...
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Imagining Saints in Modern Habits
Martha Livingston
Suppose the saints would have smoked if tobacco'd been popular back then.
Mother Miriam Ruth
Undoubtedly. Not the ascetics, of course, but, well, St. Thomas More.
Martha Livingston
Long, thin, and filtered!
Mother Miriam Ruth
St. Ignatius would smoke cigars and then stub them out on the soles of his bare feet. And of course all of the apostles?
Martha Livingston
Hand rolled.
Mother Miriam Ruth
Even Christ would partake socially.
Martha Livingston
St. Peter?
Mother Miriam Ruth
Pipe!
Martha Livingston
Right!
Mother Miriam Ruth
Mary Magdalene?
Martha Livingston
Ohhh! You've come a long way, baby!
Mother Miriam Ruth
And St. Joan would chew tobacco!
Martha Livingston
All right! What do you suppose today's saints are smoking?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.