Fences Quotes

Jim Bono Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in.

Troy It's not easy for me to admit that I've been standin in the same place for eighteen years!

Rose Well, I've been standin with you! I've been right here with you, Troy! I've got a life too! I gave eighteen years of my life to stand in the same spot as you! Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me? Don't you think it ever crossed my mind to want to know other men, that I wanted to lay up somewhere, forget about my responsibilities, that I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You're not the only one who's got wants and needs! But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs and dreams, and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and prayed over it. I planted myself inside you, and I waited for it to bloom. It didn't take me no eighteen years to realize the soil was hard and rocky, and it wasn't never gonna bloom! But I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter. You was my husband. I owed you everything I had, every part of me I could find to give you - and upstairs in that bedroom, with the doctors fallin in on me, I gave everything I had to try and erase the thought that you wasn't the finest man in the world and wherever you was going, I was gonna be there with you because you was my husband! Cause that's the only way I was gonna survive as your wife! You're always talkin about what you give and what you don't have to give... but you take, too, Troy. You take, and don't even know nobody's givin'.

Cory How come you ain't never liked me?

Troy Like you? Who the hell said I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Wanna stand up in front of my face and ask a damn fool-ass question like that, talkin bout likin somebody? Come here, boy, when I talk to you. Straighten up, goddammit. I asked you a question: what law is there say I got to like you?

Cory None.

Troy All right then. Don't you eat every day? Answer me when I talk to you! Don't you eat every day?

Cory Yeah...

Troy Nigga, as long as you're in my house you put a "Sir" on the end of it when you talk to me.

Cory Yes, Sir.

Troy You eat every day?

Cory Yes, Sir.

Troy You got a roof over you head?

Cory Yes, Sir.

Troy Got clothes on your back?

Cory Yes, Sir.

Troy Why you think that is?

Cory Cause of you?

Troy Hell, I know it's cause of me. But why do you think that is?

Cory Cause you like me?

Troy Like you? I go outta here every morning, I bust my butt, puttin up with them crackers every day, cause I like you? You're about the biggest fool I ever saw. It's my job. It's my responsibility. A man is supposed to take care of his family. You live in my house, feed your belly with my food, put your behind on my bed because you're my son, not cause I like you. Cause it's my duty to take care of you, I owe a responsibility to you. Now let's get this straight right here and now before we go along any further: I ain't got to like you! Mr. Rand don't gimme my money come payday cause he like me, he give it to me cause he owe me! Now I done give you everything I got to give you! I give you your life! Me and your Mama worked that out between us and liking your black ass wasn't part of the bargain! Now don't you go through life worryin about whether somebody like you or not! You best be makin sure they're doin right by you! You understand what I'm sayin'?

Cory Yes, Sir.

Troy Then get the hell outta my face, and get on down to that A&P!

Rose Why don't you go ahead and let the boy play football, Troy? He just wants to be like you with the sports.

Troy I don't want him to be like me. I want him to get as far away from my life as he possibly can get. You the only decent thing that ever happened to me, Rose. I wish him that. But I don't wish him nothin else from my life. I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasn't gonna get involved in no sports - not after what they did to me in the sports.

Rose Why don't you just admit you were too old for the major leagues - for once, why don't you just admit that?

Troy Stop tellin me I was too old. I just wasn't the right color. Hell, I'm 53 years old and do better than ] .269 right now.

Rose How are you gonna play ball when you are over 40? Sometimes I can't get no sense outta you.

Troy I got good sense, woman, I got sense enough not to let that boy get hurt playin no sports. You're motherin the boy too much. worryin about whether people like him or not.

Rose Everything that boy do, he do for you. He want you to say, "good job, son". That's all.

Troy Ain't got time for that, Rose. He's alive, he's healthy. He's got to make his own way; I made mine! Ain't nobody gonna hold his hand when he get out there in the world!

Rose Times have changed, Troy. People change. The world's changin', and you can't even see it.

Troy Woman, I do the best I can do. I come in here every Friday, I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets; I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain't got no tears; I done spent them. We go upstairs in that room at night, I fall down on you and try to blast the whole into forever. I get up Monday morning, find my lunch on the table, go out and make my way, find my strength to get me through to next Friday. That's all I got, Rose. All I got to give. I can't give nothin else!