22 quotes
Victory Through Loving Your Enemy
Preacher Green
If you can love your enemy, you already have a victory.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Minny's Advice on Leaving Town
Minny Jackson
You ain't got nothing left here but enemies in the Junior League. You done burned every bridge there is. And you ain't never gonna get another man in this town, everybody know that. So don't walk your white butt to New York, run it!
[to Eugenia]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Reflections on Destiny and Identity
Aibileen
I was born 1911, Chicksaw County, Piedmont Plantation.
Skeeter
And did you know as a girl growing up that one day you'd be a maid?
Clark
Yes ma'am, I did.
Skeeter
And you knew that because...
Aibileen
My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave.
Skeeter
house slave..." Did you ever dream of being something else? What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child's at home being looked after by somebody else?
[whispering as she writes down; Aibileen nods yes]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Expressing Thoughts and Opinions Clearly
Stuart
I've never met a woman that says exactly what she's thinking.
Skeeter
Well, I got plenty to say.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Defiance in a Simple Statement
Minny Jackson
Eat my shit.
[to Hilly]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Duality of Love and Hate
Charlotte Phelan
Love and hate are two horns on the same goat, Eugenia. And you need a goat.
[to Eugenia]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Miscommunication Leads to Frustration and Confusion
Hilly Holbrook
It's Skeeter! She put it in the newsletter. I specifically said, "Drop old coats at my house," not commodes!!! Why would she do this to me?
[hysterical]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Negotiating Terms and Racial Tensions
Hilly
So. Nobody wanted to hire a sass-mouthin', thievin nigra- did they? Oh, pie's as good as always, Minny.
Minny
I'm glad you like it.
Hilly
If... I take you back, I'll have to cut your pay five dollars a week.
Minny
Take me back?
Hilly
What do you put in here that makes it taste so good?
Minny
That good vanilla from Mexico... And... something else real special.
[forces a smile]
Minny
No, no no, Missus Walters. That Miss Hilly's special pie.
[quickly intervening]
Hilly
Momma can have a piece. Cut her one! Go get a plate!
[Minny doesn't respond; Hilly huffs in annoyance and shoves the pie at her]
Minny
Eat my shit.
Hilly
What'd you say?
Minny
I said eat... my... shit.
Hilly
Have you lost your mind?
Minny
No, ma'am. But you is about to. Cause you just did.
Mrs. Walters
And you didn't just have one, you had two slices! Run, Minny, run!
[Minny hurries out of the house]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Question of Intelligence and Understanding
Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan
I'm sorry, but were you dropped on your head as an infant, or were you just born stupid?
[to Stuart]
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Perceptions of Class and Identity
Celia
They don't like me because of what they think I did.
Minny
They don't like you because they think you white trash.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Power of Truth and Self-Expression
Aibileen
In just ten minutes, the only life I knew was done.
[voice over]
Mae Mobley
A-a-a-aibee!
[calling after her through the window]
Aibileen
God says we need to love our enemies. It hard to do. But it can start by telling the truth. No one had ever asked me what it feel like to be me. Once I told the truth about that, I felt free. And I got to thinking about all the people I know. And the things I seen and done. My boy Treelore always said we gonna have a writer in the family one day. I guess it's gonna be me.
[voice over]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Call for Personal Connection
Charlotte Phelan
Your eggs are dying. Would it kill you to go on a date?
[to Eugenia]
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Courage Through Generations in Family
Charlotte Phelan
Courage sometimes skips a generation. Thank you for bringing it back to our family.
[to Eugenia]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Stereotypes of Southern College Women
Stuart Whitworth
Isn't that what all you girls from Ole Miss major in - professional husband hunting?
[to Eugenia]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Comfort of Fried Chicken
Minny Jackson
Frying chicken just tend to make you feel better about life.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Confrontation Over Allegations and Accusations
Hilly
I've contacted my lawyer, Hibbie Goodman! He's the best libel attorney in the state. Oh missy, you are goin to jail!
[confronting Skeeter at her house about the book]
Skeeter
You can't prove anything.
Hilly
Oh I 100% know you wrote it, cause nobody else in town is as tacky as you!
Skeeter
You don't know anything, Hilly!
Hilly
Oh, I DON'T, do I?! You tell Aibileen that the next time she wants to write about my dear friend Elizabeth - uh huh, remember her, had you in her wedding? - let's just say, Aibileen ought to have been a little bit smarter before puttin in about that L-shaped scratch in poor Elizabeth's dining table. And that nigger Minny... do I have plans for her.
[shoving Skeeter]
Skeeter
Careful Hilly, that's Chapter Twelve. Don't give yourself away now.
[calmly]
Hilly
That was NOT ME!!! I've come to tell your mother what a hippie you've become! She's going to be disgusted by you-!
[storms over to the front door]
Charlotte
Why, Hilly! Is everything okay, you two?
[opens door before Hilly]
Hilly
Mrs. Phelan...
Charlotte
Hilly, you're a sweaty mess. Are you ill?
Hilly
No, ma'am...
Charlotte
Darlin', oh, no husband wants to come home and see that.
[referring to the cold sore on Hilly's face]
Hilly
Oh... I didn't have time to get it fixed up.
Charlotte
You know, Hilly, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you've been eating too much pie.
Hilly
Mrs. Phelan, I...
Charlotte
In fact, I'm sure of it. Now you get your raggedy ass off my porch. Go on. Get off my property! NOW! Before we all get one of those disgusting things on our lips!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Segregation and Sanitation in Domestic Spaces
Hilly
They carry different diseases than we do. That's why I've drafted the Home Health Sanitation Initiative.
Skeeter
The what?
Hilly
A disease-preventative bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help. It's been endorsed by the White Citizen's Council.
Skeeter
Maybe we should just build you a bathroom outside, Hilly.
Hilly
You ought not to joke about the colored situation. I will do whatever it takes to protect our children.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Concerns About Maternal Fitness
Aibileen Clark
Mrs. Leefolt should not be having babies. Write that down.
[to Eugenia]
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Memories of Betrayal and Shame
Mrs. Walters
I may have trouble remembering my own name, or what country I live in, but there are two things I can't seem to forget: that my own daughter threw me into a nursing home, and that she ate Minny's shit.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Affirmation of Self-Worth and Kindness
Aibileen Clark
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
[repeated line, to Mae Mobley]
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Making Choices and Embracing Life's Potential
Constantine Jefferson
Every day you're not dead in the ground, when you wake up in the morning, you're gonna have to make some decisions. Got to ask yourself this question: "Am I gonna believe all them bad things them fools say about me today?" You hear me today? "Am I gonna believe all them bad things them fools say about me today? You hear me today?" All right? As for your mama, she didn't pick her life. It picked her. But you, you're gonna do something big with yours. You wait and see.
[to Eugenia]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Humorous Moment of Encouragement
Mrs. Walters
And you didn't have just ONE, you had TWO slices!!! RUN, MINNY, RUN!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
[when Hilly realizes what was in Minny's pie and runs off, gagging; begins laughing hysterically, as Minny flees]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.