The Little Foxes (1941) - Quotes

A Mother's Invitation Sparks Curiosity

Regina Giddens: Would you like to talk to me, Alexandra? Would you... like to sleep in my room tonight?

Alexandra Giddens: Why, Mama? Are you afraid?

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Optimism in Ambition and Resilience

Regina Giddens: You're a good loser, Ben. I like that.

Ben Hubbard: Well, I say to myself, what's the good? You and I aren't like Oscar. We're not sour people. I think that comes from a good digestion.

Ben Hubbard: Until one loses today, and wins tomorrow. I say to myself, years of planning, and I get what I want. And then I don't get it... But I'm not discouraged. The world's open for people like you and me. There's thousands of us all over the world. We'll own the country some day. They won't try to stop us. We'll get along.

Regina Giddens: [Amused] I think so.

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Business Deal and Motivations in The Little Foxes

William Marshall: You don't have to convince me about Hubbard Sons. I'm sure you're the right people for the deal. You want the mill here, I want it here. But it's not my business WHY you want it.

Ben Hubbard: They're to bring the machine to the cotton, and not the cotton to the machine.

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Journey to Independence and Self-Discovery

David Hewitt: You know, that's the first time I ever heard your mother tell you to do something, and you didn't hop to do it.

Alexandra Giddens: That's a funny thing to say.

David Hewitt: You know, you take one step. And then you take another. After a while you'll find out you're walking all by yourself.

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The Consequences of Defiance and Beauty

Ben Hubbard: Regina, you're a fool! How many times did Mama tell you it's unwise for a good-lookin woman to frown? How many times have I told you that softness and a smile will do more to the hearts of men?

Regina Giddens: I'll do things in my own way, Ben. I know what I'm doing.

Ben Hubbard: I hope you do, Regina.

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Conflict of Values Between Mother and Daughter

Regina Giddens: Alexandra, I've come to the end of my rope. Somewhere there's got to be what I want, too. Life goes too fast. You can go where you want, do what you want, think what you want. I'd like to keep you with me but I won't make you stay. No, I won't make you stay.

Alexandra Giddens: [thoughtful] You couldn't, Mama. Because I don't want to stay with you. Because I'm beginning to understand about things. Addie said there were people who ate the earth and those that stood around and watched them do it. And just then Uncle Ben said the same thing. Really the same thing. Tell him from me, Mama, I'm not going to watch you do it.

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A Request for Vigilance in Conversation

Leo Hubbard: [Arriving for work at the bank] Good morning, Mr. Manders... Well, what can I do for you today?

Sam Manders: You can do one thing, Leo.

Leo Hubbard: Yes, sir? What's that?

Sam Manders: You can try keeping awake... ALL day.

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A Complex Relationship Defined by Despair

Regina Giddens: [about marrying Horace] It didn't take me long to find out my mistake. Then it was just as if I couldn't stand the sight of you. I couldn't bear to have you touch me. I thought you were such a soft weak fool, you were so understanding when I didn't want you near me. The lies and excuses I used to make to you, and you believed them. That was when I began to despise you.

Horace Giddens: [starts looking agitated] Why didn't you leave me?

Regina Giddens: Where was I to go? What money did I have? I didn't think about it much, if I had, I'd have known you'd die before I did. But I couldn't have guessed you'd get heart trouble so early and so bad. I'm lucky Horace. I've always been lucky. I'll be lucky again.

Horace Giddens: The other bottle. Please, upstairs in my room, in the drawer.

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A Question of Affection and Timing

David Hewitt: Do you like me?

Alexandra Giddens: Not today.

David Hewitt: Why, I'll come back tomorrow.

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The Consequences of Inaction and Greed

Addie: Yes, they got mighty well-off cheating the poor. Well, there's people that eats up the whole Earth and all the people on it. Like in the Bible with the locusts. Then there's people that stand around and watch them do it. Sometimes I think it ain't right to stand and watch them do it.

Horace Giddens: There's something else in the Bible, Addie. Take us the foxes... the little foxes that spoil the vines... for our vines have tender grapes.

Family Ties and Their Complications

Regina Giddens: [about a possible marriage between Alexandra and Leo] There are a lot of things to consider. After all, they are first cousins.

Oscar Hubbard: Well, that isn't unusual, our grandfather and grandmother were first cousins!

Regina Giddens: [laughs] Yes, and look at us.

Wages for Talking Silly

David Hewitt: I'll tell you what you could do if you went away, Zan: if you could find some place where they pay wages for talkin silly, you could make a fortune

A Plea for Integrity Amidst Greed

Horace Giddens: Maybe it's easy for the dying to be honest. I'm sick of you, sick of this house, sick of my unhappy life with you. I'm sick of your brothers and their dirty tricks to make a dime. There must be better ways of getting rich than building sweatshops and pounding the bones of the town to make dividends for you to spend. You'll wreck the town, you and your brothers. You'll wreck the country, you and your kind, if they let you. But not me, I'll die my own way, and I'll do it without making the world worse. I leave that to you.