The Birds quotes

View Quote Melanie Daniels: So you're a lawyer.
Mitch Brenner: That's right. Of course I usually defend people, Miss Daniels, but if I were prosecuting...
Melanie Daniels: Do you practice here?
Mitch Brenner: San Francisco...
Melanie Daniels: What kind of law?
Mitch Brenner: Criminal.
Melanie Daniels: Is that why you want to see everyone behind bars?
Mitch Brenner: Oh, not everyone, Miss Daniels.
Melanie Daniels: Only violators and practical jokers.

View Quote Annie Hayworth: Did you drive up from San Francisco by the coast road?
Melanie Daniels: Yes.
Annie Hayworth: Nice drive.
Melanie Daniels: It's very beautiful.
Annie Hayworth: Is that where you met Mitch?
Melanie Daniels: Yes.
Annie Hayworth: I guess that's where everyone meets Mitch.

View Quote Mitch Brenner: Well, small world...How do you know Annie?
Melanie Daniels: We went to school together - college...
Mitch Brenner: So you came up to see Annie, huh?
Melanie Daniels: Yes.
Mitch Brenner: I think you came up to see me.
Melanie Daniels: Now why would I want to see you of all people?
Mitch Brenner: I don't know. You must have gone to a lot of trouble to find out who I was and where I lived.
Melanie Daniels: No, it was no trouble at all. I simply called my father's newspaper. Besides, I was coming up anyway. I've already told you that.
Mitch Brenner: You really like me, huh?
Melanie Daniels: I loathe you. You have no manners, you're arrogant, and conceited, and I wrote you a letter about it, in fact. I tore it up.

View Quote Melanie Daniels: On Mondays and Wednesdays I work for the Travelers Aid at the airport.
Mitch Brenner: Helping travelers?
Melanie Daniels: No, misdirecting them.

View Quote Annie Hayworth: Well, you needn't worry. It's been over and done with a long time ago.
Melanie Daniels: Annie, there's nothing between Mr. Brenner and me.
Annie Hayworth: Isn't there? Well, maybe there isn't. Maybe there's never been anything between Mitch and any girl.

View Quote Annie Hayworth: [after birds attack the children at a party] That makes three times.
Melanie Daniels: Mitch, this isn't usual, is it? The gull when I was in the boat yesterday. The one at Annie's last night, and now...
Mitch Brenner: Last night? What do you mean?
Melanie Daniels: A gull smashed into Annie's front door. Mitch - what's happening?

View Quote Melanie Daniels: [on the phone] Oh Father, there were hundreds of them... Just now, not fifteen minutes ago... at the school... the birds didn't attack until the children were outside the school... crows, I think... Oh, I don't know, Father, is there a difference between crows and blackbirds?... I think these were crows, hundreds of them... Yes, they attacked the children. Attacked them!
Mrs. Bundy: There is very definitely a difference, Miss... They're both perching birds, of course, but quite different species... I would hardly think that either species would have sufficient intelligence to launch a massed attack. Their brain are not big enough... Birds are not aggressive creatures, Miss. They bring beauty into the world. It is mankind, rather... It is mankind, rather, who insists upon making it difficult for life to exist on this planet. Now if it were not for birds...
Deke Carter: Mrs. Bundy, you don't seem to understand. This young lady said there was an attack on the school.
Mrs. Bundy: Impossible!
Melanie Daniels: [on the phone] Mitch? Oh I'm glad I caught you. Something terrible...
Drunk: 'It's the end of the world.' Thus sayeth the Lord God unto the mountains and the hills, and the rivers and the valleys. Behold I, even I shall bring a sword upon ya. And I will devastate your high places. Ezekiel, chapter six.
Waitress: Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink.
Drunk: Isaiah, chapter five. It's the end of the world.
Mrs. Bundy: I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world.
Melanie Daniels: These weren't a few birds.
Deke Carter: I didn't know there were many crows in Bodega Bay this time of year.
Mrs. Bundy: The crow is a permanent resident throughout his range. In fact, during our Christmas count, we recorded...
Sebastian Sholes: How many gulls did you count, Mrs. Bundy?... The ones that have been playing devil with my fishing boats... Oh, a flock of gulls nearly capsized one of my boats. Practically tore the skipper's arm off.
Mrs. Bundy: The gulls went after your fish, Mr. Sholes. Really - let's be logical about this.
Melanie Daniels: I think they were after the children...to kill them.
Mrs. Bundy: Birds have been on this planet, Miss Daniels, since Archaeopteryx, a hundred and forty million years ago. Doesn't it seem odd that they'd wait all that time to start a...a war against humanity.
Salesman: Your captain should have shot at them... Gulls are scavengers anyway. Most birds are. Get yourselves guns and wipe them off the face of the earth.
Mrs. Bundy: That would hardly be possible... Because there are eight thousand, six hundred and fifty species of birds in the world today, Mr. Carter. It is estimated that five billion, seven hundred and fifty million birds live in the United States alone. The five continents of the world...
Salesman: Kill 'em all. Get rid of them. Messy animals.
Mrs. Bundy: ...probably contain more than a hundred billion birds.
Drunk: It's the end of the world.
Sebastian Sholes: Those gulls must have been after the fish.
Mrs. Bundy: Of course.
Boy: Are the birds gonna eat us, Mommy?
Mrs. Bundy: [explaining that birds of different species never flock together] The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn't have a chance! How could we possibly hope to fight them?

View Quote Lydia Brenner: When do you think they'll come?
Mitch Brenner: I don't know.
Lydia Brenner: If they're bigger birds, Mitch, they'll get into the house.
Mitch Brenner: Well, it's just a chance we'll have to take.
Lydia Brenner: Maybe we ought to leave.
Mitch Brenner: No, not now. Not while they're massing out there.
Lydia Brenner: When?
Mitch Brenner: We'll just see what happens.
Lydia Brenner: Where will we go?
Mitch Brenner: I don't know. We're safe here for the time being...
Lydia Brenner: What happens when you run out of wood?
Mitch Brenner: I don't know. We'll break up the furniture.
Lydia Brenner: You don't know. You don't know. When will you know? When we're all dead? [Cathy bursts into tears] If only your father were here! [pause] I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mitch.

View Quote Cathy Brenner: Mitch, can I bring the lovebirds in here?
Lydia Brenner: No!
Cathy Brenner: But Mom, they're in a cage.
Lydia Brenner: They're birds, aren't they?
Mitch Brenner: Let's leave them in the kitchen, huh honey?

View Quote Cathy Brenner: Mitch, why are they doing this, the birds?
Mitch Brenner: We don't know, honey.
Cathy Brenner: Why are they trying to kill people?
Mitch Brenner: I wish I could say.