It Happened One Night quotes

View Quote Shapeley: Shapeley's the name - and that's the way I like 'em!

View Quote Shapeley: [to Ellie] Well, shut my big nasty mouth! It looks like you're one up on me. You know, there's nothing I like better than to meet a high-class mama that can snap 'em back at ya. 'Cause the colder they are, the hotter they get. That's what I always say. Yes, sir, when a cold mama gets hot, boy, how she sizzles. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Now, you're just my type. Believe me, sister, I could go for you in a big way. 'Fun-on-the-side' Shapeley they call me, with accent on the fun, believe you me.

View Quote Ellie: You've been telling me what not to do ever since I can remember.
Mr. Andrews: That's because you've always been a stubborn idiot.
Ellie: I come from a long line of stubborn idiots.

View Quote Ellie: I don't want it reported!...Can you understand English? Would you please keep out of my affairs. I want to be left alone.
Peter: Why, you ungrateful brat!

View Quote Peter: Remember me? I'm the fellow you slept on last night.
Ellie: You needn't concern yourself about me. I can take care of myself.
Peter: You'll never get away with it, Miss Andrews.

View Quote Ellie: Listen, if you promise not to do it, I'll pay you. I'll pay you as much as he will. You won't gain anything by giving me away, as long I'm willing to make it worth your while. I've got to get to New York without being stopped. It's terribly important to me.
Peter: You know, I had you pegged right from the jump. Just a spoiled brat of a rich father. The only way you get anything is to buy it, isn't it? You're in a jam and all you can think of is your money. It never failed, did it? Ever hear of the word humility? No, you wouldn't. I guess it would never occur to you to just say, 'Please mister, I'm in trouble, will you help me?' No, that would bring you down off your high horse for a minute. Well, let me tell you something, maybe it will take a load off your mind. You don't have to worry about me. I'm not interested in your money or your problem. You, King Westley, your father. You're all a lot of hooey to me!

View Quote Ellie: I just had the unpleasant sensation of hearing you referred to as my husband.
Peter: Oh yeah, I forgot to tell ya about that. I registered as Mr. and Mrs.
Ellie: Oh, you did...Well, what am I expected to do? Leap for joy?
Peter: I kinda half expected you to thank me.
Ellie: Your ego is absolutely colossal.
Peter: Yeah, yep. Not bad. How's yours?
Ellie: You know, compared to you, my friend Shapeley is an amateur. Just whatever gave you any idea I'd stand for this?
Peter: Hey now, wait a minute. Let's get this straightened out right now. If you're nursing any silly notion that I'm interested in you, forget it. You're just a headline to me.
Ellie: A headline? You're not a newspaper man are you?
Peter: Chalk up one for your side.

View Quote [Peter hangs a blanket between the twin beds in their rented room]

Ellie: That, I suppose, makes everything quite all right?

Peter: Oh this? Well, I like privacy when I retire. Yes, I'm very delicate in that respect. Prying eyes annoy me. Behold the walls of Jericho! Uh, maybe not as thick as the ones that Joshua blew down with his trumpet, but a lot safer. You see, uh, I have no trumpet. Now just to show you my heart's in the right place, I'll give you my best pair of pajamas.

[Peter offers Ellie his pajamas - she ignores them - so he tosses them at her]

Peter: Uh, do you mind joining the Israelites?

[He indicates he wants her to go on the other side of the blanket - she doesn't move]

Peter: You don't want to join the Israelites? Alright.

[He begins to undress]

Peter: Perhaps you're interested in how a man undresses. You know, it's a funny thing about that. Quite a study in psychology. No two men do it alike. You know, I once knew a man who kept his hat on until he was completely undressed. Yeah, now he made a picture. Years later, his secret came out. He wore a toupee. Yeah. You know, I have a method all my own. If you notice, the coat came first, then the tie, then the shirt. Now, uh, according to Hoyle, after that, the, uh, pants should be next. There's where I'm different... I go for the shoes next. First the right, then the left. After that it's, uh, every man for himself.

[When he starts to unbuckle his pants, she runs to the other side of the blanket]

View Quote Ellie: By the way, what's your name?
Peter: What's that?
Ellie: Who are you?
Peter: Who me? [smiling] I'm the whippoorwill that cries in the night. I'm the soft morning breeze that caresses your lovely face.
Ellie: You've got a name, haven't you?
Peter: Yeah, I got a name. Peter Warne.
Ellie: Peter Warne. I don't like it.
Peter: Don't let it bother you. You're giving it back to me in the morning.
Ellie: Pleased to meet you, Mr. Warne.
Peter: The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Warne.

View Quote Peter: Hey, where'd you learn to dunk? In finishing school?
Ellie: Aw, now don't you start telling me I shouldn't dunk.
Peter: Of course you shouldn't - you don't know how to do it. Dunking's an art. Don't let it soak so long. A dip and [he stuffs the donut in his mouth] plop, in your mouth. Let it hang there too long, it'll get soft and fall off. It's all a matter of timing. Aw, I oughta write a book about it.
Ellie: [Laughing] Thanks, professor.
Peter: Just goes to show you - twenty millions, and you don't know how to dunk.
Ellie: Oh, I'd change places with a plumber's daughter any day.

View Quote Ellie: A man here to see you, sweetheart.
Peter: Who, me? You wanna see me?
Detective: What's your name?
Ellie: Are you addressin' me?
Detective: Yeah, what's your name?
Peter: Hey, wait a minute! That's my wife you're talkin' to. What do you mean comin' in here? What do you want anyway?
Detective: We're lookin' for somebody.
Peter: Yeah. Well, look your head off and don't come bustin' in here. This isn't the public park...
Ellie: Now, don't get so excited Peter. The man just asked you a simple question.
Peter: Ohh. Is that so? Say, how many times have I told you to stop buttin' in when I'm having an argument?
Ellie: Well, you don't have to lose your temper.
Peter: [mocking her] 'You don't have to lose your temper.' That's what you said the other time too, every time I try to protect ya. The other night at the Elks Dance when that big Swede made a pass at ya.
Ellie: He didn't make a pass at me. I told you a million times.
Peter: Oh no. I saw him. Kept pawin' you all over the dance floor.
Ellie: He didn't. You were drunk.
Peter: Aw nuts. You're just like your old man. Once a plumber's daughter, always a plumber's daughter. There's not an ounce of brains in your whole family.
Ellie: Oh Peter Warne, you've gone far enough. I won't sit here and...
Peter: Aw, shut up!...Quit bawlin'! Quit bawlin'!
Detective: [leaving] I told you they were a perfectly nice married couple.
Peter: Hey you know, you weren't bad jumping in like that. You've got a brain, haven't you!
Ellie: Well, you're not so bad yourself.
Peter: You know, we could start a two-people stock company. If things get tough, we'll play the small-town auditoriums...
Ellie: What about Cinderella or a real hot love story?
Peter: Oh no, no, no. That's too mushy.
Ellie: Oh I like mushy stuff.

View Quote [Peter puts Ellie over his shoulder so he can carry her across a creek]

Ellie: You know this is the first time in years I've ridden piggy-back.
Peter: This isn't piggy-back.
Ellie: Course it is.
Peter: You're crazy.
Ellie: I remember distinctly my father taking me for a piggy-back ride.
Peter: And he carried you like this I suppose.
Ellie: Yes.
Peter: Your father didn't know beans about piggy-back riding.
Ellie: My uncle, mother's brother, has four children and I've seen them ride piggy-back.
Peter: I'll bet there isn't a good piggy-back rider in your whole family. I never knew a rich man yet who could piggy-back ride.
Ellie: You're prejudiced.
Peter: You show me a good piggy-backer and I'll show you a real human. Now you take Abraham Lincoln for instance. A natural born piggy-backer. Where do you get all of that stuffed-shirts family of yours?
Ellie: My father was a great piggy-backer.
[He slaps her behind for that remark]

View Quote Ellie: I'm hungry and - scared.
Peter: You can't be hungry and scared both at the same time.
Ellie: Well, I am.
Peter: If you're scared, it scares the hunger out of ya.
Ellie: Not if you're more hungry than scared.
Peter: All right, you win. Let's forget about it.
Ellie: I can't forget it. I'm still hungry.
Peter: Holy Smoke! Why did I ever get mixed up with you? If I had any sense, I'd be in New York by this time.
Ellie: What about your story?
Peter: Taking a married woman back to her husband. Hmm, mmm. I turned out to be the prize sucker. All right, come on. Your bed's all ready.
Ellie: I'll get my clothes all wrinkled.
Peter: Then take 'em off.
Ellie: What!?
Peter: All right, don't take 'em off. Do whatever you please, but shut up about it. [He walks off]
Ellie: You're becoming awful disagreeable lately. You just snap my head off every time I open my mouth. If being with me is so distasteful to you, you can leave. You can leave anytime you see fit. Nobody's holding you here. I can get along.
[Noticing he is gone, she screams out his name, then hugs him when he returns. He kisses her and gives her his coat]
Ellie: What are you thinking about?
Peter: By a strange coincidence, I was thinking of you.
Ellie: Really?
Peter: Yeah. I was just wondering what makes dames like you so dizzy.

View Quote Ellie: What do you say we're supposed to be doing?
Peter: Hitchhiking.
Ellie: Oh. Well, you've given me a very good example of the hiking. Where does the hitching come in?
Peter: A little early yet. No cars out.
Ellie: If it's just the same to you, I'm going to sit right here and wait til they come.

View Quote Ellie: Aren't you going to give me a little credit?
Peter: What for?
Ellie: Well, I proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb.
Peter: Why didn't you take off all your clothes? You could have stopped forty cars.
Ellie: Oh, I'll remember that when we need forty cars.