Agnes Smith: Roses are red
John's name is Truett
Esther's in love
And we always knew it.

Grandpa: They'll all be safe with me. I've got twelve guns in my room.

Katie: A lie's a lie, and dressed in white don't help it.

Esther: She may be loathe to say the things a girl's compelled to say to get a proposal out of a man.
Katie: Personally, I wouldn't marry a man who proposed to me over an invention.

Tootie: [about her doll] I expect she won't live through the night. She has four fatal diseases.
Mr. Neely: And it only takes one.
Tootie: But she's gonna have a beautiful funeral in a cigar box my Papa gave me, all wrapped in silver paper.
Mr. Neely: That's the way to go if you have to go.
Tootie: Oh, she has to go.

Mr. Neely: [about St. Louis] It's a grand old town.
Tootie: It isn't a town, Mr. Neely. It's a city. It's the only city that has a world's fair. My favorite. Wasn't I lucky to be born in my favorite city?

Esther: I'm going to let John Truett kiss me tonight.
Rose: Esther Smith!
Esther: Well, if we're going to get married, I may as well start it.
Rose: Nice girls don't let men kiss them until after they're engaged. Men don't want the bloom rubbed off.
Esther: Personally, I think I have too much bloom. Maybe that's the trouble with me.

Tootie: [after tossing flour in Mr. Braukoff's face] I killed him.
Agnes: She killed him all alone. Hey, wait a minute. Listen, listen. Quiet. Quiet. Tootie killed the Braukoffs single-handed. She's the bravest of them all!
Another child: Yeah, Tootie's the most horrible!
Tootie: I'm the most horrible. I'm the most horrible.

John: [after Esther apologizes] If you're not busy tomorrow night, could you beat me up again?
[John kisses Esther]
Esther: You've got a mighty strong grip for a boy.

Tootie: Here comes the invalid. I have to have two kinds of ice cream. I'm recuperating.
Mrs. Smith: If I ever catch you fibbing again like you did about John Truett, I'll give you something to recuperate about.

Mr. Smith: I've got the future to think about. A future for all of us. I've got to worry about where's the money coming from. Lon in Princeton, and Rose going to college...
Rose: Money! I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate money!
Mr. Smith: You also spend it.

Rose: If there ever was a time we definitely needed every ounce of allure, it's tonight. If we're going to wreck Lucille Ballard's evening, we've simply got to be a sensation.
Esther: Rose, don't you think I could be a sensation without the corset?
Rose: You're competing with an Eastern girl. I'll wager Lucille Ballard doesn't make a move without a corset.
Esther: Well, I certainly don't relish wearing this thing. But pride has come to the rescue. For tonight, I'll do anything.
Rose: It'll be worth it. If we can create a breathtaking effect, it'll be simple to monopolize all the worthwhile men.
Esther: Exactly. There are only going to be about twenty boys worth looking at anyway. We can certainly handle twenty men. I should hope! Can you handle ten?
Rose: Seven or eight.
Esther: If you'll guarantee eight, I can handle the rest of them.
Rose: What about John Truett?
Esther: Oh, I'll devote myself to John. But in between times, I'm going to make my presence felt amongst the others.

John: [after proposing to Esther] I wouldn't have said it, Esther, if I'd thought it would make you cry.
Esther: [crying] I've imagined you saying it thousands of times. And I always planned exactly how I'd act. I never planned to cry.
John: Well, at least you didn't laugh...I never asked a girl to marry me before...
Esther: John, nobody could have done it more beautifully. I'm very proud.
John: Esther, will you? Will you, Esther?
Esther: Of course I will, John.

Esther: I kept telling myself that even if I did go away, we'd find some way to be together. Well, I never really believed it.
John: When you go to New York, it will be with your husband. Your folks can show us the town, meet us at the station. Let's go in and tell them now.
Esther: Oh no, not tonight. I mean, I'd rather that just the two of us knew about it tonight. Even if I did go to New York, we could still work something out somehow, couldn't we?

Mr. Smith: We're not moving to New York and I don't want to hear a word about it. We're going to stay right here. We're going to stay here till we rot.
Mrs. Smith: We haven't rotted yet, Lonnie.

Warren Sheffield: [rushes in] Rose Smith. We can't go on like this any longer. I've positively decided we're going to get married at the earliest opportunity. And I don't want to hear any arguments. That's final. I love you. [rushes out]
Mr. Smith: I'd like to meet that boy sometime.

Esther: [about the Palace of Electricity at the World's Fair] Oh, isn't it breathtaking, John! I never dreamed anything could be so beautiful.
Mrs. Smith: There's never been anything like it in the whole world.
Rose: We don't have to come here on a train or stay in a hotel. It's right in our own home town.
Tootie: Grandpa? They'll never tear it down, will they?
Grandpa: Well, they'd better not.
Esther: I can't believe it. Right here where we live. Right here in St. Louis.