Philadelphia Story, The (1940) quotes

View Quote Mike: I don't think you're being fair to me, Mr. Kidd.
Kidd: No?
Mike: No. You're treating me like you treat all your other writers.

View Quote Kidd: You really hate me, don't you Connor?
Mike: Oh no! [pause] I don't like you very much though.

View Quote Kidd: I understand we understand each other.
Dexter: Quite.

View Quote Liz: What's this room? I've forgotten my compass.
Mike: I'd say, south-by-southwest parlor-by-living-room.

View Quote Librarian: What does thee wish?
Mike: I'm looking for some local b— what'd you say?
Librarian: What does thee wish?
Mike: Um, local biography or history.
Librarian: If thee will consult with my colleague in there.
Mike: Mm-hm. Dost thou have a washroom?
[the librarian points]
Mike: Thank thee.

View Quote [Mike has discovered the list of telephones in the Lord's house]
Mike: Uh-oh, Liz, what did I tell you? Look, how do you like this: living room, sitting room, terrace, pool, stables...
Liz: That's probably so they can talk to the horses without having them in the house.

View Quote Mike: [on the telephone] This is the Bridal Suite. Would you send up a couple of caviar sandwiches and a bottle of beer?
Margaret: What? Who is this?
Mike: This is the Voice of Doom calling. Your days are numbered, to the seventh son of the seventh son!
Margaret: Hello? Hello?
Tracy: What's the matter?
Margaret: I think one of the servants has been at the sherry again.

View Quote Margaret: Oh, dear. Is there no such thing as privacy any more?
Tracy: Only in bed, mother, and not always there.

View Quote Tracy: I thought you were low, but I never thought you'd sink to...Who the heck do they think they are, barging in on peaceful people?
Dexter: Now, shush, shush, they'll think you don't want them.
Tracy: I want them out and you too.
Dexter: Yes, yes your Majesty, but first, could I interest you in some small blackmail?
Tracy: No!
Dexter: [as he removes an article from his coat pocket] Well, it's an article, complete with snapshots, details, and insinuations. And it's ready for publication in Spy and it's about your father and that dancer in New York.
Tracy: [grabbing the article] About father and Tina Mara?
Dexter: Now quiet, Dinah...
Tracy: But they can't. Well they can't, even if it's true. Where did you get these?
Dexter: From Sidney Kidd. The editor and publisher...
Tracy: He's got to be stopped.
Dexter: Well he is, temporarily. That is, if you'll allow those two to turn in a story on your wedding. And when Kidd says a story, he means a story!
Tracy: I'm gonna be sick.
Dexter: Yes, dear. 'An Intimate Day with a Society Bride.'
Tracy: I am sick.
Dexter: Well, it's tough, but that's the way it seems to be.
Tracy: So I'm to be examined, undressed, and generally humiliated at fifteen cents a copy. And you, you ---. You're loving it.
Dexter: Am I, Red?

View Quote Tracy: [about George] You hardly know him.
Dexter: To hardly know him is to know him well.

View Quote Tracy: They aren't anybody's friends, but we're to pretend they are...Don't ask me, there's a good reason and it's my wedding, so please!
Dinah: I'll bet it's on account of father and that dancer in New York.
Tracy: Watching every little mannerism, jotting down notes on how we sit, stand, talk, and even move...And all in that horrible, snide, corkscrew English. Well, if we have to submit to it to save father's face, which [she covers Dinah's ears] incidentally doesn't deserve it, I'm for giving them a picture of home life that will stand their hair on end.
Margaret: No. Tracy, we must just be ourselves. Very much ourselves.

View Quote Mike: Age 32...General Manager, Quaker State Coal, controlling interest in the company owned by Seth Lord - that's the girl's father, huh?
Dexter: Uh, huh.
Liz: What a coincidence.
Mike: How did he meet her?
Dexter: Heaven brought them together, I imagine.
Mike: Now about this girl. Tracy Samantha Lord...Oh, what's her leading characteristic.
Dexter: [Mike is wearing a hat] She has a horror of men who wear their hats in the house. [leaves the room]
Liz: Leading characteristics to be filled in later.
Mike: I can fill them in right now: the young rich, rapacious, American female. There's no other country where she exists.
Liz: And would I change places with Tracy Samantha Lord for all her wealth and beauty? Oh boy just ask me.

View Quote Tracy: You're a kind of, um, writer, aren't you, Mr. Connor?
Mike: Sort of.
Tracy: A book?
Mike: Yes.
Tracy: Under what name do you publish?
Mike: My own. Macauley Connor.
Tracy: What's the 'Macauley' for?
Mike: Well, my father taught English History. I'm, I'm Mike to my friends.
Tracy: Of whom you have many, I'm sure. English History - it's always fascinated me. Cromwell, Robin Hood, Jack the Ripper. Where did he teach? I mean your father -
Mike: In a little high school in South Bend, Indiana.
Tracy: South Bend! It sounds like dancing, doesn't it? You must have had a most happy childhood there.
Mike: Yeah, it was terrific.
Tracy: I'm so glad.
Mike: No, I didn't mean it that way.
Tracy: I'm so sorry. Why?
Mike: Uh, well, lack of where-with-all I guess.
Tracy: But that doesn't always cause unhappiness, does it? Not if you're the right kind of man. George Kittredge, my fiancee, never had anything either and he...

View Quote Tracy: Are either of you married?
Mike: No.
Liz: Uh, no.
Tracy: You mean you were, but now you're divorced...Well, come now Miss Imbrie, surely you're not ashamed of it.
Liz: Well, of course I'm not ashamed of it.
Mike: WHAT!?
Liz: Well, it was years ago. I was only a kid in Duluth.
Mike: Well, good heavens Liz! You never told me anything...
Liz: You never asked me.
Mike: Well, I know, but you...
Liz: Joe Smith. Hardware.
Mike: You're the darnedest girl, Liz.
Liz: I think I'm sweet.
Tracy: Duluth. That must be a lovely spot. It's west of here, isn't it?...And this is your first visit in Philadelphia? It's a quaint old place, don't you think, filled with relics. And how old are you, Mr. Connor?
Mike: Thirty.
Tracy: One book isn't much for a man of thirty. Well, I don't mean to criticize. You probably have other interests outside your work.
Mike: None, I mean unless... [He gestures to acknowledge his friendship with Liz]
Tracy: How sweet. Are you going together?
Liz: Well, that is an odd question I must say.
Tracy: Well, I don't see why. I think it's very interesting. Miss Imbrie. Don't you agree that if a man says he loves a girl, he ought to marry her?
Mike: Can she be human?
Tracy: Please, Mr. Connor! I asked Miss Imbrie a question.
Liz: That depends. I-
Tracy: I'll see what's keeping Mama. [she leaves the room]

View Quote Margaret: Are you one of the musicians?
Mike: No!
Margaret: Oh, of course, you're Junius's friend. Only you're not. Do you have any violin strings?
Mike: I have an aspirin. Will that work?
Margaret: I don't think so; It's for a violin. Oh well, no matter!