“By the time I took my seat in the Gods, the opera was well into its...” – Barbara Covett, Notes on a Scandal ... Movie Quotes Database

Barbara Covett

[voiceover]

By the time I took my seat in the Gods, the opera was well into its final act.

Richard Hart

You're his teacher!

Sheba Hart

And you were mine! I'm not justifying. I'm not trying to justify it...

Richard Hart

You are so full of shit! It's totally different. You were twenty!

Sheba Hart

He's sixteen in May. He's not some innocent...

Richard Hart

Of course he's innocent! He's **** fifteen! Are you insane? If you meant to destroy us, why not do it with an adult? That's the convention, it's worked for centuries!

Sheba Hart

It wasn't about us, it...

Richard Hart

Why?

Sheba Hart

I ju-ju-just wanted him...

Richard Hart

WHY?

Sheba Hart

I don't know!

Richard Hart

[distraught]

WELL FIND OUT!!

In this scene

Barbara Covett Judi Dench More Barbara Covett quotes →

Sheba Hart Cate Blanchett More Sheba Hart quotes →

Richard Hart Bill Nighy More Richard Hart quotes →

More from Notes on a Scandal

Barbara Covett Well, that's when you should've stopped it. Sheba Hart I did! I told him I wouldn't teach him any more. But he refused to accept it, he just kept coming back. It began to feel like our secret, and well, secrets can be... seductive. Barbara Covett And then I realised my fury had blinded me. There was a magnificent opportunity here. With stealth, I might secure the prize long-term, forever in my debt. I could gain everything by doing nothing. Sheba Hart This is going to sound sick, but something in me felt... entitled. You know, I've been good all my adult life. I've been a decent wife, a dutiful mother coping with Ben. This voice inside me kept saying "why shouldn't you be bad, why shouldn't you transgress? I mean, you've earned the right."