Norman Bates Gee, I'm sorry I didn't hear you in all this rain. Go ahead in, please.
Played by Anthony Perkins 
Psycho (1960) · 48 quotes
Psycho (1960) · 48 quotes
Most-quoted character in Psycho (1960): in 28 of its 48 quotes
Most scenes with: Marion Crane (6), Sam Loomis (3), Mother (3)
I don't even much bother with, uh, guests registering anymore. You know, one by one, you drop the formalities. I shouldn't even bother changing the sheets but old habits die hard.
More lines from Norman Bates
15 quotes Norman Bates Norman Bates Nobody ever stops here anymore unless they've done that. There's no sense dwelling on our losses. We just keep on lighting the lights and following the formalities.
Norman Bates Well the, uh, mattress is soft, and there's hangers in the closet and stationery with 'Bates Motel' printed on it, in case you want to make your friends back home feel envious.
Norman Bates A boy's best friend is his mother.
Note: ranked #56 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.
Norman Bates Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay just a little while longer? Just for talk?
Norman Bates [affably]
Dirty night.
Norman Bates Hate the smell of dampness, don't you? It's such a, I don't know, creepy smell.
Norman Bates A hobby should pass the time, not fill it.
Norman Bates I don't set a fancy table, but my kitchen's awful homey.
Norman Bates Oh, we have twelve vacancies. Twelve cabins, twelve vacancies. They, uh, they moved away the highway.
Norman Bates I think I must have one of those faces you can't help believing.
Norman Bates Well I'm not a fool. And I'm not capable of being fooled! Not even by a woman.
Norman Bates She might have fooled me, but she didn't fool my mother.
Norman Bates Well, a son is a poor substitute for a lover.
Norman Bates Mother! Oh God, mother! Blood! Blood!
Scenes with Norman Bates
12 scenes
Hardware Store Customer [Looking at can]
They tell you what its ingredients are, and how it's guaranteed to exterminate every insect in the world, but they do not tell you whether or not it's painless. And-and I say, insect or man, death should always be painless.
He was flirting with you. I guess he must have noticed my wedding ring.
Norman Bates' Mother
[in police custody, as Norman is thinking]
It is sad when a mother has to speak the words that condemn her own son. I can't allow them to think I would commit murder. Put him away now as I should have years ago. He was always bad and in the end he intended to tell them I killed those girls and that man, as if I could do anything but just sit and stare like one of his stuffed birds. They know I can't move a finger and I want to just sit here and be quiet just in case they suspect me. They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching... they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, "Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly..."
Norman Bates' Mother
No! I tell you no! I won't have you bringing some young girl in for supper! By candlelight, I suppose, in the cheap, erotic fashion of young men with cheap, erotic minds!
Norman Bates Mother, please...!
Norman Bates' Mother
And then what? After supper? Music? Whispers?
Norman Bates Mother, she's just a stranger. She's hungry, and it's raining out!
Norman Bates' Mother
[mockingly]
"Mother, she's just a stranger"! As if men don't desire strangers! As if... ohh, I refuse to speak of disgusting things, because they disgust me! You understand, boy? Go on, go tell her she'll not be appeasing her ugly appetite with MY food... or my son! Or do I have to tell her because you don't have the guts! Huh, boy? You have the guts, boy?
Norman Bates [shouts]
Shut up! Shut up!
I've caused you some trouble.
Norman Bates No. Mother, my mother, uh, what's the phrase? She isn't quite herself today.
You should have bothered. I really don't have that much of an appetite.
Norman Bates Oh, I'm sorry. I wish you could apologize for other people.
Norman Bates You-you eat like a bird.
Norman Bates No, not really. Anyway, I hear the expression 'eats like a bird' -- it-it's really a fals-fals-fals-falsity. Because birds really eat a tremendous lot. But I-I don't really know anything about birds. My hobby is stuffing things. You know -- taxidermy. And I guess I'd rather stuff birds because I hate the look of beasts when their stuffed -- you know, foxes and chimps. Some people even stuff dogs and cats -- but, oh, I can't do that. I think only birds look well stuffed because -- well, because they're kind of passive to begin with.
Norman Bates You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.
Sometimes, we deliberately step into those traps.
Norman Bates I was born into mine. I don't mind it anymore.
Oh, but you should. You should mind it.
Norman Bates Oh, I do, [laughs] but I say I don't.
You know -- if anyone ever talked to me the way I heard -- the way she spoke to you...
Norman Bates Sometimes -- when she talks to me like that -- I feel I'd like to go up there, and curse her, and-and-and leave her forever! Or at least defy her! But I know I can't. She's ill.
Norman Bates Now, mother, I'm going to uh, bring something up...
Norman Bates' Mother
Haha... I am sorry, boy, but you do manage to look ludicrous when you give me orders.
Norman Bates Please, mother.
Norman Bates' Mother
No! I will not hide in the fruit cellar! Ha! You think I'm fruity, huh? I'm staying right here. This is my room and no one will drag me out of it, least of all my big, bold son!
Norman Bates They'll come now, mother! He came after the girl and now someone will come after him. Please, mother, it's just for a few days, just for a few days so they won't find you!
Norman Bates' Mother
'Just for a few days'? In that dark, dank fruit cellar? No! You hid me there once boy, and you'll not do it again, not ever again, now get out! I told you to get out, boy.
Norman Bates I'll carry you, mother.
Norman Bates' Mother
Norman! What do you think you're doing? Don't you touch me, don't! Norman! Put me down, put me down, I can walk on my own...
I've been doing all the talking so far, haven't I? I thought it was the people who were all alone all the time who did most of the talking when they got the chance. Here you are doing all the listening. You're alone here aren't you? Drive me crazy.
Norman Bates I think that would be a rather extreme reaction, don't you?
Just an expression. What I meant was, I'd do just about anything to get away, wouldn't you?
Norman Bates No.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't be contended here, I'm just doubting that you are. I think if you saw the chance to get out from under you would unload this place.
Norman Bates This place? This place happens to be my only world. I grew up in that house up there. I happen to have a very happy childhood. My mother and I were more than happy.
Norman Bates If you love someone, you don't do that even if you hate them. You understand that I don't hate her -- I hate what she's become. I hate the illness.
Wouldn't it be better if you put her... someplace.
Norman Bates You mean an institution? A madhouse?
No, I didn't mean it like --
Norman Bates [suddenly angry]
People always call a madhouse "someplace", don't they? "Put her in someplace."
I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound so uncaring.
Norman Bates What do you know about caring? Have you ever seen the inside of one of those places? The laughing, and the tears, and the cruel eyes studying you? My mother there? Oh, but she's harmless! She's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds!
I am sorry. I only felt... it seems she's hurting you. I tried to mean well.
Norman Bates People always mean well! They cluck their thick tongues, and shake their heads and suggest, oh, so very delicately! Of course, I've suggested it myself. But I hate to even think about it. She needs me. It-it's not as if she were a maniac -- a raving thing. She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you.
Yes. Sometimes just one time can be enough. Thank you.
Norman Bates Thank you, Norman.
Norman.
Norman Well, it's, it's more than a hobby. [He fondles a stuffed bird on the bureau next to him] A hobby's supposed to pass the time, not fill it.
Is your time so empty?
Norman No, uh. Well, I run the office and uh, tend the cabins and grounds and, and do a little, uh, errands for my mother. The ones she allows I might be capable of doing.
Do you go out with friends?
Norman Well, a boy's best friend is his mother. You've never had an empty moment in your entire life, have you?
Only my share.
Norman Where are you going? I didn't mean to pry.
I'm looking for a private island.
Norman What are you running away from?
Wh-why do you ask that?
Norman People never run away from anything.
Note: bolded portion ranked #56 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.
Norman The rain didn't last long, did it? [Pause] You know what I think? I think that we're all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.
Sometimes, we deliberately step into those traps.
Norman I was born in mine. I don't mind it anymore.
Oh, but you should! You should mind it!
Norman Oh, I do, [laughs] but I say I don't.
You know, if anyone ever talked to me the way I heard — the way she spoke to you...
Norman Sometimes — when she talks to me like that — I feel I'd like to go up there, and curse her, and-and-and leave her forever! Or at least defy her! But I know I can't. She's ill.
She sounded strong.
Norman No, I mean... ill. She had to raise me all by herself after my father died. I was only five and it must have been quite a strain for her. She didn't have to go to work or anything like that. He left her a little money. Anyway, a few years ago, Mother met this man, and he talked her into building this motel. He could have talked her into anything. And when he died too, it was just too great a shock for her. And, and the way he died. I guess it's nothing to talk about while you're eating. Anyway, it was just too great a loss for her. She had nothing left.
Except you.
Norman A son is a poor substitute for a lover.
Why don't you go away?
Norman To a private island, like you?
No, not like me.
Norman I couldn't do that. Who'd look after her? She'd be alone up there. The fire would go out. It'd be cold and damp like a grave. If you love someone, you don't do that to them - even if you hate them. You understand that I don't hate her. I hate what she's become. I hate the illness.
You look frightened. Have I been saying something frightening?
Norman I-I-I don't know what you've been saying.
I've been talking about your mother. About your motel. How you're gonna do it?
Norman Do what?
Buy a new one in a new town where you won't have to hide your mother.
Norman Why don't you just get in your car and drive away from here, OK?
Where will you get the money to do that, Bates? Or do you already have it, socked away?
Norman Shut up!
A lot of it, $40,000. I bet your mother knows where the money is and what you did to get it. I think she'll tell us.
