The Quiet Man (1952) · 28 quotes
Most-quoted character in The Quiet Man (1952): in 15 of its 28 quotes
Most scenes with: Mary Kate Danahar (7), Will (3), Michaeleen (3)
What do they feed you Irishmen in that Pittsburgh?
Sean Thornton Steel, Michaleen. Steel and pig iron furnaces so hot a man forgets his fear of hell.
There'll be no locks or bolts between us, Mary Kate, except those in your own mercenary little heart!
I'll pay ya, never.
Sean Thornton That breaks all bargains. You can take your sister back. It's your custom, not mine. No fortune, no marriage. We call it quits.
Sean Do you think she'd sell it?
I doubt it.
Sean Don't bet on it, 'cause I'm buyin' it.
Now why would a, why would a Yankee from Pittsburgh want to buy it?
Sean I'll tell you why Michaeleen Oge Flynn, young small Michael Flynn who used to wipe my runny nose when I was a kid. Because I'm Sean Thornton and I was born in that little cottage over there. And I've come home, and home I'm gonna stay. Now does that answer your questions once and for all, you nosy little man?
Seanin Thornton! And look at you now...What do they feed you, all you men who are in Pittsburgh?
Sean Steel, Michaleen. Steel and pig iron furnaces so hot a man forgets his fear of hell. When you're hard enough, tough enough, other things, other things Michaeleen.
Sean Hey, is that real? She couldn't be.
Oh nonsense, man. It's only a mirage brought on by your terrible thirst.
Sean The point is, it's already done. I own the property now, and as long as we're gonna be neighbors...
Neighbors? Oh, neighbors. NEVER! And if I so much as catch you putting your wet foot on my property...and oh, another thing, you keep away from my sister Mary Kate. She's not for the likes of you.
Sean Where I come from, we don't talk about our women folk in saloons. You sort of make a habit of it.
It's a bold one you are. And who gave you leave to be kissin' me?
Sean So you can talk!
Yes I can. I will, and I do. And it's more than talk you'll be gettin' if you step a step closer to me.
Sean Don't worry. You've got a wallop!
You'll get over it, I'm thinkin'.
Sean Well, some things a man doesn't get over so easy.
Like what supposin'?
Sean Like the sight of a girl comin' through the fields with the sun on her hair. Kneeling in church with a face like a saint.
Saint indeed!
Sean And now comin' to a man's house to clean it for him.
But that was just my way of bein' a good Christian act.
Sean I know it was, Mary Kate Danaher. And it was nice of you.
Not at all. [she moves to leave, but then turns back and kisses him]
Get out! Why if he was the last man on the face of this earth, and my sister the last woman, I'd still say no. Hey Yank! I'll count three. And if you're not out of the house by then, I'll loose the dogs on ya.
Sean If you say three, mister, you'll never hear the man count ten.
I thank you anyway, Sean Thornton, for the asking.
Sean You don't think this changes anything? It's what you say that counts, not him.
Now Sean, you've gone too far. That's enough.
Sean Say, what is this? We're gonna get married. Aren't we? [She turns away, dejected, and runs upstairs to her room] I don't get it.
This is Ireland, Sean, not America. Without a brother's consent, she couldn't and wouldn't. I'm sorry for both of ya.
I have a fearful temper. You might as well know about it now instead of finding out about it later. We Danahers are a fighting people.
Sean I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do to one of the Danahers - Miss Danaher.
Shhh, Mr. Thornton. What will Mr. Flynn be thinking?
Sean If anybody had told me six months ago that today I'd be in a graveyard in Innisfree with a girl like you that I'm just about to kiss, I'd have told 'em...
Oh, but the kisses are a long way off yet.
Sean Huh?
Well, we just started a-courtin', and next month, we, we start the walkin'-out, and the month after that there'll be the threshin' parties, and the month after that...
Sean Nope.
Well, maybe we won't have to wait that month.
Sean Yep.
Or for the threshin' parties.
Sean Nope.
Or for the walkin'-out together.
Sean No.
And so much the worse for you, Sean Thornton. For I feel the same way about it myself.
Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed of having my own things about me. My spinnet over there, and a table here, and my own chairs to rest upon. And a dresser over there in that corner, and my own china and pewter shinin' about me. And now...
Sean I didn't know you felt that way about it. Seems like a lot of fuss and grief over a little furniture and stuff. [They go outside]
It is a pretty cottage, isn't it?
Sean Yeah, I think so. [He moves to embrace her]
Sean Whaddya mean, no right?
I'll wear your ring, I'll cook, and I'll wash, and I'll keep the land. But that is all. Until I've got my dowry safe about me, I'm no married woman. I'm the servant I've always been, without anything of my own!
Sean That's ridiculous. You're my wife and...[She shuts the bottom half of the cottage's front door on him] What is this?
Haven't I been tryin' to tell ya? - ...that until you have my dowry, you haven't got any bit of me - me, myself. I'll still be dreamin' amongst the things that are my own as if I had never met you. There's three hundred years of happy dreamin' in those things of mine and I want them. I want my dream. I'll have it and I know it. I'll say no other word to you.
Sean All right. You'll have your dowry or dot or fortune or whatever you call it.
Well, get it then.
She bolts the bedroom door behind her. He kicks the door open]
Sean There'll be no locks or bolts between us Mary Kate except those in your own mercenary little heart.
Sean Well, let him keep it.
Keep my fortune?
Sean Sure, you've got your tables and chairs about ya. What do we care about his money?
My money!
Sean Well, let him have it if it means that much to him....
What manner of man is it that I have married?
Sean Ask him what?
About my money. He can't say that he hasn't got it with him now.
Sean Can't you get it through your head that I didn't marry you for your fortune? I don't give a hang about the money.
But he does. And that's the whole point of it. Now will you go and ask him?!
Sean No, why shame ourselves?
Shame? The shame's on you, not on me. Oh, on me too if I've married a coward.
Sean Is that what you think of me?
Well, what else if you let him rob you out of my money?
Sean 'Money!' I'm sick of the talk of it. Is that all you Danahers think about - money?
Sean Maybe it's just one of those things in the scrapbook, but now when you carry it around in here...I didn't go in there to outbox him. I went in there to beat his brains out. To drive him into the canvas, to murder him. That's what I did. For what? The purse, a piece of the gate. Lousy money.
Reverend Playfair And now money is behind your trouble with Danaher.
Sean They think I'm afraid to fight him, all the friends I've made here, even my wife.
Reverend Playfair But aren't you in a way?
Sean Did you ever kill a man? Well I have, and all this talk about her big fortune. It's not that important.
Reverend Playfair Perhaps it is to her. It must be strange to you from America, but it's an old, old custom here, and believe me, it's a good custom. The fortune means more to her than just the money.
Sean To me it isn't, and worth fightin' for.
Reverend Playfair Is your wife's love worth fightin' for?
Sean I don't know. About all I know is I can't fight or won't fight unless I'm mad enough to kill, and if that means losin' her, I don't know. Maybe she doesn't love me enough.
Reverend Playfair It's a difficult situation. But I think you'll find the answer in God's good time.
You know, Yank, I've taken quite a likins to yas.
Sean I'm getting real fond of you too.
Yer widow, me sister, she coulda done a lot worse.
