Donna Anderson
(as Rachel Brown)
Spencer Tracy
(as Henry Drummond)
Bertram T. Cates:
Where do I finish? Dead with a paper medal on my chest? 'Bert Cates, World's Chump, he Died Fighting.' Well, let's face it - to him I'm a headline, to you I'm a cause?
Henry Drummond: And to yourself? All right, let's face it. Now you chose to get into this by yourself. You didn't get into it because of his headline or because of my cause or maybe even because of their kids! You got into it because of yourself, because of something you believed in, for yourself.
Bertram T. Cates: I didn't believe it would happen this way.
E. K. Hornbeck: It can get worse, those people are in a lean and hungry mood.
E. K. Hornbeck: They look at me as if I was a murderer.
Henry Drummond: In a way you are. You killed one of their fairy tale notions.
Henry Drummond: And to yourself? All right, let's face it. Now you chose to get into this by yourself. You didn't get into it because of his headline or because of my cause or maybe even because of their kids! You got into it because of yourself, because of something you believed in, for yourself.
Bertram T. Cates: I didn't believe it would happen this way.
E. K. Hornbeck: It can get worse, those people are in a lean and hungry mood.
E. K. Hornbeck: They look at me as if I was a murderer.
Henry Drummond: In a way you are. You killed one of their fairy tale notions.
Gene Kelly
(as E. K. Hornbeck)
Townswoman:
You're the stranger, ain'tcha? Are you looking for a nice, clean place to stay?
E. K. Hornbeck: Madam, I had a nice clean place to stay... and I left it, to come here.
E. K. Hornbeck: Madam, I had a nice clean place to stay... and I left it, to come here.
Gene Kelly
(as E. K. Hornbeck)
[a crowd burns the teacher in effigy]
E. K. Hornbeck: Well, those are the boobs that make our laws. That's the democratic process.
E. K. Hornbeck: Well, those are the boobs that make our laws. That's the democratic process.
Spencer Tracy
(as Henry Drummond)
[challenged to say if he considers anything holy]
Henry Drummond: Yes. The individual human mind. In a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies" and "hosannas." An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.
Henry Drummond: Yes. The individual human mind. In a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies" and "hosannas." An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.
Gene Kelly
(as E. K. Hornbeck)
[last lines]
Henry Drummond: You poor slob! You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.
E. K. Hornbeck: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there. You're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?
Henry Drummond: You poor slob! You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.
E. K. Hornbeck: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there. You're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?
Fredric March
(as Matthew Harrison Brady)
Howard:
He said that men sort of evo-luted from Old World monkeys.
Matthew Harrison Brady: Do you hear that, friends? Old World monkeys! According to Bertram Cates, we don't even descend from good American monkeys!
[laughing]
Matthew Harrison Brady: Do you hear that, friends? Old World monkeys! According to Bertram Cates, we don't even descend from good American monkeys!
[laughing]