Hans: [having just learned that Doro is married to Niels, who has just slapped her after an argument] How could you do it? How could a girl like you marry a man like that? How can I help you?

Hans: Did you ever hear the story of the old woman who shook her head at the family so much that one night it fell off? Right on the dinner table.

Hans: No one's ever really alone.

Hans: That's the nice thing about the world, my friend: People.

Hans: You know I like to think that shoes have a mind of their own. The ones that squeak don't want to leave the shop, and the ones that don't fit don't like the person that's wearing them.

Hans: You know, I never saw such a worrier as you, Peter. You want to worry? I'll give you something to worry about. Two years ago I took you out of that orphanage and promised them I'd make you into a good cobbler. Two whole years! Look at that shoe. Glue's all smeared, the nails go in crooked. Two years an apprentice and still the nails go in crooked.
Peter: I'm not as bad as all that, am I? You're not going to send me back, are you?
Hans: Ah! A new worry appears in the sky.

Hans: You'd be surprised how many kings are only a queen with a mustache.

Niels: You dance the waltz like an elephant in a snowdrift! No, like an elephant that's fallen and trying to get up!

[working on a beautiful ballerina's shoes]
Hans: I almost wish she'd asked me for something really impossible.