Joan Manion: [Fred and Joan have just finished a dance number] Where did you learn to dance like that?
Fred Atwell: Arthur Murray.


--Fred Astaire (as ) in The Sky's the Limit

Joan Manion: You know, purely in a sociological way, you interest me. A little.
Fred Atwell: Well, it's a beginning, isn't it?
Joan Manion: Don't get me wrong! What interests me is this passion you seem to have for having your picture taken.
Fred Atwell: Let's talk it over.
[to bartender]
Fred Atwell: I'll have the same, please.
Joan Manion: You know, I'm supposed to be taking pictures of celebrities.
Fred Atwell: Couldn't I be the fellow who never gets his name mentioned? The one they call 'a friend'? You know: 'Ginger Rogers - and friend.'


--Fred Astaire (as ) in The Sky's the Limit

Sharon McLonergan: [looking in Finian's bag] It's gold!
Finian McLonergan: Aye, it's a pot of gold.
Sharon McLonergan: And you stole it!
Finian McLonergan: I did not steal it! I only borrowed.
Sharon McLonergan: Who did you borrow it from?
Finian McLonergan: Why do you want to know?
Sharon McLonergan: So we can lend it right back to him, that's why!
Finian McLonergan: That's impossible! He's not mortal.
Sharon McLonergan: You killed him!
Finian McLonergan: Of course not! He never was mortal. He's a leprechaun.
Sharon McLonergan: A leprechaun?
Finian McLonergan: Of course! Who else would have gold in Ireland?


--Fred Astaire (as Finian McLonergan) in Finian's Rainbow

Sharon McLonergan: [singing] When a rich man doesn't want to work/ He's a bon vivant/ Yes, he's a bon vivant. But when a poor man doesn't want to work / he's a loafer, he's a lounger he's a lazy good for nothing...
Finian McLonergan: He's a jerk. When a rich man loses on a horse/ isn't he the sport /oh, isn't he the sport / but when a poor man loses on a horse / he's a gambler, he's a spender, he's a lowlife, he's a reason for divorce. When a rich man chases after dames, he's a man about town/ a man about town / but when a poor man chases after dames / he's a bounder, he's a rounder, he's a rotter, and a lotter dirty names.


--Fred Astaire (as Finian McLonergan) in Finian's Rainbow

Sharon McLonergan: Father is a mineralogist from the old country. He can make gold sprout out of the ground.
Senator Billboard Rawkins: Gold? There's no gold in Ireland.
Finian McLonergan: I meself discovered a vein our countrymen have been searching for ever since the reign of... Alfred the Thoughtless.
Senator Billboard Rawkins: Who?
Finian McLonergan: You've never heard of Alfred the Thoughtless? He was King of Erin following his father, Thomas the Temporary, who in turn was the only son of the Virgin Queen, Serena the Spotless.


--Fred Astaire (as Finian McLonergan) in Finian's Rainbow

William 'Bill' Gridley: In other words, if she knows I know, I GO!
Franklyn Ambruster: That's exactly right, and I do hope you haven't taken to talking in rhymes.


--Fred Astaire (as ) in The Notorious Landlady

Ellen Bowen: [referring to the royal couple] I wonder what the bride is doing today.
Tom Bowen: Why don't you call her up and ask her?
Ellen Bowen: [chuckles] I wonder what I would be doing a month before my wedding.
Tom Bowen: Probably trying to find a way out of it.
Ellen Bowen: Do you really think so?
Tom Bowen: You know you would.


--Fred Astaire (as Tom Bowen) in Royal Wedding

Ellen Bowen: Didn't your mother never teach you no manners?
Tom Bowen: I never had no mother. We was too poor.


--Fred Astaire (as Tom Bowen) in Royal Wedding

Morgan: They pushed us too far! They didn't think we'd fight, no matter what they did!
Julian Osborne: And they were wrong. We fought. We expunged them. And we didn't do such a bad job on ourselves.


--Fred Astaire (as Julian Osborne) in On the Beach

Jeffrey Cordova, Lily Marton, Lester Marton, Tony Hunter: [singing] That's En-ter-tain-ment.


--Fred Astaire (as Tony Hunter) in The Band Wagon