Senator Joseph Paine: I wish to ask my distinguished colleague, has he one scrap of evidence to add now to the defense he did not give and could not give at that same hearing?
Jefferson Smith: I have no defense against forged papers!
Senator Joseph Paine: The Committee ruled otherwise! The gentleman stands guilty, as charged. And I believe I speak for every member when I say that no one cares to hear what a man of his condemned character has to say about any section of any legislation before this House.
President of Senate: Order, order, gentlemen.
Jefferson Smith: Mr. President, I stand guilty as FRAMED! Because section 40 is graft! And I was ready to say so, I was ready to tell you that a certain man in my state, a Mr. James Taylor, wanted to put through this dam for his own profit. A man who controls a political machine! And controls everything else worth controlling in my state. Yes, and a man even powerful enough to control Congressmen - and I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him!
Senator Joseph Paine: Will the Senator yield?
Jefferson Smith: No, sir, I will not yield! And this same man, Mr. James Taylor, came down here and offered me a seat in this Senate for the next 20 years if I voted for a dam that he knew, and I knew, was a fraud. But if I dared to open my mouth against that dam, he promised to break me in two.


--James Stewart (as Jefferson Smith) in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Anthony P. Kirby: Say, Tony, do you realize there won't be a bullet, gun or cannon made in this country without us?
Tony Kirby: Dad, now don't tell me you've forgotten the sling shot market.


--James Stewart (as Tony Kirby) in You Can't Take It With You

Jeff: [into the phone] He killed a dog last night because the dog was scratching around in the garden. You know why? Because he had something buried in that garden that the dog scented.
Lt. Doyle: [voice] Like an old hambone?
Jeff: I don't know what pet names Thorwald had for his wife.


--James Stewart (as L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries) in Rear Window

Jeff: [Lisa wants to be part of Jeff's globe-trotting life of adventure] You don't sleep much, you bathe even less and you'd have to eat things that you wouldn't want to look at while they were alive.


--James Stewart (as L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries) in Rear Window

Jeff: Are you interested in solving this case or in making me look foolish?
Lt. Doyle: Well, if possible, both.
Jeff: Well then, do a good job of it. Go over there and search Thorwald's apartment. The whole place must be knee-deep in evidence.
Lt. Doyle: I can't do that.
Jeff: No, I mean not right now. Just wait for a while until he goes out later for drink or a paper or something. What he doesn't know woun't hurt him.
Lt. Doyle: I can't do that even if he isn't there.
Jeff: Why not? Does he have a curtesy card from the local police department?
Lt. Doyle: Now don't get me angry. This is America. Not even a detective can just walk into an apartment and search it. Why personaly, if I was caught in there, they'd have my badge within 10 minutes.
Jeff: Then make sure you don't get caught, that's all. If you find something, you have a murder. They'd probaly not care very much about a few broken house rules. If you don't find anything, the fellow's clear.


--James Stewart (as L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries) in Rear Window

Jefferson Smith: Dad always used to say the only causes worth fighting for were the lost causes.


--James Stewart (as Jefferson Smith) in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Tony Kirby: Well, Dad, if you think it's funny, I'm sorry. I came in here to say goodbye.
Anthony P. Kirby: Goodbye? Are you serious?
Tony Kirby: Yes I'm serous. I don't want any part of this, Dad. I never did.
Anthony P. Kirby: You can't do this -- after all the plans I made for you...
Tony Kirby: Dad, if I can just make you understand this... I think this business is great -- it's good for you because you like it. I don't and I never will. Oh, I... I've tried to talk to you so many times about it, but I... I just couldn't get it out. I... I used to be able to talk to you dad, but lately... (he's at a loss for words) I'll probably be gone before you get home tonight. Goodbye Dad.


--James Stewart (as Tony Kirby) in You Can't Take It With You

Tony Kirby: Well, he's married, wife just had a baby, didn't think it was fair to gamble with the future. Anyway that's his excuse for lack of courage. I know, say it -- what's my excuse? Well, the Kirbys have been bankers for 9,000 years or something, and that line just can't be broken -- and that's been pounded into my head until I had softening in the brain. That's my excuse.


--James Stewart (as Tony Kirby) in You Can't Take It With You

Lt. Doyle: You didn't see the killing or the body. How do you know there was a murder?
Jeff: Because everything this fellow's done has been suspicious: trips at night in the rain, knifes, saws, trunks with rope, and now this wife that isn't there anymore.
Lt. Doyle: I admit it does have a mysterious sound. But it could be any number of things for the wife disappearing. Murder is the least part.
Jeff: Now, Doyle, don't tell me that he's just an unemployed magician amusing the neighborhood with his sleight of hand. Don't tell me that.


--James Stewart (as L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries) in Rear Window