The Human Comedy (film)

"[to his fellow soldier Tobey, while theyre on KP duty] Oh, were poor. Always have been. My father was a great man. Not a success. Didnt make any more money than what we needed, ever... He worked in the vineyards, in the packing houses and wineries. If you saw him in the street youd think he was nobody. But he was a great man. The only thing he cared about was his family. Ma and his kids. He saved up and made a down payment on a harp. Ha! Yeah, nobody plays a harp anymore, but thats what ma wanted, so he got her one. Took him five years to pay for it. We used to think every house had a harp just because we had one. And I thought everybody was great like him, until I got out and met some of them. Oh, theyre all right, but theyre not great."

"[to Homer Macauley and Hubert Ackley, whom she detained after class] Youll both learn that every man in the world is better than somebody else. And not as good as somebody else. In a democratic state every man is equal to every other man up to the point of exertion. And then every man is free to exert himself to do good or not. To grow nobly, or foolishly. Im eager for my boys and girls to exert themselves to do good and grow nobly. I want you to understand that each of you will begin to be real men and truly human when in spite of your differences with one another you still respect one another. Thats what it means to be civilized."

"I am Matthew Macauley. I have been dead for two years. So much of me is still living that I know now the end is only the beginning. As I look down on my homeland of Ithaca, California, with its cactus, vineyards and orchards, I see that so much of me is still living there - in the places Ive been, in the fields and streets and church and most of all in my home, where my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions still live in the daily life of my loved ones."

"Mrs. Steed: Diana only seems a fool - she isnt really."

"If my brother is killed in this war, Ill spit at the world. Ill hate it forever. I wont be good. Ill be bad. Ill be the worst there is. Ill be the worst that ever lived."

"Willie Grogan: If you behold me lost in the embrace of alcohol, greet me as you pass but make no reference to my condition. Im rather a sensitive man and I prefer not to be the object of public solicitude."