- Charlotte: Jerry, Dr. Jaquith knows about us. When he said I could take Tina, he said "You're on probation." Do you know what that means? It means that I'm on probation because of you and me. He allowed this visit as a test. If I can't stand such a test, I'll lose Tina and we'll lose each other. Jerry, please help me.
- Jerry: Shall we just have a cigarette on it?
- Charlotte: Yes.
- Jerry: May I sometimes come here?
- Charlotte: Whenever you like. It's your home, too. There are people here who love you.
- Jerry: And look at you and Tina, and share with you peace and contentment.
- Charlotte: Of course. And just think, it won't be for this time only. That is, if you will help me keep what we have. If we both try hard to protect that little strip of territory that's ours. We can talk about your child...
- Jerry: *Our* child.
- Charlotte: Thank you.
- Jerry: And will you be happy, Charlotte?
- Charlotte: Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.
- Dora Pickford: [about Mrs. Vale] She wants to see you.
- Charlotte Vale: I know: "At once!"
- Dora Pickford: She's had two hours' sleep and she's bright as a button! And mad, 'cause she smelled the fire and sent Hilda to investigate. Now, if I were you, I'd just let her blow off her steam. I put two tablespoons of sherry and a sleeping powder in her hot milk, so it shouldn't last long. I'll wait right outside the door.
- Charlotte Vale: Dora, I suspect you're a treasure.
- Dr. Jasquith: Remember what it says in the Bible, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."
- Charlotte Vale: How does it feel to be the Lord?
- Dr. Jasquith: Not so very wonderful, since the Free Will Bill was passed. Too little power.
- Charlotte Vale: [to her mother] I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born. It's been a calamity on both sides.
- Jerry: If I were free, there would be only one thing I'd want to do - prove you're not immune to happiness. Would you want me to prove it, Charlotte? Tell me you would. Then I'll go. Why, darling, you are crying.
- Charlotte: I'm such a fool, such an old fool. These are only tears of gratitude - an old maid's gratitude for the crumbs offered.
- Jerry: Don't talk like that.
- Charlotte: You see, no one ever called me "darling" before.
- Dr. Jasquith: I thought you came up here to have a nervous breakdown.
- Charlotte: Well, I've decided not to have one... if it's all the same to you.
- Mrs. Henry Windle Vale: No member of the Vale family has ever had a nervous breakdown.
- Dr. Jasquith: Well there's one having one now.
- Charlotte Vale: Dr. Jasquith says that tyranny is sometimes expression of the maternal instinct. If that's a mother's love, I want no part of it.
- June: Cigarette, Aunt Charlotte?
- [Offering her cigarette case]
- Charlotte Vale: Thank you.
- [taking one]
- June: They're cork-tipped. Make sure you get the right end.
- Charlotte Vale: Thanks for the instructions, Roly-Poly.
- Lisa Vale: If I were you, June, I'd give up.
- Lisa Vale: [during the party after Charlotte 's return] Oh uh, by the way, do you know Elliott Livingston?
- Charlotte Vale: How do you do?
- Elliot Livingston: How do you do? Tell me, why haven't we met before?
- Charlotte Vale: Well, the world is a small place, but Boston is a big one.
- Charlotte Vale: Thanks to you. Oh, so many, many thanks to you.
- Jerry: For what?
- Charlotte Vale: Oh, for walking my legs off sight-seeing, and for lunch and for shopping and, for a few moments today when I actually felt alive.
- Dr. Jasquith: You know, there's nothing like these old Boston homes anywhere. Here on Marlborough Street or Beacon Hill, you see them standing in a row like bastions: firm, proud, resisting the new. Houses turned in upon themselves, hugging their pride.
- Charlotte Vale: [pointedly] Introverted, doctor?
- Dr. Jasquith: Well, I wouldn't know about that. I don't put much faith in scientific terms. I leave that to the fakers and the writers of books.
- Dr. Jasquith: This morning Charlotte, during your office appointment with me, I referred to a quotation. Remember?
- Charlotte Vale: Oh yes, Walt Whitman's.
- Dr. Jasquith: Well, I had it looked up and typed out on a slip of paper for you. If old Walt didn't have you in mind when he wrote this, he had lots of others like you. He's put into words what I'd like to say to you now. And far better than I could ever express it.
- [He hands her the paper]
- Dr. Jasquith: Read it.
- [She takes the paper]
- Dr. Jasquith: Bye.
- Charlotte Vale: [He leaves] Bye.
- [Reading from the paper]
- Charlotte Vale: "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted, / Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find."