- Georgette Thomas: [woken up from Henry's banging] Henry, what's the matter?
- Henry Thomas: I dreamt I was back in the pen. They told me I could leave, but I'd have to let myself out. Every time I got that door halfway open, it'd slam shut in my face. Them guards - all laughing at me.
- Henry Thomas: [yelling a couple feet away from Miss Kates bedroom door] I'm not gonna quit my music! You hear that old lady? I'm *not* gonna quit my music!
- Henry Thomas: [singing] When you woke me up this mornin', I was feelin' mighty late, You didn't bring my coffee, And you spoiled a damn good dream, So, baby, you better treat me right, Baby, better treat me right, I will do what you want me to, Baby, if you treat me right, Bring me bacon when I'm hungry, Bring me laughin' when I'm feelin' sad...
- [first lines]
- Mrs. T.V. Smith: Phew! Lord, ain't it warm? I almost fried standing out on that highway waitin' for the bus. And when it did come, I thought for sure it didn't see me. Oh, I'm Mrs. T.V., like in television, Smith.
- Mrs. Tillman: Well, we see every day where whiskey leads. I told Mr. Tillman when he was drinking: I said, "You might as well take a gun and blow your brains out as to keep on this way."
- Henry Thomas: Honey, this is a song I wrote for you and your mama. And this is the song that's gonna make me famous. And someday, after it's recorded, and I'm rich, maybe I'll be a big movie star like Elvis Presley, and you, me and your mama, we're gonna live in Hollywood and we're gonna go to all the opening of my pictures in a big, white Cadillac car. We're not gonna have a care in this world. Just writing songs and singing songs - and making moving pictures.
- [singing]
- Henry Thomas: Oh, my love, Is my light, Shinin' so bright, Shine for me, Little light, Little light...
- Mrs. Tillman: Well, I told Miss Kate I'd give you work and help you straighten out, Henry, and I want to. But it's very hard if you're gonna have secrets.
- Henry Thomas: I don't have any secrets from you. Not anymore. I swear to you.
- Georgette Thomas: I haven't danced in so long, I'm sure I've forgotten how. My daddy didn't approve of dancing, but I went anyhow.
- Henry Thomas: I feel strong inside of myself now. Strong enough just to stand up to any kind of temptation.
- Henry Thomas: [singing] Baby, the rain must fall, Baby, the wind must blow, Wherever my heart leads me, Baby, I must go, Baby, I must go, I am not rich or famous...
- Georgette Thomas: I didn't have a chance to tell her you were coming. Kind of took you by surprise, didn't we, sugar?
- Henry Thomas: I'd like to know what it is that I've done wrong.
- Catherine: She said you never would have got drunk, stabbed that man, and wound up in the pen, if you hadn't have been playing in a honky-tonk.