- The Inspector: There are millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives in what we think and say and do. We don't live alone upon this earth. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And if mankind will not learn that lesson, then the time will, soon, when he will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.
- [first lines]
- Man: Do you believe in God?
- Woman: Yes.
- Man: How can you?
- Woman: I can't believe in people. I have to believe in something, or I'd fall - fall down through the cracks. Never stop falling.
- Arthur Birling: [about his workers] If you don't come down hard on some of these people, they'll soon be asking for the earth.
- Gerald Croft: [obsequiously] That's right.
- The Inspector: They might. But it's better to ask for the earth than to take it.
- [last lines]
- Arthur Birling: [hanging up the phone] A girl has died. Suicide. A police inspector is on his way to ask us some questions.