- Big Sam Hollis: [speaking, angrily, to John Mayhew] My daddy sat out there on that veranda. Let this whole place slide to dust. When he died there was nothin' but debts and dirt. I touched that dirt and made it blossom. I fought to keep this house and to bring it back up!
- Big Sam Hollis: [going over to Charlotte's portrait on the wall] I don't have a son to give it to - only Charlotte. And she ain't gonna' give it to you. You ain't gonna' have my home or my child. I created both and I'm gonna' keep 'em.
- Big Sam Hollis: [now confronting John Mayhew] I haven't watched over my girl all these years to have some... to have someone... to have some *creature* like you take her away.
- Jewel Mayhew: Well, right here on the public street, in the light of day, let me tell you, Miriam Deering, that murder starts in the heart, and its first weapon is a vicious tongue.
- Velma Cruther: So you're finally showin' the right side of your face. Well, I seen it all along. That's some kinda drug you been givin' her. Isn't it? It's what's been making her act like she's been. Well, Ah'm goin' into town and Ah'm tellin them what you been up to.
- Big Sam Hollis: [speaking, angrily, to John Mayhew] This house, this plantation, this whole damned parish belonged to my family, before your *people* stepped aboard the stinkin' cattle boat that brought 'em to this country. Don't you dare talk back to me, boy! My family's seen this state crawlin' with lousy carpetbaggers that knew more about behaving like a gentleman than you do!
- Charlotte: Why wouldn't Miriam conspire with Jewel against me? Who was it went sneakin' off to Jewel and told her about her husband and me in the first place?
- [Drew looks shocked, casts a glance over to Miriam]
- Charlotte: Didn't know about that, did you, Drew? That's somethin' you never told your precious boyfriend, isn't that so, Miriam?
- [This next phrase drips with syrupy sweet obsequiousness]
- Charlotte: Isn't it, Cousin darlin'?
- Miriam: [With some ire] Yes, I told Jewel! And I told your father, too. Why wouldn't I? After all, I wasn't much more than a child then. And all I ever got in this house was people telling me how lucky I was and your father always favoring you and holding you up as an example! Why wouldn't I tell him that his pure, darling little girl was having a dirty little affair with a married man?
- Charlotte: You're a vile, sorry little bitch!
- Miriam: How was I to know it would end in murder... with John being butchered?
- Miriam: You just can't keep hogs away from the trough, can you?
- Velma Cruther: I just come for my things.
- Miriam: Is my cousin one of your things?
- Miriam: [Arriving at Charlotte's house] They say places you knew as a child always seem smaller than your memory of them. It's not true!
- Jewel Mayhew: [sternly and coldly] Go away from me. I'm ill. I'm... very ill. I won't give up one more thing to you... not even one more minute.
- Charlotte: They've told you I'm crazy.
- Harry Willis: Everyone say you are. Are you?
- Charlotte: I used to be positive I wasn't. But just lately... at night... it - it seems as if... I really don't know anymore.
- Harry Willis: [Chuckles] If it comes to that, how does anyone know?
- Dr. Drew Bayliss: People who are obliged to live alone have a habit of creatin' company for themselves. Innocent fancies can become fixed delusions. I think she never fully accepted John Mayhew's death. At least, part of her mind hasn't. Sometimes she speaks of him as if he were still alive here in this house... as if she could still feel his personality. She plays that old harpsichord, the song he wrote for her. Often at night, she sits up dressed as if she were still young and expectin' a beau.
- Big Sam Hollis: I can't even look at Charlotte without ugly thoughts rip my guts! I'd sooner it been one of my field boys. I coulda killed him.