The Quiet Man (1952)

John Wayne: Sean Thornton

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Quotes 

• Michaleen Flynn : Well it's a nice, soft night, so I think I'll go and join me comrades and talk a little treason. G'night, Sean.

  Thornton : G'night, Michaleen.

• Mary Kate Danaher : It's a bold one you are! Who gave you leave to be kissin' me?

  Thornton : So you can talk!

  Mary Kate Danaher : Yes I can, I will and I do! And it's more than talk you'll be gettin' if you step a step closer to me!

  Thornton : Don't worry - you've got a wallop!

  Mary Kate Danaher : You'll get over it, I'm thinkin'.

  Thornton : Well, some things a man doesn't get over so easy.

  Mary Kate Danaher : Like what, supposin'?

  Thornton : Like the sight of a girl coming through the fields with the sun on her hair... kneeling in church with a face like a saint...

  Mary Kate Danaher : Saint indeed!

  Thornton : ...and now coming to a man's house to clean it for him.

  Mary Kate Danaher : But... that was just my way of bein' a good Christian act.

  Thornton : I know it was, Mary Kate Danaher. And it was nice of you.

  Mary Kate Danaher : Not at all.

• "Red Will" Danaher : I'll count three, and if you're not out of the house by then, I'll loose the dogs on you.

  Thornton : If you say "three," mister, you'll never hear the man count "ten."

• Thornton : If anybody had told me six months ago that today I'd be in a graveyard in Innisfree with a girl like you that I'm just about to kiss, I'd have told 'em...

  Mary Kate Danaher : Oh, but the kisses are a long way off yet!

  Thornton : Huh?

  Mary Kate Danaher : Well, we just started a-courtin', and next month, we, we start the walkin' out, and the month after that there'll be the threshin' parties, and the month after that...

  Thornton : Nope.

  Mary Kate Danaher : Well, maybe we won't have to wait that month...

  Thornton : Yup.

  Mary Kate Danaher : ...or for the threshin' parties...

  Thornton : Nope.

  Mary Kate Danaher : ...or for the walkin' out together...

  Thornton : No.

  Mary Kate Danaher : ...and so much the worse for you, Sean Thornton, for I feel the same way about it myself!

  [They kiss. Thunder rolls] 

• Thornton : There'll be no locks or bolts between us, Mary Kate... except those in your own mercenary little heart!

• Mary Kate Danaher : I have a fearful temper. You might as well know about it now instead of findin' out about it later. We Danahers are a fightin' people.

  Thornton : I can think of a lot of things I'd rather do to one of the Danahers - Miss Danaher.

  Mary Kate Danaher : Shhh, Mr. Thornton! What will Mr. Flynn be thinkin'?

• "Red Will" Danaher : Mind you, I'm fresh as a daisy!

  Thornton : You look more like a Black-Eyed Susan to me.

• Thornton : I don't get this. Why do we have to get you along? Back in the States, I'd drive up, honk the horn, the gal'd come runnin'...

  Mary Kate Danaher : Come a-runnin'? I'm no woman to be honked at and come a-runnin'!

  Michaleen Flynn : America - ha! Prohibition! You see that over there? That's the ancestral home of ancient Flynns. It was taken from us by... by... by the Druids!

  [stops the cart] 

  Michaleen Flynn : Quietest couple I ever heard. We'll get nowhere at this rate. Off with ya!

  [Sean tries to help Mary Kate down] 

  Michaleen Flynn : She's a fine healthy girl - no patty-fingers if ya please!

• Thornton : [drunk]  Woman-of-the-house! I have brought the brother home to supper!

  [Throws hat] 

  Mary Kate Danaher : He is kindly welcome.

  "Red Will" Danaher : [also drunk]  God bless all in this house...

  Mary Kate Danaher : Wipe your feet!

  "Red Will" Danaher : Thank you mum!

• "Red Will" Danaher : [after falling in a stream]  Have ya had enough?

  Thornton : No!

  "Red Will" Danaher : Well then, give a man a hand.

• Thornton : Can't you get it through your head that I don't care about your money?

  Mary Kate Danaher : But he does, and that's the whole point!

• Michaleen Flynn : None 'o that now, none 'o that. It's a bold sinful man y'are Sean Thornton. And who taught you to be playin' patty-fingers in the Holy Water?

  Thornton : Just bein' polite, is all.

• Thornton : [During the big fight scene and after getting doused with water for the nth time]  Thanks.

• Thornton : Si' down, si' down. That's what chairs are for.

• Squire 'Red' Will Danaher : Your widow, me sister... She couldve done a lot worse.

  Sean Thornton : True, true.

  Squire 'Red' Will Danaher : Poor woman.

• Michaleen Flynn : Sean, this is Father Lonergan. Father, would you believe it? This is Sean Thornton, born right here in Innisfree, home from America.

  Thornton : Hello Father.

  Father Peter Lonergan, Narrator : Ah yes, I knew your people, Sean. Your grandfather. He died in Australia, in a penal colony. And your father, he was a good man too.

• Thornton : [Seeing Mary Kate Danaher in the distance]  Hey, is that real? She couldn't be.

  Michaleen Flynn : Ah, nonsense, man. It's only a mirage brought on by your terrible thirst.

• "Red Will" Danaher : [responding to Sean Thornton's demand for payment]  I'll pay ya... never!

  Thornton : That breaks all bargains.

  [hurls Mary Kate towards Danaher] 

  Thornton : You can take your sister back. It's your custom, not mine! No fortune, no marriage! We call it quits!

  Mary Kate Danaher : [with shocked look]  You'd do this to me? Your own wife! After, after what I...

  Thornton : It's done!

  [crowd exchanges glances, begins to laugh slowly] 

  "Red Will" Danaher : [begrudgingly takes money from wallet, throws it at Thornton's feet indignantly]  There's your dirty money! Take it! Count it, ya spawn! And look... if ever I see that face of yours,

  [draws back fist] 

  "Red Will" Danaher : I'll push this through it!