Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Elizabeth Taylor: Martha

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Quotes 

• Martha : I hope that was an empty bottle, George! You can't afford to waste good liquor, not on YOUR salary!

• Martha : I swear, if you existed, I'd divorce you.

• Martha : I disgust me. You know, there's only been one man in my whole life who's ever made me happy. Do you know that?

  [pause] 

  Martha : George, my husband... George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: yes, this will do.

• Martha : A drowning man takes down those nearest.

• Nick : To you, everybody's a flop. Your husband's a flop, I'm a flop.

  Martha : You're all flops. I am the Earth Mother, and you are all flops.

• George : You can sit around with the gin running out of your mouth; you can humiliate me; you can tear me to pieces all night, that's perfectly okay, that's all right.

  Martha : You can stand it!

  George : I cannot stand it!

  Martha : You can stand it, you married me for it!

• Martha : I looked at you tonight and you weren't there... And I'm gonna howl it out, and I'm not gonna give a damn what I do and I'm gonna make the biggest god-damn explosion you've ever heard.

  George : Try and I'll beat you at your own game.

  Martha : Is that a threat George, huh?

  George : It's a threat, Martha.

  Martha : You're gonna get it, baby.

  George : Be careful Martha. I'll rip you to pieces.

  Martha : You're not man enough. You haven't the guts.

  George : Total war.

  Martha : Total.

• [George takes a corner far too fast, tossing everyone in the car from side to side. Pause] 

  Martha : Aren't you going to apologize?

  George : Not my fault, the road should've been straight.

  Martha : No, aren't you going to apologize for making Honey throw up?

  George : I didn't make her throw up.

  Martha : What, you think it was sexy back there? You think he made his own wife sick?

  George : Well, you make me sick.

  Martha : That's different.

• Martha : You make me puke.

  George : That wasn't a very nice thing to say, Martha.

• Honey : Oh, I don't know, a little brandy maybe. "Never mix, never worry!"

  George : Martha? Rubbing alcohol for you?

  Martha : Sure! "Never mix, never worry!"

• Martha : [derogatorily, to George]  Hey, swamp! Hey swampy!

  George : Yes, Martha? Can I get you something?

  Martha : Ah, well, sure. You can, um, light my cigarette, if you're of a mind to.

  George : No. There are limits. I mean, a man can put up with only so much without he descends a rung or two on the old evolutionary ladder, which is up your line. Now, I will hold your hand when it's dark and you're afraid of the boogeyman and I will tote your gin bottles out after midnight so no one can see but I will not light your cigarette. And that, as they say, is that.

  Martha : Jesus.

• Martha : Hey!

  George : Hark! Jungle sounds.

  Martha : Hey!

  George : Animal noises.

• George : I used to drink brandy.

  Martha : You used to drink bergen, too.

• Martha : [regarding "What a dump!"]  It's from some damn Bette Davis picture, some goddamn Warner Brothers epic.

  George : Martha, I can't remember all the pictures that came out of Warner Brothers.

• George : You're a monster - You are.

  Martha : I'm loud and I'm vulgar, and I wear the pants in the house because somebody's got to, but I am not a monster. I'm not.

  George : You're a spoiled, self-indulgent, willful, dirty-minded, liquor-ridden...

  Martha : SNAP! It went SNAP! I'm not gonna try to get through to you any more. There was a second back there, yeah, there was a second, just a second when I could have gotten through to you, when maybe we could have cut through all this, this CRAP. But it's past, and I'm not gonna try.

• George : Now, I think we've been having a real good evening, all things considered. We sat around, we've got to know each other, and we've had fun and games. Curl up on the Floor, for example. The tiles. Snap the Dragon.

  Honey : Peel the Label"

  George : Peel... Peel the What?

  Martha : Label. Peel the Label.

  Martha : [holds up a wine bottle]  I peel labels.

  George : [bringing the core of the movie down to one simple line]  We all peel labels, sweetie.

• [first lines] 

  Martha : [with disgust]  What a dump.

• Martha : Look, sweetheart, I can drink you under any goddamn table you want, so don't worry about me.

• Martha : Well, you're going bald.

  George : So are you.

• George : Did you really think I was going to kill you, Martha?

  Martha : You, kill me? That's a laugh.

  George : Well now, I might some day.

  Martha : Fat chance.

• [last lines] 

  George : Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf?

  Martha : I am, George...

  George : Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

  Martha : I am, George... I am.

• George : I'm very impressed.

  Martha : You're damn right.

  George : I said I was impressed. I'm beside myself with jealousy. What do you want me to do, throw up?

• Martha : [after George has said hurtful things to humiliate Nick and Honey]  You really are a bastard.

  George : That's all right for you. You can go around like a hopped-up Arab, slashing at everything in sight, scarring up half the world if you want to. But let somebody else try it? No.