Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro
Charlton Heston, James Stewart, Gloria Grahame, Betty Hutton, Dorothy Lamour, and Cornel Wilde in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

Quotes

The Greatest Show on Earth

Edit
  • [Phyllis is having her hair washed by Birdie as heart-throb Sebastian approaches;]
  • Phyllis: Why is it whenever he's around I'm all wet?
  • Birdie: In more ways than one.
  • Buttons: Clowns are funny people, they only love once.
  • Holly: All men aren't that way, even if they act like clowns.
  • [to Holly, as his blood is being transfused into Brad]
  • Sebastian: If he should make love well after this, pay no attention - it will be me.
  • [last lines]
  • Midway barker: That's all, ladies and gentlemen, that's all. Come again to the greatest show on earth. Bring the children. Bring the old folks. You can shake the sawdust off your feet, but you can't shake it outta your heart. Come again, folks. The Greatest Show on Earth. Come again.
  • Brad Braden: [while Buttons is doing first aid] Buttons! If that detective sees you doing this, he won't need *fingerprints*!
  • Sebastian: Why are you in make-up?
  • Buttons: Why are you The Great Sebastian?
  • Angel: You are a sourpuss, aren't you?
  • Brad Braden: Yeah.
  • Angel: You want to bite somebody?
  • Brad Braden: Yeah.
  • Angel: Well, pick your spot.
  • Holly: [singing] When things go wrong, and life's no song, and you're flat on your back, that doesn't mean you have to lie there: be a jumping jack!
  • Buttons: [singing] Keep on the hop, and if you flop, and everything looks black, stand on your head and holler "hi there!" Be a jumping jack!
  • Holly: When things go up, they must come down, and also visa verse. If things look bad, don't fret and frown - they could be ten times worse!
  • Buttons: Your train of luck, it may get stuck if something's on the track; give a good jump and you'll get by there...
  • Holly, Buttons: Be a jumping jack!
  • [first lnes]
  • Narrator: We bring you the circus, pied piper whose magic tunes greet children of all ages, from six to 60, into a tinsel and spun-candy world of reckless beauty and mounting laughter and whirling thrills; of rhythm, excitement and grace; of blaring and daring and dance; of high-stepping horses and high-flying stars. But behind all this, the circus is a massive machine whose very life depends on discipline and motion and speed. A mechanized army on wheels, that rolls over any obstacle in its path, that meets calamity again and again, but always comes up smiling. A place where disaster and tragedy stalk the big top, haunt the backyard, and ride the circus train. Where death is constantly watching for one frayed rope, one weak link, or one trace of fear. A fierce, primitive fighting force that smashes relentlessly forward against impossible odds. That is the circus. And this is the story of the biggest of the big tops, and of the men and women who fight to make it "The Greatest Show on Earth."
  • Buttons' Mother: [just after giving gifts to circus spectators, Buttons secretly goes to his Mother and they whisper to each other] They've been around again, asking questions.
  • Buttons: [whispering] I know Mother. They'll never find me, behind this nose.
  • Buttons' Mother: [whispering] Be very careful, dear.
  • Buttons: [whispering] Now, how about a nice smile, that I can remember until next year?
  • Buttons' Mother: [whispering] God be with you my boy.
  • Buttons: [whispering] It's all right Mother.
  • [Buttons then did a light secret hug to his mother and started acting like a clown, again]
  • Klaus: You always have a smile for that high-flying peacock.
  • Angel: Well, what do you want me to do, cry over him?
  • [Holly and Sebastian are one-upping each other on the trapeze]
  • Buttons: How long do you think this can go on before something happens?
  • Brad Braden: It's circus, isn't it?
  • Buttons: Do you believe in prayer?
  • Brad Braden: And practice.
  • Angel: [Sebastian almost drives his car into the elephant Angel is riding] Hey! Don't crowd, mister! Can't you see an elephant or do I have to paint her red?
  • Sebastian: I was blinded by the memory of a beautiful night in Paris.
  • Angel: [to the other circus performers] Blow up your water wings, girls, here comes the big wave!
  • [to Sebastian]
  • Angel: How come no husband ever shot you?
  • Sebastian: I never offer a sitting target.
  • Angel: I thought I'd seen the last of you when you got mixed up with that wire walker in Lisbon.
  • Sebastian: You will never see the last of me, Angel.
  • Klaus: Angel!
  • [shouting loud]
  • Angel: That will be arranged when you meet Klaus.
  • [while Sebastian was speaking, romantically to Holly, Ruth, an elephant, was directed by Angel to pick up and take Holly away, from Sebastian, to Brad]
  • Sebastian: [Sebastian, speaking French] Qu'est-ce qu'al y a?
  • Holly: Let me go. Sebastian.
  • Angel: Never try to take anything from an elephant.
  • Holly: Sebastian, do something!
  • Sebastian: A lion I fight for you, a tiger! But the red-headed wildcat with an elephant, no.
  • [then he chuckled, with a big grin]
  • Holly: You make this two-tailed jackass put me down.
  • [Ruth, being guided by Angel, took Holly to Brad Braden, then let go of her, in front of Brad]
  • Angel: Listen, sugar, the only way that you can keep me warm is to wrap me up in a marriage license.
  • Angel: Did he say you were like cognac? All fire in zee glass?
  • Holly: No, he said I was like champagne. I made his head spin.
  • Angel: Yeah, only you'll be the one who winds up with a hangover.
  • Klaus: Your legs are too thin, your hair is too red, you have lips like a cat. You're no good. You give me too much trouble.
  • Angel: Flattery rolls right off me.
  • Holly: [Very frustrated] I send Angel for a doctor and she comes back with an *elephant*!
  • Angel: [Filled with sarcasm] You better let Birdie bandage up the pixie if you want to say good bye to our boyfriend!
  • Holly: [Horrified] Brad!
  • Holly: I'd hate to have your nerve in a tooth!

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb App
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.