- George 'Poppy' Rose: [talking to summer school teacher] Sister, if it had been me, I'd have bitten *both* your ankles!
- Anna Perrott Rose: What's that supposed to be?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: A woman.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Not a very good likeness...
- George 'Poppy' Rose: I had to draw it from memory.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [after Teeny says a short prayer] Why don't you just say "On your mark, get set, go?"
- Teenie: [as Jimmy-John is seen walking down the street without any clothes] He's stitch-stark naked!
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [to the dog after the kids give an anonymous vote] It was anonymous eh? Who did you vote for?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [Trying to get past a boy and Jane eating donuts on a crowded staircase] I hate to come between you and the donuts, but that's life.
- Jimmy: [about being bounced between school and the hospital so much] The only thing I ever learned to read was a thermometer.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [after Jimmy-John asks if he can ask the other kids if he can stay] I hope you've got a good lawyer.
- Anna Perrott Rose: This child has been through a lot. She's a disturbed adolescent.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: I'm a disturbed adult.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [as raft self inflates under his desk and he's trying to hold it down] I'm holding down more than I can handle as it is.
- Anna Perrott Rose: [asked what she's doing as she's spanking Jimmy John] Something I should've done a long time ago.
- [lets him up]
- Jimmy: I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!
- Anna Perrott Rose: Go right ahead.
- Jimmy: I NEVER SHOULD'VE ASKED YOU TO LET ME STAY HERE, I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE AND GOING SOMEWHERE I CAN DO WHAT I WANT.
- Anna Perrott Rose: [stands up] Go right ahead, but leave behind everything we've EVER given you.
- [to the dog]
- Anna Perrott Rose: And you get out of the way.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: [going after Jimmy John on his pre-dawn merit badge hike] I've never got a badge for anything in my life in the middle of the night!
- Jimmy: Can I get my bike before he breaks my chain? OWWAH!
- [Dad drops Jimmy John's leg brace on Jimmy shins & feet]
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Heavy, Isn't It. Give it to your mother.
- [when his parents asked who was taking Jimmy for a ride with his family and friends, Timmy canceled the ride. Dad dropped the brace in a most passive-aggressive way]
- Tim: So, What's The Verdict?
- [three of the four children voted on whether Jimmy will Stay or Leave for the foster care. Tim gave Jimmy the ballots to read]
- Jimmy: Ah, I have been in them lousy hospital so much I never even learned to read.
- Grace Roberts: But, you were in school, weren't you?
- Jimmy: Ah, they put me in school for a couple weeks then they throw me back in the hospital. The only thing I ever learn to read was a thermometer.
- Tim: I'll read them for you... . STAY. STAY. STAY.
- [the paper strips say LEAVE. LEAVE. LEAVE]
- Miss Kenyon: It's easy to find a home for little golden-haired girls with blue-eyes But who'd want that snaggletoothed boy there with a butch haircut?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: You'll have to control these generous impulses of your's.
- [Anna kisses Poppy on the cheek]
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Well, not all of them.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Well, dinner's over. The brandy and cigars come later. All right, everybody in the kitchen. Help the butler with the dishes.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Remember, Harry, the women of this world are always trusting, noble and unselfish. Here's to not being one of them.
- Anna Perrott Rose: I wouldn't worry if I were you. Jane's a very competent girl.
- Harry Foreman: So was Lucretia Borgia.
- Jane Miller: Nobody wants children.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Oh, Jane.
- Jane Miller: They're just something that happens to a woman when she gets married.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Will you please go to bed. Go on. This is woman's work.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: In this house, woman's work is never done - not even started.
- George 'Poppy' Rose, Teenie: [singing] Row, Row, Row your boat, Gently down the stream, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life is but a dream
- George 'Poppy' Rose, Teenie, Anna Perrott Rose: Row, Row, Row your boat, Gently down the stream, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life is but a dream
- George 'Poppy' Rose, Teenie, Anna Perrott Rose, Jane Miller: Come, Come, Come along, Join us in the boat, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Down the stream we float
- George 'Poppy' Rose, Teenie, Anna Perrott Rose, Jane Miller, Tim: Come, Come, Come along, Join us in the boat, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Down the stream we float
- George 'Poppy' Rose, Teenie, Anna Perrott Rose, Jane Miller, Tim, Trot: Fun, Fun, Fun for all, When we sing a song, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, As we row along...
- George 'Poppy' Rose: No fuss no muss. If Jane can keep that up and handles the kids like that on the beach, you and I can have a second honeymoon.
- Anna Perrott Rose: You're a good kid, Poppy.
- [kiss]
- Anna Perrott Rose: I think I'll adopt you.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Let's keep this on a husband and wife level.
- [squeezes Anna]
- Anna Perrott Rose: Please, I've got to do the dishes.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Always got to do something. Do the dishes. Feed the cat. Feed the dog. Feed the children. Did it ever occur to you that I might need...
- [Anna sticks the sponge in George's mouth, he removes it]
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Man does not live by bread alone.
- [kiss]
- Anna Perrott Rose: Oh! I think I better go and see what the children are doing.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: How did we ever have 'em in the first place?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: There might be something wrong with that what's-his-name? Jimmy-John.
- Anna Perrott Rose: I've got a hunch the boy's all right.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: You had a hunch our old cat was a male.
- Jimmy: What I've been trying to find out is how babies get born.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Oh, this is an advanced class, huh? Well, you know how chickens and birds lay eggs?
- Jimmy: No.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Well, they lay them in a nest and they keep them warm with their feathers until the babies peck open the eggshells and hop out.
- Jimmy: I didn't hop out of no eggshell.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Well, of course not. It wouldn't work with people. Now, what would happen if people sat down on their eggs and tried to keep them warm enough to hatch?
- Jimmy: They'd bust.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Certainly.
- Jimmy: And besides, who's got feathers?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Well, no one in our set. So, instead, women keep a nest inside of them where the eggs are warm and safe. Then when the babies old enough, he's born readymade.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Didn't you break Tim's bicycle? Didn't you hit Trot in the eye? Didn't they catch you playing peeping Tom?
- George 'Poppy' Rose: That's a pretty dress you've got on.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Oh, shut up.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: That's what I say.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: Alone at last. The last Boy Scout and the last donut have vanished into the night.
- Anna Perrott Rose: You little brat. Come here!
- [pulls Jimmy-John over her knee and starts to spank him]
- Jimmy: Ow! Hey, cut it out! Cut it out!
- Jane Miller: Stop it! Mother, what are you doing to him?
- Anna Perrott Rose: Something I should have done long ago.
- Jimmy: Who wants to read?
- Anna Perrott Rose: Don't you want to know as much as the other children in your class?
- Jimmy: They don't know from nuttin'.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Well, believe me, if you don't learn how to read you won't know form nuttin' either.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Why should Jane be hurt?
- Trot: Because it's only the New Year's Prom held on New Year's Eve and it's only formal and you only have to wear an evening gown.
- Teenie: Janie hasn't even got a day gown.
- Anna Perrott Rose: We manage to get by. Of course, sometimes we have to add a little water to our soup; but, we keep our figures that way.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Wasn't it nice of the Roberts to invite the children to spend the night. It will seem so lonely without them. I won't know what to do with myself.
- George 'Poppy' Rose: I will.
- Miss Kenyon: I have one all picked out for you. I've just been praying for someone to make an offer like your's today. Sit down. We really have an emergency.
- Anna Perrott Rose: An emergency?
- Miss Kenyon: A child who was just brought to us. She'll be a lot of trouble. A disturbed adolescent. She tried to commit suicide.
- Anna Perrott Rose: Oh, well now, look, all I want is a sweet little child that plays hopscotch.
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