- Evelyn Rayburn: [speaking of the sport] I never knew anyone who fenced.
- Grandma Ida: Sure you did. Your cousin fenced until the cops caught him trying to sell a stolen radio.
- Grace McKee: [discovering the Rayburns are Jewish] That is so neat! I've always wanted to be tortured for my faith.
- [Tattie, still in her pajamas, has just walked into the kitchen where Grandmother is sitting]
- Grace's Grandmother: It is after ten o'clock! Do you know, the only people who sleep this late in New England are ill?
- Tattie McKee: Yes, well, this is the South. The days are longer here - we pace ourselves.
- David Rayburn: [quoting a Yiddish proverb to Hannah] It is better to be a good person and not a Jew, than a Jew and not a good person.
- [practicing a duck and cover nuclear attack drill]
- Young Hannah Rayburn: Our desks aren't going to save us from nuclear annihilation.
- Grace McKee: The gum offers an extra layer of protection.
- Grace McKee: [seeing numbers tattooed on Mr. Rayburn's arm] What's with the numbers?
- [Hannah kicks Grace]
- Grace McKee: Ow!
- [trying to improve her diet, Ida can't buy meat from Harold's butcher shop anymore]
- Harold Bloomberg: Ida, are you... breaking up with me?
- Grandma Ida: It's not you. It's your meat.
- Harold Bloomberg: I *am* my meat!