Quotes

Mary and Martha

Mary's Father: Well, you can't deny it's an interesting area.
Mary: It's an interesting area?
Mary's Father: Yeah, I've been looking into it. Did you know that if you take every single person killed in a terrorist attack around the world in the last 20 years, and you add to that every life lost in the Middle East since 1967, the 6-Day War, and you add to this every single American life lost in Vietnam and Korea, and every single American engagement since then--Iraq, Afghanistan, if you take all those lives, and you multiply it by two? That's the number of children who died of malaria every single year.

Ben: [commenting on the African kids welcoming him] I'm feeling like the Prime Minister.

Martha: Ben! You're nearly 15 minutes late. You're gonna miss the train.
Ben: No, I won't.
Martha: Yes, you will!
Ben: No, I won't, because I'm a young person and therefore I travel faster than you, who is getting quite old now.
Martha: [affectionately] You cheeky bugger.

Peter: What bullying?
Mary: Apparently he's getting bullied at school, and he doesn't want to talk about it. And I hear about it from goddamned Alice in Pilates.

George: Did you honestly think that was gonna make it better?
Mary: Yeah, I did.
George: Well, you were wrong. It's hard enough making friends without your mom making enemies.

Mary: I do want to ask you if I can take George out of school, take him away, and teach him myself and have an adventure. You know, I just think he'll do better with me than in the hands of the people who are teaching him now.
Peter: Honey, can't we just take him away for the summer, like normal people?
Mary: No, that's two months away. We'll lose him inside his computer by then. You know, and in the school, they didn't even know that those kids were bullying him.

Ben: [reading a letter that has just arrived] They said yes. They thought I was brilliant.
Martha: It doesn't actually say that, does it?
Ben: Well, no, but it implies it. the implication of every word is they think I'm totally brilliant.
Martha: [taking the letter from Ben and reading out loud a passage] "Thank you for your application, which we have accepted."

Martha: Well done, darling. Do you know what? I am so proud of you, you great stupid lump. Though I wish you were going somewhere sensible like France or Belgium or somewhere.
Ben: Mum, France is too small. I'm a big boy. I need a big continent.

Martha: So will there be other English people there?
Ben: I don't know. Don't care. I have met thousands of English people, I want to meet people who aren't English.

Mary: I want to be an extraordinary mom. And to be an extraordinary mom, I have to, at some point, do something extraordinary.

Martha: Tomorrow I'm going to where Ben worked. I just want to see it, you know?
Mary: Can I come?
Martha: Yes, of course you can come. I should think they'll be thrilled to see you. You're much prettier than I am.

Mary: [when shown the sick room at the orphanage] Nets in here, but nowhere else?
Micaela: Yes. One day we'll have them everywhere, but, for now, this is the most important place.

Mary: [asking Martha about her son] So what was he doing? Volunteering? A job?
Martha: Well, it was a bit of both, really. He'd been to university, but the daft thing spent most of his time either playing rugby or chasing girls. Got no marks in his exams at all, so, um, to make the most of a bad job, he thought, "I know. I'll go and teach in Africa. That'll be interesting." And he completely fell in love with it. But then he made his big mistake.

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