31 quotes
Unrequited Love and Heartfelt Confessions
Ashley
Isn't it enough that you've gathered every other man's heart today? You've always had mine. You cut your teeth on it.
Scarlett
Don't tease me now. Have I your heart, my darling? I love you. I love you.
Ashley
You mustn't say such things. You'll hate me for hearing them.
Scarlett
I could never hate you. And I know you must care about me. Oh, you do care, don't you?
Ashley
Yes, I do care. Oh, can't we go away and forget we ever said these things?
Scarlett
But how can we do that? Don't you...don't you want to marry me?
Ashley
I'm going to marry Melanie.
Scarlett
But you can't. Not if you care for me!
Ashley
Oh my dear, why must you make me say things that will hurt you? How can I make you understand? You're so young and unthinking. You don't know what marriage means.
Scarlett
All I know is that I love you! And you don't love Melanie!
Ashley
She's like me, Scarlett. She's part of my blood and we understand each other.
Scarlett
But you love me!
Ashley
How could I help loving you - you who have all the passion for life that I lack? But that kind of love isn't enough to make a successful marriage for two people who are as different as we are.
Scarlett
Why don't you say it, you coward? You're afraid to marry me. You'd rather live with that silly old fool who can't open her mouth except to say yes, no, and raise a passel of mealy-mouthed brats just like her!
Ashley
You mustn't say things about Melanie.
Scarlett
Who are you to tell me I mustn't? You lead me on, you made me believe you wanted to marry me!
Ashley
Now Scarlett, be fair. I never at any time-
Scarlett
You did! It's true! You did! I'll hate you till I die! I can't think of anything bad enough to call you!
[slaps him]
Rhett
Has the war started?
Scarlett
Sir, you...you should have made your presence known.
Rhett
In the middle of that beautiful love scene? That wouldn't be very tactful, would it? But don't worry, your secret is safe with me.
Scarlett
Sir, you are no gentleman!
[turns to leave]
Rhett
And you, miss, are no lady.
Scarlett
Oh!
[feeling hurt]
Rhett
Don't think that I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any charm for me.
Determination to Survive Against All Odds
Scarlett O'Hara
As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not goin to lick me. I'm goin to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. ]
[with the tombstones; [Cars (film)|'''As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!''']
A Tense Exchange Between Rhett and Scarlett
Scarlett
Rhett, don't. I shall faint.
Rhett
I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you've ever known have kissed you like this, have they? Your Charles, or your Frank, or your stupid Ashley.
Resilience in the Face of Adversity
Scarlett O'Hara
*Note: bolded portion is ranked #31 in the ] in American cinema.
[[w:AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes|American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations]
Scarlett's Inquiry About Rhett Butler
Scarlett
Cathleen, who's that?
Cathleen Calvert
Who?
Scarlett
That man looking at us and smiling. The nasty, dark one.
Cathleen Calvert
My dear, don't you know? That's Rhett Butler. He's from Charleston. He has the most terrible reputation.
Scarlett
He looks as if, as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy.
Cathleen Calvert
Scarlett! My dear, he isn't received. He's had to spend most of his time up North because his folks in Charleston won't even speak to him. He was expelled from West Point, he's so fast, and then there's that business about that girl he wouldn't marry.
Scarlett
Tell, tell!
Cathleen Calvert
Well, he took her out buggy riding in the late afternoon without a chaperone, and then ... And then he refused to marry her! No. But she was ruined just the same.
[Cathleen whispers in Scarlett's ear. Scarlett gasps, and then whispers in her ear]
Debate on War and Loyalty in Georgia
Gerald
And what does the captain of our troops say?
Ashley
Well, gentlemen, if Georgia fights, I go with her. But like my father, I hope that the Yankees let us leave the Union in peace.
Man
But Ashley, Ashley, they've insulted us!
Charles
You can't mean you don't want war!
Ashley
Most of the miseries of the world were caused by wars. And when the wars were over, no one ever knew what they were about.
Gerald
Now gentlemen, Mr. Butler has been up North I hear. Don't you agree with us, Mr. Butler?
Rhett
I think it's hard winning a war with words, gentlemen.
Charles
What do you mean, sir?
Rhett
I mean, Mr. Hamilton, there's not a cannon factory in the whole South.
Man
What difference does that make, sir, to a gentleman?
Rhett
I'm afraid it's going to make a great deal of difference to a great many gentlemen, sir.
Charles
Are you hinting, Mr. Butler, that the Yankees can lick us?
Rhett
No, I'm not hinting. I'm saying very plainly that the Yankees are better equipped than we. They've got factories, shipyards, coalmines...and a fleet to bottle up our harbors and starve us to death. All we've got is cotton, and slaves and...arrogance.
Man
That's treacherous!
Charles
I refuse to listen to any renegade talk!
Rhett
Well, I'm sorry if the truth offends you.
Charles
Apologies aren't enough sir. I hear you were turned out of West Point, Mr. Rhett Butler. And that you aren't received in a decent family in Charleston. Not even your own.
Rhett
I apologize again for all my shortcomings. Mr. Wilkes, perhaps you won't mind if I walk about and look over your place. I seem to be spoiling everybody's brandy and cigars and...dreams of victory.
Desire and Rejection in Southern Romance
Rhett
Don't start flirting with me. I'm not one of your plantation beaux. I want more than flirting from you.
Scarlett
What do you want?
Rhett
I'll tell you, Scarlett O'Hara, if you'll take that Southern-belle simper off your face. Someday I want you to say to me the words I heard you say to Ashley Wilkes: "I love you!
Scarlett
That's something you'll never hear from me, Captain Butler, as long as you live.
Conflict Over Unwanted Parenthood
Rhett
Indeed. And who is the happy father?
Scarlett
You know it's yours. I don't want it any more than you do. No woman would want a child of a cad like you...I wish for anybody's child but yours!
Rhett
Cheer up, maybe you'll have an accident.
Scarlett O'Hara's Determination in Adversity
Scarlett O'Hara
*Note: bolded portion is ranked #59 in the ] in American cinema.
[[w:AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes|American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations]
Love and Money: A Complex Relationship
Scarlett
Money does help and of course I am fond of you...If I said I was madly in love with you, you'd know I was lying. You always said we had a lot in common...
[after agreeing to marry Rhett]
Rhett
You're right, my dear. I'm not in love with you any more than you are with me. Heaven help the man who ever really loves you.
A Father's Concern for His Daughter's Happiness
Gerald
Have you made a spectacle of yourself running after a man who's not in love with you when you might have any man in the county?
Scarlett
I haven't been running after him. It's just a surprise, that's all.
Gerald
Now, don't be jerking your chin at me. If Ashley wanted to marry you, it would be with misgivings I'd say "yes". I want my girl to be happy. You'd not be happy with him.
Scarlett
I would, I would!
Gerald
What difference does it make who you marry so long as he's a Southerner and thinks like you? And when I'm gone, I'll leave Tara to you.
Scarlett
I don't want Tara. Plantations don't mean anything when...
Gerald
You mean to tell me, Katie Scarlett O'Hara, that land doesn't mean anything to you? Why, land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it's the only thing that lasts.
Scarlett
Oh, Pa, you talk like an Irishman.
Gerald
It's proud I am that I'm Irish. And don't you be forgetting, Missy, that you're half Irish too. And to anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them, why, the land they live on is like their mother. Oh, but you're just a child. It'll come to you, this love of the land. There's no getting away from it if you're Irish.
Self-Interest Over Ideals in Conflict
Scarlett
But you are a blockade runner.
Rhett
For profit, and profit only.
Scarlett
Are you tryin to tell me you don't believe in the cause?
Rhett
I believe in Rhett Butler. He's the only cause I know. The rest doesn't mean much to me.
Marriage Perspectives: Fun or Fiddle-Dee-Dee?
Rhett
Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?
Scarlett
Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men, you mean.
The Most Magnificent Picture Ever Made
Taglines
The most magnificent picture ever!
Rhett's Frustration with Scarlett's Obsession
Rhett
Of course, the comic figure in all this is the long-suffering Mr. Wilkes! Mr. Wilkes, who can't be mentally faithful to his wife — and won't be unfaithful to her technically. Why doesn't he make up his mind?
Scarlett
Rhett, you-
Rhett
Observe my hands, my dear. I could tear you to pieces with them, and I'd do it if it'd take Ashley out of your mind forever. But it wouldn't. So I'll remove him from your mind forever this way. I'll put my hands so — one on each side of your head — and I'll smash your skull between them like a walnut, and that'll block him out.
The Lost Civilization of the Old South
Title card
There was a land of cavaliers and cotton fields called the old south. Here in this pretty world gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of knights and their ladies fair. Of master and of slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A civilization gone with the wind.
Courage Over Reputation in Challenging Times
Rhett Butler
With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.
Love Amidst Chaos and Conflict
Scarlett
Oh, Rhett! Please, don't go! You can't leave me! Please! I'll never forgive you!
[as he is about to leave to join the Confederate Army]
Rhett
I'm not asking you to forgive me. I'll never understand or forgive myself. And if a bullet gets me, so help me, I'll laugh at myself for being an idiot. There's one thing I do know...and that is that I love you, Scarlett. In spite of you and me and the whole silly world going to pieces around us, I love you. Because we're alike. Bad lots, both of us. Selfish and shrewd. But able to look things in the eyes as we call them by their right names.
Scarlett
Don't hold me like that!
Rhett
Scarlett! Look at me! I've loved you more than I've ever loved any woman and I've waited for you longer than I've ever waited for any woman.
[kisses her forehead]
Scarlett
Let me alone!
Rhett
Here's a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett. Wants to feel your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him. Never mind about loving me, you're a woman sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful memory. Scarlett! Kiss me! Kiss me...once...
[forces her to look him in the eyes; kisses her]
Stereotypes in Media: The Hispanic Maid Archetype
Quotes about Gone with the Wind
The myth of the Hispanic menial has been sustained by the same media phenomenon that made "Mammy" from Gone with the Wind America's idea of the black woman for generations: Maria, the housemaid or counter girl, is now indelibly etched into the national psyche. The big and the little screens have presented us with the picture of the funny Hispanic maid, mispronouncing words and cooking up a spicy storm in a shiny California kitchen.
Emotional Turmoil in a Troubled Relationship
Rhett
You know, Scarlett, I think you're on the verge of a crying jag. So I'll change the subject and say what I came to say.
Scarlett
Say it, then, and get out! What is it?
Rhett
That I can't go on any longer without you.
Scarlett
You are the most ill-bred man to come here at a time like this with your filthy...
Rhett
I made up my mind that you were the only woman for me...the first day I saw you at Twelve Oaks. Now that you've got the lumber mill and Frank's money, you won't come to me as you did to the jail. So I see I shall have to marry you.
Scarlett
I never heard of such bad taste.
Struggle for Honor and Jealousy
Scarlett
I'm not cornered. You'll never corner me, Rhett Butler, or frighten me. You've lived in dirt so long you can't understand anything else and you're jealous of something you can't understand.
Rhett
Jealous, am I? Yes, I suppose I am — even though I know you've been faithful to me all along. How do I know? Because I know Ashley Wilkes and his honorable breed. They're gentlemen! That's more than I can say for you or for me. We're not gentlemen, and we have no honor, have we? It's not that easy, Scarlett. You've turned me out while you chased Ashley Wilkes, while you dreamed of Ashley Wilkes. This is one night you're not turning me out.
[suddenly, fiercely kisses her and then carries her protesting up a long flight of stairs to the bedroom, two steps at a time]
A Complex Relationship Amidst Chaos
Rhett
Panic's a pretty sight, isn't it? We belong together, Scarlett. Let's get out of here together. No use staying here, letting the South come down around your ears. Too many nice places to go and visit. Mexico, London, Paris-
Scarlett
With you?
Rhett
Yes, ma'am. A man who understands you and admires you for just what you are. I figure we belong together, being the same sort. I've been waiting for you to grow up and get that sad-eyed Ashley Wilkes out of your heart... Are you going with me or are you getting out?
Scarlett
I hate and despise you, Rhett Butler. I'll hate and despise you till I die.
[the edge of her hoop skirt gets caught]
Rhett
Oh no, you won't, Scarlett. Not that long.
[amused; releases the edge of the hoop skirt]
War Talk Disrupts Spring Social Life
Brent Tarleton
What do we care if we were expelled from college, Scarlett? The war is gonna start any day now, so we'd have left college anyhow.
Stuart Tarleton
War! Isn't it exciting, Scarlett? You know those fool Yankees actually want a war?
Brent Tarleton
We'll show em!
Scarlett
Fiddle-dee-dee. War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. Besides, there isn't going to be any war.
Brent Tarleton
Not going to be any war?
Stuart Tarleton
Why, honey, of course there's gonna be a war.
Scarlett
If either of you boys says "war" just once again, I'll go in the house and slam the door.
Brent Tarleton
But Scarlett, honey...
Stuart Tarleton
Don't you want us to have a war?
Brent Tarleton
Scarlett, honey, please. We're sorry.
[protesting]
Stuart Tarleton
We'll talk about something else. I promise we will.
[also protesting]
Scarlett
Well... but remember, I warned you.
[relenting; walking back to the spot with the twins]
Hope and Determination for Tomorrow
Scarlett O'Hara
I can't let him go. I can't. There must be some way to bring him back. Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters? Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all...tomorrow...is another day!
A Dismissive Statement of Indifference
Rhett Butler
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
Negotiating Terms for Tara's Mortgage
Rhett
What collateral are you offering?
Scarlett
My ear bobs.
Rhett
Not interested.
Scarlett
Mortgage on Tara.
Rhett
What would I do with a farm?
Scarlett
Oh, you wouldn't lose. I'd pay you back on next year's cotton.
Rhett
Not good enough. Have you nothing better?
Scarlett
You once said you loved me. If you still love me, Rhett...
Rhett
You haven't forgotten. I'm not a marrying man.
Scarlett
No, I haven't forgotten.
Rhett
You're not worth $300. You'll never mean anything but misery to any man.
A Moment of Heartbreak and Departure
Scarlett
What are you doing?
Rhett
I'm leaving you, my dear. All you need now is a divorce and your dreams of Ashley can come true.
Scarlett
Oh, no! No, you're wrong, terribly wrong! I don't want a divorce. Oh, Rhett, but I knew tonight, when I...when I knew I loved you, I ran home to tell you, oh, darling, darling!
Rhett
Please don't go on with this. Leave us some dignity to remember out of our marriage. Spare us this last.
Scarlett
This last? Oh, Rhett, do listen to me, I must have loved you for years, only I was such a stupid fool, I didn't know it. Please believe me, you must care! Melly said you did.
Rhett
I believe you. What about Ashley Wilkes?
Scarlett
I...I never really loved Ashley.
Rhett
You certainly gave a good imitation of it, up till this morning. No, Scarlett, I tried everything. If you'd only met me half way, even when I came back from London.
Scarlett
I was so glad to see you. I was, Rhett, but you were so nasty.
Rhett
And then when you were sick, it was all my fault... I hoped against hope that you'd call for me, but you didn't.
Scarlett
I wanted you. I wanted you desperately but I didn't think you wanted me.
Rhett
It seems we've been at cross-purposes, doesn't it? But it's no use now. As long as there was Bonnie, there was a chance that we might be happy. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again, before the war, and poverty had done things to you. She was so like you, and I could pet her and spoil her, as I wanted to spoil you. But when she went, she took everything.
Scarlett
Oh, Rhett, Rhett, please don't say that. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for everything.
Rhett
My darling, you're such a child. You think that by saying "I'm sorry," all the past can be corrected. Here, take my handkerchief. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.
Scarlett
Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?
Rhett
I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong.
Scarlett
Please, please take me with you!
Rhett
No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Scarlett
No! I only know that I love you.
Rhett
That's your misfortune.
[turns to walk down the stairs]
Scarlett
Oh, Rhett! Rhett! Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
[watches Rhett walk to the door; runs down the stairs after him]
Rhett
{{W|Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn}}.
[walks off in the fog]
Fashion and Hypocrisy in Conversation
Scarlett
How do I look?
[puts on her hat, then puts it on backwards to make a joke]
Rhett
Awful! I thought it was about time to get you out of that fake mourning. The war stopped being a joke when a girl like you doesn't know how to wear the latest fashion. And those pantalettes: I don't know a woman in Paris who wears pantalettes any more.
[surprised; gets up; shows her how to wear it after she places it on backward]
Scarlett
Oh Rhett, what do they - you shouldn't talk about such things.
Rhett
You little hypocrite. You don't mind my knowing about them, just my talking about them.
Scarlett
But really Rhett, I can't go on accepting these gifts although you are awfully kind.
Rhett
I'm not kind. I'm just tempting you. I never give anything without expecting something in return. Now, I always get paid.
Scarlett
If you think I'll marry you just to pay for the bonnet, I won't.
Rhett
Don't flatter yourself. I'm not a marrying man.
Scarlett
Well, I won't kiss you for it, either.
Rhett
Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.
Scarlett
And I suppose you think you're the proper person.
Rhett
I might be...if the right moment ever came.
Scarlett
You're a conceited, blackhearted varmint Rhett Butler. I don't know why I let come and see me.
Rhett
I'll tell you why, Scarlett. Because I'm the only man over sixteen and under sixty who's around to show you a good time.
A Toast to Excessive Drinking
Rhett Butler
I'm very drunk and I intend on getting still drunker before this evening is over.