Quotes
Caleb: There were no F names in the Bible so Ma named him Frankincense because he smelled so sweet.
Adam: Well, Pa used to say love is kind of like the measles. You only get it once. The older you are, the tougher it goes.
Adam: What do you call her?
Milly: I was thinking of some name like Hannah or Hagar or Hephzibah, picking up where your mother left off.
Adam: Hannah.
Milly: Hannah.
Adam: I got to thinking up at the cabin, about the baby. How I'd feel if someone came creeping in and carried her off. I'd string him up the nearest tree. I'd shoot him down as I would a thieving fox.
Gideon: Adam, you're my eldest brother. Now I've always looked up to ya, tried to ape ya. But today I'm ashamed of you. Now I know you can lick me, lick the tar outta me! But I wouldn't hold myself no kinda man unless I showed ya how I felt!
[punches him]
Adam: Why you...!
[throws him on horse, hands him reigns]
Adam: Now, GIT!
[slaps horse]
Milly: Somehow it just don't seem fittin' for a bridegroom to spend his weddin' night in a tree.
Milly: Good morning my brothers. If you're looking for your outside clothes they're hanging up drying on the line. I came in before and got them. I couldn't get your inside clothes so I'll take them now.
Benjamin: Our underwear?
Milly: You're winter underwear that you're sleeping in. You might as well hand it over because you're not gonna get your clothes or food or nothing til you get all cleaned up and shaved.
Benjamin: Where's Adam? We wanna talk to Adam.
Milly: He's out plowing, he had his breakfast over a half an hour ago. I got hot muffins waiting, crisp bacon, steak, fryer potatoes, fresh ground coffee. Now do I get that winter underwear or do I have to come in there and take it off of you?
Benjamin: Don't listen to her. She wouldn't dare.
Milly: Oh wouldn't I?
Adam: Morning ma'am.
Lem's girlfriend: Morning backwoodsman.
Adam: Nice day for marrying.
Lem: Well, that's a right good idea.
Lem's girlfriend: Oh Lem, I thought you'd never ask me.
Rev. Elcott: [after rounding up the girls] We're all fathers here and we love you, so don't be afraid to answer. A while back I heard a wee babe crying in the house. Whose is it?
[girls look at one another]
Rev. Elcott: Whose is it, don't be afraid to tell?
Dorcas, Alice, Sarah, Liza, Ruth, Martha: [all at once and smiling] Mine!
Gideon: [after Millie gives birth] I'm an uncle!
[faints]
Caleb: Can't make no vows to a herd of cows.
Benjamin: [after Dorcas hits him with a snowball] Snowballs with rocks in them! Them poor little dears! Sobbin' buckets o' tears!
Ephraim: [to two women on the street] Care for a chaw of tobaccy?
Alice: [concerning Milly's marriage to Adam] Oh, I think it's wonderful; love at first sight.
Mrs. Elcott: Alice! What kind of talk is that!
Dorcas: I've always wanted to be a June Bride... and have a baby right off, in the spring maybe.
Rev. Elcott: Sounds like Pansy has the croup.
Gideon: I guess I got the beginnings.
Liza: Doesn't it do anything but snow up here? We've had a blizzard every day for the past two months. I'm going crazy, shut up in this house!
Mrs. Bixby: [to Adam] Let me tell you something, no woman is gonna go to bear country with you to cook and wash and slave for seven slumachy back woodsmen.
Gideon: [attempting to get into the house to see the girls] I got me a stiff neck.
Adam: [to Gideon] What's the matter with you? Someone butt you in the bread basket?
Mrs. Bixby: My window!
Benjamin: Come back, Dorcas, don't get hurt!
Adam: [singing to Gideon about being in love] How can you tell what's in its spell? How can you tell unless you've tried it? Wait for that kiss you're certain of. And let your heart decide when you're in love.
Benjamin: This isn't exactly how we planned on spending the night: in a barn!
Adam: You're beating your head against a stone wall, Milly. You'll never make jackadandies out of them!
Adam: [after Milly has banished him and his brothers to the barn for kidnapping the girls] Now you're takin' this too hard! Everything will work out fine. We'll get a preacher up here someway or another.
Milly: [Shocked and irate] You this that those girls would marry them now? You think it's so easy because I didn't court you or nothin', that that's all there is to it! I married you because I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, but I thought it was the same for you too.
Adam: [Trying to be conciliatory] Now, Milly...
Milly: [Enraged and distraught] You think a wife's just a cookin' thing! You've got no understandings, you've got no feelings! How could you do a thing like this? Just think of these poor girls sick with fright-!... And their families crazy with worry-!... I can't abide to look at you!
[goes inside, slams the door]
