- Narrator: [narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] Growing up on Waltons Mountain during the Great Depression, we learned early to concentrate on the essentials of life. With many of the necessities so hard to come by, we had little money to squander on extravagances. But there came a time when my father decided another kind of survival was important and, to nourish the human spirit, it was necessary to indulge in extravagance.
- Elizabeth Walton: What's a honeymoon?
- Mary Ellen Walton: It's something you're supposed to take after you get married.
- Elizabeth Walton: Like medicine?
- Esther Walton: You know, Old Man, I've been married to you for 50 years and I still haven't had a honeymoon.
- The Grandfather: Old Woman, our life together has been one long honeymoon.
- John Walton, Sr.: John-Boy, one time in New York I seen a man hand a cigarette girl a $20 bill just for lighting his cigar. I was staying at a hotel in Paris, just after the war, and soldiers were throwing money out of the windows, like it was confetti. Hundreds of dollars just floating down. I laughed about it then, I thought it was funny! I wish a lot of good things for you son, but one thing I wish especially for you is that someday, when you want to do something for somebody you really care about, you'll be able to do it without thinking for one second whether you can afford it!