Shirley MacLaine credited as playing...
Martha Dobie
- Martha: There's always been something wrong. Always, just as long as I can remember. But I never knew what it was until all this happened.
- Karen: Stop it Martha! Stop this crazy talk!
- Martha: You're afraid of hearing it, but I'm more afraid that you.
- Karen: I won't listen to you!
- Martha: No! You've got to know. I've got to tell you. I can't keep it to myself any longer. I'm guilty!
- Karen: You're guilty of nothing!
- Martha: I've been telling myself that since the night I heard the child say it. I lie in bed night after night praying that it isn't true. But I know about it now. It's there. I don't know how, I don't know why. But I did love you! I do love you! I resented your plans to marry. Maybe because I wanted you. Maybe I've wanted you all these years. I couldn't call it by name before, but maybe it's been there since I first knew you.
- Karen: But it's not the truth, not a word of it is true! We've never thought of each other that way.
- Martha: No, of course you didn't. But who's to say I didn't. I'd never felt that way about anybody before you. I've never loved a man. I never knew why before, maybe it's that.
- Karen: You're tired and worn out.
- Martha: It's funny. It's all mixed up. There's something in you, and you don't know anything about it because you don't know it's there. And then suddenly, one night a little girl gets bored and tells a lie, and there, for the first time, you see it. Then you say to yourself, did she see it? Did she sense it?
- Karen: But you know it could have been any lie. She was looking for anything to...
- Martha: But why this lie? She found the lie with the ounce of truth. Don't you see? I can't stand to have you touch me! I can't stand to have you look at me! Oh, it's all my fault. I have ruined your life and I have ruined my own. I swear I didn't know it! I didn't mean it! Oh, I feel so damn sick and dirty I can't stand it anymore!
- Mrs. Lily Mortar: Don't think you're fooling me young lady. Any day that he's in the house is a bad day.
- Martha: Now, look! Let's give it up. I'm tired. I've been working since six o'clock this morning.
- Mrs. Lily Mortar: I know what I know. You can't stand them being together and you're taking out on me. Well, God knows what you'll do when they marry. Jealous. Jealous.
- Martha: Aunt Lily.
- Mrs. Lily Mortar: You've always had a jealous, possessive nature even as a child. If you had a friend, you'd be upset if she liked anybody else. And that's what's happening now! And it's unnatural. It's just as unnatural as it can be.
- Martha: Cooking always makes me feel better... Well, I suppose I'll have to feed the duchess, even vultures have to eat. I baked a cake. And you know what, I found a bottle of wine. We'll have a good dinner. Where's Joe?
- Karen: Gone.
- Martha: Patient? Will he be back in time for dinner?
- Karen: No.
- Martha: Then we'll wait dinner for him... What's the matter, Karen?
- Karen: He won't be back anymore.
- Martha: You mean he won't be back anymore, tonight.
- Karen: He won't be back at all.
- Martha: You need clothes.
- Karen: What about you?
- Martha: I'm a skirt-and-blouse character. We're always in style. But you're not. You're Fifth Avenue! Rue de la Paix. You need to be kept up.
- Karen: Yes, like an old battle monument.
- Martha: No, I'm serious. I remember how you used to dress in college. The first time I ever saw you, running across the quadrangle, your hair flying. At the time, I was running from a chemistry professor. I remember thinking, "What a pretty girl."
- Dr. Joe Cardin: Go ahead and sing. A woman who sings while she works is a happy woman.
- Martha: Who said that?
- Dr. Joe Cardin: Joseph Cardin, M.D. You ever hear of him?
- Martha: No. Ethical doctors don't advertise.
- Dr. Joe Cardin: Ethical doctors starve.
- Martha: I'll give you what little money we have now.
- Mrs. Lily Mortar: You think I'd take your money? Oh, I'd rather scrub floors first.
- Martha: You'll change your mind after the first floor.
- Martha: It's not true! It's just not true. Not one single word of it! We're standing here defending ourselves against what? Against nothing! Against a lie - a great, awful lie.