- Duke of Buckingham: I was once at a state dinner for the Bey of Egypt, and there was an armed coup just after the pudding.
- Bertha Russell: You can't be serious.
- Duke of Buckingham: I certainly am. All the servants vanished, and eventually, I went to look for the cheese with the wife of the French ambassador. And instead, we were met with bayonets.
- Bertha Russell: Oh, goodness. Well, I think it's safe to assume you'll make it through tonight's dinner alive.
- Duke of Buckingham: Are you willing to promise?
- Bertha Russell: I promise we'll get past the cheese.
- T. Thomas Fortune: So you all do this every morning?
- David Sturt: Only on the mornings when we want to eat, sir.
- Susan Blane: Please, Larry, you're making this more difficult than it needs to be.
- Larry Russell: I think it needs to be damned difficult.
- Larry Russell: Then what can I do?
- Susan Blane: Nothing. There's nothing to be done. We had a fling. And we enjoyed it. At least I did. Now, it's time for us to move on with our lives.
- Larry Russell: Here I was thinking we had a future, but no.
- Susan Blane: Goodbye, Larry. Look after yourself, and please try to be kind when you think of me.
- Bertha Russell: You've had your fun. Isn't it time to end it?
- Susan Blane: What are you talking about?
- Bertha Russell: What is it that you want from him? You can't give him an heir. In 20 years, when he is in his prime, you'll be walking with a stick. Even if he feels too guilty to leave, part of him will be waiting for you to die. You must remember what that was like when you were married to your husband.
- Susan Blane: How dare you say such things?
- Bertha Russell: I dare because they're true.
- Susan Blane: I think we should call a halt.
- Larry Russell: I don't understand.
- Susan Blane: We should stop seeing each other. No damage has been done, nothing that won't be forgotten within a week. But if we continue as we were, things might get complicated.
- Larry Russell: Yes. They will get complicated because we're going to be married and live together until we die.
- Robert McNeil: You're a very stubborn man.
- Watson: I might say the same.
- Robert McNeil: Very well. Flora will be very disappointed that her happiness is of no concern to you.
- Watson: I will not answer that, since you know it to be the very reverse of the truth.
- Robert McNeil: Not just stubborn then, but also insolent.
- George Russell: Why must I be the villain in every story? I employ thousands of men. I have lifted whole towns out of poverty. And yet I'm the tyrant who crushes the faces of the poor.
- T. Thomas Fortune: You were a slave and so was I. How do you make peace with people who bought and sold us? Who branded us like cattle, whipped us on Saturday, then sat in church on Sunday without a morsel of shame?
- George Russell: If the only gain in our fight for independence was to dispense with British titles, then it was surely worth it.
- Mrs. Astor: This is very difficult to say. But I have lately learned more of Mrs. Winterton's career, which leads me to think that she might not be entirely happy at the Academy.
- Joshua Winterton: Oh, she very much enjoys the Academy.
- Mrs. Astor: Oh, I'm sure she thinks she does. But I do not believe that she will find the other box holders congenial when she gets to know them better.
- Joshua Winterton: Why is that?
- Mrs. Astor: There is too great a contrast in her journey through life.
- Joshua Winterton: What are you saying? That Mrs. Winterton is somehow unsuited to be a box holder? Are you implying there is something disreputable in my wife's past? Because if you are...
- Mrs. Astor: I'm not saying anything of the sort. But her history is quite unlike that of the other ladies she will meet there.
- Joshua Winterton: I don't know what you're talking about. Can you be clearer?
- Mrs. Astor: That is for Mrs. Winterton to say.
- Joshua Winterton: But in the meantime, we must surrender our box.
- Mrs. Astor: If you don't mind.
- Joshua Winterton: But I do mind. I mind very much. You know, if we go, we must transfer to the new Metropolitan. And we will take as many of our old friends as we can.
- Mrs. Astor: Even so, that might be best.
- Ada Brook: I'm sorry.
- Reverend Matthew Forte: For what?
- Ada Brook: For laughing in church.
- Reverend Matthew Forte: The Lord likes to see you laugh. I know I do.
- Ada Brook: It feels sacrilegious.
- Reverend Matthew Forte: I promise you, he won't mind.
- Bertha Russell: Is something the matter?
- Duke of Buckingham: It's the way the Americans lay a table. I can't get used to it. Does that make me sound provincial?
- Bertha Russell: My first event there will be the talk of the whole town. We won't have a single refusal unless people are at death's door. And even then, they may take up their beds and walk.
- George Russell: And what will Mrs. Winterton make of all this? Or don't you care?
- Bertha Russell: Should I care about the feelings of a former lady's maid who attempted to seduce my husband?
- Turner: First, she has me thrown out of the Academy. And now this?
- Joshua Winterton: My dear, please, don't upset yourself.
- Turner: I will upset myself. And I'll upset Mrs. George Russell if it's the last thing I do.
- Joshua Winterton: Enid, there will be other dukes.
- Turner: I don't want other dukes! I want this duke! We found him, and he's mine! But that witch has stolen him from me!