Anne of Green Gables (1985)

Megan Follows: Anne Shirley

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Quotes 

• Anne Shirley : Please, Matthew. You need help. We've got to get a doctor.

  Matthew Cuthbert : I've worked hard all my life. I'd rather just drop in the harness. I got old; I never noticed.

  Anne Shirley : If I'd been the boy you sent for, I could have spared you in so many ways.

  Matthew Cuthbert : I never wanted a boy. I only wanted you from the first day. Don't ever change. I love my little girl. I'm so proud of my little girl.

• Anne Shirley : Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.

• Josie Pye : Hey, Anne! How do you spell freckles?

  Diana Barry : Hey, Josie! How do you spell ugly?

  Gilbert Blythe : Congratulations on the spelling test, Anne.

  [Anne nods her head at Gilbert] 

  Gilbert Blythe : Oh, well at least you're acknowledging me now. That's an improvement.

  Anne Shirley : It is impolite to pass a person without at least nodding, and so I nod out of elementary good breeding, nothing more.

  Gilbert Blythe : Oh, why don't you get off your high horse?

  Anne Shirley : Thank you for your heartfelt congratulations, Mr. Blythe. But allow me to inform you that next time I shall be first in every subject.

  Diana Barry : Anne! You've got more nerve than a fox in a hen house.

  Anne Shirley : I don't see any need in being civil to someone who chooses to associate with the likes of Josie Pye.

  Diana Barry : You're just jealous.

  Anne Shirley : I am not. You take that back, Diana Barry!

  Diana Barry : She's jealous of you. Gilbert told Charlie Sloan that you're the smartest girl in school, right in front of Josie.

  Anne Shirley : He did?

  Diana Barry : He told Charlie that being smart was better than being good-looking.

  Anne Shirley : I might have known he meant to insult me.

  Diana Barry : No, he didn't.

  Anne Shirley : It isn't better. I'd much rather be pretty than smart. But at least I don't have to cheat like Josie does.

  Diana Barry : She doesn't have to cheat; she just does it because she's a Pye.

• Anne Shirley : Well, if you must know, I was in Diana's skiff but it sprang a leak and I had to climb onto the piling or sink. Now, if you'd be so kind as to row me to the landing.

  Gilbert Blythe : Ah, I see. Well, then the fact is I rescued you.

  Anne Shirley : Help was on the way and I was calmly waiting for it.

  Gilbert Blythe : You're most welcome.

  Anne Shirley : I am grateful for your assistance, Mr. Blythe, even though it was not required. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find my friends. They are likely overcome with fear for my life.

  Gilbert Blythe : Well, Anne, wait. Wait a minute. I was just down at the post office to see if the Queens results had been printed.

  Anne Shirley : Congratulations on coming first, Gilbert. I'm sure you're very proud of your achievements.

  Gilbert Blythe : Wait a second, you ninny. We tied for first place. You and I. I figured you'd have it for sure. We all passed our entire class.

  Anne Shirley : First of all two hundred?

  Gilbert Blythe : I'm sorry you had to share it with me.

  Anne Shirley : I never expected to beat you.

  Gilbert Blythe : Can't we be friends now? This childishness has gone on long enough, don't you think?

  Anne Shirley : The fact that you rescued me unnecessarily hardly wipes out past wrongs.

  Gilbert Blythe : Look, I'm sorry I ever said anything about your hair. You have no idea how sorry. But it was so long ago. Aren't you ever going to forgive me?

  Anne Shirley : You hurt my feelings excruciatingly.

  Gilbert Blythe : I only said it because I Because I wanted to meet you so much.

  Anne Shirley : Why did you turn your back on me at the Christmas ball?

  Gilbert Blythe : Anne, that was over a year ago.

  Anne Shirley : It was a deliberate humiliation.

  Gilbert Blythe : And I knew exactly what you were thinking, too, Anne Shirley. You and Diana Barry. Look, can we be friends now?

  Anne Shirley : Why don't you figure it out, if you're so clever?

  Gilbert Blythe : Anne, wait a minute.

  Anne Shirley : Everyone will think I've drowned.

• Anne Shirley : My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes. That's a sentence I read once and I say it over to comfort myself in these times that try the soul.

• Anne Shirley : Can't you even imagine you're in the depths of despair?

  Marilla Cuthbert : No I cannot. To despair is to turn your back on God.

• Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, you blessed girl. I know I ought to stick to it and make you go to college, but I've learned better than to stand in your way. Gilbert Blythe will be teaching, too. Won't he?

  Anne Shirley : Yes.

  Marilla Cuthbert : What a nice looking young boy he is. He looks a lot like his father did at that age. We used to be real good friends, he and I. People called him my beau.

  Anne Shirley : And what happened?

  Marilla Cuthbert : We quarreled and I wouldn't forgive him when he asked me to. I wanted to after a while, but I was stubborn and I wanted to punish him first. He never came back. I, uh, always felt rather sorry. I, uh, sort of wished that I'd forgiven him when I had a chance.

• [Anne has just fallen from a roof] 

  Diana Barry : Just say one word and tell me if you're killed!

  Anne Shirley : No but I think I've been rendered unconscious.

• Anne Shirley : Anne Shirley. Anne with an "e."

• Anne Shirley : I know I chatter on far too much but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't. Give me some credit.

• [Gilbert Blythe, rowing a boat, found Anne clinging to the post under a bridge] 

  Gilbert Blythe : Anne Shirley. What in heck are you doing here?

  Anne Shirley : [trying to sound dignified]  Fishing, for lake trout.

• Gilbert Blythe : Well, I figured you can give me a hand with my work, and we'll call it a fair exchange.

  Anne Shirley : Aren't you worried? I'm liable to break another slate over your head.

  Gilbert Blythe : I'm more worried I might break one over yours, carrots.

  [softly] 

  Gilbert Blythe : I'll walk you home.

  [after Gilbert Blythe's remark, to Anne Shirley, the movie then concluded, showing closing credits] 

• Marilla Cuthbert : Anne Shirley, I've heard all about it. Now you open your door at once!

  Anne Shirley : Please go away, Marilla. I'm in the depths of despair.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, fiddlesticks. Now, you open this door at once! Are you sick?

  Anne Shirley : Go away. Don't look at me.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, don't play innocent with me. I'm so ashamed I don't know where to begin. What do you mean by breaking your slate over some boy's head?

  Anne Shirley : He called me Carrots.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I don't care what he called you. You have no reason to lose your temper. Anne Shirley, what have you done to your hair?

  Anne Shirley : Marilla, I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse. You don't know how utterly wretched I am.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I little know how you got into this fix, but I demand that you tell me.

  Anne Shirley : I dyed it.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Dyed it? For mercy's sake, child.

  Anne Shirley : But he positively assured me it'd turn my hair a beautiful raven black.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Who did? Who are you talking about?

  Anne Shirley : The peddler we met on the road today.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I absolutely forbid you to. What's the use? Well, I hope that this has opened your eyes to see where your vanity has taken you.

  Anne Shirley : What shall I do? I'll never be able to live this down. I can't face him again. Gilbert Blythe had no right to call me Carrots.

  Marilla Cuthbert : You really smashed your slate over that boy's head?

  Anne Shirley : Yes.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Hard?

  Anne Shirley : Very hard, I'm afraid.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I know I should be angry. I should be furious. What a way to behave your first day at school! But, it you promise me that nothing of the sort will happen again, I won't say another word about it.

  Anne Shirley : You're not going to send me back?

  Marilla Cuthbert : I've come to a decision. Trial is over. You will stay at Green Gables.

  Anne Shirley : Marilla!

  Marilla Cuthbert : I think you may be a kindred spirit after all.

• Mrs. Cadbury : Tell me, what you know about yourself.

  Anne Shirley : Well, it really isn't worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury but if you let me tell you what I imagine about myself you'd find it a lot more interesting.

• Anne Shirley : And I promise I'll never do it again. That's the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice.

• Anne Shirley : Would you please call me Cordelia?

• Anne Shirley : [after saying her prayers]  Did I do alright?

  Marilla Cuthbert : Yes, if you were addressing a business letter to the catalogue store.

• Anne Shirley : This is the most tragical thing that has ever happened to me.

• Anne Shirley : Don't you ever imagine things differently from what they are?

  Marilla Cuthbert : No.

  Anne Shirley : Oh Marilla, how much you miss.

• Diana Barry : I wish I were rich, and I could spend the whole summer at a hotel, eating ice cream and chicken salad.

  Anne Shirley : You know something, Diana? We are rich. We have sixteen years to our credit, and we both have wonderful imaginations. We should be as happy as queens.

  [gestures to the setting sun] 

  Anne Shirley : Look at that. You couldn't enjoy its loveliness more if you had ropes of diamonds.

  Diana Barry : I don't know about that.

• Matthew Cuthbert : [Anne has come into the barn to thank Matthew for her dress]  Puffed sleeves.

  Anne Shirley : The puffiest!

• Anne Shirley : Laura Spencer is giving a comic recitation, but I prefer to make people cry.

• Anne Shirley : I don't think Mrs. Barry is a well bred woman. I don't believe God himself would entirely meet with her approval.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Anne, you musn't say things like that especially in front of the minister's wife. But, if you left God out of it, you'd have it just about right.

• Anne Shirley : Wilt thou give me a lock of thy jet black tresses?

  Diana Barry : But I don't have any black dresses.

  Anne Shirley : Your hair.

  Diana Barry : All right.

• Anne Shirley : [Reading "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson]  Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver Thro' the wave that runs forever By the island in the river Flowing down to Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.

• Gilbert Blythe : Anne, wait! I'm sorry for teasing you about your hair. Don't be mad at me for keeps.

  Diana Barry : Oh, Anne, how could you? Gilbert always makes fun of the girls. He calls me crow head all the time, but I've never heard him apologize before.

  Anne Shirley : There's a world of difference between being called crow-head and being called carrots. I shall never forgive Gilbert Blythe. The iron has entered my soul, Diana. My mind is made up; my red hair is a curse.

• Anne Shirley : Mrs. Hammond told me that God made my hair red on purpose and I've never cared for Him since.

• Anne Shirley : Marilla has given me strict instructions not to talk a head off. I do have a habit of chattering on so. Why, if I could imagine myself as a bird, a magpie would probably be the closest thing I could resemble. Oh, Diana, I've always dreamed of being in a three-legged race at a picnic. Would you do me the honor of being my patner?

  Diana Barry : But there aren't any other girls in it.

  Anne Shirley : You're a sturdy looking girl, and I'm fast. I know we'd stand a good chance.

  Diana Barry : I guess so.

  Anne Shirley : Come on!

  Gilbert Blythe : Hey, Diana, who's your friend?

  Diana Barry : Anne Shirely.

• [Anne, commenting on city life] 

  Anne Shirley : I think I would probably come to the conclusion that I'd like it for a while but in the end, I'd still prefer the sound of the wind in the firs across the brook more than the tinkling of crystal.

• Anne Shirley : Oh, Marilla, you look so elegant!

  Marilla Cuthbert : You don't make important visits in kitchen clothes.

• Anne Shirley : I've never belonged to anyone!

• Anne Shirley : Plain, old, unromantic Anne Shirley.

• Anne Shirley : How would you like to have nasty things said about you? How would you like to hear that you're fat, ugly, and a sour old gossip!

• Anne Shirley : The fact that you rescued me, unnecessarily, hardly wipes out past wrongs.

• Anne Shirley : [after staying up all night rescuing Minnie May Barry, with Ipicac, that cleared Minnie May's throat, Anne is trying to stay awake on the ride home]  Can't go to school now. I can

  [yawn] 

  Anne Shirley : hardly keep my eyes open. Hate to stay at home and let Gil, get ahead.

• Diana Barry : [Anne is going to apologize to Aunt Jo]  Anne, don't. She'll eat you alive!

  Anne Shirley : Don't worry. I've had lots of practice making apologies.

• Diana Barry : Gilbert told Charlie Sloan that you were the smartest girl in school, right in front of Josie.

  Anne Shirley : He did?

  Diana Barry : He told Charlie being smart was better than being good looking

• Anne Shirley : I think we're heroic winners, Diana. Don't you?

  Diana Barry : I think it's a shame that Gilbert had to lose on a count of Moody. Don't you think Gilbert's handsome?

  Anne Shirley : He is handsome. But I think your Gilbert is awfully bold to wink at a strange girl.

  Diana Barry : I wish he'd wink at me. He's sixteen, but he's in our class. His father's been ill and he's been away for two years.

  Anne Shirley : Good. I mean, I don't want to be the only one who's behind in school.

  Diana Barry : That's Mr. Phillips, our school teacher. He's dead-gone on Prissy Andrews, and Prissy thinks she's queen bee just because she's studying her entrance to Queens. He moons over her something terrible. That's Josie Pye, and she moons over Gilbert. Oh, Josie just want attention. I hope she nearly drowns.

  Anne Shirley : I wish it had been me. It would be such a romantic experience nearly to drown.

  Diana Barry : I heard before that you're kind of a strange girl, Anne Shirley, but I have a feeling we're going to get along really well.

• Mr. Phillips : Alright, class. Time's up. Place your pencils beside your papers. I'll collect your papers once everyone has left. However, before everyone leaves for lunch, I would like to announce the mathematics half-term results. The three best standings are as follows: first, Gilbert Blythe; second, Anne Shirley; third, Prissy Andrews. I think Miss Andrews has shown excellent progress under my tutelage. Class dismissed.

  Diana Barry : He's only smiling to congratulate you, Anne.

  Anne Shirley : I think he was trying to rub it in.

• [Anne, after she's forbidden to see Diana] 

  Anne Shirley : Farewell, my beloved friend. Henceforth, we must be strangers living side by side but my heart will be ever faithful to thee.

• Anne Shirley : Gilbert Blythe would stand on his head if I asked him to.

• [after Matthew's funeral, Marilla awakens and hears Anne crying in her bedroom] 

  Anne Shirley : Tears don't hurt, like the ache does.

  Marilla Cuthbert : He was such a good brother.

• Anne Shirley : Ruby Gillis says when she grows up, she wants to have a line of beaus on a string and make them crazy for her. I'd rather have one, in his rightful mind.

  [Diana Barry then quickly, un-expectedly and immediately opened the Cuthbert's door, to ask for help with her little sister Minnie May Barry's near life-loss, with croup or phlegme, that was thickly in her throat] 

• Essie : [after Mr. Hammond's death, comforts Mrs. Hammond]  There, there, Nora. He led a good life. You have to think about yourself and the young'uns now. Sell the mill and come and live with me. And what about the girl? She's a home child, isn't she?

  Mrs. Hammond : [weeps]  Yes.

  Essie : She'll have to go back to the orphanage.

  [Anne slowly approaches Mrs. Hammond] 

  Anne Shirley : Mrs. Hammond, you must know how much I want to be of help to you in your time of trial. I consider that a burden I must bear.

  Mrs. Hammond : [miserably]  I was daft when I took you in. It's all your doing. None but yours.

  Anne Shirley : [desperately]  I blame myself entirely, Mrs. Hammond. To have to wait an extra hour of lunch is a terrible burden on any man. I shall never overcome my grief, but going back to an orphanage would be more than I could bear. I beg of you, Mrs. Hammond, please let me stay with you!

  Essie : [uncaringly]  Orphan children are all the same--trash.

  Mrs. Hammond : Trash. That's right, Anne Shirley, poor miserable trash that don't deserve no better.

  [Anne sadly walks out closing the door] 

• Anne Shirley : I suppose some people consider it an accomplishment to walk a little picket fence, Diana. I knew of a girl in Marysville who could walk the ridgepole of a roof.

  Josie Pye : I don't believe it. You sure couldn't, Little Miss Bookworm.

  Anne Shirley : Oh, couldn't I?

  Gilbert Blythe : It's little risky, don't you think, Anne?

  Anne Shirley : Is it indeed, Mr. Blythe?

• Mrs. Hammond : Anne! Anne!

  Anne Shirley : Coming Mrs. Hammond!