Anne of Green Gables (1985)

Colleen Dewhurst: Marilla Cuthbert

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Quotes 

• Marilla Cuthbert : I'm afraid for her, Matthew. She'll be gone so long. She'll get terrible lonesome.

  Matthew Cuthbert : You mean, we'll get terrible lonesome.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I can't help wishing that she'd stayed a little girl.

  Matthew Cuthbert : Mrs. Spencer made a lucky mistake, I guess.

  Marilla Cuthbert : It wasn't luck; it was Providence. He knew we needed her.

  Matthew Cuthbert : Even with her queer little ways.

  Marilla Cuthbert : I loved her for them.

• Marilla Cuthbert : [rolling her eyes at Matthew's excessive purchase]  Twenty pounds of brown sugar.

• 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.

• 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.

• Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, this is a fine kettle of fish.

• [Marilla meets with Mrs. Barry and Rachel after Anne accidentally got Diana drunk] 

  Mrs. Barry : Marilla, I don't believe a word. Anne Shirley is a conniving, manipulating child and she's pulled the wool over your eyes.

  Rachel Lynde : I always warned you about making that currant wine, Marilla. You said it wouldn't have the least effect on anyone. Well, I ask you.

  Marilla Cuthbert : It isn't meant to be drunk three tumbler fulls at a time! And if I had a child that was so greedy, I'd sober her up with a darn good spanking!

  Mrs. Barry : Oh! So it's my Diana's fault, is it?

  Rachel Lynde : It's the demon liquor's fault. And as I told you for years, if you didn't insist on making that current wine.

  Marilla Cuthbert : [Marillla quickly then cuts in furious anger]  My current wine is famous all over the island, Rachel Lynde, as you very well know. And the Reverend Allen himself is not opposed to taking a bit when he comes calling. And as for Christian virtue: making a little wine for a refreshment is far less sinful than meddling in other people's affairs!

  Rachel Lynde : Oh!

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

  Marilla Cuthbert : No.

  Anne Shirley : Oh Marilla, how much you miss.

• [Marilla, commenting on whether or not she'll keep Anne] 

  Marilla Cuthbert : If she can avoid catastrophe two days in a row, I might have a chance to make up my mind.

• 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.

• [Marilla, reading a letter from Anne away at college] 

  Marilla Cuthbert : As Rachel Lynde used to say, the sun will go on rising and setting whether I fail in Geometry or not. I think I'd rather it didn't go on if I failed.

• Marilla Cuthbert : [talking to Matthew]  She could talk the hind leg of a mule. Hmm, wouldn't that be a change around here.

  [Marilla, then chuckled] 

• Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, stuff and nonsense.

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

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

• Marilla Cuthbert : [to Matthew]  You'd let her go to the moon if she had the notion.

• Marilla Cuthbert : [Mrs. Barry has invited Anne over for dinner after Anne saves Minnie May's life]  I believe humble pie is on the menu.

• Matthew Cuthbert : It's a girl.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Well, I can see that.

• [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.

• Marilla Cuthbert : That girl is next door to a perfect heathen.

• Marilla Cuthbert : [to Diana]  Good Afternoon, Diana.