“- Tess, the mother: I think you have these qualities that you demand and when you meet a nice man you disqualify him for the smallest fault.
- Bea: That's not true.
- Tess, the mother: So, what was wrong with Nat Bernstein?
- Bea: He wore white socks with a tuxedo!”
Julie Kavner - Tess, the mother
Dianne Wiest - Bea

“My dear, when you're as old as I am, you take your men as you find them - if you can find them.”

Helen Broderick - Madge Hardwick

“- J.B. Armstrong: Sorry, I didn't know you were a woman.
- Tugboat Annie: I've been a woman for a long time. But, I'm still the best tugboat man on the coast - and that's putting it mild.”

Clarence Kolb - J.B. Armstrong
Marjorie Rambeau - Tugboat Annie

“Remember, my child, that the woman is the root and the man is the tree. The tree grows only as high as the root is strong.”

Walter Huston - Ling Tan

“Uggamus iggamas, man is polygamist. Uggamus oggamas, woman monogamist.”
Sir Michael Caine - Max Gale