All the King's Men (1949) quotes

View Quote Adam Stanton: [to Willie] You stay on your side of the fence, I'll stay on mine.

View Quote Editorial: Kanoma's recent school tragedy serves as a potent reminder that a man named Willie Stark, a citizen of Kanoma City and defeated candidate for County Treasurer, fought bitterly against the awarding of our schoolhouse contract. His was "the voice in the wilderness" that fell on deaf ears, and the children of Kanoma City paid the price. Nothing can ease the pain in the brave hearts of our bereaved parents who suffered their loss bravely.

View Quote Jack, there's something on everybody. Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption.

View Quote Judge Stanton: I made a mistake once, Jack, when I resigned, but it was too easy then just resigning and pulling out. Well, Jack, I've made my choice. I have nothing more to lose.

View Quote Newsreel: And so the eyes of the entire nation are now focused upon Governor Willie Stark. An amazing phenomenon on the American political scene. The whole state is filled with his accomplishments. Each one of them, of course, bearing his personal signature to make sure that no one will ever forget who gave them to the state. This is the way the roads used to be, but there are those who claim that they were adequate for the people's needs, that you don't need a four or six lane highway for a horse and buggy. When Stark boasts of his great school system, his critics say, 'You can't go to school and work in the fields at the same time,' and they question the benefit of these projects, charging that the need and poverty of the people is as great as before. Willie Stark has never forgotten the source of his power - the people who supported him. He still keeps his touch with these people of the backwoods, making periodic trips to such places as Kanoma City, now famous as his birthplace. For those who say that Willie Stark is a man of destiny, there are others who claim that he is a man of evil, a man who cares neither for the people or the state, but only for his own personal power and ambition. Obviously, these ambitions go far beyond the boundaries of the state. Just how far, only time will tell. Meanwhile, he is here, and from the looks of things, he is here to stay. Willie Stark - Messiah or Dictator?

View Quote Radio news reporter: A medical examination revealed that he was beaten to death. The ugly charge of official murder has been hurled at the administration by a coalition of Stark's opponents led by Judge Stanton, lately an outspoken critic of the administration. Thus, an almost forgotten incident provided the spark that might set off the explosion needed to rock Willie Stark out of power. The latest report is that impeachment proceedings may be instituted...

View Quote Richard Hale: [to Willie] I remember when you first started talking, in a place called Upton. You did a lot of talking then, and the things you said made sense to me and a lot of other people. I believed in you, I followed you, and I fought for you. Well, the words are still good, but you're not. And I don't believe you ever were.

View Quote Anne: I tried to explain to him that it wasn't the way he thought it was.
Jack: How was it, Anne? You tell me.
Anne: He hit me, Jack. My own brother, he hit me.
Jack: Your brother's an old-fashioned man. He believes in his sister's honor. Me, I'm a modern man, the 20th-century type, I run.
Anne: I'm frightened, Jack.
Jack: For who, your brother or Willie?
Anne: We're through.
Jack: Who's through with who?
Anne: He called me this afternoon. He's going back to Lucy. He said it was better this way.
Jack: Better for who, him?
Anne: Both of us.
Jack: Did he tell you that too when he asked you to betray the judge? At least I walked out on him.
Anne: Oh Jack, help me, please! Please! Adam's all I've got left now. Oh Jack, if you ever loved me.
Jack: If I ever loved you? ...I'll go find Adam.

View Quote Jack: Anne, Burden's Landing is a place on the moon. It isn't real. It doesn't exist. It's me, pretending I live on what I earn. It's my mother, trying to keep herself young and drinking herself old doing it. She and Adam living in this house as though your father was still alive. It's an old man like the judge, dreaming of the past. Anne, come away with me.
Anne: And do what?
Jack: Live in a shack and eat red beans. Anne, what do you want me to do?
Anne: Oh Jack, you haven't been sure. You've gone from one thing to the other. A year at law school and now this job as a reporter.
Jack: Are you afraid I can't make a living?
Anne: Oh no Jack, it isn't that. I don't care about the money. It's just that I, I want you to be something.
Jack: What is it you want me to be?
Anne: I don't know. It's just that I want you to be, to do something important.
Jack: Like your father? All right, I'll run for governor. Anne, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I said that.
Anne: All right, Jack. I'll go away with you. I'll do anything you want me to.
Jack: I've wanted you to say that more than anything in the world. And now that you have said it - Anne, I guess you were right. I'm not sure of anything, including myself. I'm not sure I could live up to the...Anne, wait for me. Please wait for me.
Anne: I'll wait for you.

View Quote Jack: Anne, where are you going?
Anne: I don't know. Leave me alone.
Jack: To do what?
Anne: I don't care.
Jack: No, that's too easy.
Anne: I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!
Jack: I do.
Anne: Leave me alone, please.
Jack: No, no more.
Anne: He's dead.
Jack: We're alive.
Anne: My brother's dead.
Jack: We've got to go on living.
Anne: How?
Jack: So that Adam's death has meaning. So that it wasn't wasted. Anne, our life has to give his death meaning. Don't you see that? Look at those people. LOOK AT THEM! They still believe. And we've got to make them see Willie the way Adam always saw him or there's no meaning in anything, anything.

View Quote Jack: I learned something from him [Willie]. You can't make an omelette without cracking eggs.
Adam: Or heads?
Anne: But at least a hospital will be built and the sick will be cared for.
Adam: At what price?
Jack: At any price.
Adam: Do you really believe that, Jack?
Jack: I really believe that Stark wants to do good. You do too. It's a matter of method. Many times, out of evil comes good. Pain is evil. As a doctor, you should know that.
Adam: Pain is an evil. It is not evil. It is not evil in itself. Stark is evil.
Jack: The people of this state don't think so.
Adam: How would they know? The first thing Stark did was to take over the newspapers and the radio stations. Why be so afraid of criticism? If Stark is interested in doing good, he should also be interested in the truth. I don't see how you can separate the two. No, Stark is not for me.
Anne: No, Stark is not for you. Well, what's for you? Pride, pride, that's all it is, foolish, stupid pride. All you've ever talked about is what you could do if somebody would tear down and build. All right, all right, somebody has and he's given it to you. But he's not for you. No, he's not for you.

View Quote Jack: Why did you do it?
Anne: He wasn't like anybody I ever knew before.
Jack: You mean he wasn't like me.
Anne: He wasn't like anybody I ever knew before. I love him, I guess. I guess that's the reason.
Jack: Everybody loves him.
Anne: He wants to marry me.
Jack: Are you going to?
Anne: Not now, it would hurt him. Divorce would hurt his career.
Jack: His career!
Anne: Jack, Jack, what are you going to do? You can't leave him now. He needs you now more than he ever did before.
Jack: What Willie needs, Willie's got.
Anne: You don't know him. You've known him all these years and you don't really know him at all.
Jack: What about Adam?
Anne: Adam?
Jack: Well, you don't have to worry about him. If Adam finds out, it'll be easy to prove a Stanton is no different than anyone else. Just show him these. [He hands her evidence he uncovered about her uncle] Willie was right. Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption, even Judge Stanton. Show them to him, Anne. Change the picture of the world that Adam has in his head, just like our picture of it has been changed. Wipe out everything he's ever believed in, it'll be good for him. There's no god but Willie Stark. I'm his prophet and you're his... Anne, Anne, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Anne.

View Quote Jack: You don't have to be smart to frame a guy like Willie Stark.
Sadie: No, no brother, you don't.
Jack: It is a frame, isn't it?...To split the vote and win the election for Harrison, huh?
Sadie: You know, why do ya ask?
Jack: I just want to make sure. Look, why don't you tell the boys to save their money? Willie couldn't steal a vote from Abe Lincoln in the cradle of the Confederacy.
Sadie: I wish the poor ...had enough sense to have somebody give him a good reason for the beating he's going to get. 'Cause this way, all he gets out of it is the ride. Hey, those speeches, ain't they awful? Ain't they just plain awful? Question to you: If somebody told him he was a sucker, do you think he'd quit?
Jack: I don't know, Sadie. I really don't know.

View Quote Sadie: How'd you get him here? He was out stiff.
Jack: The hair of the dog that bit him.
Sadie: Hair? He must have swallowed the dog.

View Quote Tom: Now he needs us, now that he's in trouble, he needs us so he can lead us around like monkeys with rings in our nose so he can say to people, 'Look at me, feel sorry for me. Just a family man with a wife and a crippled son.'
Willie: Shut up!
Lucy: Willie!
Tom: Why don't you leave us alone?..
Willie: How many scrapes have I gotten him out of? How many girls?
Lucy: Willie, stop!
Willie: It's not him they're after, it's me. How many half-witted apes do you think I'm gonna have to pay to square this one? What do you think this is gonna cost me?
Lucy: What do you think it cost him?
Willie: A man builds for his son, that's all he builds for.