Leave Her to Heaven quotes

View Quote 'Every book's a confession,' my father always said. Course, you have to read between the lines.

View Quote Glen Robie: He got two years. But Ellen had lost. I guess it's the only time she didn't come out first.

View Quote Glen Robie: Well, of all the seven deadly sins, jealousy is the most deadly.

View Quote Mrs. Berent: There's nothing wrong with Ellen. It's just that she loves too much. Perhaps that isn't good. It makes outsiders of everyone else. But she can't help it. You must be patient with her. She loved her father too much.

View Quote Ellen: [about her ex-fiancee, Russell Quinton] Why do you hate him?
Richard: Because you knew him.
Ellen: [chuckling] That's nice. You're gonna hate everybody I know?

View Quote Ellen: Darling, will you marry me?
Richard: Why, you unpredictable little... [She forcefully kissed and embraced him]
Ellen: And I'll never let you go. Never, never, never.

View Quote Ellen: He's dropped his work. He's dropped everything. I'm losing him, Ruth. I'll die if I lose him.
Ruth: Perhaps, perhaps if you went back to the lodge, just the two of you.
Ellen: No, he hates it now, everything about it. He never wants to set foot there again. And he doesn't want to go back to Boston. If I only knew what he was thinking. You've always helped me, Ruth. Help me now.
Ruth: A little time, Ellen, you'll see. He's had a great loss. There's a great emptiness in his life. If he only, if he only had a child of his own.

View Quote Ellen: I'm going to die.
Richard: Don't talk like that, Ellen. You're going to be all right.
Ellen: No. And you mustn't feel sorry for me. I'm not afraid. Only... Only, promise me one thing. I want to be cremated. Like my father. And my ashes scattered in the same place. Remember?
Richard: I remember.
Ellen: Promise?
Richard: Of course, I promise. Anything you like, only...
Ellen: Richard! I'll never let you go, Richard. Never. Never. Never.

View Quote Ellen: Why did you come for me tonight?
Richard: You knew I was coming up there tonight. You were waiting for me, weren't you?
Ellen: And you came, didn't you?

View Quote Ellen: You're a bachelor. Thirty years old. You were born and raised in Boston and you went to Harvard, where you edited the Lampoon. When you graduated, you went to Paris and you studied painting for a while. You have a lodge in Maine called 'Back of the Moon'. Before you went in for writing novels, you were a newspaper man. Your favorite sport is fishing, and you speak French and Spanish quite well.
Richard: Shades of Sherlock...If you'd lived in Salem a hundred years ago, they'd have burned you.

View Quote Ellen: You're looking very well, Ruth. I've never seen you so happy. Tell me, do you think Richard loves me?
Ruth: Well, now, that's a silly thing to say.
Ellen: Oh, I know in the beginning he loved me. But I'll tell you something funny. He never liked me.
Ruth: He loved you, but he never liked you?
Ellen: That's right. We've never really been friends, like you and he. He likes you. Tell me, has he found a nickname for you yet?
Ruth: Well, not exactly. Sometimes he calls me 'the gal with the hoe,' to kid me about my gardening.
Ellen: He used to call me 'Patchouli.' [She looks at the mirror reflection of her pregnant self] Look at me. I hate the little beast. I wish it would die.
Ruth: Ellen!
Ellen: Shocked, aren't you? If you were having the baby, you'd love it. Well, I never wanted it. Richard and I never needed anything else. And now this.
Ruth: How can you say such wicked things?
Ellen: Sometimes the truth is wicked. You're afraid of the truth, aren't you, Ruth?
Ruth: No. You're the one who's afraid.

View Quote Richard: What's happened to you? You're deliberately whipping yourself into a fit of hysterics....Ellen, what's got into you?
Ellen: Oh, darling, forgive me. I'm sorry. I can't help it. It's only because I love you so. I love you so, I can't bear to share you with anybody.

View Quote Richard: You got rid of everybody else, your mother, Ruth, Thorne. There was only Danny left. What were you thinking of? You never really cared for him. You only pretended to. What happened? Did he refuse to leave?...Was that why you killed him?... You're a perfect swimmer and the boat was so far away, and he was going down for the third time. You killed him. You let Danny drown, didn't you? Didn't you?
Ellen: Yes, I let him drown, and I'd do it again! I didn't want him around. I didn't want anyone but you.
Richard: I knew it. I must have known it all along but I kept pushing it out of my mind. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. How could I? You loved me, you said. Wanted only to make me happy.
Ellen: Yes, that was all I ever wanted, Richard. Your happiness, only that. I didn't mean to let Danny drown. I didn't plan it, I swear I didn't. But when he went under I thought if he never came up, I'd have you all to myself. I thought if he was gone, you'd have only me. And while I was thinking that, he was gone. I was sorry then, and frightened. I tried to find him, tried honestly, tried hard. But it was too late. Why don't you kill me, Richard? You could so easily, you know.
Richard: And the baby. You never wanted it, did you?
Ellen: No. Don't you see? I didn't want anyone around. Only you. I wanted to be just with you. I couldn't stand having anyone between us. Oh, I love you so, Richard. I love you so.

View Quote Russell: I wanted to be among the first to congratulate you on your forthcoming marriage.
Ellen: Well, we hadn't planned to announce it for a while, but since you've let the cat out of the bag. Darling, this is Russell Quinton. My fiancee, Richard Harland.

View Quote Russell: Perhaps you don't think I'm good enough for you or romantic enough. I know people thought I was marrying into the Berent family for reasons, but that's not true. I want you to know that I had only one reason. I want you to know that I was in love with you. I'm not a man who loves often, Ellen. I love once.
Ellen: That's quite a concession.
Russell: I loved you. And I'm still in love with you.
Ellen: That's a tribute.
Russell: And I always will be. Remember that.
Ellen: Russ, is that a threat?