Kings Row (1942)

Claude Rains: Dr. Alexander Tower

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Quotes 

• Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : In the 13th Century, man was happier and more comfortable in his world than he is now. I'm speaking of psychic man and his relationship with his whole universe.

  Parris Mitchell : I get it, sir. Everything was so simple then

  Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : That was it, Parris. That was it. But in this modern complicated world, man breaks down under the strain, the bewilderment, disappointment, and disillusionment. He gets lost, goes crazy, commits suicide. I don't know what's going to happen to this world in the next hundred years or so, but I can guarantee you life isn't going to get any simpler. Worry and doubt bring on a bellyache. Mankind's building up the biggest psychic bellyache in history.

• Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : Well, Mitchell, I don't know at all your approach to medicine. Perhaps you regard it as an opportunity to become one of those bedside manners with a list of proper pills to give the patient - particularly when you don't know what is the matter with him. Or perhaps your aim is to become an eminent carpenter with a knife and a chisel and a saw. Perhaps even you'll flow over with the nobility of relieving humanity's suffering. I'll tell you my approach to medicine! It is a game in which man pits his brains against the forces of destruction and disease. In the beginning I don't expect you to participate in the game. You'll only listen and accept. You will study and you will make notes and you will memorize... and you will do all this only because I tell you to.

• Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : Oh, have you read this?

  Parris Mitchell : Yes, sir. I didn't understand it entirely, I'm afraid.

  Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : Well, it's a new field. They've even a new word for it: psychiatry.

  Parris Mitchell : It's something I never thought about. I mean, for a doctor to want to cure diseases of people's minds instead of their bodies. I suppose it's a pretty big field, sir.

  Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : Maybe too big. Maybe a hundred years off.

• Dr. Alexander Q. Tower : Well, a little loneliness won't hurt you to speak of... you get used to it.