Born Yesterday (1950)

William Holden: Paul Verrall

Photos 

Quotes 

• Billie : This country and its institutions belong to the people who inhibit it.

  Paul : inHABit.

  Billie : InHABit it.

• Paul : A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.

• Billie : You could have saved yourself the trouble. I don't read papers.

  Paul : Never?

  Billie : Yeah, once in a while the back part... the funnies.

  Paul : Oh, I think you should. The, the front part... the not-so-funnies.

• Paul : Nobody's born smart, Billie. Do you know what the stupidest thing on Earth is? An infant!

  Billie : Whadaya got against babies all of a sudden?

• Harry Brock : Shut up! You ain't gonna be tellin' nobody nothin' pretty soon!

  Billie : DOUBLE NEGATIVE! Right?

  Paul : Right.

• Harry Brock : What's a peninsula?

  Billie : Shhhh.

  Harry Brock : Don't gimme that "shush." You think you're so smart, huh - what's a peninsula?

  Paul : It's a...

  Harry Brock : Not you, her.

  Billie : It's that new medicine...

• Paul : Harry's a menace.

  Billie : He's not so bad. I seen worse.

  Paul : Has he ever thought of anyone but himself?

  Billie : Who does?

  Paul : Millions of people, Billie. The whole history of the world is a story of a struggle between the selfish and the unselfish.

  Billie : I can hear you.

  Paul : All that's bad around us is bred by selfishness. Sometimes selfishness can even get to be a - a cause, an organized force, even a government. And then it's called fascism. Can you understand that?

  Billie : Sort of.

  Paul : Well, think about it.

  Billie : You're crazy about me, aren't ya?

  Paul : Yes.

  Billie : That's why you're so mad at Harry.

  Paul : Listen, I hate his life, what he does, what he stands for - not him. He just doesn't know any better.

  Billie : I go for you too.

• Harry Brock : Alright, let's get down to it... what'll ya take, Paul?

  Paul : I'll take a drink, please, if I may.

  Harry Brock : Don't get fancy with me! I ain't met a guy yet didn't have his price.

  Paul : I have.

  Harry Brock : I'm talkin' about big numbers!

  Billie : You an' your big numbers, you don' watch out, you'll be wearing one across yer chest!

• Paul : I don't suppose you got a chance to read my piece.

  Billie : What are you talkin'? Of course I read it. Twice!

  Paul : What'd you think?

  Billie : I think it's the best thing I ever read. I didn't understand one word.

• Paul : Who are you to get mad, you big baboon? You ought to be grateful you're allowed to walk around free.

  Harry Brock : You don't know me good enough for that kind of talk.

  Paul : I know ya. A kick in the keister, a crooked play, and your problems are all solved. Bigger problems, bigger kicks. Who's next? The government? The nation?

• Billie : How about the story of your life?

  Paul : Oh no. Much too long... and mostly untrue.

• Harry Brock : I'm top man in my racket. Been in it over 25 years. The same racket.

  Paul : Steel.

  Harry Brock : Junk! Not steel, junk. Now, look, don't butter me up. I'm a junk man. I ain't ashamed to admit it.

• Billie : Let me ask you. Are you one of these talkers - or would you be interested in a little action?

  Paul : [He looks confused]  What?

  Billie : I got a yen for you right off.

  Paul : Well, do you get many?

  Billie : Now and then.

  Paul : What do you do about them?

  Billie : [giggles]  Stick around, you'll find out.

  Paul : Alright, I will.

  Billie : And if you want a tip, I'll tell you. Sweet talk me. I like it. Like the "lovely girl" line.

  [Paul looks nervous, stands up and looks around] 

  Billie : Don't worry about him. He don't see a thing. He's too dizzy from bein' a big man.

  Paul : Well, this is going to be a little different from what I thought.

  Billie : Do you mind?

  Paul : No.

  Billie : It's only fair. We'll educate each other.

  Paul : Yeah.

• Paul : I want everybody to be smart. I want 'em to be as smart as they can be. A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in.

• Harry Brock : She's a good kid; but, to tell you the truth, she's a little on the stupid side. Now, it's not her fault, mind you. I got her out of the chorus. Now, for the chorus she was smart enough. I'm afraid she's gonna be unhappy around this town. Never been around with such kind of people. You know what I mean?

  Paul Verrall : No, I don't.

• Paul : Your friend, Mr. Brock has an idea. He'd like us to spend a little time together. You and me, that is.

  Billie : You don't say.

  Paul : Yes.

  Billie : Well, what are you, some kind of gigolo?

  Paul : Not exactly.

• Billie : So, as long as I know how to get what I want, that's all I wanna know.

  Paul : As long as you know what you want.

  Billie : Sure. What?

  Paul : As long as you *know* what you want.

  Billie : Are you tryin' to mix me up?

  Paul : Well, no.

• Paul : "Democratic." You know what that means, don't you?

  Billie : Not Republican.

• Paul : What didn't you understand?

  Billie : Well, like the name of it: "The Yellowing Democratic Manifesto."

  Paul : Simple!

  Billie : To who? Whom? Who? Well, anyway, not to me.

• Paul : All this undercover pressure. This bribery, corruption, government between friends. Sure, it goes on all the time, and it's tough to crack! Just ask me. I've tried for years. You need more than knowing about it. You gotta have facts and figures. And most important, the names.

• Paul : [Billie Dawn reads Paul Verrall's column that references Robert G. Ingersoll's "After Visiting the Tomb of Napoleon," but didn't understand it, so a discussion ensues. "I'd rather be a peasant..." Verrall quotes the essay in part;]  "And I said I would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the autumn sun. I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky, with my children upon my knee and their arms about me. I would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust than to have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder known as Napoleon the Great."

• Harry Brock : We'll make it good.

  Paul : Who's we?

  Harry Brock : "We" is me, that's who.

• Billie : I never thought I'd go through a thing like this for anybody.

  Paul : Like what?

  Billie : Like gettin' all mixed up in my head, like wondering and worrying and thinking, stuff like that.

• Paul : Look, who said this: "The proper study of mankind is man."

  Billie : I don't know.

  Paul : You should.

  Billie : Why?

  Paul : I told you.

  Billie : I forgot.

  Paul : Pope.

  Billie : The Pope?

  Paul : Not *the* Pope. Alexander Pope.

  Billie : "The proper study...

  Paul : "... of mankind is man."

  Billie : "... of mankind is man." Cause, that means women too.

  Paul : Yes.

  Billie : Yes, I know.

• Paul : The idea of learning is to be bigger, not smaller.

  Billie : Do you think I'm gettin' bigger?

  Paul : Yes!

  Billie : Glad to hear it.

• Paul : Get it to the people.

  Harry Brock : What people?

  Paul : *The* people.

  Harry Brock : I never heard of 'em.

• Paul : How 'bout some ice cream?

  Billie : Anything but tutti frutti.