Jefferson Smith Quotes in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Jefferson Smith: You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.

Jefferson Smith: I guess this is just another lost cause Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for and he fought for them once. For the only reason any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain simple rule. Love thy neighbor. And in this world today of great hatred a man who knows that rule has a great trust. You know that rule Mr. Paine and I loved you for it just as my father did. And you know that you fight harder for the lost causes than for any others. Yes you'd even die for them. Like a man we both knew Mr. Paine. You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well I'm not licked. And I'm gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause. Even if this room gets filled with lies like these. And the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody will listen to me.

[he collapses]

Jefferson Smith: I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too.

Jefferson Smith: [His voice very hoarse] Just get up off the ground, that's all I ask. Get up there with that lady that's up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won't just see scenery; you'll see the whole parade of what Man's carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so's he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That's what you'd see. There's no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if that's what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then we'd better get those boys' camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And it's not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here; you just have to see them again!

Jefferson Smith: Well, what do you expect me to do? An honorary stooge like me against the Taylors and Paines and machines and lies?

Clarissa Saunders: Your friend, Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man who ever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against them didn't stop those men. They were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that. You know that, Jeff. You can't quit now. Not you. They aren't all Taylors and Paines in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows, that's all. You didn't just have faith in Paine or any other living man. You had faith in something bigger than that. You had plain, decent, everyday, common rightness, and this country could use some of that. Yeah, so could the whole cockeyed world, a lot of it. Remember the first day you got here? Remember what you said about Mr. Lincoln? You said he was sitting up there, waiting for someone to come along. You were right. He was waiting for a man who could see his job and sail into it, that's what he was waiting for. A man who could tear into the Taylors and root them out into the open. I think he was waiting for you, Jeff. He knows you can do it, so do I.

Jefferson Smith: What? Do what, Saunders?

Clarissa Saunders: You just make up your mind you're not gonna quit, and I'll tell you what. I've been thinking about it all the way back here. It's a forty foot dive into a tub of water, but I think you can do it.

[after all the other Senators walk out]

Jefferson Smith: Oh, Mr. President, we seem to be alone. I, I'm not complaining for a social reason; it's just, I think it'd be a pity if these gentlemen missed any of this, and...

[Clarissa starts waving from the visitors gallery, and making hand signals]

Jefferson Smith: And, uh...

[he grabs the rule book]

Jefferson Smith: I, I call the chair's attention to... to, uh... Rule 5 of the Standing Rules of the Senate, Section... Section 3. "If it shall be found that a quorum is not present, a majority of the Senators present" - and that looks like me - uh, uh, "may direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to request, and if necessary compel, the attendance of the absent Senators." Well, Mr. President, I so direct.

Jefferson Smith: Either I'm dead right, or I'm crazy!

[the filibuster begins]

President of Senate: The Chair recognizes... Senator Smith!

Jefferson Smith: Thank you, sir.

Clarissa Saunders: Diz, here we go.

Jefferson Smith: Well, I guess the gentlemen are in a pretty tall hurry to get me out of here. The way the evidence has piled up against me, I can't say I blame them much. And I'm quite willing to go, sir, when they vote it that way - but before that happens I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before, and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to leave this body until I do get them said.

Senator Joseph Paine: Mr. President, will the Senator yield?

President of Senate: Will the Senator yield?

Jefferson Smith: No, sir, I'm afraid not, no sir. I yielded the floor once before, if you can remember, and I was practically never heard of again. No sir. And we might as well all get together on this yielding business right off the bat, now.

[laughter from the gallery]

Jefferson Smith: Now, I had some pretty good coaching last night, and I find that if I yield only for a question or a point of order or a personal privilege, that I can hold this floor almost until doomsday. In other words, I've got a piece to speak, and blow hot or cold, I'm going to speak it.

Senator Joseph Paine: Will the Senator yield?

President of Senate: Will Senator Smith yield?

Jefferson Smith: Yield how, sir?

Senator Joseph Paine: Will he yield for a question?

Jefferson Smith: For a question, all right.

Jefferson Smith: Boy, you should have been there!

Clarissa Saunders: I know, it was a wonderful party, and your suit went over big, and she looked beautiful, and when you left she said, "Thank you, Mr. Smith," but it was the way she said it, you nearly fell through the floor. Horseradish!

Senator Joseph Paine: I wish to ask my distinguished colleague, has he one scrap of evidence to add now to the defense he did not give and could not give at that same hearing?

Jefferson Smith: I have no defense against forged papers!

Senator Joseph Paine: The Committee ruled otherwise! The gentleman stands guilty, as charged. And I believe I speak for every member when I say that no one cares to hear what a man of his condemned character has to say about any section of any legislation before this House.

President of Senate: Order, order, gentlemen.

Jefferson Smith: Mr. President, I stand guilty as FRAMED! Because section 40 is graft! And I was ready to say so, I was ready to tell you that a certain man in my state, a Mr. James Taylor, wanted to put through this dam for his own profit. A man who controls a political machine! And controls everything else worth controlling in my state. Yes, and a man even powerful enough to control Congressmen - and I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him!

Senator Joseph Paine: Will the Senator yield?

Jefferson Smith: No, sir, I will not yield! And this same man, Mr. James Taylor, came down here and offered me a seat in this Senate for the next 20 years if I voted for a dam that he knew, and I knew, was a fraud. But if I dared to open my mouth against that dam, he promised to break me in two.

Senate Minority Leader, Barnes: [Watches as Smith reads a note passed to him from the gallery] Does the gentleman wish to yield?

Jefferson Smith: Yield? Oh, no. I feel fine! The Constitution of the United States!

[Barnes throws both hands high in the air, turns away from Smith, then brings his arms down hard on his desk in frustration]

Jefferson Smith: My Dad had the right idea. He had it all worked out. He used to say to me, "Son, don't miss the wonders that surround you; because, every tree, every rock, every ant hill, every star is filled with the wonders of nature." And, he used to say to me, "Have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see daylight again after coming through a long, dark tunnel?" Well, he'd say, "Always try to see life around you, as if you'd just come out a tunnel."

Governor Hopper: It is in that spirit that we gather here tonight, to acclaim and wish God's speed to Senator Jefferson Smith!

[Crowd roars]

Jefferson Smith: Thank you. I-I I-I can't help feeling that there's been a big mistake somehow.

Jefferson Smith: I can promise you one thing, I'll do nothing to disgrace the office of - the United States Senate.

Jefferson Smith: I suppose, Mr. Paine, when a fellow bucks up against a big organization like that, that one man by himself can't get very far, can he?

Senator Joseph Paine: No.

Jefferson Smith: Things sure happen fast around here, don't they?

Chick McGann: Yeah, you'll have to get yourself out of low gear, Senator.

Jefferson Smith: I-I-I don't think I've ever been so thrilled in my whole life. And that Lincoln Memorial! Gee whiz. That Mr. Lincoln, there he is. He's just lookin' right straight at you as you come right up those steps. Just - just sitting there, like he was waiting for somebody to come along.

Female Reporter: Now, Senator, tell me, what do you think of the girls in this town?

Jefferson Smith: Gosh, I, down at the station, four of 'em came up and kissed me when I got off the train.

Female Reporter: Oh, were they pretty?

Jefferson Smith: Pretty - that Miss Susan Paine, she's about the prettiest girl I ever did see.

Pageboy Richard Jones: Here you are Senator. Not a bad desk either. Daniel Webster used to use it.

Jefferson Smith: Daniel Webster sat here?

Pageboy Richard Jones: Give you something to shoot at, Senator. If you figure on doing any talking.

Jefferson Smith: Oh, I'm just gonna sit around and listen.

Pageboy Richard Jones: That's the way to get reelected!

Jefferson Smith: The point is, sir, they're right. I'm just sitting in the Senate decorating a chair. Now, if-if I'm going to vote, I at least ought to try and study some of the bills that are coming up.

Senator Joseph Paine: The bills?

Jefferson Smith: Well, yes sir. Otherwise, I'm just a Christmas tiger, like they said.

Senator Joseph Paine: Jeff, these bills are put together by legal minds, after long study. Why, I-I-I can't understand ha-half of them myself - and I used to be a lawyer. Now, come on, forget it. When the time comes, I'll advise you how to vote.

Clarissa Saunders: You're bill is ready. You take it over there and you introduce it. You get to your feet in the Senate and take a long breath and start spouting. But, not too loud, because a couple of the Senators might want to sleep. Then, a curly headed page boy takes it up to the desk where a long faced clerk reads it, refers it to the right committee,

Jefferson Smith: Why?

Clarissa Saunders: Look, committees are small groups of Senators that have to sift a bill down, look into it, study it, report to the whole Senate. You can't take a bill nobody ever heard about and discuss it among 96 men! Where would you get?

Jefferson Smith: Yeah, I see.

Clarissa Saunders: Good. Now, where are we?

Jefferson Smith: Some committee's got it.

Clarissa Saunders: Now, days have gone by Senator. Days. Weeks! Finally, they think its quite a bill. It goes over to the House of Representatives for debate and a vote. But, it has to wait its turn on the calendar.

Jefferson Smith: The calendar?

Clarissa Saunders: Yes. That's the order of business. Your bill has to stand way back there in line unless the steering committee thinks its important...

Jefferson Smith: What's that?

Clarissa Saunders: What?

Jefferson Smith: Steering committee?

Clarissa Saunders: You really think we're getting anywhere?

Jefferson Smith: Oh, yes, Miss Sauders, now, tell me, what's the Steering committee?

Clarissa Saunders: The committee of the majority party. They decide when a bill is important enough to be moved up to the head of the list.

Jefferson Smith: Oh, this is!

Clarissa Saunders: Pardon me, this is. Where are we now?

Jefferson Smith: We're in the House.

Clarissa Saunders: Oh, yeah, the House. More amendments. More changes and the bill goes back to the Senate, The Senate doesn't like what the House did to the bill, they make more changes. The House doesn't like those changes, stymied.

Jefferson Smith: So?

Clarissa Saunders: So, they appoint men from each House to go to a huddle called a caucus and they battle it out. Finally, if your bill is still alive after all this devastation, it comes to a vote. Yes sir, the big day finally arrives - and Congress adjourns. Catching on Senator?

Jefferson Smith: It hasn't been easy, has it?

Clarissa Saunders: No complaints.

Jefferson Smith: I mean, for a woman, you've done awfully well!

Jefferson Smith: What's your first name?

Clarissa Saunders: Why?

Jefferson Smith: Well, I, eh, everybody just calls you plain Saunders.

Clarissa Saunders: Well, I also answer to whistles.

Jefferson Smith: Now, doggone it, there's something wrong here! I know there's something wrong! And I'm not gonna vote on that thing until I get some more questions answered.

Senator Joseph Paine: Jeff, you're fighting windmills.

Jefferson Smith: I am?

Jefferson Smith: Clarissa, where can we get a drink?

Clarissa Saunders: Now you're talkin'! Come on over to my place.

Jefferson Smith: I always get a great kick out of that part of the Declaration of Independence. You're not gonna have a country where these kind of rules work, if you haven't got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the nose.