Mrs. Potts Quotes in Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Beast: Oh, it's no use. She's so beautiful, and I'm. Well, look at me!

Mrs. Potts: Oh, must help her to see past all that.

Beast: I don't know how.

Mrs. Potts: Well, you can start by making yourself more presentable. Straighten up. Try to act like a gentleman.

[Beast stands up straighter]

Lumiere: Ah, yes. When she comes in give her a dashing, debonair smile. Come, come, show me the smile.

[Beast gives a big, forced smile]

Mrs. Potts: But don't frighten the poor girl!

Beast: [pounds on Belle's door yelling] I thought I told you to come down to dinner!

Belle: I'm not hungry!

Beast: [yelling to Belle] You'll come out, or I'll-I'll-I'll break down the door!

Lumiere: Master, I could be wrong, but that might not be the best way to win the girl's affections.

Cogsworth: Please. Attempt to be a gentlemen.

Beast: But, she's being so difficult!

Mrs. Potts: Gently. Gently.

Beast: [calmly] Will you come down to dinner?

Belle: No!

Beast: [points at door] Hmm?

Cogsworth: Ah-ah-ah, suave, genteel.

Beast: [suavely] It would give me great pleasure

[tries to hold in his anger]

Beast: if you would join me for dinner.

Cogsworth: [clears throat and mutters] We say please.

Beast: Please?

Belle: No thank you!

Beast: [yells] You can't stay in there forever!

Belle: Yes, I can!

Beast: [yells] Fine! Then go ahead and *starve!* If she doesn't eat with me, then she doesn't eat at all!

[storms down through the hallway and slams the door behind him]

Mrs. Potts: Oh dear. That didn't go very well at all, did it?

Lumiere: Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test / Tie your napkin round your waist, cheri, and let us provide the rest / Soup du jour? Hors d'oeuvres? Why, we only live to serve / Try the gray stuff, it's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! / They can sing, they can dance, after all, Miss, this is France / And a dinner here is never second best / Come on, unfold our menu, / Take a glance and then you / will be our guest / Oui, our guest, Be our guest!

Lumiere: [Chorus joins in] Beef ragoune, cheese soufflé, pie and pudding en flambé / We'll prepare and serve with flair, a culinary cabaret / You're alone and you're scared, but the banquet's all prepared / No one's gloomy or complaining, while the flatware's entertaining / We tell jokes, I do tricks, with my fellow candlesticks / And it's all in perfect taste, that you can bet! / Come on and fill your glass / You've won your own free pass / To be our guest / If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest! Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest!

Lumiere: Life is so unnerving, for a servant who's not serving / He's not whole, without a soul, to wait upon! Ah, those good old days when we were useful... suddenly those good old days are gone / Ten years we've been rusting, needing so much more than dusting / Needing exercise, a chance to use our skill! / Most days, we just lay around the castle / Flabby fat and lazy, then you walked in and oops-a-daisy!

Mrs. Potts: It's a guest! It's a guest! Sakes alive and I'll be blessed! / Wine's been poured, and thank the Lord I've had the napkins freshly pressed / With dessert, she'll want tea, and my dear, that's fine with me / While the cups do their soft-shoeing I'll be bubbling, I'll be brewing / I'll get warm, piping hot... Heaven's sakes, is that a spot? / Clean it up! We want the company impressed! / We've got a lot to do! / Is it one lump or two? / For our guest! She's our guest!

Chorus: Be our guest! Be our guest! Our command is your request! / It's been ten years since we had anybody here, and we're obsessed! / With your meal, with your ease, yes indeed, we aim to please / While the candlelight's still glowing, let us help you, we'll keep going...

Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Chorus: Course by course! One by one! / Till you shout "Enough! I'm done!" / And we send you off to sleep as you digest! / Tonight, you'll prop your feet up / But for now let's eat up / Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest! Please be our guest!

[giving Beast advice on how to impress Belle]

Lumiere: Impress her with your rapier wit.

Mrs. Potts: But be gentle.

Lumiere: Shower her with compliments.

Mrs. Potts: But be sincere.

Lumiere: And above all.

Lumiere, Mrs. Potts: You must control your temper!

Cogsworth: [singing] Well, perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before.

Chip: What?

Mrs. Potts: [singing] There may be something there that wasn't there before.

Chip: What's there, Mama?

Mrs. Potts: Shh. I'll tell you when you're older.

[kisses Chip]

Chip: Mama, there's a girl in the castle!

Mrs. Potts: Now Chip, I'll not have you making up such wild stories.

Chip: Really, Mama, I saw her!

Mrs. Potts: Not another word, into the tub.

Chip: [Mrs. Potts lifts Chip into the tub] But. What?

Featherduster: A girl! I saw a girl in the castle!

Featherduster: [Chip emerges from the water in the tub]

Chip: See? I told ya.

Mrs. Potts: Pardon me, Master.

Beast: Leave me in peace.

Mrs. Potts: But sir, the castle is under attack!

Villagers: [singing outside and trying to knock the door down] Kill the Beast! Kill the Beast!

Lumiere: [All the objects are trying to hold the door closed] This isn't working.

Featherduster: Oh Lumiere. We must do something.

Lumiere: Wait, I know!

Villagers: [Still singing outside] Kill the Beast! Kill the Beast!

Mrs. Potts: What should we do, Master?

Beast: It doesn't matter now. Just let them come.

[Gaston, LeFou and the mob are in the castle. LeFou notices Mrs. Potts and Chip sleeping]

LeFou: [to Chip] Well, hello there... You must be the talking teacup.

[to Mrs. Potts]

LeFou: And you must be his grandmother.

Mrs. Potts: [awakes, gasps] Grandmother?

[to the servants]

Mrs. Potts: Attack!

[They attack the mob at the castle]

Mrs. Potts: [to Belle] The master's *not* as terrible as he appears!

Mrs. Potts: [hanging from a chandelier] How do you like your tea? Hot enough or *boiling*?

[sees her husband]

Mrs. Potts: [shocked] Mr. Potts!

[loses her grip, and falls, screaming]

Chip: Mama!

[LeFou catches her]

Mrs. Potts: Thank you!

[LeFou nods "You're welcome". He spots the villagers about to attack them and dodges them. Mrs. Potts boils one villager up with tea]

LeFou: Take that!

[LeFou punches the other villager and turns to Mrs. Potts]

Mrs. Potts: Nicely handled!

LeFou: Well, I used to be on Gaston's side. but we are so in a bad place right now...

Mrs. Potts: You're too good for him anyway.

LeFou: Yeah.

Mrs. Potts: Should we get back to it, then?

[LeFou nods enthusiastically and runs off with her to join the servants in driving off the villagers]

Belle: [to Lumiere] What happens when the last petal falls?

Lumière: The master remains a beast forever and we become...

Mrs. Potts: [sadly] Antiques!

Lumière: Knick-knacks.

Plumette: Lightly-used housewares.

Cogsworth: Rubbish. We become rubbish.

Belle: I want to help you. There must be some way to break the curse.

Cogsworth: Well, there is one.

[Lumiere hits him]

Mrs. Potts: It's not for you to worry about, lamb. We've made our bed, and we must lie in it.

[the castle staff turn into regular objects]

Lumière: [holds her in his arms] Plumette? Plumette! Oh, my darling, Plumette. Oh, no.

Madame Garderobe: Maestro, you were so brave. Goodbye, mi amor.

Maestro Cadenza: Amore. No! Don't leave me.

[Froufrou falls down]

Mrs. Potts: Chip! Chip! Have you seen Chip? He ran off. Where is my little boy?

Cogsworth: Lumiere, I... I can't... speak...!

Lumière: [sadly] It's alright, Cogsworth.

Cogsworth: I can't... Lumiere... my friend... it was an honor to serve... with you.

Lumière: The honor... was mine.

Beast: [to Belle, gruffly] You'll join me for dinner. That's not a request.

Mrs. Potts: Gently, Master. The girl lost her father *and* her freedom in one day.

Lumière: Yes, the poor thing is probably in there scared to death.

Belle: [Unbeknownst to them, Belle has turned her pink gown into a rope so she can escape. The Beast knocks on her bedroom door again, softly this time; nervously] Just a minute.

Lumière: You see? There she is. Now remember: Be gentle.

Mrs. Potts: Kind.

Plumette: Mmm, charming.

Cogsworth: Sweet!

Lumière: And when she opens the door, give her a dashing smile! Come, come, show me the smile!

Cogsworth: [the Beast gives a wide smile, showing his monstrous teeth. The servants react in fright] Oh, dear!

Plumette: Oh, no!

Beast: [his smile vanishes; graciously] Will you join me for dinner?

[He turns away and shakes his head at the servants as if to say, "This'll never work"]

Belle: You've taken me as your prisoner, and now you want to have dinner with me? Are you insane?

Plumette: [the Beast becomes visibly enraged; the servants back away in fear] Uh-oh! He's losing it!

Cogsworth: Oh, dear!

Beast: [pounds on Belle's door, yelling] I told you to join me for dinner!

Belle: And I told you! No!

Madame Garderobe: [awakens startled] Oh, what time is it? What's happening?

Belle: I'd *starve* before I ever ate with you!

Beast: [roaring] Well, be my guest! Go ahead and starve!

[to Lumiere]

Beast: If she doesn't eat with me, then she doesn't eat *at all*!

[storms off]

Beast: Idiots!

Jean the Potter: [sees his wife] Darling?

Mrs. Potts: [gasps] Mr. Potts!

Jean the Potter: Beatrice!

[kisses her]

Jean the Potter: I remember! I do!

[hugs and kisses his wife and his son Chip]

[the Beast enters the dining room and sees a dinner plate on his side. He sits down and sees another plate set up across from him. He pushes away the plate in a fit of rage]

Beast: [roars] *Lumiere*!

[Lumière and Cogsworth get startled]

Lumière: [turns to Cogsworth] Be calm. Let me do the talking.

[the Beast bursts through the door]

Beast: You're making her dinner?

Lumière: We thought you might appreciate the company.

Cogsworth: Master, I just want to assure you that I had no part of this hopeless plan. Preparing her dinner, designing a gown for her, giving her a suite in the East Wing...

Beast: You gave her a bedroom?

Cogsworth: No, no, no! He gave her the bedroom.

Lumière: Well, this is true. But, if this girl is the one who can break the spell, then maybe you can start by using dinner to charm her.

[turns to Cogsworth, bonks]

Lumière: Good thinking, Cogsworth.

Cogsworth: What?

Beast: That's the most ridiculous idea, I've ever heard. Charm the prisoner.

Lumière: But you must try, master. With every passing day, we become less human.

Beast: She's the daughter of a common thief. What kind of person do you think that makes her?

Mrs. Potts: Oh, you can't judge people by who their father is, now can you?

[the Beast sighs]

Belle: [to the servants, about the Beast] Why do you care about him so much?

Mrs. Potts: We've looked after him all his life.

Belle: But he's cursed you somehow. Why? You did nothing.

Mrs. Potts: [ashamed] You're quite right there, dear. You see, when the master lost his mother and his cruel father took that sweet, innocent lad and twisted him up to be just like him, we did nothing.

Mrs. Potts: [to Belle] How lovely to make your acquaintance!

Mrs. Potts: Oh, those days in the sun, what I'd give to relive just one, undo what's done / And bring back the light...

Cogsworth: Well, Master, I have had my doubts, but everything is moving like clockwork. True love really does win the day!

Beast: I let her go.

Cogsworth: [shocked] You what?

Lumière: Master, how could you do that?

Beast: I had to.

Cogsworth: But why?

Mrs. Potts: Because he loves her.

Lumière: Then why are we not human?

Cogsworth: Because she doesn't love her. And now, it's too late.

Plumette: [hopefully] But she might come back.

Beast: No. I set her free. I'm sorry I couldn't do the same for all of you. Now, go. Our time is almost past.

Agathe: [narrates] Then one night, an unexpected intruder arrived at the castle, seeking shelter from the bitter storm. As a gift, she offered the prince a single rose.

[Beggar woman offers the rose to the prince. He laughs and so does the rest of the party]

Agathe: Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince turned the woman away.

[the Prince grabs the rose and shortly afterwards, he throws it to the ground]

Agathe: But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.

[Beggar woman looks deeply towards the Prince]

Agathe: When he dismissed her again, the old woman's outward appearance melted away...

[Beggar woman turns into Agathe as she picks up the rose]

Agathe: to reveal a most beautiful enchantress.

[Everyone backed up in terror. The Prince bent down on his knees for forgiveness. The people at the party were screaming and running away. Chip runs into the ballroom]

Agathe: The prince begged her for forgiveness. But it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart.

Mrs. Potts: Chip! Chip!

Agathe: As punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there.

[the servants were standing there in the ballroom watching the prince turn into a beast. The Beast slashed the portrait of the prince with his claws]

Agathe: As days bled into years, the prince and his servants were forgotten by the world, for the enchantress had erased all memory of them from the minds of the people they loved. But the rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose. If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fall, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?