Solomon Quotes in Gummo (1997)

Solomon: [voiceover] Life is beautiful. Really, it is. Full of beauty and illusions. Life is great. Without it, you'd be dead.

[first lines]

Solomon: [voiceover] Xenia, Ohio. Xenia, Ohio. A few years ago, a tornado hit this place. It killed the people, left and right. Dogs died. Cats died. Houses were split open, and you could see necklaces hanging from branches of trees. People's legs and neck bones were sticking out. Oliver found a leg on his roof. A lot of people's fathers died, and were killed by the great tornado. I saw a girl fly through the sky, and I looked up her skirt. Her skull was smashed. And some kids died. My neighbor was killed in that house. He used to ride bikes and three-wheelers. They never found his head. I always thought that was funny. People died in Xenia. Before dad died, he had a bad case of the diabetes.

Solomon: [voiceover] Tummler sees everything. Some say he's downright evil. He's got what it takes to be a legend. He's got a marvelous persona.

Solomon: [voiceover] These two kids I know, these two brothers. They murdered their parents. They both claim to be raised as Jehovah Witnesses. They came to school in really nice shorts and polished tennis sneakers. And their shirts were always collared with buttons, and their hair was always slicked back. And their teeth were always brushed, and their shirts and pants were always ironed, and their shoes were never scuffed up or anything like that. They seemed to have a wonderful life. I don't know what went wrong.

Solomon: Do you love me?

Cassiday: Yes.

Solomon: Do you think I'm attractive?

Cassiday: No. You look fine just the way you are - skinny.

Tummler: Know what I'm doing tomorrow?

Solomon: What?

Tummler: Going to an insane asylum.

Solomon: Insane asylum?

Tummler: Gonna get me a raving beauty.

[Tummler is aiming his BB gun at a cat]

Solomon: You got this one?

Tummler: Yep.

Solomon: [looks at the cat, and lowers Tummler's BB gun] Don't kill the bitch. It's a house cat.

[the cat runs off]

Tummler: It's a lesbian cat. You can tell.

Solomon: Looks like my mom.

Solomon: Is she dead?

Tummler: She's alive on that machine.

Solomon: [voiceover] My father worked the late shift as a bathroom attendant. My father was mugged on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For the rest of his days on earth, my father never celebrated this holiday.

Peyton: Are you a retard?

Solomon: No

Peyton: Did you like looking at me?... Did you like looking at me? Don't fuck with me, retard. My version of the story will be... better.

Solomon: I won't let you hurt them!

Solomon: Nothing must come between us.

Sheba: Not even our gods? I knew this moment would come, for the things we believe in are not the same.

Solomon: I had hoped that in time you would come to accept Jehovah.

Sheba: As King of Israel, would you abandon the god of your people for mine?

Solomon: Still, I dared hope.

Solomon: In the last few days, I have shown you much of Israel. But you have not told me anything of your own country.

Sheba: At the moment, my own land seems as distant as the stars.

Solomon: In my youth, I used to dream of visiting all the faraway kingdoms of the earth.

Sheba: And now, instead, the rulers of those countries come to you.

Solomon: From the first, I knew that behind those lovely eyes is the brain of a very clever woman, who could never have traveled eight hundred leagues without a purpose.

Sheba: You have found me out. How could I hope to deceive you? I have been trying to entrap you, with these (shakes arms), to bind you with soft chains, so that I may do with you as I will.

Solomon: Every woman demands a price from a man.

[Abishag enters Solomon's chambers, trying to dissuade him from attending Sheba's pagan ritual]

Solomon: My door was closed. Must you intrude upon my privacy?

Abishag: Can you shut out your conscience by closing the door?

Solomon: Say what you must, then please leave me alone.

Abishag: I come seeking the man I once knew. The man who was noble, gentle and kind, the man who walked with God.

Solomon: Those are mere words, Abishag.

Abishag: I entreat you to listen. When I was a child, you were the world and I adored you. But time passed, and love changed even as I did. My love became that of a woman for a man. But the man became a king, and in his eyes, the woman was still a child. I know how strongly it calls to you. Listen to your people. Their love calls to you, as I call in my love. Listen to them if not to me.

Solomon: Whether you or my people approve, I must go.

[Solomon walks to the doors, while Abishag stands against the doors, barring his way]

Abishag: You cannot go. Do not destroy yourself! I beg of you!

Solomon: [holding Abishag dead in arms] Oh, no. Oh, no. Why? The sin was mine. Why did you not strike me?

Solomon: Do you know how you kill a tiger, Father Auguste? You tie up your best goat and wait.