Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith Quotes in

Sgt. Heppelfinger: It's an honor to meet you, kid. What's your name?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith. Go ahead and laugh.

Sgt. Heppelfinger: That ain't anything to laugh at to anyone who knows anything.

Sgt. Heppelfinger: I guess you never got to know your father very well, eh?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Well, not exactly... as he fell the day I was born.

Sgt. Heppelfinger: That's right. It's hard to realize. He was a fine looking fellow. He didn't look anything like you at all.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [after hearing that the town wants to build a statue of him] What do I do now?

Sgt. Heppelfinger: Well, you just let it blow over.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Did you ever see a statue blow over?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [to the crowd, trying to decline being nominated for mayor] I've known all of you all my life. I've mowed your lawns. I delivered milk for your babies. I even know the dogs and cats.

Judge Dennis: [aside to Doc Bissell & Rev. Upperman] That milk and baby part is remarkable.

Rev. Upperman: After that, he could be president!

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [eating pancakes for breakfast with the six Marines; Libby enters] Good morning, Libby. Won't you join us in a stack of collision mats - as they say in the good old Marine Corps. - and a cup of jamoke?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: I knew the Marines could do almost anything, but I never knew they could do anything like this.

Bugsy: You got no idea!

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [referring to the band] Why don't they play something gay?

[meaning happy]

Bartender: Why don't you acquire a gay viewpoint. It's all mental - every bit of it. Smile and the world smiles with you. Frown and you frown alone.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: I'd just as soon be alone if it's the same to you.

Bartender: Gratitude.

Sgt. Heppelfinger: I tell you it'll all blow over. Everything is perfect - except for a couple of details.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: They hang people for a couple of details!

Judge Dennis: [notices that Woodrow is in civilian clothes] Where are the medals?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Oh, oh, the medals. Well, I just wore those to get off the train. I suppose I shouldn't have.

Doc Bissell: What do you mean you shouldn't have? If all good men wore medals it wouldn't be so hard to tell the good from the bad.

Bugsy: [Woodrow has a nightmare about battle and falls out of bed. Bugsy comes into Woodrow's bedroom] What's the matter?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Oh, I don't know. I guess I had a nightmare.

Bugsy: You're lucky.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Huh?

Bugsy: You're lucky you don't have them all the time... like some guys.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [telling the crowd the truth about his discharge] If I could reach as high as my father's shoestrings... my whole life would be justified - and I would stand here before you proudly... instead of as the thief and the coward that I am.

Sgt. Heppelfinger: [to Woodrow] Give me six of them tickets, will ya? We still got a little work to do in our own line. So long, kid.

Mrs. Truesmith: [hugs Bugsy] Goodbye, dear.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Will you come back?

Sgt. Heppelfinger: Well, we always come back before. So long, everybody... see youse in church!

Mrs. Truesmith: Why can't you wear your uniform for a little while?

Libby's Aunt: You look so nice in it.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: I just got through explaining it's against regulations.

Mrs. Truesmith: Well, I think that's perfectly ridiculous.

Libby: So do I.

Mrs. Truesmith: Your grandfather wore his Civil War uniform the rest of his life.

Libby's Aunt: Kept having new ones made.

Mrs. Truesmith: Said it helped remind people that brother fought brother.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: [looking at Sgt. Heppelfinger] Well his case was different!

Sgt. Heppelfinger: Look, I didn't get you in this.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Oh, yes you did. I was gonna hide in the...

Sgt. Heppelfinger: A Marine never hides. That's what Semper Fidelis means: it means "face the music".

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Well, it does not. It happens to mean "always faithful".

Sgt. Heppelfinger: That's right. Faithful to your mother.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: It doesn't mean faithful to your mother at all. it means faithful to the Marines.

Libby: Do you remember when we used to come here in the cool of the evening?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Naturally.

Libby: I thought maybe you'd forgotten - so much can happen in a year.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: So much can happen in a day!

Libby: I suppose so. Were you surprised when they nominated you for mayor?

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Surprised is not the word for it.

Train Ticket Clerk: [after Woodrow buys tickets to leave] Where are you going? Thought you was running for mayor.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: I changed my mind.

Train Ticket Clerk: That's very unusual.

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith: Well, this is an unusual case