- Thomas Stenborg: Miss Hoffman, I expect great things from our work together. What I couldn't accomplish, you will. Remember, for an artist only three things matter. Work...
- Anita Hoffman: Work and work.
- Thomas Stenborg: Yes, and we'll work. Isn't that so?
- Professor Holger Brandt: I understand that perhaps it's possible to tire of this life. But I'm not so certain that you won't miss it from time to time. Don't you think you'll miss the excitement, the rush, the audience? The hustle and bustle of the world?
- Thomas Stenborg: No. But you could never settle down. You belong to the world and the world belongs to you. But you see, it's different with me. I'll gladly forgo the hustle and bustle to watch the spring flowers bloom in my garden at home. That's the difference between us.
- Professor Holger Brandt: But we have something in common, Thomas. The memories.
- Thomas Stenborg: And the music. And some evenings I'll stay in with our old friends, Bach and Beethoven. And the audience? Well, if the wife has time to listen, I don't mind.
- Ann-Marie Brandt: That's Daddy playing.
- Anita Hoffman: Yes, I can tell.
- Ann-Marie Brandt: It's "Intermezzo." I think it's wonderful.
- Ann-Marie Brandt: He's so dumb.
- Anita Hoffman: He's just a boy.
- Ann-Marie Brandt: That's no excuse for being snooty.
- Professor Holger Brandt: So you also like Beethoven's Ninth?
- Anita Hoffman: Yes, he's a weakness of mine.
- Anita Hoffman: You've never played like tonight, maestro.
- Professor Holger Brandt: Allow me to return the compliment. You've never played like tonight either.
- Thomas Stenborg: It's a shame that experience is often the result of our mistakes. Don't worry. I'm not going to give a sermon. No, I'll just tell you what I tell myself when it's tough. Have courage. Courage.
- Ann-Marie Brandt: Tell me about the Chinese, Uncle Charles.
- Impresario Charles Möller: The Chinese. Let's see. One night we ate dinner with a Chinese fellow. His name was Cho-Ching-Chang-Chip-Chop. We sat on the floor and ate with wooden sticks. Do you know what we ate?
- Ann-Marie Brandt: No.
- Impresario Charles Möller: Stewed swallows' nest, roasted silkworm pupae, snake soup, and mole steak.
- Anita Hoffman: What am I? A mere shadow who's sacrificed herself to follow you.
- Professor Holger Brandt: For how long?
- Anita Hoffman: Forever. Maybe. For the time being, anyway.
- Professor Holger Brandt: What does it take to be happy? Is it fame, honor, success? Is it to love or to be loved? I don't know. Now I think...
- Anita Hoffman: What, Holger?
- Professor Holger Brandt: Maybe I'm just now understanding, that you find happiness in something different. By sacrificing something of yourself.
- Anita Hoffman: For others, you mean?
- Professor Holger Brandt: Yes!
- Anita Hoffman: We have to be sensible, Holger.
- Professor Holger Brandt: Sensible. A strange word from these lips. Love does not know sense.
- Professor Holger Brandt: Isn't that what's wonderful? Just drifting along, carried away by the spring storm. To become one with the sea. To melt together with life. Throwing caution to the winds.
- Anita Hoffman: Throwing caution to the winds.
- Professor Holger Brandt: Does it frighten you?
- Anita Hoffman: No! Tonight. Tonight I'd dare anything!
- [giggles]
- Anita Hoffman: Maybe it's the champagne.
- Professor Holger Brandt: Do you know what you remind me of?
- Anita Hoffman: No.
- Professor Holger Brandt: A Viennese waltz. Smiling and yet full of melancholy. You remind me of a melody from the days when Vienna was a happy place.
- Anita Hoffman: You're a poet.
- Professor Holger Brandt: I became one in Vienna during those days. At evening dusk you would wander aimlessly, driven along by the crowds. Smiling faces could be glimpsed. The cafés were overflowing, and music flowed through the open doors. Melodies of youth and joy. That's where I saw you the first time.
- Anita Hoffman: In the shape of a Viennese waltz.
- Professor Holger Brandt: No! I'm mistaken. It was in Budapest. It was a summer night in front of Café Hungaria. The Gypsies played "Frühlingsrauschen." That was you.
- Impresario Charles Möller: You can't throw away the opportunity of a lifetime.
- Anita Hoffman: I've thrown away so much else. Maybe myself, as well.
- Anita Hoffman: Holger, I'm not everything to you. How could that be possible? As you yourself said, "You can't just take a train and wave good-bye to the past. You always leave someone on the platform."