Holiday (1938)

Katharine Hepburn: Linda Seton

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Quotes 

• Linda Seton : You've got no faith in Johnny, have you, Julia? His little dream may fall flat, you think. Well, so it may, what if it should? There'll be another. Oh, I've got all the faith in the world in Johnny. Whatever he does is all right with me. If he wants to dream for a while, he can dream for a while, and if he wants to come back and sell peanuts, oh, how I'll believe in those peanuts!

• Linda Seton : Someone stop me. Oh someone please, just try and stop me!

• Johnny Case : [Seeing stuffed giraffe]  Oh, did she love that too?

  Linda Seton : [Hugging the toy]  Now don't you a word about Leopold. He's very sensitive.

  Johnny Case : Yours.

  Linda Seton : Looks like me.

  [turning its head in profile] 

• Johnny Case : Anything else, sir?

  Edward Seton : I beg your pardon?

  Linda Seton : I should think you would.

• Linda Seton : You see, Case, the trouble with me is that I never could decide whether I wanted to be Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, or John L. Lewis.

• Linda Seton : [Making introductions]  My brother Ned, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. They're friends of Johnny's.

  Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter : He used to live with us.

  Professor Nick Potter : We've come to warn his future bride about him - he never puts the cap back on the toothpaste.

  Professor Nick Potter : Mm-hmm. Then we'll drink a toast to Johnny - he *needs* it.

  [fills champagne glasses] 

  Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter : Needs it?

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Oh. I'm wrong. He doesn't need it. Johnny's doing *all* right.

  Mrs. Susan Elliott Potter : What's on your mind, Ned?

  Professor Nick Potter : Nothing's on my mind.

  Linda Seton : What do you mean, Johnny's doing all right?

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : I mean he's doing all right. He's having a whirl. Julia's got his hair slicked down and Father's seeing that he meets the important people.

  Professor Nick Potter : My word, are there important people downstairs?

  Linda Seton : Oh, frightfully important. That's why I want to give a party up here.

  Professor Nick Potter : [Quoting an imaginary society column]  'Miss Linda Seton - on New Year's Eve - entertained a small group of Very Unimportant People.'

  [lifting champagne glass] 

  Professor Nick Potter : To our hostess.

  [They all drink to Linda] 

  Professor Nick Potter : [Chuckles]  May I drink too ?

• Linda Seton : For the love of Pete... it's the witch and Dopey!

• Linda Seton : What's it like to get drunk, Ned?

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Well, I... how drunk?

  Linda Seton : Good and drunk!

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Oh, it's wonderful. You see, you think clear as crystal. But every move, every situation is a problem. It gets pretty interesting.

  Linda Seton : You get beaten in the end, though, don't you?

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Sure, but that's okay.

  Linda Seton : Where do you wind up?

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Where does anybody wind up? You die... that's okay, too.

  Linda Seton : Oh, Ned! that's awful!

  Edward 'Ned' Seton : Think so? Other things are worse.

• Linda Seton : What is it you want, Julia? Just security? To sit smugly back in your bank vault among the worthies of the world?

  Julia Seton : Well, one thing I don't want is to start this endless, aimless discussion all over again!

• Linda Seton : [speaking of Johnny]  But, why hasn't he a right to live part of his life as he wants to?

  Edward Seton : Linda, I should like to understand what he and you are aiming at... but, I confess I cannot. I consider his whole attitude un-American.

  Linda Seton : Oh, are you serious?

  Edward Seton : Entirely.

  Linda Seton : Well, then, he is, and he won't go to Heaven when he dies, because apparently, he can't quite believe that a life devoted to piling of money is all it's cracked up to be. Strange, isn't it? When he has us right before his eyes for such a shining example...

• Johnny Case : I don't call what I've been doing living.

  Linda Seton : And what do you recommend for yourself, doctor?

  Johnny Case : A holiday.

  Linda Seton : For how long?

  Johnny Case : As long as I need.

  Linda Seton : You mean just to play?

  Johnny Case : No. I've been working since I was 10. I want to find out why I'm working. It can't just be to pay bills and pile up more money. Even if you do, the government's going to take most of it.

  Linda Seton : But what is the answer?

  Johnny Case : I don't know. That's what I intend to find out. The world's changing out there. There are a lot of new, exciting ideas running around. Some may be right and some may be cockeyed but they're affecting all our lives. I want to know how I stand, where I fit in the picture, what it's all gonna mean to me. I can't find that out sitting behind some desk in an office, so as soon as I get enough money together, I'm going to knock off for a while.

• Mrs. Laura Cram : I've never been up here before. It's awfully quaint, isn't it?

  Linda Seton : We like it.

• Linda Seton : Well, well, let's ring bells! Let's send up skyrockets!... Well, let's turn on all the lights in the house.

• Johnny Case : I want to save part of my life for myself. There's a catch to it, though. It's gotta be part of the young part. You know, retire young, work old, come back and work when I know what I'm working for. Does that make any sense?

  Linda Seton : That makes a lot of sense. Does Julia know?

  Johnny Case : No, I don't want to raise her hopes until I get enough money together.

  Linda Seton : Oh, she has enough for two right now, or ten for that matter.

  Johnny Case : No, that's out. I don't want her dough. I want to earn it myself.

  Linda Seton : That's foolish. You're alright, though, Case. You haven't been bitten yet. You haven't been caught by it.

  Johnny Case : By what?

  Linda Seton : The reverence for riches. Look out for that, Johnny.

• Linda Seton : What's the use of having all this jack around if it can't get us a superior kind of man?

• Linda Seton : You mean to say your mother wasn't even a whoozis?

• Linda Seton : Compared to the life I lead, the last man in a chain gang thoroughly enjoys himself.

• Johnny Case : [about the playroom]  This is quite different, from the rest of the house, I mean.

  Linda Seton : This was Mother's idea. She thought there ought to be one room in the house where people could come and have some fun. She used to be up here as much as we were before she died. I think it was kind of an escape for her. She was marvelous.

• Linda Seton : There are a lot of humorous little episodes. I tried to get Father to let me take a nursing course at a hospital. Oh yes, and I almost got arrested trying to help some strikers over in Jersey. Well how was I to know that Father was on the board of directors at the company? You see, Case, the trouble with me is I never could decide whether I wanted to be Joan of Arc, Florence Nightingale, or John L. Lewis.

  Johnny Case : What's the matter? You fed up?

  Linda Seton : To the neck.

• Linda Seton : It'll be a pity if this doesn't come off, it'll be a real pity.

  [looks down] 

  Linda Seton : Yes, it'll be a pity if this doesn't come off, too.