Lincoln (2012)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: Robert Lincoln

Photos 

Quotes 

• Robert Lincoln : I have to do this! And I will do it, and I don't need your permission to enlist!

  Abraham Lincoln : That same speech has been made by how many sons to how many fathers since this war began? 'I don't need your damn permission, you miserable old goat! I'm gonna enlist anyhow!' What wouldn't those numberless fathers have given to be able to say to their sons, as I say now to mine, I am commander-in-chief, so in point of fact, without my permission, you ain't enlisting in nothing, nowhere young man!

  Robert Lincoln : It's mama you're scared of, not me getting killed!

  Abraham Lincoln : [Lincoln slaps him, then tries to hug him; Robert pushes him away] 

  Robert Lincoln : I have to do this. And I will, or I will feel ashamed of myself for the rest of my life. Whether or not you fought is what matters. And not just to other people, but to myself. I won't be you, Pa. I can't do that. But I don't want to be nothing.

  Abraham Lincoln : [looks away, quietly to himself]  I can't lose you.

• Robert Lincoln : I'm the only man over fifteen and under sixty-five in this whole place not in uniform.

  Tad Lincoln : I'm under fifteen and I have a uniform.

• Robert Lincoln : Deliver your own goddamn petition.

• Mary Todd Lincoln : [to Thaddeus Stevens]  The past is the past, it's a new year now and we are all getting along, or so they tell me. I gather we are working together! The White House and the other House? Hatching little plans together?

  Robert Lincoln : [Robert leans in quietly]  Mother.

  Mary Todd Lincoln : What?

  Robert Lincoln : You're creating a bottleneck.

  Mary Todd Lincoln : Oh!

  [to Stevens] 

  Mary Todd Lincoln : Oh, I'm detaining you, and more important, the people behind you! How the people love my husband. They flock to see him by their thousands on public days. They will never love you the way they love him. How difficult it must be for you to know that, and yet how important to remember it.

  [Mary gives Stephens a slight, lethal smile. He holds the look; his poker-face yields to a barely perceptible smile, bemused and perhaps a little admiring] 

• Robert Lincoln : I might not even want to be a lawyer.

  Abraham Lincoln : It's a sturdy profession. And a useful one.

  Robert Lincoln : Yes, and I want to be useful, but *now*, not afterwards.

  Abraham Lincoln : [Slade hands Lincoln his formal gloves]  I ain't wearing them things, Mr. Slade, they never fit right.

  William Slade : The missus will have you wear 'em. Don't think about leaving 'em.

  Robert Lincoln : You're delaying, that's your favorite tactic.

  William Slade : [overlapping dialogue]  Be useful...

  Robert Lincoln : You won't tell me no,

  William Slade : And stop distracting him.

  Robert Lincoln : But the war will be over in a month, and you know it will!

  Abraham Lincoln : I've found that prophesying is one of life's less prophet-able

  [sic] 

  Abraham Lincoln : occupations.

  [Slade chuckles]