- Matt Camden: [to Mary] Look, I'm sorry I haven't been around much. You're important to me. What happens to you is important to me. What happens to you is important to everyone in the family, but I've been watching you, and I haven't really been interested in being a part of anything that's going on in your life, so I've basically avoided you, but maybe I should have cornered you and given you my take on what you're doing a lot sooner. I've seen so many young women who are losers, mostly in the emergency room or entering drug rehab at the hospital. I don't want you to be a loser. It's too easy to be the bad girl. You're better than that. I know I'm not perfect. I know I don't have all the answers, but I can tell you this. The most powerful thing I ever did for myself was make up my mind to become a responsible person, and I still haven't worked up to being responsible 24 hours a day, but I'm getting better at it. And I'm hoping that sharing this with you will help you make up your mind to become a responsible person! If you can't do it for yourself, then maybe you could consider the rest of us, and how much we need you to be responsible. Whatever you do affects us all. I know you know that, and yet you act like you don't care. All of us have to strive to be the best we can be, not because anything else is unacceptable, but because anything else is just plain misery. I can see you're miserable. You are. This is not the best you can do. You can do better and I will do anythingI can to help you do better. You just have to make up your mind that that's what you want to do, and I'm there for you. We all are.
- Lucy Camden: [to Mary] I love you, too. All right, this is hard.
- [tries not to cry]
- Lucy Camden: You're my big sister and I look up to you. Or at least I did. You've always been better at school than I am, you've always been better at everything than I am. And that, at times, has made me feel inferior. Yet most of the time, it's given me something to work toward because I wanted to be like you, but I don't want to be like you anymore.
- Ruthie Camden: [to Mary] I must be at the wrong meeting. I don't know where all this chummy advice and gushy stuff is coming from because I thought we were all supposed to tell you how mad we are. I'm mad, really mad. You're selfish. You don't care anything about the rest of us, so I don't know why we're all supposed to care so much about you. You act like you're the center of the entire Camden universe! I'm tired of eating a cold dinner every night because we're all hoping you'll come home and eat with us. I'm tired of waking up every night when you clump up those stairs. I'm tired of Mom and Dad fighting about you. I'm tired of covering for you and I'm not doing it anymore! You made me lie to Mom and Dad; you never came home to have pizza with me like you promised. All you care about is you!
- Rev. Eric Camden: It's just that my Mary... my beautiful, smart, basketball-playing Mary, is falling completely apart.
- Rev. Morgan Hamilton: She may be coming undone, but she's not undone yet.
- Annie Camden: [to Mary] I know you know that your new friends Frankie and Johnny smoke and drink pot, but did you also know that he hits her? They have serious problems and we don't want their serious problems to become your serious problems.
- Matt Camden: [about Mary and her money issues] I don't have time for this.
- Lucy Camden: I don't have time for this, either! I have a paper to write!
- Matt Camden: You know, I don't even know why we're yelling at each other when we should really be yelling at Mary.
- Lucy Camden: We can't yell at Mary. We can't find her!
- Annie Camden: You stole $500 from your own brothers? From babies?
- Ruthie Camden: I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Punish me any way you like.
- Matt Camden: What's going on?
- Rev. Eric Camden: What do you think is going on? Your 10-year-old sister is lying about stealing money so the rest of you can cover for Mary.
- Annie Camden: Is that it? Is that the truth?
- Ruthie Camden: No! You're wrong! I took it. I'm very bad. I'm a very bad girl.
- Matt Camden: No, Ruthie. I'm a very bad big brother for letting this happen.
- Mary Camden: [after Annie and Eric find a marijuana joint in Mary's bedroom] I can't believe you searched my room! What are you, communists? I have rights, you know!
- Annie Camden: I guess I just can't explain this often enough. A right is something that can never be taken away from you. For example, you have the right to be indignant now and I can't take that away, but privacy? Well, privacy is a privilege when you live with your parents and privileges can be taken away. Now, we knew that you were in trouble, but we had no idea that you were this far down the road!
- Rev. Eric Camden: [to Mary] Have you ever tried smoking marijuana?
- Mary Camden: Well, even if I did, what is so wrong with experimenting? I mean, what's the harm in just trying it? Everybody's gonna try it sometime.
- Rev. Eric Camden: Well, first of all, not everyone. Not me, for example. And secondly, let me see if I can answer the "what's the harm" question. I suppose for some people, nothing ever comes from the fact that they tried smoking pot, but for other people, plenty comes from the fact that they tried smoking pot. Lifelong, illegal habits. The need to try other, harder drugs. Addiction to those drugs. Arrest. Conviction. Jail time. Those kinds of things. The question really is, to which people do you belong? There's no way of knowing. But "experimenting" to find out? That's quite a risk, don't you think? I think it is, especially for someone who's on probation.
- Lucy Camden: [to Mary] Please don't leave like this.
- Mary Camden: How did you think I was going to leave? I am being sent off to live with the Colonel and Grandma Ruth in Buffalo! You know what Buffalo is like and you know what they are like! What made you think I was going to be happy, huh? What?
- Lucy Camden: I didn't know anything about it, okay? And maybe Mom and Dad are more concerned with your safety than your happiness!
- Mary Camden: Get out!
- Lucy Camden: Is this how you're gonna say goodbye?
- Mary Camden: Yeah, yeah. This is how I'm gonna say goodbye. And you can tell the rest of them to stay out of here because I don't want to talk to any of you!
- Mary Camden: [to her parents] I'll meet you in the car!
- [slams the door]
- Annie Camden: Mary wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to her brothers and sisters, would she?
- Rev. Eric Camden: Don't be surprised if she gets on the plane without even saying goodbye to us.
- Annie Camden: I hate this.
- Annie Camden: In my heart of hearts, I know this is the right thing to do. And yet, the more I dwell on this, the more I hate myself for it.
- Rev. Eric Camden: [DELETED LINE, to Mary] There's an old saying - tell me if it sounds familiar - "For every wrong choice you make, ten other decisions get made for you." Lately, if there's a wrong choice to be made, you've found it. Ergo, your mom and I reserve the right to save you from yourself... just because your situation *screams* that such is what it's come to.
- Simon Camden: [to Mary] I know I'm considered "The Bank of Simon" and you all laugh at that, but here's what I like about money. It tells you right who you are in numbers, not words that can hurt your feelings or make you mad. Numbers are undisputed facts, and the fact is, your numbers point to trouble. It's simple. You don't make as much as you spend, and you don't make enough to meet your obligations. You'd see that if you looked at the numbers, but I know you don't like to do that. I can help you set up a budget and a payment schedule if you want, but even if you don't want, take my advice. Don't spend anything else until you pay off your debt and then don't get into debt again! And the first thing you have to pay off is your personal debt; the money you owe Sam and David. Now, I know that a lot of people would put that off to last, and maybe a professional finance guy would tell you to pay your institutional enders first, but I'm your brother, and I'm telling you that morally, the right thing to do is to pay people first, especially relatives. And when you see that little column of debt marked "Sam and David" reach zero debt, that zero is going to tell you right who you are, just like I said. It's gonna say that you, Mary Camden, care more about your family than anyone else. It's gonna say that you care about keeping your promises to your family more than anything else. And when you see all those other little columns of debt go down, week after week, the page is gonna tell the facts of your debt recovery. It's a beautiful thing and I want you to have a beautiful thing because I love you.