- Larry: [on attending a support group] What if I say no?
- Edward Stratton III: Then our only other choice is to call in the police - and you'll be charged with child abuse, and Toby will go to a foster home.
- Larry: He's *my* son! I don't think there's a court in the country that would take him away from me!
- Edward Stratton III: You could be right. I remember last year there was a kid came into the hospital who was pretty banged up. The doctor found out his father had been beating him; they reported him, and the father went to court - and he swore up and down that he would never do that again. So the judge gave him the benefit of the doubt. And then a month later, he lost control and hit his son again, found himself right back in court - only this time, he was on trial for murder.
- Larry: Why is this happening to me? You're supposed to know how to be a good parent!
- Edward Stratton III: Who made that rule up? Nobody's born the perfect parent. I sometimes feel like, by the time I learn all I need to know about being a father, I'll be a grandfather - then I'll have to learn *that*.
- Ricky Stratton: [breaks Kate's birthday present with his basketball] Oops.
- Edward Stratton III: [grabs Ricky by the arms] Rick, I told you *not* to dribble the ball in the house!
- Ricky Stratton: I'm sorry, Dad - it was an accident.
- Edward Stratton III: It was *not* an accident, son - you deliberately disobeyed me!
- Ricky Stratton: I'll pay you for it - you can take it out of my allowance!
- Edward Stratton III: I ought to take it out of your *hide*!
- Kate Summers Stratton: Edward, calm down!
- Edward Stratton III: Larry, it's tough to be a father; every parent gets mad at their kids. Just the other day, Rick was dribbling a basketball in the house, and I told him to stop - and he went ahead anyway, and he broke something very valuable. And I was very furious. I had the urge to hit him.
- Larry: Did you?
- Edward Stratton III: No.
- Larry: Look - Toby needs discipline. It's for his own good.
- Edward Stratton III: Larry, I believe in discipline too...
- Larry: You don't understand. I work sixty hours a week, just to keep a roof over my kid's head. I come home bone tired, I look around, and the dishes I asked Toby to do are still sitting in the sink. His bedroom, which he promised to clean, still looks like a pig sty. So I ask him about it - he looks up at me, and he says, "I forgot." Well, it's not good enough to say, "I forgot"! It's a tough world out there - so if all you've got is a bunch of lame excuses, you'll never amount to a damn thing! Instead of whimpering and whining, I should have shaped up - I should have done what I was told! But I didn't. It's no wonder my father was furious - it's no wonder he hit me... I mean, I hit Toby.
- Edward Stratton III: ...Your father hit you?
- Larry: He loved me - and I loved him... and I hated him... I don't want Toby to hate me.
- Kate Summers Stratton: I can't get over how beautiful it is.
- Edward Stratton III: Well, I think a beautiful woman should have beautiful things.
- Edward Stratton III: How was the basketball game?
- Ricky Stratton: A massive slaughter.
- Edward Stratton III: Hey - alright! Way to go!
- Ricky Stratton: Dad, we were the slaughterees.
- Toby: Stuff like this always happens to me - I'm a walking disaster area!
- Ricky Stratton: Yeah - you've heard of "cast of thousands"? Well, Toby's had thousands of casts.
- Ricky Stratton: [on breaking Kate's birthday gift] Dad, I told you I was sorry - it really was an accident! I can't help but to think that this would not have occurred if you'd given it to her *next* Thursday, when her birthday really is!
- Ricky Stratton: [Edward glares at him] ... I'm outta here.
- Toby: You really got off easy.
- Ricky Stratton: Easy?
- Toby: Yeah! If it would've been my dad, he would have done a lot more than just yell.
- Ricky Stratton: What would your dad have done?
- Toby: ...Never mind.
- Ricky Stratton: You mean your dad did this to you?
- Toby: He told me to take out the trash. I forgot.
- Ricky Stratton: So he hit you for that?
- Toby: Look, it's like my dad says - he's gotta be tough on me, so I learn how to behave.
- Ricky Stratton: Why don't you tell them what really happened?
- Toby: Rick, you promised!
- Ricky Stratton: ...I - I know I promised; but some things are more important than promises. You've gotta put an end to all this junk you're goin' through!
- Ricky Stratton: Remember we saw that movie, where the criminal went to confession, and told the priest he'd been murdering people? And the priest had to decide whether or not to tell the police?
- Kate Summers Stratton: Oh, yeah - eventually Father Flanagan talked Baby Face into giving himself up.
- Ricky Stratton: Well, that's the problem I have.
- Edward Stratton III: OK, Rick. Who'd you murder?
- Edward Stratton III: Son, now that I know about this, I have to talk to your father.
- Toby: But I don't want to get him in trouble!
- Edward Stratton III: And we don't want you to get hurt anymore.
- Toby Andrews: If I tell you a secret, will you promise never to repeat it to another person, living or dead?
- Ricky Stratton: I promise.
- Toby Andrews: And if you tell, you're gonna have to pull out all of your nose hairs... one by one.
- Ricky Stratton: Toby was trying to save Brian Setzer.
- Toby Andrews: Yeah, see, Brian is a stray cat that roams around in our neighborhood.
- Kate Summers: Why do you call him Brian Setzer?
- Ricky Stratton: 'Cause Brian Setzer's into stray cats.
- Kate Summers: The who?
- Ricky Stratton: No. The Who is a different group.
- Edward Stratton III: You're lucky all you got was a sprained arm. Are you right-handed?
- Toby Andrews: I am now.