August: Osage County Quotes

A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.

Barbara Weston: Thank God we can't tell the future, we'd never get out of bed.

Ivy Weston: Are you supposed to be smoking?
Violet Weston: Is anybody supposed to smoke?

Charlie Aiken: Mattie Fae, we're gonna get in the car and go home. And if you say one more mean thing to that boy I'm gonna kick your fat Irish ass into the highway.
Mattie Fae Aiken: What the hell did you just say to me?
Charlie Aiken: Kids, go outside, would you please? I don't understand this meanness. I look at you and your sister and the way you talk to people and I don't understand it. I can't understand why folks can't be respectful to one another. I don't think there's any excuse for it. My family didn't treat each other that way.
Mattie Fae Aiken: Oh, maybe cause your family didn't have...
Charlie Aiken: You better not say anything about my family right now, I mean it! We just buried a man I loved very much. And whatever faults he may have had, he was a good, kind, decent man. And to hear you tearing your own son not even a day later dishonors Beverly's memory. We've been married 38 years and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But if you can't find a generous place in your heart for your own son, we're not gonna make it to 39!

Violet Weston: I'm not hungry!
Barbara Weston: Eat the fish, bitch!

Barbara Weston: Marriage is hard.
Karen Weston: That's one thing about mom and dad. You gotta tip your hat to anybody who can stay married that long.
Ivy Weston: Karen, he killed himself.

Ivy Weston: Mom, Charles and I...
Barbara Weston: Little Charles.
Ivy Weston: Barbara.
Barbara Weston: You got to say Little Charles or she's not gonna know who you're talking about.
Ivy Weston: Little Charles and I... Little Charles and I...
Violet Weston: Little Charles and you are brother and sister. I know that.

Violet Weston: You can't do this! This is my house! This is my house!
Barbara Weston: You don't get it, do you? You don't get it! I AM running things now!

Violet Weston: The only woman pretty enough not to wear makeup was Elizabeth Taylor, and she wore a ton.

Violet Weston: Karen! Shame on you! Don't you know you're not supposed to say "Cowboys and Indians"? You played "Cowboys and Native Americans". Right, Barb?
Barbara Weston: What are you taking? What pills?
Violet Weston: Oh, leave me alone.

[first lines]
Beverly Weston: Life is very long. T.S. Elliot. Not the first person to say it, certainly not the first person to think it, but he's given credit for it because he bothered to write it down.
[chuckles]
Beverly Weston: Now if you say it, you have to say his name after it. "Life is very long." T.S. Elliot. Absolutely goddamn right.

Barbara Weston: It's the pills talking.
Violet Weston: Pills can't talk!

[from trailer]
Little Charles Aiken: I can't believe I missed Uncle Bev's funeral.
Charlie Aiken: That can't compare to what you have in your heart.

Violet Weston: I thought we were having a funeral dinner not a cockfight.

Barbara Weston: Are we breaking shit now, huh? I can break shit! Hey! See, everybody can break some shit!

Charlie Aiken: Oh... oh... I got a big bite of fear! And it never tasted so good!

[repeated line]
Barbara Weston: Eat your fish.

Jean Fordham: [to Barbara] Mom, you're such a liar. No, stop, you are.
Violet Weston: You know if I ever call my mom a liar she would knock my goddamn head off my shoulders.

Beverly Weston: My wife takes pills, and I drink. That's the little deal we've struck - a little paragraph in our marriage contract.

Barbara Weston: Listen to me! Die after me, alright. I don't care what else you do, where you go, how you screw up your life, just
[pause]
Barbara Weston: survive.
[pause]
Barbara Weston: Please!

Little Charles Aiken: [singing to Ivy] Well, I've never been a man of many words / And there's nothing I could say that you haven't heard / But I'll sing you love songs 'till the day I die / The way I'm feeling / I can't keep it inside // I'll sing a sweet serenade whenever you're feeling sad / And a lullaby each night before you go to bed / I'll sing to you for the rest of your life / The way I'm feeling / I can't keep it inside

Bill Fordham: You're thoughtful, Barbara, but you're not open. You're passionate, but you're hard. You're a good, decent, funny, wonderful woman, and I love you, but - YOU'RE A PAIN IN THE ASS!

Violet Weston: Truth is you just can't compete with a younger woman. It's just one of those unfair things in life. Is there a younger woman involved?
Barbara Weston: Isn't enough on this topic?
Bill Fordham: Yes, there is a younger woman.
Violet Weston: Well, see? Odds are against you there, babe.

Violet Weston: I told you nobody slips anything by me.

Karen Weston: It's not cut and dried, it lives where everything lives: somewhere in the middle.

Violet Weston: That man! What I first fell in love with was his mystery. I thought it was sexy as hell! You knew he was the smartest one in the room, then he'd just say something and knock you out. He'd just stand there with a little smile on his face and not say a word. Sexy!

Little Charles Aiken: [getting up] I have a truth to tell.
Violet Weston: It speaks!

Barbara Weston: What were these people thinking, the jokers who settled this place? Who was the asshole that looked at all that flat, hot nothing, and then planted his flag? I mean, we fucked the Indians for this?
Bill Fordham: Well, genocide always seems like such a good idea at the time.

Barbara Weston: It's not my fault. Mom told you, not me.
Ivy Weston: There's no difference.

Violet Weston: Why don't you go fuck a fuckin' sow's ass?

Violet Weston: I ever tell you the story of Raymond Qualls? Not much story to it. Boy I had a crush on when I was thirteen or so. Rough-looking boy, beat-up Levis, messy hair. Terrible underbite. But he had these beautiful cowboy boots, shiny chocolate leather. He was so proud of those boots, you could tell, way he'd strut around, all arms and elbows, puffed up and cocksure. I decided I needed to get a girly pair of those same boots and I convinced myself he'd ask me to go steady. He'd see me in those boots and say "Now there's the gal for me." Found the boots in a window downtown and just went crazy: praying for those boots, rehearsing the conversation I'd have with Raymond when he saw me in my boots. Must've asked my momma a hundred times if I could get those boots. "What do you want for Christmas, Vi?" "Momma, I'll give all of it up just for those boots." Bargaining, you know? She started dropping hints about a package under the tree she had wrapped up, about the size of a boot box, nice wrapping paper. "Now, Vi, don't you cheat and look in there before Christmas morning." Little smile on her face. Christmas morning, I was up like a shot, boy, under the tree, tearing open that box. There was a pair of boots, all right... men's work boots, holes in the toes, chewed up laces, caked in mud and dog shit. Lord, my momma laughed for days.

Mattie Fae Aiken: And look at your boobs. Last time I saw you, you looked like a little boy.

Barbara Weston: I want you to know you're not alone, if you need any help.
Violet Weston: No... I dont need help...
Barbara Weston: I-I wanna help...
Violet Weston: I dont need your help.
Barbara Weston: Mom...
Violet Weston: I dont need your help. I have got myself... I know how this goes. Once all the talking is threw, people just go back to their own nonsenses. I know that so, dont worry about me. I will manage.

Bill Fordham: I have not forsook my responsibilities!
Barbara Weston: It's "forsaken," big shot.
Bill Fordham: No, actually, "forsook" is also an acceptable usage.
Barbara Weston: Oh, "forsook" you and the horse you rode in on.

Violet Weston: [to Barbara, holding the pills] You see these babies? These are my best fuckin' friends and they never let me down. You try to take them away from me, I'll eat ya alive!

Violet Weston: I'm so glad one of my girls stayed close to home. In my day, family stuck together.

Violet Weston: I'm a drug addict. I love drug.

Violet Weston: Every woman needs makeup. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

Violet Weston: Isn't there the TV commercial where the lady says: "Where is the meat?"
Mattie Fae Aiken: Where is the meat?
Karen Weston: Where is the beef?
Violet Weston: [annoyed] Where's the meat? Where's the meat? Where's the meat? Meat, meat, where is the meat?

Bill Fordham: You're so goddam self-righteous, you know that?
Barbara Weston: Surely you must have realized when you started porking Pippi Longstocking that you were due for some self-righteousness, just a smudge of indignation on my part!

Barbara Weston: Holy shit that's Karen! You remember your Aunt Karen?
Jean Fordham: Kind of.
Barbara Weston: And that must be this year's man!