Milk Quotes
The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.
Harvey Milk: [Voice Over, Last lines] I ask this... If there should be an assassination, I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out - - If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door... And that's all. I ask for the movement to continue. Because it's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power... it's about the "us's" out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's. Without hope, the us's give up - I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you... You gotta give em' hope... you gotta give em' hope.
Harvey Milk: [answering the phone] Scotty?
Paul: I'm sorry, sir. I read about you in the paper.
Harvey Milk: I'm sorry, I can't talk right now.
Paul: Sir, I think I'm gonna kill myself.
Harvey Milk: No, you don't want to do that. Where are you calling from?
Paul: Minnesota.
Harvey Milk: You saw my picture in the paper in Minnesota? How did I look?
Paul: My folks are gonna take me to this place tomorrow. A hospital. To fix me.
Harvey Milk: There's nothing wrong with you - listen to me: You just get on a bus, to the nearest big city, to Los Angeles or New York or San Fransisco, it doesn't matter, you just leave. You are not sick, and you are not wrong and God does not hate you. Just leave.
Paul: [crying] I can't. I can't walk sir.
Paul: I'm sorry, sir. I read about you in the paper.
Harvey Milk: I'm sorry, I can't talk right now.
Paul: Sir, I think I'm gonna kill myself.
Harvey Milk: No, you don't want to do that. Where are you calling from?
Paul: Minnesota.
Harvey Milk: You saw my picture in the paper in Minnesota? How did I look?
Paul: My folks are gonna take me to this place tomorrow. A hospital. To fix me.
Harvey Milk: There's nothing wrong with you - listen to me: You just get on a bus, to the nearest big city, to Los Angeles or New York or San Fransisco, it doesn't matter, you just leave. You are not sick, and you are not wrong and God does not hate you. Just leave.
Paul: [crying] I can't. I can't walk sir.
Harvey Milk: Okay. First order of business to come out of this office is the city-wide gay rights ordinance, just like the one that Anita shot down in Dade County. What do you think, Lotus Blossom?
Michael Wong: I think it's good. It's not great.
Harvey Milk: Okay, so make it brilliant. We want Anita's attention here, in San Francisco. I wanted to bring her fight to us. We need a unanimous vote - we need headlines.
Jim Rivaldo: Dan White is not going to vote for this.
Harvey Milk: Dan White'll be fine, Dan White is just uneducated. We'll teach him.
Dan White: [suddenly appearing in the doorway] Hey, Harv! Committee meets at nine-thirty.
[to everyone else]
Dan White: Hi, you guys.
[to Harvey]
Dan White: Um, say, did you get the invitation to my son's christening? I invited a few of the other supes too.
Harvey Milk: Oh, well, I'll be there!
Dan White: Great! Thanks.
[waves at everyone and leaves]
Dick Pabich: Did he hear you?
Jim Rivaldo: What the fuck?
Anne Kronenberg: Are you going?
Harvey Milk: I would let him christen me if it means he's gonna vote for the gay rights ordinance.
Jim Rivaldo: [as Harvey is talking] I think he can hear you. Jesus.
Harvey Milk: We need allies.
Dick Pabich: I don't think he heard you.
Cleve Jones: Is it just me or is he cute?
Michael Wong: I think it's good. It's not great.
Harvey Milk: Okay, so make it brilliant. We want Anita's attention here, in San Francisco. I wanted to bring her fight to us. We need a unanimous vote - we need headlines.
Jim Rivaldo: Dan White is not going to vote for this.
Harvey Milk: Dan White'll be fine, Dan White is just uneducated. We'll teach him.
Dan White: [suddenly appearing in the doorway] Hey, Harv! Committee meets at nine-thirty.
[to everyone else]
Dan White: Hi, you guys.
[to Harvey]
Dan White: Um, say, did you get the invitation to my son's christening? I invited a few of the other supes too.
Harvey Milk: Oh, well, I'll be there!
Dan White: Great! Thanks.
[waves at everyone and leaves]
Dick Pabich: Did he hear you?
Jim Rivaldo: What the fuck?
Anne Kronenberg: Are you going?
Harvey Milk: I would let him christen me if it means he's gonna vote for the gay rights ordinance.
Jim Rivaldo: [as Harvey is talking] I think he can hear you. Jesus.
Harvey Milk: We need allies.
Dick Pabich: I don't think he heard you.
Cleve Jones: Is it just me or is he cute?
Cleve Jones: I went to Spain last month, long story. In Barcelona there was this memorial march for gay people that had died under Franco. Of course, the police tried to break it up, but these queens didn't run, no, they turned around and they started a fucking riot. I saw a bullet, one of those rubber bullets rip through a drag queens scalp, but she kept on fighting; she was screaming, but she kept on fighting. I mean, our lives... There was blood, literally running in the gutter. In a gutter.
Harvey Milk: We could have a revolution here. But you can't use the Castro just to cruise. You have to fight.
Cleve Jones: You think you'll win?
Harvey Milk: Winning isn't my strong suit.
Cleve Jones: Well, I don't do losing. Ever. Maybe I should run for office, and you can work for me. I mean, if you can do it...
Harvey Milk: Can you assemble a thousand people in an hour?
Cleve Jones: Fuck yeah.
Harvey Milk: All right, if I run again, you're my man. Polls open in 3 hours. How bout you and I hit the bus stops.
Harvey Milk: We could have a revolution here. But you can't use the Castro just to cruise. You have to fight.
Cleve Jones: You think you'll win?
Harvey Milk: Winning isn't my strong suit.
Cleve Jones: Well, I don't do losing. Ever. Maybe I should run for office, and you can work for me. I mean, if you can do it...
Harvey Milk: Can you assemble a thousand people in an hour?
Cleve Jones: Fuck yeah.
Harvey Milk: All right, if I run again, you're my man. Polls open in 3 hours. How bout you and I hit the bus stops.
Harvey Milk: Hey, I like the way your pants fit... Where are you from, kid?
Cleve Jones: [laughs] Sorry old man, not interested.
Harvey Milk: I'm Harvey Milk. I'm running for Supervisor. What's your name?
Cleve Jones: Cleve... Jones.
Harvey Milk: Well Mr. Jones, we should walk up to my camera shop and register you.
Cleve Jones: Fuck that. Elections of any kind are a fucking bourgeois affectation.
Harvey Milk: Is that right? So do you trick up on Polk Street?
Cleve Jones: If I need the cash... But I'm selective about my clients.
Harvey Milk: Tell me one thing before you get back to work then. What was it like to be a little queer in Phoenix? Did the jocks beat you up?
Cleve Jones: I faked a lung disease to get out of PE. So what? What are you, some kind of street shrink?
Harvey Milk: Sometimes.
Cleve Jones: [laughs] Sorry old man, not interested.
Harvey Milk: I'm Harvey Milk. I'm running for Supervisor. What's your name?
Cleve Jones: Cleve... Jones.
Harvey Milk: Well Mr. Jones, we should walk up to my camera shop and register you.
Cleve Jones: Fuck that. Elections of any kind are a fucking bourgeois affectation.
Harvey Milk: Is that right? So do you trick up on Polk Street?
Cleve Jones: If I need the cash... But I'm selective about my clients.
Harvey Milk: Tell me one thing before you get back to work then. What was it like to be a little queer in Phoenix? Did the jocks beat you up?
Cleve Jones: I faked a lung disease to get out of PE. So what? What are you, some kind of street shrink?
Harvey Milk: Sometimes.
Harvey Milk: If we had someone in the government who saw things the way we see them, the way the black community has black leaders who look out for their interests...
Scott Smith: You're gonna run for Supervisor, is that the idea?
Harvey Milk: I could go right for mayor, but I think I should work my way up to it... You'll be my campaign manager.
Scott Smith: Because I have so much experience in politics.
Harvey Milk: Politics is theater. It doesn't matter if you win. You make a statement. You say, 'I'm here, pay attention to me.'
Scott Smith: You're gonna run for Supervisor, is that the idea?
Harvey Milk: I could go right for mayor, but I think I should work my way up to it... You'll be my campaign manager.
Scott Smith: Because I have so much experience in politics.
Harvey Milk: Politics is theater. It doesn't matter if you win. You make a statement. You say, 'I'm here, pay attention to me.'
San Francisco Cop: [identifying a body] The fruit was walking home with his trick when they were jumped. Name's Robert Hillsborough. Did you know him?
Harvey Milk: He used to come into my shop. Are there any witnesses?
San Francisco Cop: Just the trick. Jerry Taylor.
Harvey Milk: Jerry wasn't a trick. They were lovers.
San Francisco Cop: Call it what you will. He's our only witness and he says he can't identify the attackers.
Harvey Milk: There'd be a dozen witnesses if they thought you boys had any real interest in protecting them.
Harvey Milk: He used to come into my shop. Are there any witnesses?
San Francisco Cop: Just the trick. Jerry Taylor.
Harvey Milk: Jerry wasn't a trick. They were lovers.
San Francisco Cop: Call it what you will. He's our only witness and he says he can't identify the attackers.
Harvey Milk: There'd be a dozen witnesses if they thought you boys had any real interest in protecting them.
Anne Kronenberg: My girlfriend says you guys don't like women, I'm just asking: Is there a place for us in all this, or are you guys all scared of girls?
Harvey Milk: Okay, gentlemen: We've already got a tinkerbell, a lotus blossom, we've got Jim and Dick in their three-piece suits, we need someone to manage things, a woman this time. Plus, she's the right price, and she's got bigger balls than anyone else here.
Harvey Milk: Okay, gentlemen: We've already got a tinkerbell, a lotus blossom, we've got Jim and Dick in their three-piece suits, we need someone to manage things, a woman this time. Plus, she's the right price, and she's got bigger balls than anyone else here.
Harvey Milk: This is Harvey Milk speaking on Friday November the 18. This is only to be played in the event of my death by assassination. During one of my early campaigns I began to open speeches with a line that became kind of a signature. "My Name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you." If I was speaking to a slighly hostile audience, or a mostly straight one, I might break the tension with a joke. "I know, I'm not what you expected, but I left my high heels at home." I fully realize that what I stand for, an activist, a gay activist, makes himself a target for someone who is insecure, terrified, afraid and disturbed themselves. Its a very real possibility you see, because in San Fransisco, we have broken the dam of a major prejudice in this country.
Harvey Milk: [Scott Smith is heading down the stairs and Harvey tries to make eye contact] Hey, hey...
[Scott stops and looks at him]
Harvey Milk: I'm Harvey.
Scott Smith: Okay, Harvey...
[smiles a little awkwardly]
Harvey Milk: Today's my birthday.
[Scott laughs]
Harvey Milk: No, it actually is my birthday. At midnight.
Scott Smith: [still smiling, a little skeptical] Really.
Harvey Milk: And, believe it or not, I don't have any plans.
[raises one eyebrow as he speaks]
Harvey Milk: Some people took me out after work.
Scott Smith: Oh, and that would be, ah, let me guess... Ma Bell or AT&T.
Harvey Milk: The Great American Insurance Company. I'm part of that corporate establishment that, let me guess, you think is the cause of all the evil in the world from Vietnam to diaper rash.
Scott Smith: You left out bad breath.
Scott Smith: [Harvey covers his mouth; both start laughing] Just kidding.
[pause]
Harvey Milk: You're not going to let me spend my birthday all by myself, are you?
Scott Smith: [gently teasing] Listen, Harvey, you're pretty cute, but... I don't date guys over forty.
Harvey Milk: Well, then this is my lucky night.
Scott Smith: Why's that?
Harvey Milk: I'm still thirty-nine...
[showing Scott his watch]
Harvey Milk: It's only eleven-fifteen.
[pauses, leans forward and kisses Scott]
[Scott stops and looks at him]
Harvey Milk: I'm Harvey.
Scott Smith: Okay, Harvey...
[smiles a little awkwardly]
Harvey Milk: Today's my birthday.
[Scott laughs]
Harvey Milk: No, it actually is my birthday. At midnight.
Scott Smith: [still smiling, a little skeptical] Really.
Harvey Milk: And, believe it or not, I don't have any plans.
[raises one eyebrow as he speaks]
Harvey Milk: Some people took me out after work.
Scott Smith: Oh, and that would be, ah, let me guess... Ma Bell or AT&T.
Harvey Milk: The Great American Insurance Company. I'm part of that corporate establishment that, let me guess, you think is the cause of all the evil in the world from Vietnam to diaper rash.
Scott Smith: You left out bad breath.
Scott Smith: [Harvey covers his mouth; both start laughing] Just kidding.
[pause]
Harvey Milk: You're not going to let me spend my birthday all by myself, are you?
Scott Smith: [gently teasing] Listen, Harvey, you're pretty cute, but... I don't date guys over forty.
Harvey Milk: Well, then this is my lucky night.
Scott Smith: Why's that?
Harvey Milk: I'm still thirty-nine...
[showing Scott his watch]
Harvey Milk: It's only eleven-fifteen.
[pauses, leans forward and kisses Scott]
Harvey Milk: I am here tonight to say that we will no longer sit quietly in the closet. We must fight. And not only in the Castro, not only in San Francisco, but everywhere the Anitas go. Anita Bryant did not win tonight, Anita Bryant brought us together! She is going to create a national gay force! And the young people in Jackson Mississippi, in Minnesota, in the Richmond, in Woodmere New York, who are hearing her on television, hearing Anita Bryant telling them on television that they are sick, they are wrong, there is no place in this great country for them, no place in this world, they are looking to us for something tonight, and I say, we have got to give them hope!
Harvey Milk: Not a good time, Don.
Paul: This is Paul. Don just gave me the phone.
Harvey Milk: Paul who?
Paul: You spoke to me on the phone, a year or so ago. I'm in a wheelchair. I'm from Minnesota.
Harvey Milk: I thought you were a goner Paul.
Paul: When I saw that you won the supervisor seat, I got a friend to put me on a bus to LA.
Harvey Milk: Who do you know in Los Angeles?
Paul: Nobody. I just didn't want to die anymore. I met your friend Don down here. And I turned 18, and I voted today against prop 6. I don't think I'd be alive right now if it weren't for you.
Paul: This is Paul. Don just gave me the phone.
Harvey Milk: Paul who?
Paul: You spoke to me on the phone, a year or so ago. I'm in a wheelchair. I'm from Minnesota.
Harvey Milk: I thought you were a goner Paul.
Paul: When I saw that you won the supervisor seat, I got a friend to put me on a bus to LA.
Harvey Milk: Who do you know in Los Angeles?
Paul: Nobody. I just didn't want to die anymore. I met your friend Don down here. And I turned 18, and I voted today against prop 6. I don't think I'd be alive right now if it weren't for you.
Scott Smith: [reading a threatening note] 'Harvey Milk will have a dream journey and nightmare to hell. A night of horror. He will be stabbed and have your genitals, cock balls and prick cut off.' I'm calling the police.
Harvey Milk: They probably wrote it. Look at it this way, if they try to kill me I'll get the sympathy vote, we might get the push we need.
Scott Smith: You think this is funny? Look at it!
Harvey Milk: It's a total joke. I mean, it's got no rhythm, humor, it's insulting.
[tacks it to the refrigerator]
Scott Smith: Don't do that.
Harvey Milk: If you put it away in a drawer it just gets bigger and scarier. Now it's right here, it can't get us.
Harvey Milk: They probably wrote it. Look at it this way, if they try to kill me I'll get the sympathy vote, we might get the push we need.
Scott Smith: You think this is funny? Look at it!
Harvey Milk: It's a total joke. I mean, it's got no rhythm, humor, it's insulting.
[tacks it to the refrigerator]
Scott Smith: Don't do that.
Harvey Milk: If you put it away in a drawer it just gets bigger and scarier. Now it's right here, it can't get us.
Scott Smith: [Harvey and Scott are finally sitting down to dinner] Don't say ANYTHING.
Harvey Milk: [tucks his napkin under the collar of his shirt, eats a bite] Can I just tell you...
Scott Smith: If you say anything, about politics, or the campaign, or what speech you have to give, or anything, I swear to God I'm gonna stab you with this fork.
Harvey Milk: I just wanted to say... that this is the most wonderful dinner I have ever had.
[Both start laughing]
Harvey Milk: If we lose this, it'll just be you and me again, I promise.
Harvey Milk: [tucks his napkin under the collar of his shirt, eats a bite] Can I just tell you...
Scott Smith: If you say anything, about politics, or the campaign, or what speech you have to give, or anything, I swear to God I'm gonna stab you with this fork.
Harvey Milk: I just wanted to say... that this is the most wonderful dinner I have ever had.
[Both start laughing]
Harvey Milk: If we lose this, it'll just be you and me again, I promise.
Harvey Milk: [First lines] This is Harvey Milk speaking on Friday November 18th. This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination. During one of the early campaigns, I started opening my speeches with the same line and it sort of became my signature... Hello, I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you.
McConnely: There's Man's Law and there's God's Law in this neighborhood.
Harvey Milk: Uh huh.
McConnely: And in this city.
Scott Smith: You know, we pay taxes!
McConnely: The San Francisco Police Force is happy to enforce either. Have a good day.
[leaves]
Harvey Milk: [calling after him] Yeah, thank you for the warm welcome to the neighborhood!
[to Scott]
Harvey Milk: Schmuck.
Harvey Milk: Uh huh.
McConnely: And in this city.
Scott Smith: You know, we pay taxes!
McConnely: The San Francisco Police Force is happy to enforce either. Have a good day.
[leaves]
Harvey Milk: [calling after him] Yeah, thank you for the warm welcome to the neighborhood!
[to Scott]
Harvey Milk: Schmuck.
Anne Kronenberg: [as Harvey prepares to adress a crowd] This came in the mail today.
Harvey Milk: [reading] 'You get the first bullet the minute you stand at the microphone.' Well, publicity's working.
Anne Kronenberg: You don't have to go up there.
Harvey Milk: The whole nation's watching. I have to go.
Harvey Milk: [reading] 'You get the first bullet the minute you stand at the microphone.' Well, publicity's working.
Anne Kronenberg: You don't have to go up there.
Harvey Milk: The whole nation's watching. I have to go.
Michael Wong: How do you know she's not a plant for Rick Stokes?
Anne Kronenberg: Are you guys always this paranoid?
Michael Wong: Yes, we take after Harvey.
Harvey Milk: Shouldn't you be doing someone's laundry?
Michael Wong: Shouldn't you be at a hairdresser's convention?
Harvey Milk: [fake scream] Aah!
Anne Kronenberg: Are you guys always this paranoid?
Michael Wong: Yes, we take after Harvey.
Harvey Milk: Shouldn't you be doing someone's laundry?
Michael Wong: Shouldn't you be at a hairdresser's convention?
Harvey Milk: [fake scream] Aah!
