The Women (1939)

Lucile Watson: Mrs. Morehead

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mrs. Moorehead : Well, cheer up, Mary; living alone has its compensations. Heaven knows it's marvelous being able to spread out in bed like a swastika.

• Little Mary Haines : I saw Mrs. Potter at the zoo that day.

  Mrs. Moorehead : Who was she visiting with? The snakes?

  Mary Haines : Oh, Mother!

  Little Mary Haines : As a matter of fact, she was!

• Mrs. Moorehead : Stephen is a man. He's been married ten years.

  Mary Haines : Oh. You mean he's tired of me?

  Mrs. Moorehead : Stephen's tired of himself. Tired of feeling the same things in himself. Time comes when a man's got to feel something new, and he's got to feel young again, just because he's growing old.

  Mary Haines : Mother! Stephen isn't old!

  Mrs. Moorehead : Of course not, but we women are so much more sensible. When we tire of ourselves, we change the way we do our hair, or hire a new cook, or... or decorate the house. I suppose a man could do over his office, but he never thinks of anything so simple. No, dear, a man has only one escape from his old self: to see a different self in the mirror of some woman's eyes.

• Mrs. Moorehead : Besides, there's nothing like a good dose of being left alone to make a man appreciate his wife.

• Mrs. Moorehead : Don't forget that it's being together at the end that really matters. I'm an old woman, my dear. I know my sex.

• Mrs. Moorehead : Another piece of motherly advice. Don't confide in your girlfriends. If you let them advise you, they will see to it, in the name of friendship, that you lose your husband and your home.

• Mrs. Moorehead : I'm an old woman, my dear. I know my sex.

• Mrs. Moorehead : You mustn't kid mother, dear, I was a married woman before you were born, Mary.

• Mary Haines : I'm afraid you don't honor my friends enough, mother dear.

  Mrs. Moorehead : You mean some of them ought to cut their throats.