The Children's Hour Quotations

The Children's Hour (1961) Directed by William Wyler; Screenplay by Lillian Hellman, based upon her 1934 stageplay of the same name.

Martha: There's always been something wrong.

Karen: Stop the crazy talk.

Martha: I'm guilty.

Karen: You're guilty of nothing!

Martha: I've been telling myself that since the night we heard the child says it; I've been praying I could convince myself of it. I can't, I can't any longer. It's there. I don't know how, I don't know why. But I did love you. I do love you. I resented your marriage; maybe because I wanted you...

Karen: It's a lie. You're telling yourself a lie. We never thought of each other that way.

Martha: No, of course you didn't. But who says I didn't? I never felt that way about anybody but you. I've never loved a man... I never knew why before. Maybe it's that.

Karen: You are tired and sick.

Martha: It's funny; it's all mixed up. There's something in you, and you don't know anything about it because you don't know it's there. I couldn't call it by name before, but I know now. It's there. It's been there ever since I first knew you. I don't know. It all seems to come back to me. I've ruined your life and I've ruined my own... Oh, I feel so damn sick and dirty I can't stand it anymore!

Karen: All this isn't true. You've never said it; we'll forget it by tomorrow.

Martha: Tomorrow? That's a funny word. Karen, we would have had to invent a new language, as children do, without words like tomorrow.