- Agatha Reed: And I had an opportunity to see what happened when freedom was destroyed. The first step was always the same. They began by putting a blanket over education. And by making it a crime for people to think. That's what the film is about. Actual newsreel shots of some of the dreadful things that have happened in our time. How they burned the books and sent the scholars into slave labor camps. How they hang the teachers by their feet in the public squares because they dared to teach the truth. Do you think I want to see that happen in this country?
- Claude Griswold: I should have known from her voting record in Congress, there was something in her past.
- Ellen Griswold: You don't get expelled for staying out all night, unless there is a man connected with it. Who was it, Ag?
- Matt Cole: Doesn't the president have anything to say about it?
- Doctor Pitt: Oh yes, of course, but only if Mr. Griswold has said it first.
- Matt Cole: This overwhelming desire to return to the past... girlhood memories, old pictures, old sofas, old sweethearts. Old hat!
- Agatha Reed: You've been on war fronts so long that a decent atmosphere is bound to seem a little incongruous.
- Matt Cole: Open your eyes, Aggie. This is a lost world up here. And Merrill's the perfect president for it.
- Virginia Merrill: Come on, Mary Nell, let's leave Miss Reed alone with her memories.
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: Miss Reed is alone with her memories; outside under a tree.
- Virginia Merrill: Then who're...
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: Me? I just carry the typewriter.
- Virginia Merrill: Oh, you're her secretary! Oh, I'm so glad!
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: Well, don't shoot off any firecrackers!
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: [Seeing Agatha searching the desk drawer] May I ask what you're doing?
- Agatha Reed: There's a secret compartment in this desk; I used to keep brownies in it to hide them from Ellie.
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: Who's Ellie?
- Agatha Reed: My roommate. You share your clothes, your perfume, and even your themes with your roommate , but never your...
- [Pulling out a tin, and opening it]
- Agatha Reed: brownies!
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: Zooks! they must be stale!
- Agatha Reed: [chewing] Fresh this week. go on, have one.
- Miss 'Woody' Woods: No thanks. They stick to my teeth.