Anne of Avonlea (1987)

Megan Follows: Anne Shirley

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Quotes 

• Gilbert Blythe : It'll be three years before I finish medical school. Even then there won't be any diamond sunbursts or marble halls.

  Anne Shirley : I don't want diamond sunbursts, or marble halls. I just want you.

• Anne Shirley : I went looking for my dreams outside of myself and discovered, it's not what the world holds for you, it's what you bring to it.

• Anne Shirley : Our friendship, it won't ever be the same now. Why can't he just be sensible instead of acting like a sentimental schoolboy?

  Marilla Cuthbert : Because he loves you.

  Anne Shirley : He loves me? I can't know why.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Because you made Josie Pye and Ruby Gillis and all of those wishy-washy young ladies who waltzed by him look like spineless nothings.

  Anne Shirley : Marilla, he's hardly my idea of a romantic suitor.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Anne, you have tricked something out of that imagination of yours that you call romance. Have you forgotten how he gave up the Avonlea school for you so that you could stay here with me? He picked you up everyday in his carriage so that you could study your courses together. Don't toss it away for some ridiculous ideal that doesn't exist. Hmm? Now, you come downstairs and see if a good cup of tea and some of those plum puffs I made today don't hearten you.

• [Anne is deeply depressed, and Marilla tries to cheer her up by offering her some homemade plum puffs] 

  Anne Shirley : Plum puffs won't minister to a mind diseased in a world that's crumbled into pieces.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Well I'm glad to see that your dented spirits haven't injured your tongue.

• Anne Shirley : You just think that you love me.

  Gilbert Blythe : Anne, I've loved you as long as I can remember. I need you.

• Marilla Cuthbert : You set your heart too much on frivolous things and then crash down into despair when you don't get them.

  Anne Shirley : I know. I can't help flying up on the wings of anticipation. It's as glorious as soaring through a sunset... almost pays for the thud.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Well, maybe it does. But I'd rather walk calmly along and do without flying AND thud.

• Anne Shirley : I feel as though someone's handed me the moon... and I don't exactly know what to do with it.

• Gilbert Blythe : Anne, There's not going to be any wedding anymore.

  Anne Shirley : You're gonna get well, Gil. I know you are.

  Gilbert Blythe : I called it off. It wouldn't be fair to Christine. There would never be anyone for me but you.

• Anne Shirley : Why do people have to grow up and marry, change?

  Gilbert Blythe : Oh, you'd change. If someone ever admitted that they were head over heels for you, you'd be swept off your feet in a moment.

  Anne Shirley : I would not, and I defy anyone who would try and make me change.

  Gilbert Blythe : Oh, you do?

• Anne Shirley : I don't want any of it to change. I wish I could just hold on to those days forever. I have a feeling things will never be the same again, will they?

  Gilbert Blythe : I won't change, that's the least I can promise you.

• Gilbert Blythe : What are you thinking?

  Anne Shirley : I'm afraid to speak or move for fear that all this wonderful beauty will just vanish... like a broken silence.

• Anne Shirley : Fortunately for you, Josie, the only thing you've ever had to wear twice is a sour expression.

• Anne Shirley : I promise I'll always be here if you need me. Good friend are always together in spirit. Let's not change Gil, let's just go on being good friends.

  Gilbert Blythe : Friends, huh? I thought we were kindred spirits.

  [whispers forlornly] 

  Gilbert Blythe : Please say yes.

  Anne Shirley : I can't. Gil, I'm so desperately sorry.

  [runs off while a heartbroken Gil looks after her] 

• Gilbert Blythe : Maybe you don't think I'm good enough for you now, but I will be someday.

  Anne Shirley : No, Gil you're a great deal too good for me. But you want someone who'll adore you. Someone who'll be happy just to hang on your arm and build a home for you. I wouldn't.

  Gilbert Blythe : Anne, that's not what I'm looking for at all.

  Anne Shirley : We'll end up like two old crows fighting all the time. I know I'd be unhappy and I'd wish we'd never done it.

• Anne Shirley : Fred is... extremely good.

  Marilla Cuthbert : That is exactly what he should be! Would you want to marry a wicked man?

  Anne Shirley : Well, I wouldn't marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't.

  Marilla Cuthbert : You'll have better sense some day, I hope.

• [Anne has just invited Miss Brooke to Green Gables for the summer] 

  Katherine Brooke : Now you can go through the motions of telling me how delighted you are and how I'll have a wonderful time.

  Anne Shirley : I AM delighted... but as to a wonderful time... that will depend entirely on YOU, Katherine.

• Anne Shirley : There's a book of revelations in everyone's life.

• Mrs. Harris : [Anne is taking Mrs. Harris out for a picnic]  I don't eat my lunch outside! I'm not a raggle taggle gypsy! Take me in! Take me in!

  Anne Shirley : Hush, Mrs. Harris! Some of these girls are Pringles.

  Mrs. Harris : Pringles?

  Anne Shirley : Yes, and you don't want them running home and telling tales.

  Mrs. Harris : You'll pay for this.

• Gilbert Blythe : [Gilbert has insulted Anne's writing]  Listen, I'm sorry. What else can I do?

  Anne Shirley : [she hits him with her basket of flowers]  Let me get a word in edgewise once in a while, before I pitch you!

• Anne Shirley : Good morning, Mrs. Harris.

  Mrs. Harris : Walking as if we owned the world, are we?

  Anne Shirley : So I do.

• Anne Shirley : If Gil were to... not knowing how I really care.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Oh, there, there.

  Anne Shirley : What would I do without him?

  Marilla Cuthbert : We can't change what God wills.

• Anne Shirley : [about Diana becoming engaged]  Of all the stupid, sentimental thinks for Diana to do.

• Anne Shirley : Tell me, Mr. Allen, do you dance as well as you boast?

  Lewis Allen : Better.

• Anne Shirley : This has taught me a lesson not to stake my word of honor on cows.

• Anne Shirley : [holding the package Marilla has just handed her]  My book! It's the book I published.

  Marilla Cuthbert : Well, don't sit there shaking like a leaf open it.

• Anne Shirley : [to the cow]  Don't even think about Rachel's cabbages.

• Aunt Josephine Barry : You won't win that Blythe boy back by punishing him.

  Anne Shirley : I wonder why everyone seems to think I ought to be with Gilbert Blythe.

• Anne Shirley : [to Katherine Brooke]  You say you like people to be frank, we'll I'm going to be frank. It's your own fault that nobody likes you. Katherine Brooke, you are nothing but prickles and stings!

• Morgan Harris : Would you do me the honor, Miss Shirley, of reserving a waltz on your card?

  Anne Shirley : Of course, Mr. Harris... if I have a waltz free.

• Anne Shirley : [to Gilbert]  Last one to the bridge is a stuffed goose!

• Anne Shirley : Babies are never common. Each one is a miracle.

  Mrs. Harris : Well I had two of them. I didn't see much that was miraculous about either of THEM.

• Anne Shirley : I am sorry, but the fence that separates your potato field from our pasture is an eyesore. And if you'd kept it in better repair, Dolly wouldn't have broken in.

  Rachel Lynde : A jail fence wouldn't keep that devil out. And what's more, my Thomas has been far too ill the past six months to repair any fences. And I know one thing, you red-headed snippet! You'd be better employed fixing that fence yourself rather than mooning around, wasting your time, writing for some rubbishy magazine.

  Anne Shirley : I would rather spend my time profitably than squander it in idle gossip, meddling in other people's affairs. I won't cherish any hard feelings against you because of your narrow-minded opinions. But, thank goodness I have an imagination which allows me to understand how it must be to find a cow amongst prize-winning cabbages. Dolly shall never break into your field again. I give you my word of honor on that point.

• Anne Shirley : [Gilbert has hit her with his riding crop]  I am not your horse, Mr. Blythe!

• Anne Shirley : [making fun of the woman who will be singing at Diana's wedding]  Can you just see the buttons popping off her corset!

• Mrs. Harris : Yes, he was the handsomest man in Kingsport. And he adored me. We consulted each other about absolutely everything. Mind you, we didn't always agree. No. He had his fits of temper. Oh, yes. And so did I.

  [laughs] 

  Mrs. Harris : Do you know what he did when I bought a daycap he didn't like?

  Anne Shirley : I can't imagine.

  Mrs. Harris : He ate it. It gave him a terrible stomach pain. Yes, serves him right. He was so irked that I had neglected to consult him.

  [laughs/cries] 

  Mrs. Harris : How could he go away and leave me alone and crippled like this? Dying was the only thing that he ever dared to do without consulting me. Won't be long before we're together again. There's no one - no man like him. No. This is a degenerate age, Miss Shirley.

• Anne Shirley : [meeting Mrs. Harris for the 1st time]  How do you do, Mrs. Harris?

  Mrs. Harris : Far from well.

• Anne Shirley : [to Emmeline]  It's high time someone reminded her what a piano sounds like.

  [plays a wrong chord] 

  Anne Shirley : It shouldn't be me.

• Anne Shirley : [to Gilbert]  Good grief, you sure know how to try one's patience.

• Anne Shirley : [to Gilbert about her book being published]  It hasn't happened yet, you fool, and don't you dare tell anyone!

• Anne Shirley : [seeing the banner congratulating her on her story]  Great Jehosophat!

• Anne Shirley : [crying on her bed]  Oh, Marilla, such a Jonah day.

• Diana Barry : Myra Gillis had 37 doilies when she got married, and I'm determined to have AT LEAST as many as she had.

  Anne Shirley : I suppose it would be impossible to keep house with only 36 doilies. But I assure you, Mr. Wright, Diana will be the sweetest little homemaker in the world... so long as you can afford to let her keep up with the Gillises.