"[testifying at Kyle's inquest] Mitch Wayne was there - in the study with my brother. Kyle had a gun in his hand. He was raving mad, raving about things that weren't so. Mitch tried to talk to him, to make him understand how wrong he was, to stop him from using the gun. Afraid he might even use it on himself. I made a grab for the gun. Kyle and I struggled. The gun went off....Whatever he [Mitch] may have said, means nothing. Except he was worried about Kyle, as a brother for a brother...[Kyle]...was depressed by Father's sudden death and he'd been drinking...My brother always drank too much. He was sad, the saddest of us all. He needed so much and had so little."

"[to Lucy] Oh, there's a man for you — or for me, rather. Kyle starts something. Mitch finishes it for him. Kyle falls on his face. Mitch picks him up. Kyle steals. Mitch takes the blame. And there you have the secret story of Kyle Hadley and his electric personality."

"I'm allergic to politeness."

"I can't keep holding back how I feel about you, Lucy. How I've felt ever since the first day we met. I'm in love with you."

"Spencer Tracy - John J. Macreedy"

"I was just wondering what all you people are worrying about...Not that I have the slightest idea...I hold no truck with silence. I've got nothing to hide...It's just that you worry about the stranger only if you look at him from a certain aspect. From my perspective, I look upon him with the innocence of a fresh-laid egg."

"Walter Sande - Sam, Cafe Proprietor"

"Russell Collins - Mr. Hastings, Telegrapher"

"Lee Marvin - Hector David"

"Ernest Borgnine - Coley Trimble"

"John Ericson - Pete Wirth"

"Walter Brennan - Doc T.R. Velie Jr."

"Dean Jagger - Sheriff Tim Horn"

"Anne Francis - Liz Wirth"

"Robert Ryan - Reno Smith"

"Four years ago, something terrible happened here. We did nothing about it. Nothing! The whole town fell into a sort of settled melancholy, and all the people in it closed their eyes, and held their tongues, and failed the test with a whimper. And now something terrible's going to happen again. And, in a way, we're lucky because we've been given a second chance."

"All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of mens, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house!! I loves Harpo, God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead 'fo I let him beat me..."

"Rae Dawn Chong - Squeak"

"Adolph Caesar - Old Mister"

"Desreta Jackson - Young Celie"

"Akosua Busia - Nettie"

"Willard E. Pugh - Harpo"

"Oprah Winfrey - Sofia"

"Margaret Avery - Shug Avery"

"Whoopi Goldberg - Celie"

"Danny Glover - Albert"

"I loved [the book]The Color Purple. The movie disappointed me because so many people I do love were bowled over by it. I felt it was a romantic treatment that perhaps could have been dealt with more honestly."

"Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize Winning Story."

"It's about life. It's about love. It's about us."

"[Sofia begins to laugh after years of silence] My God, the dead has arisen."

"Celie, you has my sympathy. Ain't many women allow they husband's ho to lay up in they house."

"[to Albert] Boy, you let this ol' nappy-headed girl cuss you out like that? You sittin' at the head of your own dinner table and actin' like a waiter."

"I done had enough bad luck to keep me laughin' the rest of my life. Sat in that jail. I sat in that jail til I nearby done rot to death. I know what it like, Ms. Celie, to wanna go somewhere and cain't. I know what it like to wanna sing... and have it beat outch'ya. I want to thank you, Miss Celie, 'fo everything you done for me. I 'members that day I was in the store with Miss Millie - I's feelin' real down. I's feelin' mighty bad. And when I see'd you — I knowed there is a God. I knowed there is a God. And one day I was gonna get to come home."

"[to Celie] You sho' is ugly!"

"I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it."

"See Daddy, sinners have soul too."

"[to Albert] The jail you planned for me is the one you're gonna rot in."

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

"I'm poor, black; I may even be ugly. But dear God! I'm here! I'm here!"

"Shug like honey. And now I's just like a bee."

"The feeling begins. Very tender, very loving. Then the pain starts. Claws slip underneath the skin and tear their way up. Just before they reach my eyes, they dig in. And I remember. First I fasted for three months. I even whipped myself before I went to sleep. At first it worked. Then the pain came back. And the voices. They call me by name. Jesus."

"Leo Marks - Voice of Satan"

"David Bowie - Pontius Pilate"

"Peter Berling - Beggar"

"Harry Dean Stanton - Saul/Paul of Tarsus"

"Nehemiah Persoff - Rabbi"

"Alan Rosenberg - Thomas"

"Andre Gregory - John the Baptist"

"Leo Burmester - Nathaniel"