The Magnificent Ambersons

Uncle Jack: Eighteen years have passed, but have they?... By gosh, old times certainly are starting all over again. Eugene: Old times. Not a bit. There aren't any old times. When times are gone, they're not old, they're dead. There aren't any times but new times.

The Magnificent Ambersons (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucy: What are you studying at school? George: College. Lucy: College. George: Oh, lots of useless guff. Lucy: Why don't you study some useful guff? George: What do you mean, useful? Lucy: Something you'd use later in your business or profession. George: I don't intend to go into any business or profession. Lucy: No? George: No. Lucy: Why not? George: Well, just look at them. That's a fine career for a man, isn't it? Lawyers, bankers, politicians. What do they ever get out of life, I'd like to know. What do they know about real things? What do they ever get? Lucy: What do you want to be? George: A yachtsman!

The Magnificent Ambersons (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Maj. Amberson: So your devilish machines are going to ruin all your old friend, eh Gene? Do you really think they're going to change the face of the land? Eugene: They're already doing it major and it can't be stopped. Automobiles... George: Automobiles are a useless nuisance. Maj. Amberson: What did you say George? George: I said, "Automobiles are a useless nuisance." Never amount to anything but a nuisance. They had no business to be invented. Uncle Jack: Of course, you forget Mr. Morgan makes them. Also did his share in inventing them. If you weren't so thoughtless, he might think you're rather offensive. Eugene: I'm not sure George is wrong about automobiles. With all their speed forward, they may be a step backward in civilization. It may be that they won't add to the beauty of the world or the life of men's souls. I'm not sure. But automobiles have come. And almost all outward things are going to be different because of what they bring. They're going to alter war and they're goin

The Magnificent Ambersons (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

George: [disparagingly] Horseless carriages. Auto-mobiles. People aren't going to spend their lives lying on their backs on the road letting grease drip in their face. No, I think you're father better forget about 'em. Lucy: Papa will be so grateful if he could get your advice. George: I don't know that I've done anything to be insulted for. Lucy: You know, I don't mind you being such a lofty person, at all. I think its ever so interesting. But, Papa's a great man.

The Magnificent Ambersons (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Lucy: Don't you remember? We'd had a quarrel and we didn't speak to each other all the way home from a long, long drive. And since we couldn't play together like good children, of course, it was plain we oughtn't of play at all. George: Play? Lucy: What I mean is, we've come to the point where it was time to quit playing. Well, what we were playing. George: That being love, as you mean, don't you? Lucy: Something like that. It was absurd.

The Magnificent Ambersons (film), CC BY-SA 4.0