Doubt (I) (2008)

Meryl Streep: Sister Aloysius Beauvier

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Sister Aloysius : Sister James...

  Sister James : What is it, Sister?

  Sister Aloysius : [crying]  I have doubts. I have such doubts.

• Father Flynn : Where is your compassion?

  Sister Aloysius : Nowhere you can get at it.

• Sister James : I don't think Father Flynn did anything wrong.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : You just want things to be resolved so you can have simplicity back.

• Father Brendan Flynn : You have no right to act on your own! You have taken vows, obedience being one! You answer to us! You have no right to step outside the church!

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : I will step outside the church if that's what needs to be done, 'til the door should shut behind me! I will do what needs to be done, though I'm damned to Hell! You should understand that, or you will mistake me.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [to Sister James]  What have you seen?

  Sister James : It is unsettling to look at people with suspicion. I feel less close to God.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : When you take a step to address wrongdoing, you are taking a step away from God, but in his service. What have you seen?

• Sister James : How can you be so sure that he is lying?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Experience.

  Sister James : You just don't like him! You don't like it that he uses a ballpoint pen. You don't like it that he takes 3 lumps of sugar in his tea. You don't like it that he likes Frosty the Snowman and you are letting that convince you? Of something that's terrible... Just terrible...

  Sister James : [Exasperated]  Well, I like Frosty the Snowman!

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : James Hurley, what are you doing out of class?

  Jimmy Hurley : Sister James sent me down.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : For what?

  Jimmy Hurley : Talking.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Well, go back up and SHUT UP!

• Father Brendan Flynn : You haven't the slightest proof of anything!

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : But I have my certainty! And armed with that, I will go to your last parish, and the one before that if necessary. I'll find a parent.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : What happened in the rectory?

  [phone rings] 

  Father Brendan Flynn : Happened? Nothing happened. I had a talk with a boy.

  [phone rings] 

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : About what?

  [phone rings] 

  Father Brendan Flynn : Private matter.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : He's twelve years old, what could be "private"?

  [phone rings] 

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [to Father Flynn]  I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret.

  [long pause] 

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : And cut your nails.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : May I ask what you are writing down with that ball-point pen?

  Father Brendan Flynn : Oh, nothing. It's an idea for a sermon.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : You have one right now?

  Father Brendan Flynn : I get them all the time.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : How fortunate.

  Father Brendan Flynn : I forget them so I have to write them down.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : What is the idea?

  Father Brendan Flynn : Intolerance.

• Sister James : Did you ever prove it?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : To whom?

  Sister James : Anyone but yourself?

• Sister James : They're all uniformly terrified of you.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Yes, that's how it works.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Look at that. You've blown out my light.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : This will not do.

  Mrs. Miller : It's just until June!

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [sternly]  I'll throw your son out of this school!

  Mrs. Miller : [angrily]  And why would you do that if it didn't start with him?

• [Father Flynn enters Sister Aloysius' room, looking very nervous] 

  Father Brendan Flynn : [nervously]  May I come in?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [not looking at him]  A third party would be required.

  Father Brendan Flynn : Look, what was Donald's mother doing here?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [looking at him]  We were having a chat.

  Father Brendan Flynn : About what?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [slowly approaches him]  A third party would truly be required!

  Father Brendan Flynn : [entering the room]  No sister, no third party. Me and you are due for a talk, you have to stop this campaign against me!

• Father Brendan Flynn : I can fight you.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : You will lose.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Is Father Flynn in doubt? Is he concerned that someone else is in doubt?

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [about a boy who was sent home with a bloody nose]  He's a fidgety boy. He will do anything to get out of his seat. He would set his foot on fire for half a day out of school.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [Angrily referring to cough drops]  Candy!

  Sister James : Cough drops.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Candy by another name!

• Sister James : I wish I could be like you.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Why?

  Sister James : [Tearing up]  Because I can't sleep anymore.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Maybe we're not supposed to sleep so well.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Frosty the Snowman espouses a pagan belief in magic. The snowman comes to life when an enchanted hat is put on his head. If the music were more somber, people would realize the images are disturbing and the song heretical.

  Sister James : I never thought about Frosty the Snowman like that!

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : It should be banned from the airwaves.

• Sister James : [Referring to her students]  I don't allow them ballpoint pens.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [Picking one off the floor]  And yet here one is.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [to Mrs. Miller]  Years ago I used to listen to all the news reports, because my husband was in Italy, in the war.

  Mrs. Miller : [Taken aback]  You were a married woman?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [Offended]  Yes, but then he was killed.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : So you talked to Sister James. Well, of course you talked to Sister James.

  Father Brendan Flynn : Did you know Donald's father beats him?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Yes.

  Father Brendan Flynn : And might that not account for the odd behavior Sister James noticed in the boy?

• Sister James : Maybe it's nothing.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Then why do you look like you've seen the devil?

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [to Father Flynn]  You will tell me what you have done.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : [to Sister James]  Penmanship is dying all across this country!

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : In ancient Sparta, important matters were decided by who shouted loudest. Fortunately, we are not in ancient Sparta.

• Father Brendan Flynn : It's a new time sister.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : What's new about it?

  Father Brendan Flynn : Something inside of people is new.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : There is nothing new under the sun.

• Sister James : I try to take care of things myself.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : That can be an error. You are answerable to *me*, I to the monsignor, he to the bishop, and so on up to the Holy Father. There is a chain. Make use of it.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : That girl, Noreen Horan.

  Sister James : I have seated her as far away from the boys as possible. Doesn't do much good.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Just get her through - *intact*.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : What was Father Flynn's sermon about?

  Sister James : Well, doubt. He was talking about doubt.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Why?

  Sister James : Excuse me, Sister?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Well, sermons come from somewhere, don't they? Is Father Flynn in doubt? Is he concerned that someone else is in doubt?

  Sister James : I suppose you'd have to ask him.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : No, that would not be appropriate. He is my superior.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : William London is a fidgety boy. If you do not keep right on him, he will do anything to escape his chair. He would set his foot on fire for half a day out of school.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : We do not share intimate information with priests.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : it's my job to outshine the fox in cleverness. That is my job.

• Sister James : Is something the matter?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : What?

  Sister James : Is something the matter?

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : No. Why? Is something the matter?

  Sister James : I don't think so.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Well, then, nothing's the matter then.

  Sister James : Yes.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Always easy way out, these days. Every easy choice today will have its consequence tomorrow. *Mark* my words.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Has anyone hit him?

  Sister James : No.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Someone will. And when that happens, send them right down to me.

  Sister James : I'm not so sure anyone will.

  Sister Aloysius Beauvier : This parish serves Irish and Italian families. Someone will hit Donald Miller.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : I've never known a wind like it. The wind has changed.

• Sister Aloysius Beauvier : Years ago at Saint Boniface there was a priest. But I had Father Scully then. Here, there's no man I can go to. Men run everything. We are going to have to stop him ourselves.