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James Leeds: [talking to Sarah while she is in the university swimming pool after hours] Sarah, please listen to me. I'm not going away. I did the wrong thing. I'm sorry. I - I don't know what to say. Tell me what to say. Sarah, you are the most mysterious, beautiful, angry person I have ever met. I am falling in l...
[Sarah quickly backs away from the pool ledge, clearly uneasy]
James Leeds: Sarah... Sarah! I am falling... into the pool with you!
[falls forward into pool]
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James Leeds: Do you think that we could find a place where we can meet - not in silence and not in sound?
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[Translating Sarah's sign language]
James Leeds: "Sex was always something I could do as well as hearing girls. Better. First, I let them have me; because, they wanted to. Before long, the boys were lined up on a waiting list my sister kept for me. No introduction. No talk. Just - into a dark place... Didn't even take me out for a coke first."
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James Leeds: I can't ever get close enough. Say my name, just once, say my name.
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Dr. Curtis Franklin: Yelling at the back of a deaf person, very good James.
-
James Leeds: You can't start a bonfire and then say night night.
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James Leeds: [at the end of the school year, James encounters deaf student William who has a tendency to use his newly-developed speech skills for profanity] Language skills can be dangerous, so use a little common sense. So long, William.
William: So long, fuck-face!
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James Leeds: Speak to me!
Sarah Norman: [screams] Here you go! Hear my words! Hear my voice! Ah, you want more than that? I'm gonna scream!
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James Leeds: Hi. I'm James Leeds. My signing is rusty so how many of you can read lips?
[after a moment of silence]
James Leeds: No one? OK. Class dismissed!
[Everybody leaves the class]
James Leeds: No, no, no, no. Just testing, sit down. Lydia and Tony, good lip-readers.
[to Johnny]
James Leeds: Do you mind closing your notebook?
-
[first lines]
Dr. Curtis Franklin: This is the most amazing résumé I've ever seen.
James Leeds: I've been with some really good schools. The best.
Dr. Curtis Franklin: All of them. All of the best. One right after another. You've also been with the Lucky Erin Bar and Grill.
James Leeds: Pittsburgh. Bartender.
Dr. Curtis Franklin: And a disc jockey.
James Leeds: Yeah, that was in Oklahoma. I used to broadcast in sign language.
Dr. Curtis Franklin: You've covered all the map, Mr. Leeds.
James Leeds: I've got a lot of energy.
Dr. Curtis Franklin: I'm sure you do have a lot of energy and a lot of new ideas. I did too when...
[signing like a long time ago]
Dr. Curtis Franklin: But nobody's trying to change the world around here. Just trying to help a few deaf kids get along a little better. But that's all. Everything else is razzle-dazzle. Am I making myself clear?
James Leeds: Yes, I believe that are you.
-
James Leeds: [to Sarah after realizing music is empty for him now] I can't enjoy it. I can't... because you can't.
-
James Leeds: Hey! I know that sign. That's the first sign I ever learned!
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James Leeds: Please, please, let me help you, damn it!
[translating Sarah's sign language]
James Leeds: "How? By showing you the joys of *sex* with a hearing man?"
-
James Leeds: I was thinking poor little deaf virgin? Who spread her legs for every...? You think that I'm threatened by that? You think that I give a good God damn that you *fucked* every pimply-faced teenager? I don't. I don't give a shit!
-
James Leeds: Did you know that waves strike the average beach about 750,000 times a day?
[Sarah signs a comment]
James Leeds: That's true. I just made it up.
-
Dr. Curtis Franklin: Nobody is going to fuck with one of my students!
James Leeds: She's not a student! She's a 25 year old woman!
Dr. Curtis Franklin: Nobody is going to fuck with one of my employees, either.
Children of a Lesser God Quotes
Extended Reading
Director: Randa Haines
Language: English,American Sign Language Release date: October 31, 1986