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Biff Loman: [to his father] Will you let me go, for God's sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens?
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[last lines]
Linda Loman: Help me, Willy, I can't cry. It seems to me that you're just on another trip and I keep expecting you. Why did you do it? I search and search - and I search, and I - can't understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear. We're free. We're free. We're free.
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Linda Loman: I am not saying he's a great man. Willy Loman never earned a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being - and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He must not be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention! Attention must be finally paid to such a person! You called him crazy...
Biff Loman: Mom, I didn't know...
Linda Loman: Wait of minute! A lot of people think he's lost his-balance. But you don't have to be very smart to know what his trouble is. The man is exhausted!
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Sure.
Linda Loman: A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: I'm gettin' married, Mom. I wanted to tell you.
Linda Loman: Go to sleep, dear.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: I just wanted to tell you.
Willy Loman: Keep up the good work.
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Biff Loman: [arguing with Willy] Pop, I'm a dime a dozen and so are you...
Willy Loman: [shouting] I am not a dime a dozen! I'm Willy Loman and you are Biff Loman!
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Biff Loman: I run out of that building and I see... the sky. I see all the things I love in this world. The work, the food, the time to sit and smoke. And I look at this pen and I ask myself, "What the hell am I grabbing this thing for? Why am I trying to become something I don't wanna become when all I want is out there waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am?"
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Willy Loman: [while playing cards Willy is talking about the ceiling he put up in the room with Charley] A man who can't handle tools is not a man.
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Linda Loman: It was so thrilling seeing them shaving together - one behind the other - in the bathroom and going out together. Did you notice? The whole house smells of shaving lotion.
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Biff Loman: I tell you Happy, I don't know what the future is. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: What do you mean?
Biff Loman: I spent six or seven years after High School trying to work myself up, being a shipping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or another. It's a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway, on hot mornings in the the summer, to devote your whole life to keeping stock or making phone calls? By selling and buying? To suffer fifty weeks of the year for the sake of a two-week vacation? When all you really desire is to be outdoors with your shirt off. And always, to have to get ahead of the next fella and still, that's how you build a future.
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Linda Loman: I bought a new kind of American-type cheese. And - it's whipped.
Willy Loman: Why do you get American when I want Swiss?
Linda Loman: I thought you'd like a change.
Willy Loman: I don't want a change! I want Swiss cheese! Why am I always being contradicted?
Linda Loman: Well, I wanted it to be a surprise.
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Willy Loman: There's more people! That's what's ruining this country! The population is getting out of control! The competition is maddening!
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Linda Loman: Now, you be careful on the stairs. The cheese is on the middle shelf.
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Biff Loman: I've always made a point of not wasting my life. Whenever I come back here I know that all I've done is to waste my life.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: You're a poet, Biff. You know it? Yeah, you're an idealist.
Biff Loman: No, I'm mixed up very bad.
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Biff Loman: Are you content, Happy? You're a success, aren't you? Are you content?
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Hell, no.
Biff Loman: Why not? You're makin' money, aren't you.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: All I can do now is wait for the Merchandise Manager to die.
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Willy Loman: Don't be a pest, Bernard! What an anemic!
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Willy Loman: You know, the trouble is, Linda, people don't seem to take to me.
Linda Loman: Oh, don't be so foolish!
Willy Loman: I know it when I walk in. They seem to laugh at me.
Linda Loman: Why? Why would they laugh at you? Don't talk that way, Willy.
Willy Loman: I don't know the reason for it; but, they just pass me by. I'm not noticed.
Linda Loman: Well, you're making seventy to a hundred dollars a week.
Willy Loman: But I gotta be at it ten, twelve hours a day. Other men - I don't know why - they do it easier. I don't know *why* I can't stop myself. I talk too much. Oh, a man oughta come in with a few words.
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Willy Loman: But they do laugh at me. Oh, I know that.
Linda Loman: Darling.
Willy Loman: I gotta overcome it. I know I gotta overcome it.
Linda Loman: Darling.
Willy Loman: I'm not dressing to advantage, maybe.
Linda Loman: Willy, darling, you're the handsomest man in the world.
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Willy Loman: On the road I want to grab you sometimes and just kiss the life outta you.
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Willy Loman: I get so lonely - especially when business is bad and there's nobody to talk to. I get the feeling that I'll never sell anything anymore, that I won't make a living for you, or a business, a business for the boys.
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Ben Loman: Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way.
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Willy Loman: That was a beautiful thing. I'm taking a walk.
Linda Loman: But, in your slippers, Willy?
Willy Loman: Now, there was a man worth talking to.
Linda Loman: But, in your slippers?
Willy Loman: I was right! I was right!
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Linda Loman: He works for a company thirty-six years this March, he opens up unheard-of territories to their trademark, and now in his old age they take his salary away!
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Linda Loman: For five weeks he's been on straight commission, like a beginner, an unknown!
Biff Loman: Those ungrateful bastards!
Linda Loman: Are they any worse than his sons? He drives seven hundred miles, and when he gets there no one knows him any more, no one welcomes him. And what goes through a man's mind, driving seven hundred miles home without having earned a cent? Why shouldn't he talk to himself? Why not? When he has to go to Charley every week and borrow fifty dollars from him and pretend to me it's his pay? Now, how long can that go on? How long? And you tell me he has no character? The man who never worked a day but for your benefit? When does he get the medal for that? Is this his reward?
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: Bob Harrison, he said you were tops, and then you go and do some damn fool thing like whistling whole songs in the elevator like a comedian.
Biff Loman: Well, so what? I like to whistle sometimes.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: You don't raise a guy to a responsible job who whistles in the elevator!
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Willy Loman: That is a one-million-dollar idea!
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Willy Loman: Lick the world! You guys together could absolutely lick the civilized world!
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Willy Loman: Walk in very serious. You are not applying for a boy's job. Money is to pass. Be quiet, fine, and serious. Everybody likes a kidder, but nobody lends him money.
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Willy Loman: Walk in with a big laugh. Don't look worried. Start off with a couple of your good stories to lighten things up. It's not what you say, it's how you say it - because personality always wins the day.
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Willy Loman: But remember, start big and you'll end big.
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: Come on, Biff, let's buck him up.
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Willy Loman: All of a sudden everything falls to pieces!
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Willy Loman: Boys left nice and early, heh?
Linda Loman: They were out of here by eight o'clock.
Willy Loman: Good work!
Linda Loman: It was so thrilling to see them leaving together. I cannot get over the shaving lotion in this house!
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Linda Loman: Oh, I forgot! You're supposed to meet them for dinner tonight.
Willy Loman: Me?
Linda Loman: At Frank's Chop House on Forty-eighth near Sixth Avenue.
Willy Loman: Is that so! How about you?
Linda Loman: No, just the three of you. They're gonna blow you to a big meal!
Willy Loman: Don't say! Who thought of that?
Linda Loman: Biff came to me this morning. Well, he said, "Tell Dad, we're going to blow him to a big meal." Be there six o'clock. You and your two boys are going to have dinner.
Willy Loman: Ah, gee whiz! That's really somethin'.
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Willy Loman: My father lived many years in Alaska. He was an adventurous man! We've got quite a little streak of self-reliance in our family, Howard. I thought I'd go out with my older brother and try to locate him and maybe even settle in the North with the old man. And I was almost decided to go - when I met a salesman in the Parker House. His name was Dave Singleman. And he was eighty-four years old, and he'd drummed merchandise in thirty-one states. And old Dave, he'd go up to his room, y'understand, put on his green velvet slippers - I'll never forget - and pick up the phone and call the buyers, without ever leaving his room, at the age of eighty-four, he made his living. And when I saw that, I realized that selling was the greatest career that a man could want. Because what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up his phone and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? You know, when - when he died, by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the NewYork, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston - when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains - for months after that. You see, in those days there was personality in it, Howard. There was respect and comradeship and gratitude in it. Today, it's all cut and dried, and there's no chance for bringing friendship to bear or personality. You see what I mean? They don't know me anymore.
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Willy Loman: I'm talking about your father! There were promises made across this desk! You mustn't tell me you've got people to see. I put thirty-four years into this firm, Howard, and now I can't pay my insurance! You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit!
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Willy Loman: It's not what you do, Ben, it's who you know and the smile on your face! It's contacts, Ben, contacts! The whole wealth of Alaska passes over the lunch table at the Commodore Hotel, and that's the wonder, the wonder of this country, that a man can end with diamonds here on the basis of being liked!
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Linda Loman: Did you pack fresh underwear?
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Bernard: What happened in Boston, Willy?
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Bernard: Sometimes, Willy, it's better for a man just to walk away.
Willy Loman: Walk away?
Bernard: That's right.
Willy Loman: But if you can't walk away?
Bernard: I guess that's when it's tough.
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Charley: My salvation is that I never took any interest in anything.
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Charley: The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a salesman and you don't know that.
Willy Loman: Well, I've always tried to think otherwise, I guess. I always felt - that if a man was impressive, and well liked, that nothing...
Charley: Why must everybody like you? Who liked J. P. Morgan? Was he impressive? In a Turkish bath he'd look like a butcher. But with his pockets on - he was very well liked.
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Charley: Take care of yourself. And pay your insurance.
Willy Loman: It's funny, you know? After all the highways and the trains and the appointments and the years - you end up worth more dead than alive.
Charley: Willy, nobody's worth nothin' dead. Did you hear what I said?
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Stanley: What'd you hit a number or somethin'?
Harold 'Happy' Loman: No, it's a little celebration. My brother is - I think he pulled off a big deal today. I think we're going into business together.
Stanley: Great! That's the best. Because a family business, you know what I mean?-that's the best.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: That's what I think.
Stanley: 'Cause what's the difference? Somebody steals? It's in the family. Know what I mean?
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: [a "strudel" walks into the restuarant] Oooooooo... Look at that mouth. Oh, God, and the binoculars.
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: You don't happen to sell, do you?
Miss Forsythe: No, I don't sell.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Would you object to a compliment from a stranger? You ought to be on a magazine cover.
Miss Forsythe: I have been.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: What'd I say before? You see, Stanley, she's a cover girl.
Stanley: Oh, I could see, I could see.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: What magazine?
Miss Forsythe: A lot of them.
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Harold 'Happy' Loman: Miss Forsythe, this is my brother.
Biff Loman: Is Dad here?
Harold 'Happy' Loman: His name is Biff. You might've heard of him. He's a great football player.
Miss Forsythe: Really? What team?
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Are you familiar with football?
Miss Forsythe: No, I'm afraid I'm not.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Biff is quarterback with the New York Giants.
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Letta: I think it's sweet you bring your daddy along.
Miss Forsythe: Oh, he isn't really your father!
Biff Loman: Miss Forsythe, you've just seen a prince walk by. A fine, troubled prince. A hardworking, unappreciated prince. A pal, do you understand? A good companion. Always for his boys.
Letta: That's so sweet.
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Woman from Boston: Why don't you have another drink, honey. Stop being so damn self-centered?
Willy Loman: I'm so lonely.
Woman from Boston: You know you ruined me, Willy? From now on, whenever you come to the office, I'm gonna see you go right through to the buyers. No waiting at my desk anymore, Willy. You ruined me!
Willy Loman: That's nice of you to say that.
Woman from Boston: Oh, gee, you're self-centered. Why so sad? You're the saddest, self- centeredest soul I ever did see-saw.
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Woman from Boston: Where's my stockings? You promised me stockings, Willy!
Willy Loman: I have no stockings here!
Woman from Boston: You had two boxes of size nine sheers for me and I want them!
Willy Loman: Here, here, here, here, here. Here, for God's sake, now, get outta here.
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Biff Loman: Dad...
Willy Loman: My boy - she's nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely.
Biff Loman: Dad, you gave her Mama's stockings!
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Linda Loman: Did you have to go to women tonight? You and your rotten lousy whores!
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Biff Loman: Dad, it's not your fault; it's me, I'm a bum.
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Willy Loman: Isn't that-isn't that remarkable? Biff - he - he likes me!
Linda Loman: He loves you, Willy!
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Always did, Pop.
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Ben Loman: The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy.
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Ben Loman: One must go in to fetch a diamond out.
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Ben Loman: A diamond is rough and hard to the touch.
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Ben Loman: It's dark there, but full of diamonds, Willy.
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Linda Loman: Why didn't anybody come?
Charley: It was a very nice funeral.
Linda Loman: But where are all the people he knew?
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Charley: No man only needs a little salary.
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Biff Loman: There were a lot of nice days. When he'd come home from a trip; or on Sundays, making the stoop; finishing the cellar; when he built the extra bathroom; and put up the garage. You know, Charley, I think there was more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made.
Charley: Yeah. He was a happy man with a batch of cement.
Linda Loman: He was so wonderful with his hands.
Biff Loman: He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong.
Harold 'Happy' Loman: Don't say that!
Biff Loman: The man didn't know who he was.
Charley: Nobody dast blame this man.
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Charley: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, and tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back - that's an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.
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Charley: So? They won't starve.
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Charley: When a dollar bottle is broken you don't get your nickel back.
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Howard Wagner: They're fine boys, a couple of fearless characters.
Charley: The jails are full of fearless characters.
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[first lines]
Linda Loman: Willy?
Willy Loman: It's alright. I came back.
Linda Loman: Why, what happened? Did something happen Willy?
Willy Loman: Nah.
Linda Loman: You didn't smash the car did you?
Willy Loman: I said nothing happened! Didn't you hear me?
Linda Loman: Didn't you feel well?
Willy Loman: [sighs] I'm tired to the death. I-a, I couldn't make it. I just couldn't make it Linda.
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Woman from Boston: You do make me laugh; that's good for me; and you're a wonderful man
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Linda Loman: He was so humiliated! He nearly limped when he came in!
Death of a Salesman Quotes
Extended Reading
