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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I think my days at Grey Gardens are limited.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: But you see in dealing with me, the relatives didn't know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: It's my mother's house and she owns it. She wanted the people she wanted in it, and she didn't want the people that I wanted in it.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Mother, you don't have enough clothes on.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Well, I'm going to get naked in just a minute, so you better watch out.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: That's what I'm afraid of.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Yeah, for what, now why? I haven't got any warts on me.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: But the movie, the movie!
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: I haven't got any warts on me!
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: That isn't the point, mother darling.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I tried to get you; I called and called and called.
Albert Maysles: Oh, yeah? How's everything?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I guess you went out. Then I called again. You were busy. Guess what's happened.
Albert Maysles: What?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: What I... What I had felt was in the cards, you know, and I'm tellin' ya, I'm not gonna spend another ten years with this. You know, I spent ten years with the last.
Albert Maysles: You mean Tom Logan.
David Maysles: What is it now?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: The Marble Faun is moving in.
Albert Maysles: Who is?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: The Marble Faun.
David Maysles: Jerry.
Albert Maysles: Oh!
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: He just gave us a washing machine. That cements the deal. I gotta get outta here! I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life washing clothes in that goddamn...
Albert Maysles: I don't blame you!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Horrors! Somebody's removing the books from my room! Where'd this little book come from?
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: You know, I call Jerry "the Marble Faun."
Handyman: Nathaniel Hawthorne?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Yeah.
Handyman: You have that book here, Edie?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I haven't been able to find it.
Handyman: If you run across it, I'd like to read it.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: It's very deep; I don't know whether you... Well, I guess you're up to it. They used to have it on all the, uh... I think it was on the high school reading list... "The Marble Faun."
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: He might as well leave right now, 'cause he's never gonna get it. So that's it.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Get what? Sex with you?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: What he's after!
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: He doesn't want any sex with you.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: That's all they're after!
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: An old person like you?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: That's all they're after! So why don't you tell him right now? You should tell him right now so I'm not bothered by him.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: No, I'm not ready; I have no makeup on... but things are getting better!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Aren't you going to feed, uh, Whiskers, Edie? Come on, go feed Whiskers. No, don't eat it; give it to Whiskers, please!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: This is the best thing to wear for today, you understand. Because I don't like women in skirts and the best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. Then you have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So I think this is the best costume for today.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: The cat's going to the bathroom right right in back of my portrait.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: God, isn't that awful?
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: No, I'm glad he is. I'm glad somebody's doing something he wanted to do.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: You can't have your cake and eat it, too in life.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, yes, I did. I did, I had my cake, loved it, masticated it, chewed it and had everything I wanted.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I can't stand being in this house. In the first place, it makes me terribly nervous. I'm scared to death of doors, locks, people roaming around in the background, under the trees, in the bushes, I'm absolutely terrified.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: She doesn't like the Catholic Church.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, go on, what the hell, I worship the Catholic Church!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: He always compliments me on the way I do my corn.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I only cared about three things: the Catholic Church, swimming and dancing, and I had to give them up.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: She had a proposal of marriage from Paul Getty. Remember Paul, the richest man in the world?
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Norman Vincent Peale: To get on top of things and stay there.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Does that mean women, too?
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Norman Vincent Peale: He wasn't emotional! He didn't get upset! He wasn't nervous!
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: He wasn't me!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Always must do everything correctly!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: France fell but Edie didn't fall.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: It is a beautiful ocean today, isn't it? What would you say that is, sort of sapphire? I've never seen anything like that ocean!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, Edie! Are you around?
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, Edie, it's not the best one!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: [saying goodbye to her birthday party guests] Thank you for your card and your ice-cream, I love you very much!
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: [annoyed by her daughter's singing] Where in the hell did you come from?
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: [offering food to David and Al Maysles] Will you eat some liver pate, you kiddies?
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: It's not awfully good.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: If you put lemon with it, it's all right.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: I may die with this diet!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: 'Course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: [stepping out of the house] ... damn, horrible place in two years! God, if you knew how I felt, I'm ready to kill!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Do you think I'm gonna look funny dancing?
Albert Maysles, David Maysles: No...
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I do terrific dances!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Do you think my costume looked all right for Brooks? I think he was a little amazed.
David Maysles: He's probably seen it before.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: No, no, this is the revolutionary costume! I never wear this in East Hampton!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I'm pulverized by this latest thing!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: [complaining about Jerry] I'm so sick of that kid! I mean, I have great pity for him and I like him, but...
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I always took French, but nothing ever happened there. I can read and write in French, but I can't speak it!
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. You know what I mean? It's awfully difficult.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Listen, kid! I'm extremely organized. I know exactly where to look for this stuff. I've got it under control right here, but I can't find it. Get it?
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: My God, my muscles, I can't do it, I'm tellin' you! What am I going to do! They're gone, with this soft life!
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[Little Edie is reading from her astrology book]
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: "The Libra husband is not an easy man to please. The monotony of domesticity is not to his liking, but he is a passionate man, and a respecter of tradition."
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[Little Edie is reading from her astrology book]
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: "The Libra husband is reasonable. He is a born judge, and no other zodiacal type can order his life with so much wisdom." God! That's all I need: order! That's all I need: an ordered life. You know, a manager. But he's *got* to be a Libran.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: It's very hot in New York on July 29th.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Will you shut up? It's a goddamn beautiful day, shut up!
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[first lines]
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: What're you doing down there? You staying there?
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: My body is a very precious place. It's concentrated ground.
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Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Don't you think we better have some rum?
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: I don't think there's any point in meeting anybody who doesn't like music.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: We better check on mother and the cats. She's a lot of fun, I hope she doesn't die. I hate to spend another winter here though. Oh God, another winter.
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Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: ...It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present... Do you know what I mean...?
Grey Gardens Quotes
Extended Reading
Director: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Language: English Release date: September 27, 1975