Tess Quotes

[first lines]

John Durbeyfield: Good night, t'ee.

Parson Tringham: Good night, Sir John.

[last lines]

Angel Clare: She's sleeping. Just a little longer?

Tess: Have they come for me?

Angel Clare: Yes.

Tess: Oh, I am ready.

[last title card]

Title card: Tess of the d'Urbervilles was hanged in the city of Wintoncester aforetime capital of Wessex

Mrs. Durbeyfield: You must go and see her and ask her for some help in our trouble.

Tess: If the lady receives me at all, it t'ld be enough if she were friendly. You must not expect her to help us.

Mrs. Durbeyfield: Oh, come, come, my dear. With your pretty face, you could coax her into anything!

John Durbeyfield: I'm the head of noblest branch of the family and I got my pride to lean on.

[passes out]

Alec d'Urberville: Tell me, do you like strawberries?

Tess: Yes, when they're in season.

Alec d'Urberville: Here they already are.

Tess: [Alec picks a fresh strawberry off a bush and dangles it in front of Tess' lips] I would rather take it from my own hand.

Alec d'Urberville: [laughs] Don't be so coy, my pretty cousin. Go ahead.

[Tess goes ahead]

Alec d'Urberville: [pins a pink rose on Tess' dress] What's the matter?

Tess: A thorn.

Alec d'Urberville: Aw, cousin, beauty has its price.

Alec d'Urberville: Ungrateful little minx. Why abandon me as soon as you feel safe?

Tess: The danger came of your foolishness.

Alec d'Urberville: I say, what a temper.

Alec d'Urberville: I always go down hill at a gallop. You can't beat it for stirring the blood.

Tess: But, perhaps, you needn't do so again.

Alec d'Urberville: Perhaps, not. It all depends. One little kiss on those ruby lips or even on that satin cheek and I'd drive at a snails pace. Word of honor!

Tess: But, I don't want to be kissed, sir! Stop! Stop! I beg you! Very well, do as you wish. I don't mind. But, I thought you'd protect me, being a kinsman.

Alec d'Urberville: Kinsman be hanged.

[kisses Tess]

Alec d'Urberville: You're mighty sensitive for a village lass.

Alec d'Urberville: [sees Tess trying to learn how to whistle] Nor art nor nature ever created a lovelier thing than you, cousin Tess. To see that pretty mouth pouting and puffing away, without producing a single note.

Tess: It's all a part of my work, sir.

Alec d'Urberville: Well, never mind. I'll teach you. I won't lay a finger on you. See. I'll stay exactly where I am. Now, you watch me. Don't scrape your lips too tight. Do it like this.

[whistles]

Alec d'Urberville: Blow gently. Gently. Try. Try again. Again. There. You'll manage splendidly now that I've started you off.

Alec d'Urberville: What are you crying for?

Tess: I was only thinkin', I was born over there.

Alec d'Urberville: Well, we all have to be born somewhere.

Tess: Why, I wish I'd never been born. There or anywhere else.

Alec d'Urberville: You're absurdly melancholy, Tess. You can hold your own for beauty against any woman, queen or commoner. I tell you that as a practical man who wishes you well. If you're wise, you'll let the world get a clearer sight of that beauty, before it fades. Why not make the most of life?

Girl in henhouse: You watch out for... the Bailiff. He's a devil. Not, Mr. Alec. He spends half his time on horseback and the rest of it chasin' the likes of us! Oh, his mother's a queer old soul; but, no real trouble. Tis a mercy for us she's blind!

Tess: Mrs. d'Urberville's blind?

Girl in henhouse: Stone blind! Their real name is Stokes!

Tess: How's that?

Girl in henhouse: Oh, Mr. Alec's father had the notion. He bought the name of an old distinguished family to make himself important.

Tess: We can sometimes make our souls leave our bodies.

Dairyman Crick: How's that then, lady?

Tess: You only have to lie on the grass at night and look straight up at some great star. And stare at it with all your might. And by and by, you feel you're falling into the sky, miles and miles from your body, which you don't seem to need at all.

Angel Clare: Tess! Why run away like that? Are you afraid?

Tess: No, sir. Not of outdoor things, no.

Angel Clare: But, you have your indoor fears, eh?

Tess: I have, yes.

Angel Clare: At what?

Tess: I couldn't rightly say.

Angel Clare: Of the milk turning sour? Fear of life in general?

Tess: Yes, sir.

Angel Clare: So have I. Very often. Life's a puzzle. Don't you think?

Tess: Perhaps. Now, you've put it that way.

Izz: To put my arms around his neck and look into his eyes.

Tess: There is nothing in that.

Izz: There's a time for everything under heaven. A time to kiss and a time to cuddle.

Retty: Shame on you Izz.

Izz: It's scripture!

Angel Clare: Which are my hands and which are yours?

Tess: They're all yours.

Tess: You don't forgive me?

Angel Clare: You were one person, now you're another. Have mercy.

[laughs]

Angel Clare: Have Mercy.

Tess: What do you mean by that laugh? How can you speak to me like this? It frightens me. How can you?

Angel Clare: You are not the woman I love.

Tess: Well, who am I then?

Angel Clare: Another woman in her shape.

Angel Clare: I forgive you. But, forgiveness isn't all.

Tess: Nor love me.

Angel Clare: I can't help associating your lack of firmness with the decline of your family. Decrepit families imply deficient will power and decadent conduct. I thought you were a child of nature; but, you were the last in a line of degenerate aristocrats.

Angel Clare: Leave that! You're my wife, not my servant!

Tess: I'm your wife? You don't want to live with me. You want to go, don't you?

Angel Clare: I couldn't stay without despising myself. What is worse, without despising you. How can we live together while that man exists? He is your natural husband. Not I.

Angel Clare: It's absolutely necessary that one of us remain here - to avoid a scandal. We must at least keep up appearances.

Tess: Oh, yes. We must.

Farmer Groby: 'Tis late for a maid to be roamin' the lanes by herself. Have you lost your way, then? Step up here beside me and I'll take you part of the road. Why, you can scarcely put one foot in front'other. Right by me, I say! Aw, but I know you. You be Mr. Stokes-d'Urberville fancy woman.

[Tess turns to walk down a foot path]

Farmer Groby: You weren't too proud to cock a leg for 'im, eh? Trollop!

Alec d'Urberville: Forget about that mule you call your husband.

Tess: [strikes Alec] Go on, hit me! I shall not cry out. Once victim, always victim. That's the law.

Alec d'Urberville: I was your master once, I shall be so again. If you're any man's wife, you're mine!

Angel Clare: I should like to see Mrs. Clare.

Mrs. Durbeyfield: Mrs. Clare?

Angel Clare: Tess.

Mrs. Durbeyfield: Yes, I know. She's not here.

Angel Clare: You are Mrs. Durbeyfield?

Mrs. Durbeyfield: Yes.

Angel Clare: Where is she living?

Mrs. Durbeyfield: I don't know.

Angel Clare: I'm her husband.

Mrs. Durbeyfield: I guessed as much.

Tess: Did they sacrifice to God here?

Angel Clare: No. To the Sun, I believe. It was a pagan temple.

Tess: Older than the ages. Older than the d'Urbervilles.