Where the Heart Is Quotes

Mama Lil: You got a man?

Novalee Nation: No.

Mama Lil: This isn't one of them artificial spermanation things, is it?

Novalee Nation: No.

Mama Lil: Then where is the prick who put you in this mess?

Novalee Nation: California.

Mama Lil: [chuckles] That figures. All the pricks move to California. They oughta call it Prickafornia.

Novalee Nation: Oh, I got money. The president of Wal-Mart gave me five hundred dollars.

Mama Lil: Why, he's not the father of the baby, is he?

Novalee Nation: No.

Mama Lil: Ah, shit.

Novalee Nation: It's too late, isn't it, Forney?

Forney Hull: Too late for what?

Novalee Nation: I lied to you, when you asked me if I loved you, and I said no. Remember?

Forney Hull: Yes.

Novalee Nation: I lied. It wasn't true, I-I love you. It's just I lied because I thought you deserved something better.

Forney Hull: Something better than you? Novalee, there isn't anything better than you.

[they kiss]

Ruth Meyers: Jesus Christ, another guitar player. What's your name?

Willy Jack Pickens: Willie Jack Pickens.

Ruth Meyers: I bet you didn't even have to make that up, did you?

Willy Jack Pickens: What?

Ruth Meyers: So, you just carry that guitar around to keep your balance?

Willy Jack Pickens: You want me to play?

Ruth Meyers: What the fuck do you think I want you to do, call bingo? One tune; your best shot.

Willy Jack Pickens: Well, I wrote this one myself.

Ruth Meyers: I have goosebumps already.

Novalee Nation: I think I might be pregnant. You remember that guy I told you about last month?

Lexie Coop: The good-lookin' mechanic?

Novalee Nation: I don't know what's wrong with me. I didn't even want to be with him.

Lexie Coop: Didn't he use anything?

Novalee Nation: Just me.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: I'm Sister Husband! Oh you remember me! You used to call me Telma because you couldn't say Thelma.

[Novalee just looks at her]

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Can you say Thelma?

Novalee Nation: [softly] Thelma.

Orderly: Lexie, one of your kids is on the phone.

Lexie Coop: Which one?

Orderly: Oh, I don't know. Pez? Twinkie? One of 'em.

Novalee Nation: Americus, what are you doing?

Americus: Eatin' dough in my nose.

Novalee Nation: Do I look professional?

Forney Hull: Well you know what'd help?

Novalee Nation: What?

Forney Hull: If you brought your camera

Novalee Nation: SHIT!...

[to Americus]

Novalee Nation: Mommy didn't say shit!

Americus: Yes, she did.

Novalee Nation: I lied, Forney.

Forney Hull: You lied? You didn't go to Tennessee?

Novalee Nation: At the end of each letter he writes, "Please tell your mother I extend my best wishes."

Lexie Coop: Hot.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: [answers the door] Yes?

Religious Man: Ma'am, we've come here today to give the word of God to the Wal-Mart baby, and to her young unmarried mother.

Religious Woman: We drove all the way up from Midnight, Mississippi.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Well, you folks could have saved yourselves a trip because the word of God has been in this house for a very long time.

[slams door in their faces]

Lexie Coop: Americus? What kind of a name is Americus?

Novalee Nation: I wanted her to have a strong name.

Lexie Coop: Well, I guess I shouldn't talk. I named my kids after snack foods: Brownie, Praline, Cherry and Baby Ruth.

Lexie Coop: He told you he loved you, and you didn't say anything?

Novalee Nation: I'm a dope. I'm such a dope, but I was scared. I was confused. The whole thing is just strange.

Lexie Coop: Honey, don't take this the wrong way, but Forney is strange.

Novalee Nation: [uncertainly] I'm looking for a book.

Forney Hull: What kind of book?

Novalee Nation: About... 'bout trees?

Forney Hull: Trees?

Novalee Nation: Yeah.

[makes motion over her head to demonstrate]

Novalee Nation: You know.

Forney Hull: Forestry? Environment? Agriculture? Botany? What do you want to know about trees?

Moses Whitecotten: Have you thought of a name yet?

Novalee Nation: Well, I was thinking about Wendi with an "i."

Moses Whitecotten: Oh no, don't you dare.

Novalee Nation: I hope we can find a place to live that overlooks the ocean.

Willy Jack Pickens: Hell, Novalee, you can't see the ocean from Bakersfield!

Novalee Nation: Well... well, maybe a pond then.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: That's what the late Brother Husband used to say...

Novalee Nation: Brother Husband... Was he your husband?

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: No, he was my brother.

Rhonda: You know the floor is missing?

Novalee Nation: Willy Jack got the whole car for 80 bucks. He had to fix everything on it. And here's the best part.

[points at the license plate]

Novalee Nation: No fives!

Nicki: You and your fives.

Rhonda: What fives?

Novalee Nation: On my fifth birthday my mama ran off with a baseball umpire named Fred and never came back. And after I dropped out of school and was waiting tables at Red's, one of the regulars there named Gladys went crazy. When I tried to calm her down she jumped at me with a steak knife and cut me from my wrist to my elbow.

Rhonda: And what's that got to do with fives?

Nicki: It took 55 stitches to close her up.

Novalee Nation: I don't like fives.

Willy Jack Pickens: Hey Novalee! Wake up, you sound like the damn pig! Jesus, what the hell is the matter with you? And where are your shoes?

[looks through the back windshield]

Willy Jack Pickens: Well that's just great. That's great.

Novalee Nation: My feet are swollen. I had to take them off.

Novalee Nation: [yells] Ooh!

Willy Jack Pickens: What the hell?

Novalee Nation: Wal-Mart! I can go to the bathroom!

Willy Jack Pickens: Alright, hurry up.

Novalee Nation: Hun, I'm gonna need some money.

Willy Jack Pickens: They're gonna charge you to pee?

Novalee Nation: I could get some house shoes. I gotta get some kind of shoes.

Willy Jack Pickens: Alright, get you some house shoes. Get you some green polka dot house shoes. That way everyone will be sure to notice you!

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: On behalf of the merchants and businessman's association of the city of Sequoia, Oklahoma I do present you with this basket of gifts and merchandise.

Novalee Nation: [takes basket] Thank you.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: You've got discount coupons, matches, a map of the city, emery boards.

[interrupts herself]

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Oh, oh yeah. Now you see this little appointment book? Well I ran out of these last week so I had to put two or three of my own appointments in this one. But if you're not an alcoholic you'll know those meetings aren't for you.

Novalee Nation: No ma'am. I'm not.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Good. I think that's good.

Novalee Nation: What do you think? It took me a whole month to get back to my old size.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Oh, well, a little weight on a woman is no harm.

Forney Hull: Do you love me?

Novalee Nation: You are the best friend I've ever had.

Forney Hull: Just answer me.

Novalee Nation: You delivered my baby.

Forney Hull: Do you love me?

Novalee Nation: No. No, Forney, I don't love you. Not that way.

Lexie Coop: Forney is in love with you! Tell me you don't know that.

Novalee Nation: It's just not like that with me and Forney.

Lexie Coop: I have seen him. He loves you. He loves the way you walk, he loves your hair, he loves everything about you.

Novalee Nation: Forney and me we're just not that way. Forney's different from us. He went to college. His family had money.

Lexie Coop: What are you trying to say? That you're not good enough for him?

Novalee Nation: I swear I spent more on film than I got paid.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: [looking at wedding pictures] What's going on here?

Novalee Nation: Well it turns out the groom's former girlfriend was a waitress at the reception. This was right after the bride called her a cheap, big-ass tramp.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: Who's this on the stretcher?

Novalee Nation: That's the waitress after the bridesmaids finished jumping up and down on her.

Thelma 'Sister' Husband: [laughing] You think they're gonna want these pictures?

Lexie Coop: [driving up to the curb] Hi! Sorry honey but I made it.

Novalee Nation: Was it a big inconvenience?

Lexie Coop: Novalee, I have 5 children. Everything is an inconvenience. Mind if I drive real slow on the way home? I'd like to pretend it's a vacation.

Americus: Forney, if you give a cow chocolate will you get chocolate milk?

Forney Hull: Yeah. And if you spin a cow around real fast you'll get whipped cream.

Americus: Wow! You know a lot.

Forney Hull: Well, I work in the library.

Willy Jack Pickens: I was coming to see you.

Novalee Nation: Sure.

Willy Jack Pickens: I was.

Novalee Nation: What were you going to do, Willy Jack? Go back to the Wal-Mart. Think I'd still be there waiting for you 5 years later?

Willy Jack Pickens: No. I just.

Novalee Nation: I gave birth at a Wal-Mart.

Willy Jack Pickens: Was it a boy? Was it a girl?

[yells]

Willy Jack Pickens: Is it alright? Does it have a name?

Novalee Nation: Yes, it's a girl. Her name is Americus and she's mine. You stay away from her!

Willy Jack Pickens: Stay away from her? I can't even get out of this bed, Novalee. What am I going to do, run away with her?

Novalee Nation: If you think I'm going to feel sorry for you.

Willy Jack Pickens: [interrupts] I just get some new legs and a new liver. That's all.

Novalee Nation: [yells] Then why'd you come here? Why you coming after us?

Forney Hull: Here!

[throws books on the table]

Forney Hull: Look up Buckeye in the index.

Novalee Nation: The what?

Forney Hull: I'll start slower, these are called books. You still with me?

Novalee Nation: Hey!

Forney Hull: There. See, read.

Novalee Nation: Leaf rot. Root damage. Night nitro.

[struggling]

Novalee Nation: Night nitrogen defic... defic...

Forney Hull: Deficiency! Keep reading.

Forney Hull: Are you finding everything you need?

Novalee Nation: I don't know what they're talking about. I have to look up every other word in the dictionary then I have to look up those words in the children's dictionary. Takes me a half hour to read a page.

Forney Hull: Well maybe this is something that's hard to learn from books. I mean, it's photography.

Novalee Nation: Hard for me, anyway.