Winter's Tale Quotes

  • Adult Willa: I like pecans.

  • Isaac Penn: Be brief. If you were one of my reporters, you'd be done by now. God created the world in six days. Ape him.

  • Peter Lake: Give me a chance and you'll melt all the snow in the world.

  • Peter Lake: Don't know who's more foolish; The horse who won't listen to his master or the master who listens to his horse.

  • Beverly Penn: We are all connected. Each baby born carries a miracle inside. A unique purpose and that miracle is promised to one person and one person alone. We are voyagers set on a course towards destiny, to find the one person our miracle is meant for. But be warned: as we seek out the light, darkness gathers and the eternal contest between good and evil is not fought with great armies... But one life at a time.

  • Pearly Soames: I'll tell you something that should chill your blood. No matter how far we tip the scales our way, no matter how many of them we turn dark, nothin' seems to break their capacity for hope. They pass it back and forth like the flu at a preschool fair. We're losing, Lucifer. One bright star at a time, we're losing.

  • Pearly Soames: ...nothing seems to break their capacity for hope. They pass it back and forth like the flu at a preschool fair.

  • [first lines]

    Beverly Penn: [narrating] What if, once upon a time, there were no stars in the sky at all? What if the stars are not what we think? What if the light from afar doesn't come from the rays of distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into angels? Destiny calls to each of us. And there is a world behind the world where we are all connected, all part of a great and moving plan. Magic is everywhere around us. You just have to look. Look. Look closely. For even time and distance are not what they appear to be.

  • Beverly Penn: The sicker I become, the more clearly I can see that everything is connected by light.

  • Peter Lake: Lately I've been having a bit of a disagreement with an old boss.

    Beverly Penn: I should imagine disputes in your line of work are hard to settle.

    Peter Lake: Challenging, yeah.

    Beverly Penn: What's the best thing you've ever stolen.

    Peter Lake: I'm beginning to think I haven't stolen it yet.

  • Pearly Soames: You see Beverly Penn, in my line, it's the ripples that give the work meaning. Ideas, they can do more good than harm. And that would be the opposite of the plan, you see.

  • Isaac Penn: Who are you? What do you do? What is your relationship to Beverly? Are you aware of her special condition? What are your motivations, intentions, and desires? Tell the absolute truth. Don't elaborate. Stop if a neighbor, child, or servant comes in. And be brief.

  • Isaac Penn: How do I know you're not moved by vanity or curiosity? How do I know that you're not here for the money in this family?

    Peter Lake: I was an orphan, orphans don't have vanity. I'm not quite sure why, but one needs parents to be vain.

  • Judge: You trained him. Picked him up off the street. The son you never had. Embarrassing, no?

    Judge: Shit happens.

  • Beverly Penn: [narrating] When true love is lost, life can bleed of all meaning. We are left blank. But the possibility of destiny remains. What we are meant for may yet be discovered. And once in a very long while, that journey to find our destiny may defeat even time itself.

  • [last lines]

    Beverly Penn: [narrating] Why would so many things conspire to save one little girl's life? But what if it wasn't just Abby? What if she is no more or less special than any of us? What if we are all unique, and the universe loves us all equally? So much so that it bends over backwards across the centuries for each and every one of us. And sometimes we are just lucky enough to see it.

    Beverly Penn: No life is more important than another. And nothing has been without purpose. Nothing. What if we are all part of a great pattern that we may someday understand? And one day, when we have done what we alone are capable of doing, we get to rise up and reunite with those we have loved the most, forever embraced. What if we get to become... stars.

  • Peter Lake: Is it possible to love someone so completely, they simply can't die?

  • Pearly Soames: Quit me? You don't quit me, boy. I've been blackening souls and crushing miracles for longer than I can remember. Do you ever ask yourself why the universe goes through all this trouble to help you fulfil your destiny and then throws me in your path? Maybe it's because God is just as bloodthirsty as the rest of us. Maybe he doesn't like eternal benevolence and light. Maybe he just likes a good fight.

    Peter Lake: Pearly Soames, I have no idea what you're talking about. But I'll tell you one thing: It's an awful shame your daddy didn't do a better job on your neck with a soda bottle.

    Pearly Soames: Is that right, little Peter Lake? Well, let's see what we're gonna do with you.

  • Pearly Soames: Lucifer! I need to stop this one, Now!

    Judge: [angrily] Now? You have no idea what "now" is. Now, I was flying. Now, I breathed fire and I ate them as they fled. Now, I whipped my tail and the winds trembled. Now, I am hidden in this pale shade of flesh and bone. Now, I am witness to man's eternal salvation, now I am witness to his demise. Do NOT speak to me of time, demon! It's simplest ebbs and turns elude your meager understanding! Find another way, *NOW*!