- [Arriving home with her husband after sending the youngest of their three sons off to the Korean War, Sarah begins trashing the husband's WWI shrine.]
- Sarah Greer: Liar! Crazy, crazy liar! You never were in any one of those places and you know it. You never heard a shot fired. You were in Paris all through the war, shining up a general's boots, bringing him bicarbonate of soda when he'd drunk too much the night before. I went along with you; I thought it was childish, foolish, but I didn't think it did any harm. I thought if it made you feel any better to pretend you'd won the war alone, who did it hurt? But then I saw something: when your son Riley was killed
- [in WWII]
- Sarah Greer: , you were proud. And Martin was missing for four days in France; it made you feel important. You were a big man in Iverson's bar for an evening. Well, that's all over. You can take all this junk right back where you captured it with your own two hands, back to the pawn shop on Sixth Avenue in New York. As of this evening, there are no more professional heroes in this house.
- Martin Greer: In about ten years he's going to ask me a question: What were you doing, Daddy, when the world was shaking?
- Martin Greer: ...Maybe that's the way we all are: we think we're on a holiday, but Somebody somewhere knows that the holiday's over.
- Thomas Greer: [about being a soldier] Now remember, if you can move it, pick it up. If you can't move it, paint it. And if it moves by itself, salute it.
- George Kress Sr.: I wanna' thank you, Mr. Greer, because you've taught me something. The next son I have I'm only gonna' tell two words. "Be indispensable."
- Nancy Greer: What's wrong, darling?
- Martin Greer: Nothing. I just wanted to wait up for the late news.
- Nancy Greer: What is the news?
- Martin Greer: Foreign news: people are shooting at each other, as usual. On the domestic scene: hair tonic, as usual. Rumbas, as usual. Saloons, as usual. The human race, as usual.
- Gladys: [to the bartender, after he's refused to serve a beer to an underage soldier, George Kress, Jr] You know what you did? You insulted the United States Army. And don't think people aren't gonna' hear about it.
- Thomas Greer: You remember all that junk I used to have around the living room, all those helmets, and guns, and swords...
- Martin Greer: Yeah?
- Thomas Greer: I suppose you noticed the last time you were over at the house that they're gone.
- Martin Greer: Yeah.
- Thomas Greer: I threw 'em away. Do you know why?
- Martin Greer: Well, they pick up a lot of dust, pop.
- Thomas Greer: No, no, I threw 'em away because I... I haven't got any right to 'em.
- Martin Greer: What do you mean?
- Thomas Greer: I wasn't in the 42nd. I never was in no Rainbow Division. I never crawled through the wire, or shot at anybody. Nobody ever shot at me. I never heard a shot fired. I... I was in Paris for the whole war. I was a dog robber for a general in the... Quartermasters. I lived for 22 months in a hotel.
- Martin Greer: I know, pop.
- Thomas Greer: [taken aback] What?
- Martin Greer: I know. I knew all along.
- Thomas Greer: Well, why did you let me go on like that all these years?
- Martin Greer: There are certain lies a son never can call his father on, pop. When Tony's time comes, I hope he'll do the same for me. Now, come on, let's go downstairs. And don't take it too hard, pop. If they had sent you to the front, you'd have been a first class fighting man.
- Thomas Greer: Well, that's what I keep telling myself, but, who knows?
- Carrie Turner: [in Jack's clutches] Can't a girl say 'there's a moon' in this town without having you lunge at her?
- Carrie Turner: I've a plan for myself. I've made up my mind - until I'm twenty-five, nothing serious.
- Jack Greer: Twenty-five? That's five more years.
- [gets closer, starts to nuzzle her]
- Carrie Turner: That's right.
- Jack Greer: The world could blow up in five years.
- Carrie Turner: Well, we'll just have to take that chance.
- Jack Greer: What do you expect to do for five years
- [pulls away from her quickly]
- Jack Greer: ... knit?
- Carrie Turner: [exasperated, stands up] Keep walking.
- George Kress Jr.: [after striking out with girls on the street in town] You know what the trouble is? You! You're depressing. You're an anchor.
- Jack Greer: Maybe you're right, kid.
- George Kress Jr.: Got no spirit. You're dead on your feet. You're gonna come down with melancholia.
- Jack Greer: With what?
- George Kress Jr.: Melancholia. I read it in a book. One of the guys at the barracks has it - rents it out for fifty cents a night. 'Adolescent Repressions and Their Emotional Consequences'. Oh, it's scientific! It's psychological!
- Nancy Greer: [to Carrie] Love? You have no idea how loving a man can be after he's been overseas for twenty-eight months.