- Ada Brook: Whatever happens to Armstrong, she doesn't deserve Miss Scott's pity... not after all the things she's said.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: She's a pathetic figure who uses her prejudices like a crutch. We can all pity her for that.
- Marian Brook: I want to see the new opera house.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: And so you will throw over an old friend without a backward glance.
- Marian Brook: The Academy isn't my 'old friend.' I'd never heard of it before I came to New York.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: In our world, old friendships are hereditary.
- Duke of Buckingham: I hope I'm not late.
- Bertha Russell: Late or early, you are very welcome, Duke.
- Duke of Buckingham: I hope you will call me Hector.
- George Russell: I'm not sure Mrs. Russell will approve of that.
- Bertha Russell: Why not? Of course I approve. And you ought to call us George and Bertha and Larry and Gladys.
- Duke of Buckingham: [asking Gladys] Would you mind?
- Gladys Russell: I don't see how I can when you're only obeying orders.
- T. Thomas Fortune: There's nothing I can say to make you change your mind?
- Peggy Scott: No.
- T. Thomas Fortune: I just wish things could have been different.
- Peggy Scott: Me too. But bad timing shapes our lives.
- Oscar Van Rhijn: Mama, I don't know how many times I can say I'm sorry.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: What do I care that you're sorry? You ruin your mother and tip your family into the dirt! You throw away the work of centuries!
- Peggy Scott: The results weren't perfect, perhaps, but they're good. And they show us what can be achieved when we try.
- Marian Brook: Aunt Agnes, Oscar didn't...
- Agnes Van Rhijn: Oscar didn't what? Make inquiries? Check Miss Beaton's history? Take the usual precautions that any sane housewife would take just to order a loaf of bread? No, you're right. He didn't.
- Oscar Van Rhijn: I see all the skeletons and ghouls are here.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: They may be old, but they are the backbone of society.
- Oscar Van Rhijn: A broken back, if you ask me.
- Agnes Van Rhijn: So this is to be the end of my story. I survive my feckless brother and marry a man who was not easy so that I might live a life that was dignified and secure. But instead, I am to be turned out of my house to beg for my bread on street corners.
- T. Thomas Fortune: But the fight must go on. And this has been a reminder of how much work there is for us to do.
- Baudin (aka Borden): Close your mouth. You don't want people to think you've never been in an opera house before.
- Mrs. Bruce: Is it that obvious?
- Turner: We were to have the central box. We were to have Mrs. Russell's box. She's made a fool of me again.
- Joshua Winterton: If she has, don't make it worse.
- Turner: I'm leaving.
- Joshua Winterton: No, you need to be part of this event. And you don't want to show Mrs. Russell has defeated you, so sit down. And look as if it's all just as you planned.
- Mamie Fish: Oh, my dear, American society has been reinvented tonight. And you are at the very heart of it.
- Ward McAllister: Ladies, I know it's hard, but it's time to face the truth. To quote Ecclesiastes, for everything in life, there is a season. And it seems the season of the Academy of Music is drawing to a close.