Rose: I have a really dumb question.
Sophia: And I have a box of Chiclets. What's your point?

Rose: What's our plan, Dorothy?
Dorothy: What is this? Mission: Impossible? Do I look like Peter Graves?
Sophia: You could if you'd put a rinse in your hair and wear a lighter lipstick like I beg you.

Ben: Are you gonna tie a bow in that when you've finished wrapping it up?
Rose: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I'm a bit compulsive. It's the Minnesota farm girl in me.
Ben: You're from Minnesota?
Rose: Yes.
Ben: No kidding? So am I.
Rose: Well, what a coincidence. Isn't that amazing? St. Olaf.
Ben: Ben Wheaton. Pleased to meet you.
Rose: Oh, no, my name is Rose Nylund. I come from St. Olaf.
Ben: Oh, I should've known that you weren't a saint. It's too much to expect a miracle this late in the game.

Blanche: What are you staring at?
Kenny: Your purse.
Blanche: You just be careful, son. There is a long list of men who bear the scars of trying the wrong thing at the wrong time with me. Scars, I might add, that are not visible to the general public.
Kenny: I thought you might have a piece of gum.
Blanche: Oh. Well, I might. You want me to take a look?
Kenny: Forget it.
Blanche: Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just a little uncomfortable here.
Kenny: Helps if you stuff newspapers under the mattress.
Blanche: That's not what I meant. I was talking about being here at the shelter.
Kenny: This is your first time?
Blanche: Oh, lord, it's been ages since I heard that from a man. Yes, it is my first time.
Kenny: I can give you a few pointers if you like.
Blanche: Now, that I've never heard before.

Dorothy: Are you comfortable, Ma?
Sophia: Oh, yeah. Before we leave, I wanna get the model number off this cot. I'm hoping Ethan Allen makes one in knotty pine.

Rose: Were you kidding me about being from Minnesota?
Ben: Absolutely not. I spent 22 years working the prime noon-to-eight shift at the Minneapolis Excelsior Hotel.
Rose: I don't believe it. Where did you live in Minneapolis?
Ben: Oh, 22 years, lots of places, but my last home was near the intersection of Bartholomew and Third.
Rose: Oh, that's a lovely neighborhood. Why did you leave?
Ben: Well, I liked to entertain a lot, but the cardboard box I was living in was only suitable for small dinner parties.

Kenny: Breakfast is cereal and coffee. And they ask you to pay a quarter, but if you say you don't have it, no one makes a fuss. Just make sure you get there early. A lot of times they run out.
Blanche: Well, lovely as that sounds, Kenny, I usually skip breakfast. When you reach 45, you have to keep an eye on your figure, if you know what I mean.
Kenny: Blanche, who do you think you're fooling?
Blanche: Oh, all right. 48.
Kenny: That's not what I mean. I mean, what are you doing in this place? You don't belong here.
Blanche: I most certainly do.
Kenny: Hey, hey, it's OK. I'm just curious. See, I don't belong here either.
Blanche: You don't?
Kenny: No. I'm in graduate school. I'm undercover, working on my doctorate in sociology.
Blanche: Now, I knew it. I knew it. The minute we started talking, I said to myself: "Now, how could a bright boy like him end up here?" You're more like my own son than you are like those people you see stopping strangers for spare change. Oh, well, that explains it all. Now I feel much better. So you're really a student working on your doctorate.
Kenny: I'm really an alcoholic who needs a place to sleep.
Blanche: What?
Kenny: It's true. I've already got my doctorate.

Dorothy: When did you leave the home, Mrs. Perkins?
Ida: Maybe a year now. I don't really keep track.
Dorothy: Well, what made you decide to leave?
Ida: Decide? Some things in life you never get to decide. Some things just happen.
Sophia: What happened, Ida?
Ida: I didn't know - nobody told me - that it cost money to get old. I just figured that was one thing you'd get for free. It isn't. The home cost money, the doctors cost money, medicine costs money. You know, I always thought it was sad I outlived my whole family, but I never knew it was going to be a punishment.

Ben: [to Rose] The hotel business started to slump. Hundreds of people got laid off. I went looking for work, but believe it or not, most businesses aren't anxious to train a 55-year-old black hotel porter. Go figure it, huh?

Kenny: It's all about pressure from family, from professors, from friends. No room to slide. Have to be perfect. Guess what, Blanche. I'm not perfect.