Dr. Budd: Look, don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever thought about seeing a psychiatrist?
Dorothy: I have seen two. Here are their letters. They both say there is nothing psychologically wrong with me. They believe it is physical.
Dr. Budd: What the hell do they know? Psychiatry's not a science.
Dorothy: Then why did you suggest I see one?
Dr. Budd: Because what you have is not scientific. What else was I going to do? Send you to New Mexico to a shaman? There's nothing wrong with you, Dorothy, except what happens to all of us. In case you haven't noticed, you're not 30. Take a cruise, Dorothy. Go to a hypnotist. Change your hair color. My wife became a blonde. She's a new woman.

Rose: [on the phone] Yes, room service? Hello, this is Rose Nylund, and I'm staying here in your lovely hotel. Well, I think I need a new menu. Mine seems to be full of mistakes. For example, it says a small glass of tomato juice is six dollars. [laughs] I see. [Dorothy enters] Oh, room service, I'll have to call you back.

Dorothy: [crying] Oh, Rose, that's not it.
Rose: Well, what is it, Dorothy? What happened?
Dorothy: Oh. Maybe I am crazy. Nobody believes me. Everybody thinks I'm crazy. Maybe I am. Maybe I'm really crazy.
Rose: Oh, Dorothy, you are not crazy. I mean, you are absolutely not crazy. I've seen the way you walk. I've seen how wiped out you get. You're not crazy, honey. You're sick.
Dorothy: I think so too. I really do, but nobody believes me.

Sophia: I think the worst thing in the world is if your child dies before you do.
Dorothy: Sophia, Dorothy is not going to die.
Sophia: I know that.
Blanche: She'll be fine.
Sophia: I know.
Blanche: Why do you do that, Rose? Why do you make up stories?
Sophia: It wouldn't feel right to live anymore, you know? If a kid dies, it wouldn't feel fair to live.
Rose: Sophia, Dorothy's not dying.
Sophia: How do you know, Rose?
Rose: I know.
Blanche: Oh, now, honey, she's right. I know too, and I'm a writer. I see things more clearly than the average person. My perceptions are keener.
Rose: Oh, knock it off, Blanche. Sophia, we have all seen our husbands die. We know what that is.
Sophia: Except for her. She was getting a manicure.
Blanche: Pedicure.

Sophia: Well, I'm 80-something, and I've seen more death and dying than any of you. Over the past five months, we've seen a perfectly healthy, energetic woman waste away. She can't do anything anymore. So what difference does it make that they don't have a name for it yet? It's still something. There were lots of diseases they didn't have a name for. You think they had a name for the Black Plague when one guy had it? Thousands had to die before they knew what it was. Dorothy could be dying, and they just don't know it.

Sophia: Two and a half hours! I thought you'd died. What's wrong with you?
Dr. Stevens: Nothing.
Sophia: Who are you?
Dr. Stevens: I'm the doctor.
Sophia: We'll see about that.
Dr. Stevens: Look, Mrs...?
Sophia: Petrillo. I'm Dorothy's mother, and I want to know what's wrong with her. And don't tell me nothing because I know there's something wrong with her. Mothers know.
Dorothy: Look, Ma, I'll talk to you about it later.
Dr. Stevens: Your daughter is fine, Mrs Petrillo.
Sophia: 100%?
Dr. Stevens: 100%.
Sophia: Tiptop?
Dr. Stevens: Tiptop.
Sophia: Then, Mr. 100% Tiptop, why the hell does she feel like hell?

Blanche: Rose, it doesn't matter. I was beautiful. That was the point. I was breathtaking. Even more breathtaking than I am today. But my beauty was not everything, my mama said. My destiny was to be more than every man's passion. She said my destiny was to be great.
Sophia: She lied to you so you'd finish high school.

Blanche: Dorothy, you want to hear my idea? You won't believe it.
Dorothy: Sorry, Blanche, I can't.
Rose: What's the matter, Dorothy?
Dorothy: Oh, I don't know what to do. I just don't know. I was in front of the class and I couldn't talk. I was too tired to talk. Not that they would have listened. They were too busy sniffing the whiteout they'd stolen from typing class. I had to excuse them early. I mean, I just cannot get rid of this flu. And it keeps getting worse, not better.
Rose: But it's been months now. Maybe it's not the flu. Flu doesn't last that long.
Blanche: You ought to go back to Dr. Raymond.
Dorothy: I did, Blanche. He said I'm fine.

Blanche: Get a second opinion.
Sophia: She did. She went to Dr. Schlesinger.
Blanche: Well, then, you are fine. Now, you want to hear my idea?
Rose: She is not fine, Blanche. Look at her.
Blanche: I didn't say she looks fine. I said she was fine. She looks like hell.
Dorothy: Thank you, Blanche.

Dr. Stevens: Sorry to keep you waiting, Lorraine, but there was something I had to take care of.
Dorothy: No, I'm not Lorraine.
Dr. Stevens: You're not Lorraine Maslansky?
Dorothy: No.
Dr. Stevens: Really? Because I have her chart here.
Dorothy: Hand me my purse. I'll check my driver's license.