Dean: So... what makes cupcakes taste so "down home"?
Lillian: Slavery. And bacon grease in the pan. But mainly slavery.

Bill: You can't fix every baby bird with a broken wing. Even if it is Dean's friend.
Dean: He's not my friend.
Bill: You remember Homeless Joe? How many batches of hot water cornbread you bring him? Still on that stuff.
Lillian: Well, that ain't the cornbread's fault.
Bill: And what about your Cousin Joanne who needed $100 to start that hair salon?
Adult Dean: Mm-hmm. Then she met a man with a Cadillac, and we never saw her again.
Lillian: Well, I will not apologize for being Christ-like.
Bill: Hmm. You weren't so Christ-like when that co-ed from my college needed a place to stay. [laughs]
Lillian: [laughs sarcastically] What that girl needed was a job and a shirt with a neckline. Mm-hmm.

Lillian: There's a new ice cream place over in Cloverdale. You think you can take yourself away from that school work long enough to get yourself a double scoop?
Dean: Is this a test? Like when you ask me if I want sugar in my grits?
Lillian: No, I'm not gonna spank you this time. This is for real.

Dean: Well, since you asked, I did overhear some older kids talking the other day. [sighs] What's a period?
Bill: Damn it, Lillian!
Lillian: Okay. A period...
Adult Dean: In the '60s, most women didn't openly talk about sex, but Mama was always ahead of the curve. She was the first Black woman in her hometown to learn how to drive. She was the first Black woman in her hometown to go to college.
And I can't prove this one, but I'm fairly certain she was the first Black woman in the neighborhood to own a cardboard box chock-full of porn.
Lillian: One day, there is going to be a woman that you love, and knowing this about the opposite sex is gonna make you a more open and caring partner. Most men have no idea about the female sex drive, and I don't want you to turn out like them.
Bill: True. Wait, in this scenario, is Dean most men, or am I?
Lillian: All I'm saying is I know this isn't what you were expecting to hear from a woman, especially your mom, but I don't think it's too much for me to ask that my son grow up to be a caring and tender man. I'll be taking these.
Bill: Aren't you forgetting the "just like his father" part? [Lillian keeps walking] "Just like your father." It was implied.

Adult Dean: Mama was overwhelmed by what Daddy had done. He bucked society's norms for the woman he loved. Then she turned on a dime.
Lillian: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Where's Dean gonna live? What's he gonna do while you're working? What's he gonna eat?
Bill: I think they have food in New York, Lillian.
Lillian: Dean Williams, you listen to me. Don't you go anywhere without your father. There's a lot of traffic in New York City, so make sure you look both ways before you cross the street. [sighs] You know what? Just don't even cross the street. Just stay on whatever street you're on and make all lefts. Oh, my baby. [hugs Dean]

Adult Dean: My dad was a music professor by day and a funk musician by night. In other words, he was the baddest dude I knew.
Lillian: Dean, I know you did not just come into this house without speaking.
Dean: But I heard...
Lillian: No "buts"! How about "Hello, Mama. Hello, Daddy. How are you?"
Kim: [enters] I heard Daddy's song in Kwame's car.
Lillian: You did? Dean, quit running your mouth and turn on the radio!
Dean: That's what I was trying...
Lillian: Boy, move!

Lillian: Thanks to that little tip you gave, I caught some kids getting fresh by the offering room.
Dean: [chokes] You did?
Adult Dean: Looks like my lie didn't turn out to be a lie. Look at God.
Lillian: Yes. Kids will be kids. But save that stuff for the cornfields and the haylofts, where it belongs.
Adult Dean: Mama grew up in the country. They got it in where they could.

Lillian: Did you hear what she said about "good hair"? Like anybody's hair could stay good out in this type of humidity for hours.
Vivian: I did. It was right after she said, "We only take a certain type of family into Lads and Ladies." I see a whole lot of milk chocolate out here and not a lot of dark chocolate.
Lillian: Mm-hmm.

Dean: Why do you always wanna talk? Women don't know anything about this stuff.
Lillian: What stuff?
Dean: Nudie magazines and stuff.
Lillian: Those magazines aren't your father's. They're mine. [rumbling]
Adult Dean: At that moment, it felt like time almost stood still. [Lillian speaking in slow-motion] [high-pitched ringing]
Dean: Why would you want to look at magazines like those?
Lillian: You remember when your father would be on the road with the band a lot? Well, I would miss him.
Dean: Are there pictures of him in those magazines?
Lillian: No. Not exactly. But there are pictures of couples. And some of the men would remind me of your dad. [Bill groans] We even used to look at them together.

Lillian: I had to bake the cookies for Bruce's care package 'cause you didn't do it like I asked you to.
Kim: I'm still gonna make them.
Lillian: You were supposed to make them two days ago. They're already done. I'm headed to the post office now.
Kim: Per usual, I get nothing, and Bruce, the perfect first-born, gets everything. Maybe if I was fighting for the imperialistic, capitalist machine, a sister could get a skirt hemmed.
Lillian: Oh, sweetheart. It's "If I were fighting." "If I were." [clicks tongue] And you know where my sewing kit is. Hem it yourself.
Kim: But my hems are always crooked.
Lillian: That's why you need to practice.