Jim Taylor
"[when Smith is announced as the newly appointed Senator] I want you to let the ballyhoo boys loose, plan a celebration, and declare a holiday."

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Jim Taylor
"Well what do you want me to do? Stand around like you chumps and let that drooling infant wrap that Willet Creek Dam appropriation around my neck! Not me, ha, ha, ha. Either he falls in line with us and behaves himself or Ill break him so wide open theyll never be able to find the pieces."

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Jim Taylor
"Our steam-roller methods are getting too hard for your sensitive soul. Is that it? The Silver Knight is getting too big for us. My methods have been all right for the past twenty years, Joe. Since I picked you out of a fly-specked hole in the wall and blew you up to look like a Senator. And now you cant stand it."

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Jim Taylor
"If he even starts to convince those Senators, you might as well blow your brains out, you know that, dont ya? This is the works, Joe! Either were out of business or were bigger than we ever were before. We cant miss a trick. We cant stop at anything until weve smashed this yokel and buried him so deep..."

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"Senator: I didnt like this boy from the beginning. But most of us feel that no man who wasnt sincere could stage a fight like this against these impossible odds."

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"H.V. Kaltenborn: [Announcing on the radio] Half of official Washington is here to see democracys finest show, the filibuster, the right to talk your head off, the American privilege of free speech in its most dramatic form. The least man in that chamber, once he gets and holds that floor by the rules, can hold it and talk as long as he can stand on his feet providing always, first, that he does not sit down, second, that he does not leave the chamber or stop talking. The galleries are packed. In the diplomatic gallery are the envoys of two dictator powers. They have come here to see what they cant see at home. DEMOCRACY IN ACTION."

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"H.V. Kaltenborn: [Announcing on the radio] ...It is the most unusual and spectacular thing in the Senate annals. One lone and simple American holding the greatest floor in the land. What he lacked in experience, hes made up in fight. But those tired Boy Ranger legs are buckling, bleary-eyed, voice gone, he cant go on much longer. And all official Washington is here to be in on the kill."

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Jefferson Smith
"Dad always used to say the only causes worth fighting for were the lost causes."

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Jefferson Smith
"[Describing his home state] Ive been over every single foot of it. You could have no idea. You just have to see it for yourself. I dont know. The prairies and wind leaning on the tall grass and lazy streams down in the meadows, angry little midgets of water up in the mountains, cattle moving down the slope against the sun. Campfires and snowdrifts. You know, everybody ought to have some of that sometime in his life. My dad had the right idea. And it all worked out. He used to say to me: Son, dont miss the wonders that surround you because every tree, every rock, every anthill, every star is filled with the wonders of nature. And he used to say to me: Have you ever noticed how grateful you are to see daylight again after coming through a long dark tunnel? Well, hed say, Always try to see life around ya as if youd just come out of a tunnel."

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Jefferson Smith
"You sure had the right idea about me, Saunders. You told me to go back home, keep fillin those kids full of hooey. Yeah. Just a simple guy you said was still wet behind the ears. A lot of junk about American ideals. Yeah, thats certainly a lot of junk, all right...I dont know. This is a whole new world to me. What are you gonna believe in? And a man like Paine, Senator Joseph Paine gets up and swears that Ive been robbin kids of nickels and dimes - a man Ive admired and worshipped all my life. I dont know. There are a lot of fancy words around this town. Some of them are carved in stone. Some of em, I guess the Taylors and Paines have put em up there so suckers like me can read em. Then when you find out what men actually do - Well, Im gettin out of this town so fast and away from all the words and the monuments and the whole rotten show."

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Jefferson Smith
"The people of my state need permanent relief from crooked men riding their backs."

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Jefferson Smith
"[After reading the Declaration of Independence] Now, youre not gonna have a country that can make these kind of rules work, if you havent got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the nose. [The Senate applauds] Its a funny thing about men, you know. They all start life being boys. I wouldnt be a bit suprised if some of these Senators were boys once. And thats why it seemed like a pretty good idea for me to get boys out of crowded cities and stuffy basements for a couple of months out of the year. And build their bodies and minds for a man-sized job, because those boys are gonna be behind these desks some of these days. And it seemed like a pretty good idea, getting boys from all over the country, boys of all nationalities and ways of living. Getting them together. Let them find out what makes different people tick the way they do. Because I wouldnt give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didnt have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a - a little lookin out for the other fella, too...Thats pretty important, all that. Its just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great men handed down to the human race, thats all. But of course, if youve got to build a dam where that boys camp ought to be, to get some graft to pay off some political army or something, well thats a different thing. Oh no! If you think Im going back there and tell those boys in my state and say: Look. Now fellas. Forget about it. Forget all this stuff Ive been tellin you about this land you live in is a lot of hooey. This isnt your country. It belongs to a lot of James Taylors. Oh no! Not me! And anybody here that thinks Im gonna do that, theyve got another thing comin. (He whistles loudly with his fingers in his mouth, startling Senators who are dozing or reading other materials) Thats all right. I just wanted to find out if you still had faces. Im sorry gentlemen. I-I know Im being disrespectful to this honorable body, I know that. I- A guy like me should never be allowed to get in here in the first place. I know that! And I hate to stand here and try your patience like this, but EITHER IM DEAD RIGHT OR IM CRAZY."

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Jefferson Smith
"[His voice very hoarse, from his filibuster] Just get up off the ground, thats all I ask. Get up there with that lady thats up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you wont just see scenery; youll see the whole parade of what Mans carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting sos he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. Thats what youd see. Theres no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if thats what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then wed better get those boys camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And its not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles dont get lost once they come to light. Theyre right here; you just have to see them again!"

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Jefferson Smith
"I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people dont know about the lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason that any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain simple rule: Love thy neighbor. And in this world today, full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a great trust. You know that rule, Mr. Paine. And I loved you for it, just as my father did. And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any others. Yes, you even die for them. Like a man we both knew, Mr. Paine."

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Jefferson Smith
"I wouldnt give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didnt have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too."

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