The Miracle Worker Quotes

Anne Sullivan: Why should I talk to you? I'm teaching Percy!

TV Show: The Miracle Worker
Annie Sullivan: Pity for this tyrant? Is there anything she wants she doesn't get? I'll tell you what I pity... that the sun won't rise and set for her all her life, and every day you're telling her it will. What you and your pity do will destroy her, Captain Keller.

Movie: The Miracle Worker
Captain Arthur Keller: Miss Sullivan, I find it difficult to talk through those glasses. Why do you wear them? The sun's been down over an hour.
Annie Sullivan: Any kind of light hurts my eyes.
Captain Arthur Keller: Well, put them on, Miss Sullivan. I've decided to give you a second chance.
Annie Sullivan: To do what?
Captain Arthur Keller: To remain our employee! But on two conditions! I'm not accustomed to rudeness! If you want to stay, there must be a radical change of manner!
Annie Sullivan: Whose?
Captain Arthur Keller: Yours, young lady! Isn't it obvious? You must convice me that there's the slightest hope of you teaching a child who now flees from you like the plague.
Annie Sullivan: There isn't. It's hopeless here.
Captain Arthur Keller: Am I to understand...
Annie Sullivan: We all agree it's hopeless here. The next question is...
Kate Keller: Miss Annie, I'm not agreed! She did fold her napkin. She learns. She learns! Did you know she began talking when she was only six months old? She could say water. Well, not really. Wah-wah. But she meant water! She knew what it meant at only six months old! I never saw a child so bright or outgoing! It's still in her, somewhere. Miss Annie, put up with her and with us.
Captain Arthur Keller: Us?
Kate Keller: Please. Like the lost lamb in the parable, I love her all the more.
Annie Sullivan: Mrs. Keller, I don't think Helen's greatest handicap is deafness or blindness. I think it's your love and pity. All these years you've felt so sorry for her you've kept her like a pet. Well, even a dog you housebreak.

Movie: The Miracle Worker
James Keller: How old was he, your brother Jimmy?
Annie Sullivan: Helen's age.
James Keller: How did he die?
Annie Sullivan: He had a tubercular hip. We made quite a pair, me blind and him with his crutch.
James Keller: When did he die?
Annie Sullivan: Eleven years ago this May.
James Keller: And you've had no one to dream about since?
Annie Sullivan: No, one's enough.
James Keller: You don't let go of things easily, do you? You'd be quite a handsome girl if it weren't for your eyes. No one's told you?
Annie Sullivan: Everyone. You'd be quite a gentleman if it weren't for your manners.
James Keller: You wouldn't say that if you didn't have your glasses on. How will you win her hand now, in this place?
Annie Sullivan: I don't know. I lost my temper, and here we are. I'm counting on her. That little head is dying to know.

Movie: The Miracle Worker
James Keller: Finding out if she's ticklish? She is. What is it, a game?
Annie Sullivan: An alphabet.
James Keller: Alphabet?
Annie Sullivan: [finger-spelling to Helen] For the deaf.
Annie Sullivan: [after Helen finger-spells back to her] Oh, how bright she is!
James Keller: You think she knows what she's doing? She's a monkey. She imitates everything.
Annie Sullivan: Yes, she's a bright little monkey, all right!
James Keller: She wants her doll back.
Annie Sullivan: After she spells it.
James Keller: Spells? She doesn't know the thing has a name, even.
Annie Sullivan: Of course not. Who expects her to now? I just want her fingers to learn the letters.
James Keller: She doesn't seem to like that alphabet very much, Miss Sullivan. Did you invent it yourself?
Annie Sullivan: Spanish monks under a vow of silence, which I wish you'd take!

Movie: The Miracle Worker
James Keller: Miss Sullivan? I'm James Keller.
Annie Sullivan: James? I had a brother Jimmy. Are you Helen's?
James Keller: I'm only half a brother. You'll be her governess?
Annie Sullivan: Well, I'll try.
James Keller: You look like half a governess.

Movie: The Miracle Worker