Inherit the Wind Quotes
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.
Matthew Harrison Brady: We must not abandon faith! Faith is the most important thing!
Henry Drummond: Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth? The power of his brain to reason. What other merit have we? The elephant is larger; the horse is swifter and stronger; the butterfly is far more beautiful; the mosquito is more prolific. Even the simple sponge is more durable. But does a sponge think?
Matthew Harrison Brady: I don't know. I'm a man, not a sponge!
Henry Drummond: But do you think a sponge thinks?
Matthew Harrison Brady: If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks!
Henry Drummond: Do you think a man should have the same privilege as a sponge?
Matthew Harrison Brady: Of course!
Henry Drummond: [Gesturing towards the defendant, Bertram Cates] Then this man wishes to have the same privilege of a sponge, he wishes to think!
Henry Drummond: Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth? The power of his brain to reason. What other merit have we? The elephant is larger; the horse is swifter and stronger; the butterfly is far more beautiful; the mosquito is more prolific. Even the simple sponge is more durable. But does a sponge think?
Matthew Harrison Brady: I don't know. I'm a man, not a sponge!
Henry Drummond: But do you think a sponge thinks?
Matthew Harrison Brady: If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks!
Henry Drummond: Do you think a man should have the same privilege as a sponge?
Matthew Harrison Brady: Of course!
Henry Drummond: [Gesturing towards the defendant, Bertram Cates] Then this man wishes to have the same privilege of a sponge, he wishes to think!
[challenged to say if he considers anything holy]
Henry Drummond: Yes. The individual human mind. In a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies" and "hosannas." An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.
Henry Drummond: Yes. The individual human mind. In a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies" and "hosannas." An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters.
E. K. Hornbeck: Evolution is a tricky question, which is hungrier, my stomach or my soul? Hot dog.
Bible salesman: Are you an evolutionist? An infidel? A sinner?
E. K. Hornbeck: The worst kind, I write for a newspaper.
[to Henry]
E. K. Hornbeck: Want a hot dog?
Henry Drummond: No.
Bible salesman: Oh then you sir, you must be a man of God.
Henry Drummond: No no no, ulcers.
Bible salesman: Are you an evolutionist? An infidel? A sinner?
E. K. Hornbeck: The worst kind, I write for a newspaper.
[to Henry]
E. K. Hornbeck: Want a hot dog?
Henry Drummond: No.
Bible salesman: Oh then you sir, you must be a man of God.
Henry Drummond: No no no, ulcers.
Judge: [after Drummond asks the judge for permission to withdraw form the case] Colonel Drummond, what reasons can you possibly have?
Henry Drummond: [Indicates the crowd] Well, there are two hundred of them.
[Crowd reacts angrily]
Henry Drummond: And if that's not enough there's one more. I think my client has already been found guilty.
Matthew Harrison Brady: [Rises] Is Mr. Drummond saying that this expression of an honest emotion will in any way influence the court's impartial administration of the law?
Henry Drummond: I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy, you can only punish. And I warn you, that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys every one it touches. Its upholders as well as its defiers.
Judge: Colonel Drummond...
Henry Drummond: Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!
Judge: I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted.
Henry Drummond: Well, your honor has the right to hope.
Judge: I have the right to do more than that.
Henry Drummond: You have the power to do more than that.
[the Judge holds Drummond in contempt of court]
Henry Drummond: [Indicates the crowd] Well, there are two hundred of them.
[Crowd reacts angrily]
Henry Drummond: And if that's not enough there's one more. I think my client has already been found guilty.
Matthew Harrison Brady: [Rises] Is Mr. Drummond saying that this expression of an honest emotion will in any way influence the court's impartial administration of the law?
Henry Drummond: I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially. You can only destroy, you can only punish. And I warn you, that a wicked law, like cholera, destroys every one it touches. Its upholders as well as its defiers.
Judge: Colonel Drummond...
Henry Drummond: Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!
Judge: I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted.
Henry Drummond: Well, your honor has the right to hope.
Judge: I have the right to do more than that.
Henry Drummond: You have the power to do more than that.
[the Judge holds Drummond in contempt of court]
Sarah Brady: Youth can be so pure. What do you know of good or evil? What do you understand of the sum of a man's life?
Rachel Brown: He betrayed me!
Sarah Brady: You betrayed yourself! You see my husband as a saint, and so he must be right in everything he says and does. And then you see him as a devil, and everything he says and does must be wrong. Well my husband's neither a saint nor a devil. He's just a human being, and he makes mistakes.
Rachel Brown: How can you defend him?
Sarah Brady: It's not he I'm defending! I'm defending the forty years I've lived with this man, and watched him carry the burdens of people like you! If he's been wrong, at least he stood for something! What do you stand for? Do you believe in Bertram Cates? I believe in my husband. What do you believe in?
Rachel Brown: He betrayed me!
Sarah Brady: You betrayed yourself! You see my husband as a saint, and so he must be right in everything he says and does. And then you see him as a devil, and everything he says and does must be wrong. Well my husband's neither a saint nor a devil. He's just a human being, and he makes mistakes.
Rachel Brown: How can you defend him?
Sarah Brady: It's not he I'm defending! I'm defending the forty years I've lived with this man, and watched him carry the burdens of people like you! If he's been wrong, at least he stood for something! What do you stand for? Do you believe in Bertram Cates? I believe in my husband. What do you believe in?
Henry Drummond: For I intend to show this court that what Bertram Cates spoke quietly one spring morning in the Hillsboro High School is not crime. It is incontrovertible as geometry to any enlightened community of minds.
Prosecutor Tom Davenport: In this community, Colonel Drummond, and in this sovereign state, exactly the opposite is the case. The language of the law is clear, your Honor. We do not need experts to question the validity of a law that is already on the books.
Henry Drummond: Well, what do you need? A gallows to hang him from?
Prosecutor Tom Davenport: That remark is an insult to this entire community.
Henry Drummond: And this community is an insult to the world.
Prosecutor Tom Davenport: In this community, Colonel Drummond, and in this sovereign state, exactly the opposite is the case. The language of the law is clear, your Honor. We do not need experts to question the validity of a law that is already on the books.
Henry Drummond: Well, what do you need? A gallows to hang him from?
Prosecutor Tom Davenport: That remark is an insult to this entire community.
Henry Drummond: And this community is an insult to the world.
Rachel Brown: Don't you see what's happening, Bert? They're using you as a weapon against your own people. What you think or believe isn't the point any more. You're helping something bad.
Henry Drummond: Go on now, young lady, it's not as simple as all that, good or bad, black or white, day or night. Do you know that at the top of the world, the twilight is six months long?
Rachel Brown: Bert and I don't live on the top of the world, we live in Hillsboro. And when the sun goes down, it's dark. And why do you have to come here to make it different?
Henry Drummond: I didn't come here to make Hillsboro different. I came here to defend his right to be different. And that's the point. How 'bout it boy?
Henry Drummond: Go on now, young lady, it's not as simple as all that, good or bad, black or white, day or night. Do you know that at the top of the world, the twilight is six months long?
Rachel Brown: Bert and I don't live on the top of the world, we live in Hillsboro. And when the sun goes down, it's dark. And why do you have to come here to make it different?
Henry Drummond: I didn't come here to make Hillsboro different. I came here to defend his right to be different. And that's the point. How 'bout it boy?
E. K. Hornbeck: Looks like you're going out in a blaze of glory counselor. You were pretty impressive for a while there today, Henry. "Your Honor, after a while you'll be setting man against man, creed against creed" etc, etc, ad nauseam unquote. AHH, Henry! why don't you wake up? Darwin was Wrong! Man's still an ape. His creed still a totem pole. When he first achieved the upright position he took a look at the stars... thought they were something to eat. When he couldn't reach them, he thought they were groceries belonging to a bigger creature... that's how Jehovah was born.
Henry Drummond: Progress has never been a bargain. You have to pay for it.
Henry Drummond: Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter and says, "All right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance.
Henry Drummond: Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat.
Henry Drummond: Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline."
Henry Drummond: Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter and says, "All right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance.
Henry Drummond: Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat.
Henry Drummond: Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline."
[last lines]
Henry Drummond: You poor slob! You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.
E. K. Hornbeck: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there. You're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?
Henry Drummond: You poor slob! You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head. Nobody to mourn you. Nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.
E. K. Hornbeck: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there. You're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?
Rachel Brown: [addressing the court about the Stebbeins boy] He went swimming in the river with the other boys, he got a cramp and drowned. At the funeral, my father said that Tommy's soul couldn't pass on to Heaven.
Bertram T. Cates: Tell them what your father really said, that Tommy's soul was damned and burning in hellfire! Religion is supposed to comfort people, not scare them to death!
Bertram T. Cates: Tell them what your father really said, that Tommy's soul was damned and burning in hellfire! Religion is supposed to comfort people, not scare them to death!
Henry Drummond: The Gospel according to Brady! God speaks to Brady, and Brady tells the world! Brady, Brady, Brady, Almighty!
Matthew Harrison Brady: All of you know what I stand for - what I believe! I believe in the truth of the Book of Genesis! Exodus! Leviticus! Numbers! Deuteronomy! Joshua! Judges! Ruth! First Samuel! Second Samuel! First Kings! Second Kings! Isaiah! Jeremiah! Lamentations! Ezekiel!...
Matthew Harrison Brady: All of you know what I stand for - what I believe! I believe in the truth of the Book of Genesis! Exodus! Leviticus! Numbers! Deuteronomy! Joshua! Judges! Ruth! First Samuel! Second Samuel! First Kings! Second Kings! Isaiah! Jeremiah! Lamentations! Ezekiel!...
Henry Drummond: But all you have to do is knock on any door and say, "If you let me in, I'll live the way you want me to live, and I'll think the way you want me to think," and all the blinds'll go up and all the windows will open, and you'll never be lonely, ever again. If that's the case, I'll change the plea - that is, if you know the law's right and you're wrong.
[Drummond contemplates a radio microphone in the courtroom]
Henry Drummond: Radio! God, this is going to break down a lot of walls.
Radio Announcer: You're not supposed to say "God" on the radio!
Henry Drummond: Why the hell not?
Radio Announcer: You're not supposed to say "Hell", either.
Henry Drummond: This is going to be a barren source of amusement!
Henry Drummond: Radio! God, this is going to break down a lot of walls.
Radio Announcer: You're not supposed to say "God" on the radio!
Henry Drummond: Why the hell not?
Radio Announcer: You're not supposed to say "Hell", either.
Henry Drummond: This is going to be a barren source of amusement!
Matthew Harrison Brady: Is the counsel for the defense showing us the latest fashion in the great metropolitan city of Chicago?
Henry Drummond: Glad you asked me that. I brought these along special. Just so happens I bought these suspenders at Peabody's General Store in your home town Mr. Brady. Weeping Water, Nebraska.
Henry Drummond: Glad you asked me that. I brought these along special. Just so happens I bought these suspenders at Peabody's General Store in your home town Mr. Brady. Weeping Water, Nebraska.
Matthew Harrison Brady: I have been to their cities and I have seen the altars upon which they sacrifice the futures of their children to the gods of science. And what are their rewards? Confusion and self-destruction. New ways to kill each other in wars. I tell you gentlemen the way of science is the way of darkness.
E. K. Hornbeck: Aw, Henry! Why don't you wake up? Darwin was wrong. Man's still an ape. His creed's still a totem pole. When he first achieved the upright position, he took a look at the stars - thought they were something to eat. When he couldn't reach them, he decided they were groceries belonging to a bigger creature; that's how Jehovah was born.
Henry Drummond: I wish I had your worm's-eye view of history. It would certainly make things a lot easier.
E. K. Hornbeck: Oh ho, no! Not for you. No, you'd still be spending your time trying to make sense out of what is laughingly referred to as the "human race." Why don't you take your blinders off? Don't you know the future's already obsolete? You think man still has a noble destiny. Well I tell you he's already started on his backward march to the salt and stupecy from which he came.
Henry Drummond: What about men like Bert Cates?
E. K. Hornbeck: Cates? A monkey who tried to fly. Cates climbed to the top of the totem pole, but then he jumped. And there was nobody there to catch him. Not even you.
Henry Drummond: I wish I had your worm's-eye view of history. It would certainly make things a lot easier.
E. K. Hornbeck: Oh ho, no! Not for you. No, you'd still be spending your time trying to make sense out of what is laughingly referred to as the "human race." Why don't you take your blinders off? Don't you know the future's already obsolete? You think man still has a noble destiny. Well I tell you he's already started on his backward march to the salt and stupecy from which he came.
Henry Drummond: What about men like Bert Cates?
E. K. Hornbeck: Cates? A monkey who tried to fly. Cates climbed to the top of the totem pole, but then he jumped. And there was nobody there to catch him. Not even you.
Bertram T. Cates: Where do I finish? Dead with a paper medal on my chest? 'Bert Cates, World's Chump, he Died Fighting.' Well, let's face it - to him I'm a headline, to you I'm a cause?
Henry Drummond: And to yourself? All right, let's face it. Now you chose to get into this by yourself. You didn't get into it because of his headline or because of my cause or maybe even because of their kids! You got into it because of yourself, because of something you believed in, for yourself.
Bertram T. Cates: I didn't believe it would happen this way.
E. K. Hornbeck: It can get worse, those people are in a lean and hungry mood.
E. K. Hornbeck: They look at me as if I was a murderer.
Henry Drummond: In a way you are. You killed one of their fairy tale notions.
Henry Drummond: And to yourself? All right, let's face it. Now you chose to get into this by yourself. You didn't get into it because of his headline or because of my cause or maybe even because of their kids! You got into it because of yourself, because of something you believed in, for yourself.
Bertram T. Cates: I didn't believe it would happen this way.
E. K. Hornbeck: It can get worse, those people are in a lean and hungry mood.
E. K. Hornbeck: They look at me as if I was a murderer.
Henry Drummond: In a way you are. You killed one of their fairy tale notions.
Townspeople: [singing] We'll hang Bertram Cates to a sour apple tree, we'll hang Bertram Cates to a sour apple tree, we'll hang Bertram Cates to a sour apple tree. Our God is marching on! Glory Glory Hallelujah! Glory Glory Hallelujah! Glory Gory Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. We'll hang Henry Drummond to a sour apple tree, we'll hang Henry Drummond to a sour apple tree, we'll hang Henry Drummond to a sour apple tree, our God is marching on.
Matthew Harrison Brady: Drummond and I have worked side by side in many battles for the common folk. Twice he campaigned for me when I ran for president.
Henry Drummond: That's right.
Matthew Harrison Brady: After all these years we find ourselves on the opposite side of an issue.
Henry Drummond: Well, that's evolution for you.
Henry Drummond: That's right.
Matthew Harrison Brady: After all these years we find ourselves on the opposite side of an issue.
Henry Drummond: Well, that's evolution for you.
Rev. Jeremiah Brown: [preaching] Oh, Lord of the tempest and the thunder, strike down this sinner, as thou did thine enemies of old in the days of the Pharaohs! Let him know the terror of thy sword! Let his soul, for all eternity, writhe in anguish and damnation!
Rachel Brown: No! No, Pa! Don't pray to destroy Bert!
Rev. Jeremiah Brown: Lord! We ask this same curse for those who ask grace for this sinner! Though they be blood of my blood and flesh of my FLESH!
Rachel Brown: No! No, Pa! Don't pray to destroy Bert!
Rev. Jeremiah Brown: Lord! We ask this same curse for those who ask grace for this sinner! Though they be blood of my blood and flesh of my FLESH!
Henry Drummond: You know, Hornbeck, I'm getting damn sick of you.
E. K. Hornbeck: Why?
Henry Drummond: You never pushed a noun against a verb except to blow up something.
E. K. Hornbeck: You know, that's a typical lawyer's trick - accusing the accuser.
Henry Drummond: What am I accused of?
E. K. Hornbeck: Contempt of conscience, sentimentality in the first degree.
E. K. Hornbeck: Why?
Henry Drummond: You never pushed a noun against a verb except to blow up something.
E. K. Hornbeck: You know, that's a typical lawyer's trick - accusing the accuser.
Henry Drummond: What am I accused of?
E. K. Hornbeck: Contempt of conscience, sentimentality in the first degree.
Rachel Brown: [to Bertram T Cates] What are you trying to prove anyway?
Bertram T. Cates: Rach, I'm not trying to prove anything. All I want to do is teach my students that man just wasn't planted here like a geranium in a flowerpot. That life comes from a long miracle; it didn't just take seven days.
Rachel Brown: But it's against the law. A school teacher's a public servant. He should do what the law and the school board want him to.
E. K. Hornbeck: [Pounding his hand on the chair like a gavel] Has the accused have anything to say in his own defense? If not, I sentence you to life as a public servant. A silent butler in the service of your school board. Waste baskets for ideas on sale in the outer lobby.
Rachel Brown: I don't see anything funny in this Mr. Hornbeck.
E. K. Hornbeck: Objection sustained. Neither do I.
Rachel Brown: Then why don't you just leave us alone? You newspaper people have stirred up enough trouble for Bert. What do you want anyway?
E. K. Hornbeck: I came to tell Boy Socrates here that the Baltimore Herald is opposed to Hemlock and will provide a lawyer.
Bertram T. Cates: Who?
E. K. Hornbeck: Who? I don't know yet but what's the difference? A new lawyer with old tricks, an old lawyer with new tricks. Wake up Copernicus! The law is still on the side of the lawmakers and everything revolves around their terra firma.
Bertram T. Cates: Then why bother, you and your newspaper?
E. K. Hornbeck: [smiling] Because I know that the sunrise is an optical illusion. My teacher told me so.
Bertram T. Cates: Rach, I'm not trying to prove anything. All I want to do is teach my students that man just wasn't planted here like a geranium in a flowerpot. That life comes from a long miracle; it didn't just take seven days.
Rachel Brown: But it's against the law. A school teacher's a public servant. He should do what the law and the school board want him to.
E. K. Hornbeck: [Pounding his hand on the chair like a gavel] Has the accused have anything to say in his own defense? If not, I sentence you to life as a public servant. A silent butler in the service of your school board. Waste baskets for ideas on sale in the outer lobby.
Rachel Brown: I don't see anything funny in this Mr. Hornbeck.
E. K. Hornbeck: Objection sustained. Neither do I.
Rachel Brown: Then why don't you just leave us alone? You newspaper people have stirred up enough trouble for Bert. What do you want anyway?
E. K. Hornbeck: I came to tell Boy Socrates here that the Baltimore Herald is opposed to Hemlock and will provide a lawyer.
Bertram T. Cates: Who?
E. K. Hornbeck: Who? I don't know yet but what's the difference? A new lawyer with old tricks, an old lawyer with new tricks. Wake up Copernicus! The law is still on the side of the lawmakers and everything revolves around their terra firma.
Bertram T. Cates: Then why bother, you and your newspaper?
E. K. Hornbeck: [smiling] Because I know that the sunrise is an optical illusion. My teacher told me so.
