Memorable quotes for
Sabrina (1954) More at IMDb Pro »

Thomas Fairchild: He's still David Larrabee, and you're still the chauffeur's daughter. And you're still reaching for the moon.
Sabrina Fairchild: No, father. The moon is reaching for me.

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Sabrina Fairchild: [narrating] Once upon a time, on the north shore of Long Island, some 30 miles from New York, there lived a small girl on a large estate. The estate was very large indeed and had many servants. There were gardeners to take care of the gardens, and a tree surgeon on a retainer. There was a boatman to take care of the boats: to put them in the water in the spring, and scrape their bottoms in the winter. There were specialists to take care of the grounds: the outdoor tennis court and the indoor tennis court, the outdoor swimming pool and the indoor swimming pool. And there was a man of no particular title who took care of a small pool in the garden for a goldfish named George. Also on the estate, there was a chauffeur by the name of Fairchild, who had been imported from England, years ago, together with a new Rolls Royce. Fairchild was a fine chauffeur of considerable polish, like the eight cars in his care, and he had a daughter by the name of Sabrina. It was the eve of the annual six meter yacht races, and as had been tradition on Long Island for the past 30 years, the Larrabees were giving a party. It never rained on the night of the Larrabee party, the Larrabees wouldn't have stood for it. There were four Larrabees in all: father, mother and two sons. Maude and Oliver Larrabee were married in nineteen hundred and six and among their many wedding presents was a townhouse in New York and this estate for weekends. The town house has since been converted into Saks Fifth Avenue. Linus Larrabee, the elder son, graduated from Yale, where his classmates voted him the man Most Likely to Leave his Alma Mater Fifty Million Dollars. His brother, David, went through several of the best eastern colleges for short periods of time, and through several marriages for even shorter periods of time. He is now a successful six-goal polo player, and is listed on Linus's tax return as a six hundred dollar deduction. Life was pleasant among the Larrabees, for this was as close to heaven as one could get on Long Island.

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Baron St. Fontanel: A woman happily in love, she burns the souffle. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven.

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The Professor: Bonjour, mesdames et monsiuers. Yesterday we have learned the correct way how to boil water. Today we will learn the correct way how to crack an egg. Voila! An egg. Now, an egg is not a stone; it is not made of wood, it is a living thing. It has a heart. So when we crack it, we must not torment it. We must be merciful and execute it quickly, like with the guillotine.

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David Larrabee: You don't live here!
Sabrina: Yes, I do.
David Larrabee: I live here!
Sabrina: Hi, neighbor.

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Linus Larrabee: Look at me. Joe College, with a touch of arthritis.

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Sabrina Fairchild: Kiss me, David.
David Larrabee: Love to, Sabrina.
[kisses her]
Sabrina Fairchild: Again. That's better.
David Larrabee: What's the matter, dear? You're not worried about us, are you? Because I'm not. So there'll be a big stink in the family. So who cares?
Sabrina Fairchild: David... I don't want to see Linus again. I don't want to go out with him.
David Larrabee: Why not, darling?
Sabrina Fairchild: I want to be near you.
David Larrabee: Oh, I know how you feel Sabrina, it must be an awful bore. But if Linus wants to take you out, let's be nice about it. It's very important. He's our only ally. See, father will want to send me to Larrabee Copper in Butte, Montana, and we don't want to go Butte Montana, do we?
Sabrina Fairchild: Hold me close, David.
David Larrabee: We'll have a wonderful time, darling. We'll build a raft and sail on the Pacific Ocean, like Kon Tiki. Or climb the highest mountain like Annapurna.
Sabrina Fairchild: Keep talking, David. Keep talking.

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Thomas Fairchild: Democracy can be a wickedly unfair thing Sabrina. Nobody poor was ever called democratic for marrying somebody rich.

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Thomas Fairchild: I like to think of life as a limousine. Though we are all riding together we must remember our places. There is a front seat and a back seat and a window in between.
Linus Larrabee: Fairchild, I never realized it before, but you're a terrible snob.
Thomas Fairchild: Yes sir.

---

Linus Larrabee: After all, this is the 20th century, Father.
Oliver Larrabee: Twentieth century? Why, I could pick a century out of a hat, blindfolded, and come up with a better one.

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Linus Larrabee: I wish I were dead with my back broken.

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David Larrabee: I've been trying to write her a poem, but I can't seem to finish it. What rhymes with "glass"?
Linus Larrabee: Glass... Glass...
[snaps fingers]
Linus Larrabee: "Alas."

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Oliver Larrabee: There must be a less expensive way of getting a chauffeur's daughter out of one's hair.
Linus Larrabee: How would you do it? You can't even get a little olive out of a jar!

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David Larrabee: I thought you two had eloped! I wouldn't mind, but not in my car.

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David Larrabee: Morning, Linus. Where are you off to?
Linus Larrabee: The office. Where do you think?
David Larrabee: The office? On Sunday?
Linus Larrabee: Today is Wednesday.
David Larrabee: Wednesday?

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Oliver Larrabee: All columnists should be beaten to a pulp and converted back into paper!

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Thomas Fairchild: [reading a letter from Sabrina] ... I decided to be sensible the other day and tore up David's picture. Could you please airmail me some Scotch tape?

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Thomas Fairchild: [reading aloud a letter from Sabrina] He came to the cooking school to take a refresher course in souffles and liked me so much he decided to stay on for the fish.

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David Larrabee: It's all beginning to make sense. Mr.Tyson owns the sugarcane. You own the formula for the plastics. And I'm supposed to be offered up as a human sacrifice on the altar of the industrial progress. Is that it?
Linus Larrabee: You make it sound so vulgar, David, as if the son of hot dog dynasty were being offered in marriage to the daughter of the mustard king. Surely, surely you don't object to Elizabeth Tyson just because her father happens to have twenty million dollars? That's very narrow minded of you, David.

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David Larrabee: There's just one thing you overlooked. I haven't proposed and she hasn't accepted.
Linus Larrabee: Oh don't worry. I proposed and Mr.Tyson accepted.
David Larrabee: Did you kiss him?

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Oliver Larrabee: I'm not saying that all Larrabees have been saints. Thomas Larrabee was hung for piracy. There was Benjamin Larrabee who was a slave trader. And there was my great-great uncle Joshua Larrabee who was shot while attempting to rob a train. But there was never a Larrabee who has behaved as you, David Larrabee, have behaved tonight!
David Larrabee: What have I done now, Father?

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Sabrina Fairchild: Maybe you should go to Paris, Linus. It helped me. Have you ever been there?
Linus Larrabee: [thinks] Oh yes. Once. For thirty-five minutes.
Sabrina Fairchild: Thirty-five *minutes*?
Linus Larrabee: Changing planes. I was on my way to Iraq on an oil deal.
Sabrina Fairchild: Oh, but Paris isn't for changing planes, it's for changing your outlook! For throwing open the windows and letting in... letting in la vie en rose.
Linus Larrabee: [sadly] Paris is for lovers. Maybe that's why I stayed only thirty-five minutes.

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Linus Larrabee: [slow dancing with Sabrina] How do you say in French my sister has a yellow pencil?
Sabrina Fairchild: Ma soeur a un crayon jaune.
Linus Larrabee: How do you say my brother has a lovely girl?
Sabrina Fairchild: Mon frere a une gentille petite amie.
Linus Larrabee: And how do you say I wish I were my brother?

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Sabrina Fairchild: All night long I've had the most terrible impulse to do something.
Linus Larrabee: Oh never resist an impulse, Sabrina. Especially if it's terrible.
Sabrina Fairchild: I'm going to do it!
[she reaches out and turns down the brim of Linus' Homburg]
Sabrina Fairchild: There!
Linus Larrabee: What was that for?
Sabrina Fairchild: We can't have you walking up the Champs Elysses looking like a tourist undertaker! And another thing, never a briefcase in Paris and never an umbrella. There's a law.

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David Larrabee: What makes you so sure Sabrina still wants me?
Linus Larrabee: Of course she wants you. She's wanted you all her life!
David Larrabee: Until you came along in that silly homburg.
Linus Larrabee: Why don't you straighten that silly straw hat and on your way. You'll miss the boat.
David Larrabee: Don't worry. I won't miss the boat.
[starts walking towards the door]
David Larrabee: Funniest thing. Linus Larrabee, the man who doesn't burn, doesn't scorch, doesn't melt... suddenly throws a twenty million dollar deal out the window.
[stops at the door]
David Larrabee: Are you sure *you* don't want to go with her?
Linus Larrabee: Why should I want to go with her?
David Larrabee: Because you're in love with her.

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[Linus has decided to cancel the wedding and the merger]
Linus Larrabee: When's your mother's birthday?
Miss McCardle: Why?
Linus Larrabee: I'm sending her two thousand gardenias.

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Sabrina Fairchild: I might as well be reaching for the moon.
Baron St. Fontanel: Oh, you young people are so old fashioned. Have you not heard? We are building rockets to reach the moon!

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Sabrina: [writing to her father] I have learnt how to live... How to be In the world and Of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch. And I will never, never again run away from life. Or from love, either...

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The Professor: [inspecting the students' soufflés] Too low. Too pale. Too heavy. Too low. Too *high*, you are exaggerating. Fair. So-so. Sloppy.
[he gets to the Baron]
The Professor: Mm. Superb. Mon Dieu, Baron, you have not lost your touch...
[he looks at Sabrina's]
The Professor: Much too low.
Sabrina Fairchild: [looking at her soufflé] I don't know what happened.
Baron St. Fontanel: I will tell you what happened: you forgot to turn on the oven.
Sabrina Fairchild: Oh!

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[Sabrina puts a romantic record on the phonograph]
Linus Larrabee: Sabrina.
Sabrina Fairchild: Yes?
Linus Larrabee: Do you mind if we turn this off?
Sabrina Fairchild: Why?
Linus Larrabee: [pained] Because.
Sabrina Fairchild: Don't you like it?
Linus Larrabee: I used to like it.
[Sabrina takes the record off]
Sabrina Fairchild: Certain songs bring back certain memories to me too. Did you love her?
Linus Larrabee: I'd rather not talk about it.
Sabrina Fairchild: I'm sorry.
Linus Larrabee: That's all right.
Sabrina Fairchild: It's so strange to think of you being touched by a woman. I always thought you walked alone.
Linus Larrabee: No man walks alone from choice.
Sabrina Fairchild: As a child I used to watch you, from the window over the garage. Coming and going, always wearing your black homburg and carrying a briefcase and an umbrella. I thought you could never belong to anyone. Never care for anyone.
Linus Larrabee: Oh yes, the cold businessman behind his marble desk, way up in his executive suite. No emotions, just ice water in his veins and ticker tape coming from his heart. And yet... one day that same cold businessman, high up in a skyscraper, opens a window, steps out on a ledge... stands there for three hours wondering... if he should jump.
Sabrina Fairchild: Because of her?
Linus Larrabee: No. No, that was another woman. Sabrina, do you find it hard to believe that someone might want to blot out everything for sentimental reasons?
Sabrina Fairchild: Oh I believe it! Do you know what I almost did for sentimental reasons? I...
[stops herself]
Sabrina Fairchild: I went to Paris to blot it out.

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