Shenandoah

Charlie Anderson:
Now let me tell you something Johnson, before you get on my wrong side. My corn I take seriously, because it's mine. And my potatoes and tomatoes and my fence I take note of because they're mine. But this war is not mine and I don't take note of it.

Charlie Anderson:
I don't even know what to say to you any more, Martha. There's not much I can tell you about this war. It's like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning. And the politicians who talk about the glory of it. And the old men who talk about the need of it. And the soldiers, well, they just wanna go home. I guess you're not so lonely any more, with Ann and James and Jacob. And maybe the boy. You didn't know Ann, did you? Well, you'd like her. You'd like her, Martha. Why, she and James are so much alike, they're just like... no... no... we were never that much alike, were we Martha? We just sorta grew alike through the years. But I wish, I wish I could just know what you're thinking about it all, Martha. And maybe it wouldn't seem so bad to me if I knew what you thought about it.

Charlie Anderson:
You never give up, do you?

Charlie Anderson:
They on our land?

Charlie Anderson:
Then it doesn't concern us. Does it?

Charlie Anderson:
Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be eating it if we hadn't done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Lord just the same for the food we're about to eat, amen.

Charlie Anderson:
Where'd you get the hat, boy?

Charlie Anderson:
Some fella down there handing out hats?

Charlie Anderson:
What about you, James? You ever think you might like to own a slave?

Charlie Anderson:
Well think about it! Think about it! If you had money would you go out and buy a slave?

Charlie Anderson:
Why not?

Charlie Anderson:
Jennie, you don't know how I feel. Even after all these years, 16 years gone, 16 years. And even so, I somehow feel that she's not really dead but just resting. And it's as though I'm expecting her to get up and walk home with me.

Charlie Anderson:
Have I kept the Lord waiting, Pastor Bjoerling?

Charlie Anderson:
It's what you haven't done, boy. A man who eats with his hat on is going nowhere in a hurry. Now, your mother wanted you all raised as good Christians, and I may not be able to do that thorny job as well as she could, but I can do something about your manners.

Charlie Anderson:
It was my wife's last request, Pastor Bjoerling. Meaning no disrespect, of course.

Charlie Anderson:
I'm glad you're here, Johnson. I've been meaning to have a word with your people about those cannons of yours. The chickens have stopped laying, the cows have dried up. Who do I send the bill to?

Charlie Anderson:
Can you give me one good reason why I should let my sons march down that road like a bunch of damn fools?

Lt. Johnson:
Virginia needs all her sons Mr. Anderson.

Charlie Anderson:
They don't belong to the state they belong to ME! When they were babies I never saw the state comin' around here with a spare tit!

Jacob Anderson:
  They come closer everyday, pa.

Charlie Anderson:
  They on our land?

Jacob Anderson:
  No, sir.

Charlie Anderson:
  Well, then, it doesn't concern us.

Charlie Anderson:
  I've got five hundred acres of good, rich dirt, here, and as long as the rains come and the sun shines, it'll grow anything I have a mind to plant.  And we pulled every stump, and we cleared every field, and we done it ourselves without the sweat of one slave.

Johnson:
  So?

Charlie Anderson:
  "So"!?  So, can you give me one good reason why I should send my family, that took me a lifetime to raise, down that road like a bunch of damn fools to do somebody else's fighting?

Johnson:
  Virginia needs all of her sons, Mr. Anderson.

Charlie Anderson:
  That might be so, Johnson, but these are my sons! They don't belong to the state.   When they were babies, I never saw the state coming around with a spare tit!  We never asked anything of the state, and never expected anything.  We do our own living and thanks to no man for the right.  But seeing as how you're so worried about it, I'll tell ya:  If any of my boys thinks this war's right, and wants to join in, he's free to do it.  You all hear that!?  Did you hear it!?  You wanna dress up like these fellas, go ahead; here's your chance.  [none of Anderson's sons volunteer; the soldier realises he has lost this battle]

Boy Anderson:
  What's confiscate mean, pa?

Charlie Anderson:
  Steal!

Sam:
  [who has just learned he's being called to service]  I'll hav'ta leave ya; you know that, don't you?  Do you understand?

Jennie:
  Do you?

Jennie:
  Yes, I'm a woman, but I don't see anybody here that I can't outrun, outride, and outshoot.  I'll unstrap for you, papa, and unhook, and I'll even sit here and watch you ride out of sight.

Charlie Anderson:
  And then what?

Jennie:
  And then I'll follow.

Charlie Anderson:
  That's what I thought.

Charlie Anderson:
What d'you do with dead soldiers?

Charlie Anderson:
[after Boy Anderson is abducted by Union soldiers]  Now it concerns us.

Charlie Anderson:
You run a sad kind of train, mister.  It takes people away when they don't want to go, and won't bring them back when they're ready.

Charlie Anderson:
I'm not going to kill you.  I want you to live.  I want you to live to be an old man, and I want you to have many, many, many children, and I want you to feel about your children then the way I feel about mine now.  And someday, when a man comes along and kills one of 'em, I want you to remember!  Okay?  I want you to remember.

Charlie Anderson:
There's nothing much I can tell you about this war.  It's like all wars, I suppose.  The undertakers are winning it.  Oh, the politicians will talk a lot about the "glory" of it, and the old men'll talk about the "need" of it—the soldiers, they just want to go home.