The Night of the Iguana Quotes

“It's almost impossible for anybody to believe that they're not loved by someone they believe they love. But honey, I love nobody.”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“How calmly does the orange branch
Observe the sky begin to blanch
Without a cry, without a prayer,
With no betrayal of despair.

Sometime while night obscures the tree
The zenith of its life will be
Gone past forever, and from thence
A second history will commence.

A chronicle no longer gold,
A bargaining with mist and mould,
And finally the broken stem
The plummeting to earth; and then

An intercourse not well designed
For beings of a golden kind
Whose native green must arch above
The earth's obscene, corrupting love.

And still the ripe fruit and the branch
Observe the sky begin to blanch
Without a cry, without a prayer,
With no betrayal of despair.

O Courage, could you not as well
Select a second place to dwell,
Not only in that golden tree
But in the frightened heart of me?”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“Let's go down and swim in that liquid moonlight.”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“Nothing human disgusts me . . . unless it's cruel, violent. (spoken by the character Hannah Jelkes)”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“Youth must be wanton, youth must be quick,
Dance to the candle while lasteth the wick,

Youth must be foolish and mirthful and blind,
Gaze not before and glance not behind,

Mark not the shadow that darkens the way-
Regret not the glitter of any lost day,

But laugh with no reason except the red wine,
For youth must be youthful and foolish and blind!”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“SHANNON: A man can die of panic.
HANNAH: Not if he enjoys it as much as you, Mr Shannon.”
― Tennessee Williams, Night of the Iguana

“Perché, è tanto tempo che non le capita? Che ci sia qualcuno che vuole aiutarla?...
Oppure... è stato cosi occupato dalle sue lotte con se stesso, che non ha notato quando c'era qualcuno che voleva aiutarla; magari per quel poco ch'era possibile?”
― Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana

“Oh, God, can't we stop now? Finally? Please let us. It's so quiet here, now.”
― Tennessee Williams, [Playbill]: The Night of the Iguana

“Honey, you're not operating on the realistic level anymore than I am.”
― Tennessee Williams, Night of the Iguana