Pamela Dare: Sir, would you dance with me tonight?
Mark Thackeray: Of course, but nothing too fast. I'm getting much too old for that sort of thing Miss Dare.
Pamela Dare: We'll make it something special, promise?
Mark Thackeray: Promise.
Pamela Dare: Sir, would you call me Pamela tonight?
Mark Thackeray: Yes... Pamela.


--Sidney Poitier (as Mark Thackeray) in To Sir, with Love

Ben Munceford: I've heard a lot about you, Commodore, but I never expected I'd meet you.
Commodore Schrepke: Is that so?
Ben Munceford: Not aboard an American destroyer.
Commodore Schrepke: (Is) that so surprising in these times?
Ben Munceford: I guess not, if one can make the switch mentally. But I, uh... I still connect you with... Hitler's navy.
Commodore Schrepke: Your pardon: Admiral Dönitz's navy, sir.


--Sidney Poitier (as ) in The Bedford Incident

Homer Smith: [one of the nuns has just given Homer his breakfast; one fried egg and a half cup of milk] That's a Catholic breakfast, ain't it?


--Sidney Poitier (as Homer Smith) in Lilies of the Field

Homer Smith: Gringo? I don't know if that's a step up or a step down from some other things I've been called.


--Sidney Poitier (as Homer Smith) in Lilies of the Field

Homer Smith: I'm gonna' build me a chapel.


--Sidney Poitier (as Homer Smith) in Lilies of the Field

John: After all, a lot of people are going to think we are a shocking pair.


--Sidney Poitier (as John Prentice) in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

John: You listen to me. You say you don't want to tell me how to live my life. So what do you think you've been doing? You tell me what rights I've got or haven't got, and what I owe to you for what you've done for me. Let me tell you something. I owe you nothing! If you carried that bag a million miles, you did what you're supposed to do! Because you brought me into this world. And from that day you owed me everything you could ever do for me like I will owe my son if I ever have another. But you don't own me! You can't tell me when or where I'm out of line, or try to get me to live my life according to your rules. You don't even know what I am, Dad, you don't know who I am. You don't know how I feel, what I think. And if I tried to explain it the rest of your life you will never understand. You are 30 years older than I am. You and your whole lousy generation believes the way it was for you is the way it's got to be. And not until your whole generation has lain down and died will the dead weight of you be off our backs! You understand, you've got to get off my back! Dad... Dad, you're my father. I'm your son. I love you. I always have and I always will. But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man. Now, I've got a decision to make, hm? And I've got to make it alone, and I gotta make it in a hurry. So would you go out there and see after my mother?


--Sidney Poitier (as John Prentice) in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Mark Thackeray: [entering classroom and seeing smoke] All you boys, out. Girls stay where you are. Out.
[closes door]
Mark Thackeray: I am sick of your foul language, your crude behavior and your sluttish manner. There are certain things a decent woman keeps private, and only a filthy slut would have done this and those who stood by and encouraged her are just as bad. I don't care who's responsible - you're all to blame. Now, I am going to leave this room for five minutes by which time that disgusting object had better be removed and the windows opened to clear away the stench. If you must play these filthy games, do them in your homes, and not in my classroom!


--Sidney Poitier (as Mark Thackeray) in To Sir, with Love

Mark Thackeray: I believe one should fight for what one believes. Provided one is absolutely sure one is absolutely right.


--Sidney Poitier (as Mark Thackeray) in To Sir, with Love

Mark Thackeray: If you apologize because you are afraid, then you're a child, not a man.


--Sidney Poitier (as Mark Thackeray) in To Sir, with Love