Atticus Finch: Did you rape Mayella Ewell?
Tom Robinson: I did not, sir.
Atticus Finch: Did you harm her in any way?
Tom Robinson: I did not.


--Brock Peters (as Tom Robinson) in To Kill a Mockingbird

Aesop: [observing the French troops] My outfit could lick those boys - those ones on foot, anyway. With one hand tied behind our backs.
O.W. Hadley: How's that, Aesop?
Aesop: They're soft, O.W. - they ain't never been South.


--Brock Peters (as Aesop) in Major Dundee

Aesop: Sir. I'd like to volunteer, sir. Me and my six coloreds.
Maj. Amos Dundee: I haven't asked for volunteers from the command yet.
Aesop: We're the ones doing the asking, sir.
Maj. Amos Dundee: Why?
Aesop: To fight, sir. We've been standing guard and cleaning stables for nearly two years now.
Maj. Amos Dundee: Tomorrow, you ask the officer of the day to see me... you and your six coloreds.
Aesop: [salutes Dundee] Thank you, sir.


--Brock Peters (as Aesop) in Major Dundee

Tom Robinson: I can't use my left hand at all. I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was twelve years old. All my muscles were tore loose.


--Brock Peters (as Tom Robinson) in To Kill a Mockingbird

Capt. Benjamin Tyreen: Mr. Aesop, I am... we would like to complement you and your men on the way you handled the river crossing this afternoon.
Aesop: Thank you, sir.


--Brock Peters (as Aesop) in Major Dundee

[testifying]
Tom Robinson: Well, I said I best be goin', I couldn't do nothin' for her, an' she said, oh, yes I could. An' I asked her what, and she said to jus' step on the chair yonder an' git that box down from on top of the chifforobe. So I done like she told me, and I was reachin' when the next thing I know she... grabbed me aroun' the legs.
[a murmur erupts in the courthouse]
Tom Robinson: She scared me so bad I hopped down an' turned the chair over. That was the only thing, only furniture 'sturbed in the room, Mr. Finch, I swear, when I left it... Mr. Finch, I got down off the chair, and I turned around an' she sorta jumped on me. She hugged me aroun' the waist. She reached up an' kissed me on the face. She said she'd never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss me. She says for me to kiss her back.
[Tom shakes his head, re-living the ordeal with his eyes half-closed]
Tom Robinson: And I said, Miss Mayella, let me outta here, an' I tried to run. Mr. Ewell cussed at her from the window and said he's gonna kill her.


--Brock Peters (as Tom Robinson) in To Kill a Mockingbird