Marilyn David: Pete, you're a smart fellow. What do poor little working girls usually do next?
Peter Dawes: Well, they usually drown themselves, one way or the other.
Marilyn David: I'll take the other.


--Claudette Colbert (as Marilyn David) in The Gilded Lily

Mrs. Anne Hilton: [as she passes by Colonel Smollett, who is fussing with a bunch of shoes] Having difficulties, Colonel?
Colonel William G. Smollett: Oh, hello, Mrs. Hilton. Do you by any chance know where I might get some shoe polish that isn't made of old sausages?
Mrs. Anne Hilton: [Chuckles] I wish I could get some sausage that isn't made of old shoe polish!


--Claudette Colbert (as Mrs. Anne Hilton) in Since You Went Away

Princess Anna: I love him so dearly.
Franzi: I'm just wild about him.
Princess Anna: Isn't he good-looking?
Franzi: Oh, and how!
Princess Anna: That's it exactly! And how! Did you see him in his new uniform?
Franzi: At the wedding? Stunning!
Princess Anna: But to tell you the truth, I like him even better in his dinner-coat.
Franzi: With the straw hat?
Princess Anna: Yes, with the straw hat!
Franzi: Oh, that's nothing. Did you ever see him in... oh, never mind!


--Claudette Colbert (as Franzi) in The Smiling Lieutenant

Peter Dawes: But popcorn - ah, popcorn was made for watching the world go by. Look. I stick my hand in the bag without taking my eyes off the street. I throw some popcorn in my craw. I chew... and I'm still looking. That's what I call class.
Marilyn David: Sure. Peanut eaters don't know how to live.


--Claudette Colbert (as Marilyn David) in The Gilded Lily

Gene Anders: Do you mind if I tell you again that I love you?
Kay Denham: Go right ahead.
Gene Anders: Will you believe it?
Kay Denham: No. But I like it.


--Claudette Colbert (as ) in I Met Him in Paris

Ellie Andrews: I don't know very much about him, except that I love him.
Alexander Andrews: Well, if it's as serious as all that, we'll move Heaven and Earth to...
Ellie Andrews: No, it's no use! He despises me.
Alexander Andrews: Oh, come now.
Ellie Andrews: Yes, he does! He despises everything about me. He says that I'm spoiled and selfish and pampered and thoroughly insincere.
Alexander Andrews: Oh, ho, ridiculous!
Ellie Andrews: He doesn't think so much of you, either.
Alexander Andrews: Well, I...
Ellie Andrews: And he blames you for everything that's wrong with me. He says you, you raised me stupidly.
Alexander Andrews: [sarcastically] Well now, that's a fine man to fall in love with.
Ellie Andrews: Oh, he's marvelous!


--Claudette Colbert (as Ellie) in It Happened One Night

Colonel William G. Smollett: Good morning. Mrs. Hilton, I presume?
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Yes.
Colonel William G. Smollett: May I be permitted to observe that this is the first house I've found in this godforsaken community that doesn't smell of cabbage.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Well, it does sometimes.
Colonel William G. Smollett: I was given to understand at the office of the Purchasing Division, to which I have the misfortune to be attached, that you had a room for rent.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Yes, but I specified an officer. You see, my husband -
Colonel William G. Smollett: My name is Smollett, William G., Colonel, United States Army, retired. Retired, I might add, by virtue of certain fatuous opinions held in the War Department which judge a man's usefulness neither by his experience nor his ability, but by the number of years since he was weaned.
Bridget 'Brig' Hilton: [dog growls and barks] Soda. Soda!
Colonel William G. Smollett: There was nothing in the information I was furnished, madam, which indicated that you had children and domestic pets.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Well, I'm sorry, but they go with the house.
Colonel William G. Smollett: We won't discuss it. With your permission, madam, may we dispense with further conversation? I should like to inspect the room.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Certainly. Just follow me. I do hope you'll forgive me if I've been long-winded.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Not at all, madam. Through a full, and somewhat protracted existence, I have learned to accept the natural tendency of all women to be garrulous.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: You're very tolerant, Colonel.


--Claudette Colbert (as Mrs. Anne Hilton) in Since You Went Away

Colonel William G. Smollett: He struggled so hard to be a soldier, because I insisted on it. I, in my infinite wisdom.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: He would have been a soldier anyway, as things turned out.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Yes, but all he learned from me was the glory, the decorations, the parades.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: Bill had character and courage. I know you gave him those.
Colonel William G. Smollett: I hope so.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: He loved you.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Mrs. Hilton, I'm not a child. He hated me. To whom did that telegram come? Why, he didn't even list me as next of kin.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: The telegram came to Jane, because they were to be married.
Colonel William G. Smollett: Oh, I didn't know, of course.
Mrs. Anne Hilton: I should have told you before. Colonel, if only you could believe that he loved you. Don't you remember the message he sent you? That he was a Smollett, all right, and before the war was over, you'd be proud of him.


--Claudette Colbert (as Mrs. Anne Hilton) in Since You Went Away

Oscar Shapeley: Believe you me!
Ellie Andrews: Believe you me, you bore me to distraction.


--Claudette Colbert (as Ellie) in It Happened One Night

Oscar Shapeley: What's a matter sister? You ain't sayin' much.
Ellie Andrews: It seems to me you're doing excellently without any assistance.


--Claudette Colbert (as Ellie) in It Happened One Night