Mary quotes from Little House on the Prairie

Mary

I don't think I'll ever be happy again.

Charles

Oh, yes, you will. You don't believe that now, but you wait and see. One of these days, this will all be over and forgotten. You'll meet a new beau, and you'll fall in love again.

Mary

[starts crying] No, I won't. Love is too painful.

Charles

Oh, come on. Shhh. [hugs Mary]

Mary

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Mary

I've never heard of any of those schools around here.

Caroline

It's not around here. It's in Iowa.

Mary

Yeah, I understand. You just want to get me out from underfoot.

Caroline

Mary, that's not true, and you know it.

Mary

[starts to cry] Then don't send me away. Please don't send me away, let me stay here! I don't want people looking at me, feeling sorry for me. Please let me stay, Ma. Please let me stay!

Caroline

Mary, I don't want to send you away, but if they can help you... you can't spend the rest of your life sitting in that chair!

Mary

WHY NOT? Why not? Why can't I just sit here? There's nothing for me to see. It's dark no matter where I go. It's just darkness. You've already decided to send me, haven't you?

Caroline

Yes, we have.

Adam

[to Mary] All you think about is being blind. You happen to be a very capable person who just happens to not be able to see with her eyes. When are you going to get on with living?

Mary

Get out.

Adam

Pitying yourself won't help. Blind people are just as good or as bad as everyone else. You're not special!

Mary

[throws her dinner plate at the wall] I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT!

Adam

That roast beef was good. You'll find some extra towels on the top shelf of the closet. This is your room as long as you're here. If you make a mess, you clean it up. See you in the morning.

Mary

I'd prefer to eat by myself.

Adam

When you eat in the dining room, you can pick your own company. But for now, this is schoolwork, so you'll have to eat with the teacher.

Mary

I don't like people looking at me!

Adam

Why? Cause you eat with your fingers? Nothing to feel bad about. Most folks do until they learn.

Mary

Look, my parents didn't send me here so you could teach me table manners!

Adam

Yes, they did. It's all a part of learning. Now just because you're blind doesn't mean you have to eat like an animal!

Mary

[to Adam] When would you go to take the test?

Adam

Well, I've only got four weeks to study for it, and I'm not going to be able to do any teaching during that time. I know it's going to be a real burden on you and Hester Sue.

Mary

We can manage. Besides, summer break's coming up in three weeks.

Adam

And I promised you a trip to Walnut Grove. I'll make it up to you. When I'm a lawyer, I'll have enough money to go anywhere in the world you want to go. Paris or Rome! Oh, Mary, I can do this! I got this feeling, like God came down, gave me my sight back and said, "Okay, let's see what you can do with it."

Adam

[about the world] I just can't believe it. I can't believe the colors! It's so much more vivid than I remember. The greens and the blue in the sky, and the most vivid of all, the blue in your eyes.

Mary

Adam!

Adam

Well, it's true. I've never seen eyes as blue as yours. You are so beautiful!

Mary

What if I hadn't been?

Adam

What?

Mary

What if I hadn't been beautiful? I mean, suppose you looked at me for the first time and thought, "Yuck, she's a toadface!"

Adam

Well, I'd never think that. You'd be beautiful to me no matter what you look like. I love you, but I must admit, I am happy that you're beautiful.

Caroline

Mary, is something wrong?

Mary

No. Why do you ask?

Caroline

Well, when a mother and daughter have been as close as we have, we tend to notice things about each other that other people wouldn't.

Mary

Oh, it's nothing, really. It's just going to take a little getting used to, Adam's sight, I mean. It's like meeting someone again for the first itme.. He can see me and I can't see him. It's a very strange feeling.

Caroline

For both of you. Remember, Adam's going to have a lot of adjusting to do, too.

Mary

Oh, I know. I told you, it's nothing.

Charles

Well, if you two are through reading each other's minds, I'd like to get some sleep.

Mary

[to Professor Mayfield] My husband is Adam Kendall.

Adam. The name is familiar.

Mary

Yes. He was taking the exam this past week.

Oh, yes, yes. He was unable to complete it.

Mary

That really wasn't his fault.

Yes, I understand that. It was most unfortunate.

Mary

I wanted to know if there's any way he could complete the test. It means so much to him.

I'm sorry, Mrs. Kendall, I wish there was a way, but we can't alter the rules no matter what the circumstances.

Mary

Why not?

Pardon me?

Mary

Why can't they be altered? I mean, this is a school of law, isn't it? If you have a bad law, the court changes it, doesn't it?

Yes, the court does have that power.

Mary

Then if you have a bad rule, I think it should be changed.

I don't believe it is a bad rule. It is a necessary one.

Mary

It's a bad rule when it has no compassion or concern for the individual.

Mrs. Kendall--

Mary

My husband's gone through a lot in his lifetime. He was blinded in an accident when he was a boy. He lost his child in a fire. With all that, he's devoted his life to helping others, to teaching. Now, when it seems like something wonderful's going to happen, you turn against him with some rule! Now, you might think it's necessary, but I happen to think it's cruel!

Adam

[to Mary] Sorry I'm late.

Mary

Well, that's all right. How did it go? How did you do?

Adam

I know how I did. That's why I'm late. I stayed while the professor graded my exam.

Mary

And?

Adam

And I did not make the top 3%.

Mary

Oh. Well, that's all right. You'll just have to study harder and take the test again next year.

Charles

That's right.

Adam

There's not gonna be a next year. [smiles] I made the top 1%!

Mary

Oh, Adam Kendall, I'm gonna kill you! [hugs him]

Charles

What did you girls learn in Sunday School today?

Mary

Susan Zigler passed a note to Freddy Hopkins and it made Amanda Butterfield jealous!

Charles

I meant about religion.

Mary

Here, Carrie. Let's make letters.

Pictures.

Mary

No, Carrie, we're going to make letters.

Pictures.

Mary

Letters.

Pictures!

Mary

Letters!

Pictures!

Let her draw! Why do you always have to spoil everything, anyway?

Mary

I don't know what you're talking about.

You do too. We always used to have fun walking home, and now all you do is show off playing "teacher."

Mary

That's silly.

It's not silly! And you're two-faced, Mary Ingalls! Saying one thing about Johnny Johnson behind his back and acting another to his face!

Mary

It wasn't my idea to play "teacher." It was his! You're just all--

SHUT UP! You just SHUT UP!

Charles

How was school today?

It was fine, Pa.

Mary

Not for me. My day was awful and it's all because of that numbskull Johnny Johnson!

Caroline

What on Earth? Why, he seemed like such a nice lad.

Mary

He went off and put my initials on the sweetheart tree for everyone to gape at. I don't even like him! Willie's right, he looks like a scarecrow, and he's scatterbrained as well!

[standing up] How could you be so mean? Johnny Johnson's the best-looking boy in the whole school. You're the numbskull! [runs out]

[to Mary] Do you want a brother or a sister?

Mary

I don't care.

Pa wants a boy, you know.

Mary

How do you know that?

Because every time he talked about the baby at supper, he said "him" or "he." That's how I know.

Mary

Well, only God knows if it's a boy or a girl, so you might as well get some sleep.

I hope God wants a girl.