TV show quotes
Characters
Shirley Crain HarrisElizabeth Reaser and Lulu Wilson · 11 quotes
Steven CrainMichiel Huisman and Paxton Singleton · 10 quotes
Theodora CrainKate Siegel and Mckenna Grace · 10 quotes
HCHugh CrainTimothy Hutton and Henry Thomas · 7 quotes
Olivia CrainCarla Gugino · 5 quotes
Luke CrainOliver Jackson-Cohen and Julian Hilliard · 4 quotes
Nell CrainVictoria Pedretti · 4 quotes
Most scenes together: Shirley Crain Harris & Theodora Crain (5), Shirley Crain Harris & Steven Crain (3), Steven Crain & Luke Crain (2)
You remember what we talked about before? About our dreams?
They can spill.
That's right. Yeah, just like a cup of water can spill sometimes. But kids' dreams are special. They're like...
An ocean.
An ocean. That's right. And the big dreams can spill out sometimes.
I've seen a lot of ghosts. Just not the way you think. A ghost can be a lot of things. A memory, a daydream, a secret. Grief, anger, guilt. But, in my experience, most times they're just what we want to see. Most times, a ghost is a wish.
[about Nell] What's wrong with her?
I don't know.
You never really will. One foot in crazy and the other on a banana peel. Her whole life.
[Shirley slams the manuscript on the table in front of Steven]
The fuck, Steve?
[worried] You didn't like it.
No, I didn't like it.
What's going on?
My brother raped the family, is what's going on.
Hang on...
Look, I get that things haven't gone well for your writing, and when you said you wanted to do a book about the house, I understand that, but this...
I sent you guys the manuscript in case you had any objections. I didn't have to do that.
Of course, we object. I object, Steve.
Let's calm down a bit.
You be calm, Leigh. It's not your name in here. It's not your family.
OK, it is my family...
You weren't here. [turns back to Steven] Nell, Luke, Theo, they were kids, the things they told you in confidence.
It's clear they were kids...
You make Mom sound fucking crazy. And the Dudleys and Dad? This is the worst of the bullshit. Worse than the tabloids.
Dad had every opportunity to set that straight. What am I supposed to write? He said it was haunted. Those are his words.
He was a wreck and he just lost his wife.
And he hasn't said SHIT since. Does he talk to you, Shirl? Does he talk to you about what happened that night? Because all I've got are those tabloid quotes. He refuses to tell us anything else.
He believed it, Steve. When he said those things, he believed them. In the moment, at least, and you never did.
Neither did you.
And now you're digging up that stuff for a buck? So you can stop living off credit for a change?
[frustrated] A buck?
[to Shirley] Look, I can tell that you're upset, but Steve...
A buck? Do you know how much money they're offering on the advance? We can buy a house, we can move to L.A. We can... I need to start a life for my own family.
We're our family, Steve. What you're doing to Mom...
Mom was mentally ill. It's a fact. I'll be damned if the apple didn't fall too far from... [he stops himself and Shirley is shaken by his words] I'm sorry.
Wow.
I'm sorry. That was...
Wow.
Nobody's buying the novel, Shirl.
You gave me the book. Now you know what I think. You publish this, you know what it costs.
Where's Mom?
I thought I saw her upstairs.
That's not Mom.
[on speaker phone] Steve, do you know what I'm doing right now? I'm elbow deep in our sister's chest cavity pulling out a bag of her internal organs. That's what happens when a body's autopsied, and I have to take it out. You have to get two grown men to a goddamn airport. Get it done! [hangs up]
Well, be sure to let your imagination get the best of you. That's the first step. Imagine the worst thing possible. Assume it's true. Then go from there.
Nell is in the red room.
I know Grandma's dead. But she still comes to my room at night and she still sits on my bed, even though Mommy and Daddy said she wouldn't. And I told her not to, but she was there again last night. And last night was bad. She looked different. Her fingers were purple, she didn't have teeth, and she did not have hair. I don't want to see her again, especially like that. So, I'm not going to look at her tomorrow, and I don't want to see her in the open castle.
The open casket.
I told you. I told you she was in trouble. I told you to find her. I told you!
What does Mr. Smiley look like?
Just a big smile. Too big. He's always smiling, but he isn't happy.
That's really scary.
What do I say?
You answer the question that's asked. Don't elaborate, don't offer information that's not requested. Just tell them that their feelings are correct, and they're safe. And it's okay to be curious. And sad. Tell them you're sad, too.
And if they ask why?
Tell them you don't know. No one knows and that's okay. Better they ask you than me.
Just because someone's a good person, just because you care about them... doesn't mean they won't burn you.
[testifying to his AA group] Any addict alone is in bad company.
So is this your first rehab, Joey?
Uh, it's far from it. Some of us are addicted to treatment centers, huh?
It's not Luke's first rodeo either. So what's different this time? Something must be. I mean, you know the definition of insanity--
Steve.
Doing the same thing over and over--
--and expecting different results. Sure, man. Sure. They're all different, though. Every day is different, every craving is different, every meeting is different--
Right, I'm not trying to suggest that you're not taking this seriously.
Oh, and I'm just--this time around--I'm just speaking for myself--I got more support. And I'm giving more support. So in a sense I guess you could say, it looks like the same thing over and over again, but that's not insanity. Out there on the streets, that's insanity.
Of course.
So that's what recovery is, you know, it's the same thing over and over again in spite of the results--or in spite of a backslide or in spite of a full-fledged fucking relapse. Doesn't mean you stop just because it gets a little repetitive. One day at a time. When we decide to get clean it's not because we expect it to be fucking exciting, you know?
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Haunting of Hill House pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.