Touched by an Angel · Season 1
You may not realize it but the night you tried to take your own life, you actually succeeded.
I didn't die.
No, but the best part of you did. The part of you that's human, that's Debra. And all that remained was the part that couldn't let anything less than perfect survive....You have the right to be less than perfect.
I can't do it right all the time!
I know that. God knows that. How can He blame you for being human when He made you human?
God really loves me.
Yes, and there's not a thing you can do about it.
That was an unconditional compliment. Can't you just take it?
[listening to music at a CD store] People listen to this voluntarily?
Monica, one generation never understands the music of the following generation.
[Interviewing Monica on the air]
What I need is, oh, someone to arrange my personal appearances, file my fan mail, organize the book I'm writing, maybe a little light dusting. Just your general all-round slave. Are you up for that?
[On the air]
Well, Tess, you are a big woman, aren't you, my dear?
Well, I have a big heart and it needs room.
Hey, it's got it and then some.
Well, I guess yours doesn't. That's why you're such a bony little thing, huh?
A field trip! How lovely! I've seen a lot of beautiful fields.
You're grounded for two weeks.
What?
One week for fighting and one week for lying to me.
That means I miss the prom. The only senior prom I'll ever go to, ever.
Okay. You're grounded except to go to the prom.
Then how am I going to buy my dress?
Fine. You're grounded except to buy your dress and go to the prom.
No one's even asked me to go yet.
What are we talking about?
Mom!
Claire!
Excuse me, but I think in order for Claire to be asked to the prom, she has to be somewhere where there are boys.
Yeah. That's right.
Okay. You're grounded after the prom.
How was your prom?
Oh, please! I didn't go. Proms are pretentious, they are expensive, they are overrated...
Oh, nobody asked you, huh?
I don't know what I'm doing here. It just hurt so bad I had to do something. I wanted to make her hurt as much as I did.
And you succeeded. But do you feel any better now? [Claire shakes her head] Claire, bad things are always going to happen in this life and people will hurt you but you can't use that as an excuse to fail or hurt someone in return because you just hurt yourself. God loves you. And He loves your mother. And it hurts to see both of you in so much pain.
Both of us?
Your mother has been hurting for a long time. And she's been trying so hard to provide for you and protect you that she's ... she's pushed her own pain aside. Yes, she has to learn to understand what you're feeling. But you have to try and understand what she needs as well.
I never thought of her as being in pain before.
The day comes in every daughter's life when she sees her mother not as a mother but as another woman with a heart that can be broken. This is that day for you.
The night your husband left you for the younger, thinner, firmer, blonder, I think Debbie was her name? You stood in your room and you made a vow to God. You said: "I'm never gonna let anybody hurt me anymore. I'm going to be strong. I just won't feel anything and they're never gonna see me cry, I swear to God." You have to be careful what you swear to God because He hears you and I'm here to tell you that feeling something is exactly what you need to do.
I don't believe in God.
Well, too bad because He believes in you.
[Monica tunes the radio to a rock station and Tess promptly switches it off]
(sighs) Variety is the spice of life.
Evil thrives when good men do nothing.
Who said that?
A music lover.
So my assignment is just a little bit of paperwork, huh?
Oh, it's an "Angel walk in, angel lend a helping hand, angel walk out." It's a "Who's that mysterious stranger?" thing. It's a piece of cake.
[As they look at a wall filled with racist graffiti on a house they're visiting]
The world is full of people who don't want to get involved. That's how trash like this can happen.
[About opening an AIDS hospice in a prejudiced community]
Aren't you afraid about all this?
Of course I am but I only have two choices. Quit or keep going, and I'm not gonna quit so that leaves keep going.
Tess walked into a room controlled by evil. Evil so powerful it can make you fight against it on its own terms, disarm you with your own hate.
I can't imagine hating anyone.
Neither could Tess.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Touched by an Angel pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
