“For the Children”: Memorable lines

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the “For the Children” episode
Justin: We should go on a road trip and, like, vanish into the desert.
Kevin: Yeah, for a year, which is how long it would take Mom to stop being mad at us.
Justin: We have to be this nauseatingly perfect smiley family, ‘til like four in the morning, it’s awful.
Julia: Just talk to her, guys. Tell her you don’t want to go this year.
Joe: I agree. What’s the worst that can happen?
Kevin: Do you know what a War Crimes Tribunal looks like?
Justin: I had to go to war to get out of it. She practically called the White House to get me back for the night.
Sarah: I’m going to tell Mom. All you guys have to do is Hold Your Ground. The tyranny of Nora’s big night is over.
Kitty: What do you think the chances are that I’m going to wind up living with Mom and 18 orange cats for the rest of my life?
Sarah: 3 to 1.
Joe: You should have told her.
Sarah: Yeah. “Hey, sis, you know your father, who you worshiped and adored, and still preach about on national television, well, not only was he an adulterer, he was an embezzler who stole millions of dollars from his employees who worked tirelessly to make him rich in the first place.� Something like that.
Harry: I just thought…
Nora: I doubt that, Harry. And if you did, you thought very, very wrong.
Nora: I didn’t go out on a date. The only resemblance it had to a date was how disastrous it was.
Nora: The man fondled me under the table.
Sarah: Are you sure he didn’t graze you?
Nora: Cows graze, this was a millimeter from heavy petting. And what have I done to make every member of this family think I’m a psycho-sexual hysteric?
Sarah: Apart from misinterpreting a dinner invitation from an employee as a date?
Nora: You can’t listen to Kitty. Republicans don’t share a close relationship with the truth.
Nora: Sarah, I’m your mother. There’s nothing you could tell me I wouldn’t take completely in stride.
Sarah: Like when Kitty told you she wanted to campaign for Reagan?
Nora: That’s different. She was 12. It was a security issue.
Nora: I know that you and your brothers would rather hammer nails into your foreheads than go to this every year. And every year I exert my maternal pressure to get you to go. And do you know why?
Sarah: Sadism?
Nora: Sarah, please, please, just listen to me. One night every year, I get to play out this secret fantasy of mine. I get to look at you all, this perfectly imperfect family that we are, all dressed up and beautiful, and I get to pretend we’re that great American family, our own version of the Kennedys.
Sarah: You know how that ended, right?
Kitty: Oh, she did not use that Kennedy fantasy on you, and you fell for it, you schmuck.
Sarah: She’s used that before? Oh, God, she’s good.
Warren: As in, be your date?
Kitty: As in, a platonic, no hand on my knee, I’ll open my own door, placeholder kind of date, but yes, my date, nonetheless.
Nora: I like it when they destroy things. It reminds me not to get too attached to material objects.
Nora: Whatever you’re afraid of Sarah doing to you, I’m her mother. It stands to reason I’m the one who taught her how.
Julia: I thought of a name today. Henry. Henry William.
Tommy: It could be rough on a girl.
Warren: Tonight, we are here for the children.
Kevin: The children. That would explain why he brought one.
Warren: Where did Amber go?
Kitty: Oh, you know, they just opened up the kids’ buffet.
Kevin: Do people underestimate you a lot?
Amber: It goes with the hair.
Nora: Harry, I’m telling you, if you make a fool out of me, I’ll cut your nuts off.
Warren: I know she’s younger.
Kitty: No –er. Drop the –er.
Kitty: I ended an engagement only to find out you’re dating Malibu Barbie.
Kitty: Is it that hard to believe that I have a capacity to acknowledge that I might be wrong about something?
Warren: Do you want me to answer that?
Julia: Having children with you would make me the happiest woman in the world. But I don’t care how we have them.
Tyler: I think your brother’s getting very drunk.
Justin: Yeah, it’s so cool it’s not me, right?
Holly: She looks afraid for her life.
Saul: She’s dancing with Harry Packer. She should be.
Margaret: Like mother, like son. No sense of decency. … Is that my mink?
Kevin: All I wanted to do is take you to a nice dress-up party with my family, and now it’s turned into a quagmire.
Kevin: Can you please forgive me so I can stop getting drunk? I promise, I’ll never offer to pay for anything again, not a dinner, not a movie.
Nora: Have you got children?
Bathroom attendant: Four of them. All grown now.
Nora: So are mine. But not tonight they’re not. No, no. Tonight they’re not grown. They’re monsters, that’s what they are. And you want to know why? Because their father was a fornicating cheat who kept a harlot for years. And now they’re furious. And you want to know what else? The fornicatress is amongst us tonight, brought by my brother. How do you like that?
Bathroom attendant: My brother married my sister-in-law after she had married my uncle, and they all ended up in jail in Gallistan, New Mexico, for selling the mushrooms.
Holly: The sad thing is, Nora, neither one of us really got what we wanted.
Justin: Speaking of guilt, how was the public sex?
Sarah: Could we all stop pretending we’re perfect people, just for fourteen seconds?
Joe: That would be great.
Kevin: I’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand. No one knows us there. Maybe we could move there.
Sarah: You had Kitty to fight with, Kevin to admire, Justin to baby, Tommy to lean on. What were you thinking about me all that time?
Nora: What was I thinking? I was thinking … I was .. I am in awe of you, Sarah. You became the woman I always wanted to be. And you did it all without losing your softness or your goodness. I love all my children, but I have so much respect for you, Sarah.
Nora: You’re not a daughter, Sarah. You’re the damn trifecta.
For more recaps and memorable lines, visit the pages for Season 1 and Season 2.
Photos: ABC.com
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