“Hold Back the Dawn” quotes

“I've been thinking about you all day. The way you used to hold me away from you when we danced. Those gigolo eyes of yours. You cold, selfish... haven't you ever loved anybody in your life?”

Paulette Goddard - Anita Dixon

“Do you believe in premonitions? When a black wave breaks over you and you suddenly know something terrible's going to happen? In my ears was the screeching of brakes, of tires taking a wild curve, before my eyes, with the foot on the gas pedal, pressing it down.”
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“You see how wild a dream can be? But you are wise and sane and cool.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

I know what you're thinking: "This woman's a tramp and she's in love with him". Well, I am a tramp! And I am in love with him!

Paulette Goddard - Anita Dixon

“- Georges Iscovescu: I am in your debt. For there is no way I can pay you for the loveliness of these few minutes. I thank you, Miss Brown.
- Emmy Brown: You're the strangest man.
- Georges Iscovescu: Perhaps, the loneliest man.”
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu
Olivia Mary de Beauvoir de Havilland - Emmy Brown

“- Georges Iscovescu: You've got enough money to get you back to New York. I'll find you there when I'm ready.
- Anita Dixon: Thanks! You just stand right in the middle of Times Square... and whistle!”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu
Paulette Goddard - Anita Dixon

“We can't change our course, any more than we can hold back the dawn.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“All those years with all the others, I've shut my eyes and thought of you.”

Paulette Goddard - Anita Dixon

“You needn't be afraid, Miss Brown. Not a bit. You see, we are like... two trains, halted for a moment at the same station. But we're going in different directions.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“You needn't be afraid. Not of a dead man. I am dead, you see. I've asked myself a thousand times why they shouldn't bury me. Why I should go on breathing and talking and walking - when I was dead. Perhaps it was - to see the sunrise once more, to hear enchantment in a woman's voice, to feel her yearnings, the warmth of her lips.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“- Emmy Brown: Good night.
- Georges Iscovescu: It's better than good! Somehow, these walls will not seem so empty inside. You will be here very close to me. Breathing in the same night.”
Olivia Mary de Beauvoir de Havilland - Emmy Brown
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

- Van Den Luecken: Don't let us be impatient. Let's always remember the words they have on the Statue of Liberty.
- Inspector Hammock: "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"!
- Van Den Luecken: No. You are referring to the words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence.
Victor Francen - Van Den Luecken
Walter Abel - Inspector Hammock

“In Europe, we respect the institution of marriage.”
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“Every year, the United States permits the entrance of about 150,000 immigrants. That number is proportioned among the various European countries. You were born in Bucharest; so, you come under the Romanian quota.”
Harry Shannon - American Immigration Official

“He married you to pass that date. For the same reason that I married my little American and with the same ring. Just take a look inside at the engraving.”

Paulette Goddard - Anita Dixon

“- American Immigration Official: The Romanian quota is very small, very crowded.
- Georges Iscovescu: That means I have to wait?
- American Immigration Official: Between five and eight years, Mr. Iscovescu.”
Harry Shannon - American Immigration Official
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“Get ahold of a wedding ring and you can swing right over the fence. Just get into a good suit of clothes, shave, go on, go ahead, what do they call it? The pursuit of happiness?”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“Emmy, I've always been full of words. You know, big ones, fancy ones. Just one more word: thanks.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“I want you to go, Anita. You're wasting my time.”

Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu

“I don't quite know how to say it. That hot July afternoon, it was like kissing fresh snow. I could feel her hand trembling on my shoulder. From the church behind us, came the breathe of innocence.”
Charles Boyer - Georges Iscovescu