Streetcar Quotes

• “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!”

  
  

  Blanche - Scene 1
• “I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles, not Polacks. But what I am is a one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack.”

  
  

  Stanley - Scene 8
• “Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

  
  

  Blanche - Scene 11
• “Turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare.“

  Blanche - Scene 1
• “Myself, myself, for being such a liar! I’m writing a letter to Shep.”

  Blanche - Scene 5
• “I don't want realism. I want magic!”

  Blanche - Scene 9
• “I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth.”

  Blanche - Scene 9
• “Tiger—tiger! Drop the bottle top! Drop it! We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!”

  Stanley - Scene 10
• “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can stand a rude remark or a vulgar action.”

  Blanche - Scene 9
• “I’m not accustomed to having more than one drink.”

  Blanche - Scene 3
• “You married a madman!”

  Blanche - Scene 4
• “Now run along, now, quickly! It would be nice to keep you, but I’ve got to be good — and keep my hands off children.”

  
  

  Blanche - Scene 5
• “This beautiful and talented young man was a degenerate.”

  Stella - Scene 7
• “A hot bath and a long, cold drink always give me a new outlook on life!”

  Blanche - Scene 7
• “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.”

  Mitch - Scene 9
• “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley.”

  Stella - Scene 11
• “I cant be alone! Because - as you must have noticed - I’m not very well.”

  Blanche - Scene 1
• “A woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion.”

  Blanche - Scene 2
• “He didn’t know what he was doing . . . He was as good as a lamb when I came back and he’s really very, very ashamed of himself.”

  Stella - Scene 4
• “I like you to be exactly the way that you are.”

  Mitch - Scene 6
• “You need somebody. And I need somebody too.”

  Mitch - Scene 6
• “Remember what Huey Long said — “Every man is a King!” And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”

  Stanley - Scene 8
• "Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women." (Mitch - Sc 3)
• "Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now." (Blanche - Sc 3)
• "When I was sixteen, I made the discovery — love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned on a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’s how it struck the world for me." (Blanche - Sc 6)
• "This game is a seven card stud." (Steve - last line of the play)

  • A seven card stud can be played with 2 players (Stanley and Blanche) and there is a dealer who is participating but not playing (Stella)
  • Initially, Blanche has been dealt a winning hand, while Stanley's hand is okay
  • 3 cards each, 1 face up (what they already know about each other) and 2 faced down (what they don't know e.g. pasts)
  • Stella is the prize that Blanche and Stanley are playing for
  • Blanche accidently shows her hand and Stanley - who was saving his highest cards - uses them and ultimately wins the game.