Coffee Table Quotes

John Givings: You a lawyer, Frank?
Frank Wheeler: No, I'm not.
John Givings: I could use a lawyer...
Mr. Howard Givings: John, let's not get started again about the lawyer.
John Givings: Pop, couldn't you just sit there and eat your wonderful egg salad, and quit horning in?

[Returns his attention to Frank]
John Givings: See, I've got a good many questions to ask and I'm willing to pay for the answers... Now, I don't need to be told that a man who goes after his mother with a coffee table is putting himself in a weak position, legally; that's obvious.
Mrs. Helen Givings: John, come and have a look out this fabulous

picture window.
[She walks to the window]
John Givings: If he hits her with it and kills her, that's a criminal case...
Mrs. Helen Givings: Oh, look, the sun's coming out!
John Givings: If all he does is break the coffee table and give her a certain amount of aggravation and she decides to go to court over it, that's a

civil case...
Mrs. Helen Givings: Maybe we'll see a rainbow! John, come have a look...
John Givings: Ma, how about doing everybody a favor? How about shutting up?