Directed by Victor Fleming and adapted by Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell.

Rhett Butler

• With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

• [to Scarlett] You go into the arena alone. The lions are hungry for you.

Scarlett O'Hara

• As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!
  • Note: bolded portion is ranked #59 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

• I can't let him go. I can't. There must be some way to bring him back. Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters? Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day!
  • Note: bolded portion is ranked #31 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Dialogue

Scarlett: Cathleen, who's that?

Cathleen Calvert: Who?

Scarlett: That man looking at us and smiling. The nasty, dark one.

Cathleen Calvert: My dear, don't you know? That's Rhett Butler. He's from Charleston. He has the most terrible reputation.

Scarlett: He looks as if... as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy.

Ashley: Isn't it enough that you've gathered every other man's heart today? You've always had mine. You cut your teeth on it.

Scarlett: Don't tease me now. Have I your heart, my darling? I love you. I love you.

Ashley: You mustn't say such things. You'll hate me for hearing them.

Scarlett: I could never hate you. And I know you must care about me. Oh, you do care, don't you?

Ashley: Yes, I do care. Oh, can't we go away and forget we ever said these things?

Scarlett: But how can we do that? Don't you... don't you want to marry me?

Ashley: I'm going to marry Melanie.

Scarlett: But you can't. Not if you care for me!

Ashley: Oh my dear, why must you make me say things that will hurt you? How can I make you understand? You're so young and unthinking. You don't know what marriage means.

Scarlett: All I know is that I love you! And you don't love Melanie!

Ashley: She's like me, Scarlett. She's part of my blood and we understand each other.

Scarlett: But you love me!

Ashley: How could I help loving you — you who have all the passion for life that I lack? But that kind of love isn't enough to make a successful marriage for two people who are as different as we are.

Scarlett: Why don't you say it, you coward? You're afraid to marry me. You'd rather live with that silly old fool who can't open her mouth except to say yes, no and raise a couple of brats just like her!

Ashley: You mustn't say things about Melanie.

Scarlett: Who are you to tell me I mustn't? You lead me on, you made me believe you wanted to marry me!

Ashley: Now Scarlett, be fair. I never at any time-

Scarlett: You did! It's true! You did! I'll hate you till I die! I can't think of anything bad enough to call you!

[Scarlett slaps him. He exits and in her fury she throws a vase. Rhett rises from behind the sofa.]

Rhett: Has the war started?

Scarlett: Sir, you... you should have made your presence known.

Rhett: In the middle of that beautiful love scene? That wouldn't be very tactful, would it? But don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

Scarlett: Sir, you are no gentleman.

Rhett: And you, miss, are no lady... Don't think that I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any charm for me.

Scarlett: But you are a blockade runner.

Rhett: For profit, and profit only.

Scarlett: Are you tryin' to tell me you don't believe in the cause?

Rhett: I believe in Rhett Butler. He's the only cause I know. The rest doesn't mean much to me.

Rhett: Don't start flirting with me. I'm not one of your plantation beaux. I want more than flirting from you.

Scarlett: What do you want?

Rhett: I'll tell you, Scarlett O'Hara, if you'll take that Southern-belle simper off your face. Someday I want you to say to me the words I heard you say to Ashley Wilkes: "I love you!"

Scarlett: That's something you'll never hear from me, Captain Butler, as long as you live.

[Rhett has brought Scarlett a new hat]

Rhett: I thought it was about time to get you out of that fake mourning. [shows her how to wear it after she places it on backward] The war stopped being a joke when a girl like you doesn't know how to wear the latest fashion. And those pantalettes: I don't know a woman in Paris who wears pantalettes any more.

Scarlett: Oh Rhett, what do they — you shouldn't talk about such things.

Rhett: You little hypocrite. You don't mind my knowing about them, just my talking about them.

Scarlett: But really Rhett, I can't go on accepting these gifts although you are awfully kind.

Rhett: I'm not kind. I'm just tempting you. I never give anything without expecting something in return. Now, I always get paid.

Scarlett: If you think I'll marry you just to pay for the bonnet, I won't.

Rhett: Don't flatter yourself. I'm not a marrying man.

Scarlett: Well, I won't kiss you for it, either.

Rhett: Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I will kiss you — although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.

Scarlett: Rhett, don't. I shall faint.

Rhett: I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you've ever known have kissed you like this, have they? Your Charles, or your Frank, or your stupid Ashley.

Rhett: Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?

Scarlett: Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men, you mean.

[Rhett rescues Scarlett from the panicked streets of Atlanta as war approaches]

Rhett: Panic's a pretty sight, isn't it? We belong together, Scarlett. Let's get out of here together. No use staying here, letting the South come down around your ears. Too many nice places to go and visit. Mexico, London, Paris-

Scarlett: With you?

Rhett: Yes, ma'am. A man who understands you and admires you for just what you are. I figure we belong together, being the same sort. I've been waiting for you to grow up and get that sad-eyed Ashley Wilkes out of your heart... Are you going with me or are you getting out?

Scarlett: I hate and despise you, Rhett Butler. I'll hate and despise you till I die.

Rhett: [amused] Oh no you won't, Scarlett. Not that long.

Rhett: What collateral are you offering?

Scarlett: My ear bobs.

Rhett: Not interested.

Scarlett: Mortgage on Tara.

Rhett: What would I do with a farm?

Scarlett: Oh, you wouldn't lose. I'd pay you back on next year's cotton.

Rhett: Not good enough. Have you nothing better?

Scarlett: You once said you loved me. If you still love me, Rhett...

Rhett: You haven't forgotten. I'm not a marrying man.

Scarlett: No, I haven't forgotten.

Rhett: You're not worth $300. You'll never mean anything but misery to any man.

Scarlett: [after agreeing to marry Rhett] Money does help and of course I am fond of you... If I said I was madly in love with you, you'd know I was lying. You always said we had a lot in common...

Rhett: You're right, my dear. I'm not in love with you any more than you are with me. Heaven help the man who ever really loves you.

Ashley: Yes, we've traveled a long road since the old days, haven't we, Scarlett?... the golden warmth and security of those days.

Scarlett: Don't look back Ashley, don't look back. It'll drag at your heart until you can't do anything but look back.

Rhett: Of course, the comic figure in all this is the long-suffering Mr. Wilkes! Mr. Wilkes, who can't be mentally faithful to his wife — and won't be unfaithful to her technically. Why doesn't he make up his mind?

Scarlett: Rhett, you-

[Rhett places his hands on either side of Scarlett's face]

Rhett: Observe my hands, my dear. I could tear you to pieces with them, and I'd do it if it'd take Ashley out of your mind forever. But it wouldn't. So I'll remove him from your mind forever this way. I'll put my hands so — one on each side of your head — and I'll smash your skull between them like a walnut, and that'll block him out.

Scarlett: I'm not cornered. You'll never corner me, Rhett Butler, or frighten me. You've lived in dirt so long you can't understand anything else and you're jealous of something you can't understand.

Rhett: Jealous, am I? Yes, I suppose I am — even though I know you've been faithful to me all along. How do I know? Because I know Ashley Wilkes and his honorable breed. They're gentlemen! That's more than I can say for you or for me. We're not gentlemen, and we have no honor, have we? It's not that easy, Scarlett. You've turned me out while you chased Ashley Wilkes, while you dreamed of Ashley Wilkes. This is one night you're not turning me out. [suddenly, fiercely kisses her and then carries her protesting up a long flight of stairs to the bedroom, two steps at a time]

[Scarlett is pregnant again]

Rhett: Indeed. And who is the happy father?"

Scarlett: You know it's yours. I don't want it any more than you do. No woman would want a child of a cad like you... I wish for anybody's child but yours.

Rhett: Cheer up, maybe you'll have an accident.

[Scarlett tries to strike him but misses and falls down the stairs.]

Ashley: [about Melanie, who is dying] I can't live without her. I can't. Everything I ever had is going with her... She's the only dream I ever had that didn't die in the face of reality.

Scarlett: Ashley, you should have told me years ago that you loved her and not me, and not left me dangling with your talk of honor. But you had to wait till now, now when Melly's dying. To show me that I could never be any more to you than, than this Watling woman is to Rhett ... And I've loved something that doesn't really exist. Somehow, I don't care. Somehow, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter one bit.

Rhett: It seems we've been at cross-purposes, doesn't it? But it's no use now. As long as there was Bonnie, there was a chance that we might be happy. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again, before the war, and poverty had done things to you. She was so like you, and I could pet her and spoil her, as I wanted to spoil you. But when she went, she took everything.

Scarlett: Oh, Rhett, Rhett please don't say that. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for everything.

Rhett: My darling, you're such a child. You think that by saying "I'm sorry," all the past can be corrected. Here, take my handkerchief. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.

Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?

Rhett: I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong.

Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!

Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you.

Rhett: That's your misfortune. [turns to walk down the stairs]

Scarlett: Oh, Rhett! [watches Rhett walk to the door] Rhett! [runs down the stairs after him] Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?

Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

• This ranked #1 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Cast

• Clark Gable - Rhett Butler
• Vivien Leigh - Scarlett O'Hara
• Leslie Howard - Ashley Wilkes
• Olivia de Havilland - Melanie Hamilton
• Thomas Mitchell - Gerald O'Hara
• Barbara O'Neil - Ellen O'Hara
• Evelyn Keyes - Suellen O'Hara
• Ann Rutherford - Carreen O'Hara
• George Reeves - Stuart Tarleton
• Fred Crane - Brent Tarleton
• Hattie McDaniel - Mammy
• Oscar Polk - Pork
• Butterfly McQueen - Prissy
• Victor Jory - Jonas Wilkerson