A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

Peter Robbins: Charlie Brown, Linus' scream

Quotes 

• Linus Van Pelt : [Penultimate lines of the movie]  Well, I can understand how you feel. You worked hard, studying for the spelling bee, and I suppose you feel you let everyone down, and you made a fool of yourself and everything.

  [Opens the door to leave, then stops] 

  Linus Van Pelt : But did you notice something, Charlie Brown?

  Charlie Brown : What's that?

  Linus Van Pelt : The world didn't come to an end.

  [He leaves and shuts the door. Charlie Brown decides to finally get up] 

• [at the spelling bee] 

  Charlie Brown : Fussbudget, F-U-S-S-B-U-D-G-E-T, Fussbudget.

  [the Peanuts gang watching the spelling bee on TV] 

  Lucy Van Pelt : Hey! How'd he know that word?

• Charlie Brown : I'm dying, and all I hear are insults!

• Linus Van Pelt : Look at it this way, Charlie Brown, we learn more from losing than we do from winning.

  Charlie Brown : I guess that makes me the smartest person in the whole world.

• [first lines] 

  Lucy Van Pelt : Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations. What do you think you see, Linus?

  Linus Van Pelt : Well, those clouds up there look to me look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean.

  [points up] 

  Linus Van Pelt : That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there...

  [points] 

  Linus Van Pelt : ...gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.

  Lucy Van Pelt : Uh huh. That's very good. What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?

  Charlie Brown : Well... I was going to say I saw a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

• Linus Van Pelt : Life is difficult, isn't it, Charlie Brown?

  Charlie Brown : Yes, it is. But I've developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time.

• Charlie Brown : Ah, there it is! The old pitcher's mound - covered with tradition and dandelions. Dandelions? This pitcher's mound is covered with dandelions!

  Frieda : Don't touch them Charlie Brown! Don't you dare hurt all those innocent dandelions! They're beautiful! Don't you dare cut them down!

  Lucy Van Pelt : Besides, you may not know this, but you look kind of cute standing there surrounded by dandelions.

  Charlie Brown : I don't want to look cute!

• Charlie Brown : [At the bus stop departing for the national spelling bee]  This whole thing makes me feel as though I'm being drafted.

• Charlie Brown : Why can't I have an ordinary dog like everybody else?

• Lucy Van Pelt : Wait! Hmm... Brush this guy back, Charlie Brown! Give 'im the ol' bean-ball!

  Charlie Brown : No, I can't do that... It wouldn't be right.

  Lucy Van Pelt : It wouldn't be right?

  [to Frieda] 

  Lucy Van Pelt : Listen to who's gone moral on us all of a sudden! Ol' Wishy-Washy here is too moral to throw a bean-ball!

  Frieda : What about the way the early settlers treated the Indians? Was that moral? How about the Children's Crusade? Was that moral?

  Patty : Yeah, and how about those awful movie ads you see nowadays?

  Frieda : Do you call those moral, Charlie Brown?

  Schroeder : Do you think that incident at Harper's Ferry was consistent with morality?

  Patty : Define "morality"!

  Frieda : Our whole system of freeways is a perfect example of what I'm trying to say!

  Violet : Have you listened to radio lately?

  Pig Pen : How about this whole conservation situation?

  Charlie Brown : We never win any ball games, but we sure have some interesting discussions.

• Charlie Brown : [thinking]  Well, we lost the first game of the season again. I know it shouldn't bother me, but it does. We always seem to lose the first game of the season and the last game of the season.

  [pause, then yells to the sky] 

  Charlie Brown : And all those stupid games in between!

• Schroeder : Alright, Charlie Brown, let's get our signals straight. One finger will mean the high straight ball, and two fingers will mean the low straight ball.

  Charlie Brown : What about my curveball? And my slider? And my knuckleball? And my sidearm? And my submarine pitch?

  Schroeder : One finger will mean the high straight ball, and two fingers will mean the low straight ball.

  [Charlie Brown grimaces] 

• Linus Van Pelt : Here, run over to the drinking fountain and soak this handkerchief in cold water.

  [Lucy skeptically examines the handkerchief] 

  Lucy Van Pelt : You're kidding. With a head like Charlie Brown's, you'll need a bedsheet.

  Charlie Brown : I'm dying! And all I hear are insults!

• Charlie Brown : I've never gone through anything like that in my life. I never knew I could be so stupid. I never knew I had so many faults. I never felt so completely miserable.

  Lucy Van Pelt : Wait until you get my bill.

• Linus Van Pelt : You look like you've been through shock treatment or something.

  Charlie Brown : What's more shocking than having your faults projected on a screen?

• Schroeder : [after going over their pitching signals, he walks away then turns back]  Hey, what's this? What are all these dandelions doing on your pitchers mound?

  Charlie Brown : They grew there, and the girls won't let me get rid of them. They say they look pretty.

  [Grimacing] 

  Charlie Brown : And they say I look cute standing among them.

  Schroeder : [Starts walking back, the stops and looks again and smirks]  They're right. You do look kind of cute standing there.

  [Then suddenly starts running away as Charlie throws his shoes, glove, and finally the ball at him. The last of which hits him in the back of the head] 

• Charlie Brown : These psychiatric treatments are going to bankrupt me.

• Linus Van Pelt : Winning isn't everything.

  Charlie Brown : But losing isn't anything.

• Violet : Psst! You're crazy! Don't do it! You'll just make a fool out of yourself!

  Charlie Brown : [shouting]  I WILL NOT!

  [teacher talks] 

  Charlie Brown : Excuse me, ma'am. I was answering one of my many detractors.

• Lucy Van Pelt : A manager of my caliber is the answer, Charlie Brown. In fact, I'm not sure if 15% is enough. My valuable presence is easily worth 20%.

  Charlie Brown : Good grief.

• Sally : Hi, big brother. Hi, Linus.

  Charlie Brown : Hi.

  Linus Van Pelt : Hi, Sally.

  Sally : Why don't you take me to a movie?

  Linus Van Pelt : How would I ever take *you* to a movie?

  Sally : Well, this happens all the time. Boys call up girls and say, "Would you like to go to a movie?" And then the girls say, "Why, yes, I'd like it very much." And then the boy goes over to the girl's house and knocks on the door...

  [knocks on Linus' chest] 

  Sally : ... and he says to her, "I've come to take you to a movie." Have you come to take me to a movie, Linus?

  Linus Van Pelt : Good grief, no.

  [He covers himself up with his blanket and walks away] 

  Sally : Isn't he the cutest thing?

• Charlie Brown : Unconfident. U-N-C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T. Unconfident.

  Lucy Van Pelt : Of course. That's a word he's well acquainted with.

• Charlie Brown : What happened?

  Linus Van Pelt : You got hit on the head with a line drive, Charlie Brown.

  Charlie Brown : I don't understand it. I used to be able to dodge those line drives.

  Patty : When you get old, your reflexes really slow down.

• Lucy Van Pelt : I put all of your faults on slides. We're going to project your faults onto a screen.

  Charlie Brown : Good grief. Project my faults onto a screen?

• Charlie Brown : In the big leagues, ball players get sent to the showers. I get sent to take a bath.

• Charlie Brown : Nothing ever seems to go right for me. I can't fly a kite and I lose every ballgame I play in. I just can't seem to do *anything* right.

• Charlie Brown : Why? Oh, why do I let her do this to me? Why? Why?

• Charlie Brown : My heart is full on the day I first go out to the old ball field. I love the memories. I love the smell of the horsehide. I love the smell of the grassy outfield and the dusty infield. The hopes! And the dreams for the new season.

• Charlie Brown : If you can't trust your own psychiatrist, who *can* you trust?