- Chief William O. 'Bill' Gillespie: I'm sorry.
- Claudia Merrill: Yeah, he was sorry too, he said he was sorry every time, sometimes he even cried. Can you cry?
- Claudia Merrill: That bastard was all over me from the time I was 9 years old, and I killed him for it.
- Chief of Detectives Virgil Tibbs: You're not going to like it.
- Chief William O. 'Bill' Gillespie: When has that ever stopped you before?
- Claudia Merrill: [about her father sexually abusing her] Some days I would skip school because it hurt too much to sit down.
- Chief William O. 'Bill' Gillespie: Now I want to hear what happened, and I want to hear all of it.
- Claudia Merrill: Somehow I doubt that.
- Claudia Merrill: [to her mother] I drink, you take sleeping pills. I sleep with anybody, you sleep with nobody. The only difference is you're more subtle.