- Aunt Polly: [about Tom] He wasn't realy bad, just mischievous. Oh, I know folks thought he was no more responsible than a cold, but he was the best-hearted boy there ever was.
- [Sid tries to cover his laughter]
- Aunt Polly: Well, he was!
- Aunt Polly: Oh, likely more than once I used the switch on Tom when he didn't actually deserve it. You see, I, I figured, he got away with so much that it came out kind of even in the long run.
- Sid: He did, too, but there's a lot you never caught him at.
- Aunt Polly: Nobody asked you!
- Huckleberry Finn: Tom, when are we gonna start bein' pirates?
- Tom Sawyer: What's the rush? Well, pirates have to have fun and swim and things, too!
- Becky Thatcher: I still can't believe it. Not Tom, so wonderful and brave, so handsome. I can hardly stand thinking.
- Ben Rogers: He was the best fighter in the whole town. He gave me a black eye once.
- New Boy: That's nothing, he gave me a bloody nose.
- Susie Harper: He licked Joe two or three times, but they were fighting mostly in fun.
- Amy Lawrence: I think Tom was the smartest boy in school. We were good friends, too.
- Becky Thatcher: Tom and I were more than good friends, we were engaged.
- Amy Lawrence: Well I was engaged to him first.
- Becky Thatcher: That don't mean anything. I was engaged to him when he...
- Ben Rogers: He drownded!
- Becky Thatcher: I know what happened to him. He wanted to give me a shiney brass and iron knob. Only I...
- [sniffles]
- Becky Thatcher: ... I wish I'd taken it.