Death of a Salesman: Quotes

Act One

I have such thoughts, I have such strange thoughts. —Willy

Work a lifetime to pay off a house. You finally own it, and there’s nobody to live in it. —Willy

It’s a measly manner of existence. To get on that subway on the hot mornings in summer… To suffer fifty weeks a year for the sake of a two-week vacation, when all you really desire is to be outdoors, with your shirt off. And always to have to get ahead of the next fella. And still – that’s how you build a future. —Biff

Manufacturers offer me a hundred-dollar bill now and then to throw an order their way. You know how honest I am, but it’s like this girl, see. I hate myself for it. Because I don’t want the girl, and, still, I take it and – I love it! —Happy

And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ‘cause one thing, boys: I have friends. —Willy

Linda: Willy, darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world–

Willy: Oh, no, Linda.

Linda: To me you are. The handsomest.

The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle, and comes out, the age of twenty-one, and he’s rich! The world is an oyster, but you don’t crack it open on a mattress! —Willy

Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way. —Ben

Gotta break your neck to see a star in this yard. —Willy

I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper… But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. —Linda

Remember how he waved to me? Right up from the field, with the representatives of three colleges standing by? And the buyers I brought, and the cheers when he came out – Loman, Loman, Loman! God Almighty, he’ll be great yet. —Willy

Act Two

Willy: Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me what I thought of the name of Howard, may he rest in peace.

Howard: I appreciate that, Willy, but there just is no spot here for you.

Do you know? when he died – and by the way he died the death of a salesman, in his green velvet slippers in the smoker of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, going into Boston – when he died, hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral. Things were sad on a lotta trains for months after that. —Willy

Bernard: But sometimes, Willy, it’s better for a man just to walk away…

Willy: But if you can’t walk away?

Bernard: I guess that’s when it’s tough.

The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you’re a salesman, and you don’t know that. —Charley

Funny, y’know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive. —Willy

I even believed myself that I’d been a salesman for him! And he gave me one look and – I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been! —Biff

But it’ll go on forever!

Dad is never so happy as when he’s looking forward to something! —Biff and Happy

She’s nothing to me, Biff. I was lonely, I was terribly lonely.

You – you gave her Mama’s stockings! —Willy and Biff

I’ve got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground. —Willy

Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? —Biff

The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy. —Ben

Requiem

No man only needs a little salary. —Charley

There were a lot of nice days. When he’d come home from a trip; or on Sundays, making the stoop; finishing the cellar; putting on the new porch… You know something, Charley, there’s more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made. —Biff

He had the wrong dreams. All, all wrong. —Biff

He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine… A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory. —Charley

I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home. —Linda