How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Mary Poppins.
Quote #1
MARY: Our first game is called "Well Begun is Half-Done."
MICHAEL: I don't like the sound of that.
MARY: Otherwise titled "Let's Tidy up the Nursery."
MICHAEL: I told you she was tricky.
Mary has wise little sayings like "Well begun is half done." She means that if you get things off to a fun or pleasant start, that's half the battle. It makes the rest of the process run so smoothly.
Quote #2
MARY: First of all, I would like to make one thing quite clear.
GEORGE: Yes?
MARY: I never explain anything.
Mary doesn't explain anything because that's not the way she teaches. She teaches by leading people into experiences, and having them see for themselves. Mr. Banks can't learn to loosen up just by Mary telling him, "Loosen up!" She has lead him into events, so he can figure out the lesson on his own.
Quote #3
MARY: Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.
Even though Mary makes people feel sentiment and whimsy, she tells her talking umbrella that that's not really her style. She keeps her emotions reined in and just does her job…or so she says.
Quote #4
MARY: Never judge things by their appearance...even carpetbags. I'm sure I never do.
Mary says this after taking giant objects out of her smaller carpetbag. It's good advice, at any rate, and the kids have more chances to learn it too—a chalk illustration turns out to be an entire animated world, for one thing.
Quote #5
GEORGE: Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts.
George doesn't want to face facts—mainly, the fact that Mary is making the house way happier. He wants to keep his own limited view of things…but that's not gonna happen.
Quote #6
MARY: Enough is as good as a feast.
Mary's saying that if you have "enough," your life will be more than tolerable. There's no need to wish you had more, because you should appreciate what you have as much as you can.
Quote #7
DAWES SR.: If you invest your tuppence wisely in the bank, safe and sound, soon that tuppence, safely invested in the bank, will compound! And you'll achieve that sense of conquest, as your affluence expands! In the hands of the directors, who invest as propriety demands!
Dawes boring advice doesn't work with Michael. It sounds sort of wise, but really, Michael wants to use his tuppence to buy seeds to feed the birds, not to "achieve that sense of conquest." The movie makes it clear that Michael's got the right idea.