How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #1
THE NOTE TAKER. Oh yes. Quite a fat one. This is an age of upstarts. Men begin in Kentish Town with 80 pounds a year, and end in Park Lane with a hundred thousand. They want to drop Kentish Town; but they give themselves away every time they open their mouths. Now I can teach them— (1.120)
Higgins suggests that he is living in a time when dreams can come true, when rags-to-riches stories are, well, more than just stories. At the same time, he acknowledges that the movement from Kentish Town to Park Lane is not only a matter of making a fortune.
Quote #2
THE FLOWER GIRL. I want to be a lady in a flower shop stead of selling at the corner of Tottenham Court Road. But they won't take me unless I can talk more genteel. He said he could teach me. Well, here I am ready to pay him—not asking any favor—and he treats me as if I was dirt. (2.34)
Eliza's ambitions are initially very modest and, given Higgins's expertise, not unrealistic. Only Higgins's bet inflates them, turns her small plans into big dreams.
Quote #3
HIGGINS [becoming excited as the idea grows on him] What is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn't come every day. I shall make a duchess of this draggletailed guttersnipe. (2.82)
Higgins himself seems to be a big dreamer. He is as much interested in the idea of "taking a chance" and dreaming big as he is in the job he takes on.
Quote #4
LIZA. No: I don't want no gold and no diamonds. I'm a good girl, I am. [She sits down again, with an attempt at dignity]. (2.145)
Throughout the play, Eliza insists that she does not want the usual things: gold, diamonds, fancy dresses. She wants to maintain her dignity and achieve her original goal.
Quote #5
HIGGINS. Playing! The hardest job I ever tackled: make no mistake about that, mother. But you have no idea how frightfully interesting it is to take a human being and change her into a quite different human being by creating a new speech for her. It's filling up the deepest gulf that separates class from class and soul from soul. (2.223)
Higgins's task becomes more than a simple matter or training, or a test of skill. He is totally wrapped up in the idea of bringing together humankind, one person at a time.
Quote #6
HIGGINS. It was a silly notion: the whole thing has been a bore.
PICKERING. Oh come! the garden party was frightfully exciting. My heart began beating like anything.
HIGGINS. Yes, for the first three minutes. But when I saw we were going to win hands down, I felt like a bear in a cage, hanging about doing nothing […] No more artificial duchesses. The whole thing has been simple purgatory. (4.21-23)
Just as soon as he has achieved his goal, Higgins has lost interest in his achievement. He seems to confirm that old saying: "it's about the journey, not the destination."
Quote #7
MRS. HIGGINS. But what has my son done to you, Mr. Doolittle?
DOOLITTLE. Done to me! Ruined me. Destroyed my happiness. Tied me up and delivered me into the hands of middle class morality. (5.54-55)
Doolittle, like his daughter, seems uninterested in the usual kinds of success. Higgins has ruined him by getting him a job as a lecturer and a huge income. He was happier being poor and "undeserving."
Quote #8
LIZA [much troubled] I want a little kindness. I know I'm a common ignorant girl, and you a book-learned gentleman; but I'm not dirt under your feet. What I done [correcting herself] what I did was not for the dresses and the taxis: I did it because we were pleasant together and I come—came—to care for you; not to want you to make love to me, and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like. (5.248)
Ultimately, Eliza wants support and love instead of money and stature; she wants to be a good girl, and be appreciated for being one.
Quote #9
I'll marry Freddy, I will, as soon as he's able to support me. (5.252)
Eliza says this to threaten Higgins after he suggests she marry a rich man, perhaps even Pickering. Whether or not her statement is sincere, it represents a more conventional dream than her original plan, and certainly one more realistic than Higgins's.