How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from You Can't Take it With You.
Quote #1
MR. KIRBY: Boys like Tony don't marry stenographers.
Mr. Kirby is supposed to be wrong here, obviously; the message of the film is that there is no class barrier to love. But he's also somewhat accurate. Alice isn't exactly a stenographer; she's working as a secretary, but does she really need the job? She quits without worrying about where her next meal is coming from; her family has resources. She's not actually the class Mr. Kirby thinks she is, which is perhaps why he doesn't recognize the danger of marriage is real.
Quote #2
TONY: You know, there never was anything in my life that I couldn't get if I didn't scream loud enough.
ALICE: Really?
TONY: Yeah, and I've had plenty of practice with it since I was a baby. I'm pretty terrific at it now. Here, let me show you a little example.
[Tony screams, and the office boy opens the door. Tony screams again and the office boy leaves. Tony and Alice laugh.]
Tony is incredibly charming and fun (he's Jimmy Stewart, after all!) But he's also spoiled. The film mostly focuses on getting Mr. Kirby to be a better person, but Tony has some improving to do as well (under the tutelage of the Sycamores, of course.)
Quote #3
TONY: I can feel a scream coming on right now... it's up here, in my throat! It's fighting to get out!
ALICE: No, please, don't scream!
[Alice screams]
HEAD WAITER: [comes over to the table] What happened?
TONY: What happened? Well, there was a mouse!
HENRY: A mouse? In this place?
TONY: What do you mean, "mouse"? It was a rat, this long, and it had hair on it! And there were six or seven of them!
This scene is all about tweaking upper-class society. Alice and Tony are in a lavish dining room, which they end up scampishly disrupting. The tweaking of the upper class, though, depends on the fact that Alice and Tony are upper-classish themselves; they don't need to worry about being arrested, for instance. If you want to take on the upper class, it's best to have some money and connections yourself.