Tevye: As Abraham said, "I am a stranger in a strange land... " Mendel: Moses said that. Tevye: Ah. Well, as King David said, "I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue." Mendel: That was also Moses. Tevye: For a man who was slow of tongue, he talked a...
Perchik: Money is the world's curse. Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.
Tevye: As the good book says, when a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick. Mendel: Where does the book say that? Tevye: Well, it doesn't say that exactly, but somewhere there is something about a chicken.
Tevye: Where are you going? Lazar Wolf: Chicago. In America. Tevye: Chicago, America? We are going to New York, America. We'll be neighbors.
Villager: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Tevye: Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.
Tevye: As the good book says, if you spit in the air, it lands in your face.
Tevye: [to God] Anyway, Motel and Tzeitel have been married for some time now. They work very hard, and they're as poor as squirrels in winter. But, they're so happy, they don't know how miserable they are.
Tevye: You are just a poor tailor! Motel: That's true, Reb Tevye, but even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!
[repeated line] Tevye: On the other hand...
Perchik: Your daughter has a quick and witty tongue. Tevye: Yes, the wit she gets from me, as the good book says... Golde: The good book can wait, it's time for Sabbath. Tevye: The tongue she gets from her mother.
[Hodel and Perchik begin dancing] Mendel: She's dancing with a man! Tevye: I can SEE that she's dancing with a man! [pause] Tevye: And I'm going to dance with my wife!
Tevye: [in song] Do you love me? Golde: [speaking] I'm your wife! Tevye: [speaking] I know! [in song] Tevye: But do you love me? Golde: [singing] Do I love him? For twenty-five years I've lived with him, fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five...
Hodel: [singing] For Papa, make him a scholar! Chava: [singing] For Mama, make him rich as a king! Hodel, Chava: For me, well, I wouldn't holler if he were as handsome as anything! Hodel, Chava: Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match! Find me a fi...
[about Yente, the matchmaker] Tzeitel: But Mama, the men she finds. The last one was so old and he was bald. He had no hair. Golde: A poor girl without a dowry can't be so particular. You want hair, marry a monkey.
[to God] Tevye: I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?
Yente: People! I tell you, Tzeitel, if God lived on earth, people would break his windows!
Mordcha: If the rich could hire others to die for them we, the poor, would all make a nice living.
Golde: Tevye! Tevye! Tevye: What is it? Golde: It's Chava. She left home this morning, with Fyedka. Tevye: What? Golde: I've looked everywhere for her. I even went to the priest. He told me they were married. Tevye: Married? Golde: Yes. Tevye: Well.....
