- Ivan's Mother: If a well is really deep, you can see a star down there even in the middle of a sunny day.
- Leonid Kholin: Are you from the Ukraine?
- Masha: Why do you ask?
- Leonid Kholin: You're beautiful... and stubborn.
- Galtsev: What'll become of him?
- Leonid Kholin: The colonel or Katasonych will adopt him when the war's over.
- Galtsev: Why them and not you?
- Leonid Kholin: The colonel says I need bringing up myself.
- Ivan: They sent me out by plane to a boarding school. But I ran away. There's a war on. I can't cram some stupid stuff when it's a war.
- Ivan's Mother: You can see a star in the daytime in a deep well.
- Ivan: Which star?
- Ivan's Mother: Any star.
- Ivan: I see a star, Mama! Why's it shining?
- Ivan's Mother: It's nighttime for the star. That's why it's shining.
- Ivan: Is it nighttime now? No, it's daytime.
- Ivan's Mother: It's daytime for us, but nighttime for the star.
- Leonid Kholin: Volunteered, didn't you? Are you frightened now?
- Galtsev: It's sort of unexpected.
- Leonid Kholin: Everything in life is.
- Ivan: Smoking again? Go on. It'll turn your lungs green.
- Leonid Kholin: So what? Nobody can see them.