Change of Habit (1969)

Barbara McNair: Sister Irene

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Quotes 

• Sister Irene : I think our neighbours are Catholic.

  Sister Michelle : Yes, it's too bad they're not Christian.

• Sister Irene : I have used my vocation to get away from all the things I've ever known. Doctor, do you know what it is to be really poor? I mean, hungry? Frightened? To be black?

  Dr. John Carpenter : I've been all those things except black.

• Sister Michelle : Don't you see, we can't be identified with the old order. If we're gonna reach these people, we've got be accepted first as women, then as nuns.

  Sister Irene : Yeah, well, I think we're about to be accepted as women.

• Dr. John Carpenter : Great. Just great. I ask for three hard-nosed nurses and they send me Park Avenue debutantes.

  Sister Irene : Which end of Park Avenue do you figure I'm from, Doctor?

• Sister Irene : Do you think there'll be trouble?

  Dr. John Carpenter : Trouble?

  Sister Irene : At the fiesta?

  Dr. John Carpenter : You know how it is on a Saturday night down here. You get everybody together, blown out their skulls, and all the old hates come out. And you just may wind up with World War III on your hands.

• Sister Barbara : Ah, Sisters, why don't you go on to the Clinic without me. Please tell Dr. Carpenter I'll be there as soon as I can. I have a rendezvous with destiny at the Ajax Market.

  Sister Michelle : Sister Barbara!

  Sister Barbara : I know, order and discipline, Well, I'm being wilfully disobedient.

  Sister Irene : That is called doing your own thing.

• The Banker : Lucky for you you're wearing that gunny sack, dinge.

  Sister Irene : Well, don't let that stop you.

  The Banker : You keep talkin', it won't.

  Sister Irene : Go ahead. Beat up a Nun!

• Sister Irene : I must have said a million Hail Marys to get out of a neighborhood just like this. I suddenly realize how safe I felt in my habit.

  Sister Michelle : We argued that out before. It's just a symbol of authority, like a policeman's uniform.

  Sister Irene : Yeah, well, you never see a policeman getting mugged.

• Sister Michelle : We're gonna live the way other people live and dress the way they do. For once in our religious lives, we're not going to be different.

  Sister Irene : There's a lot to be said for being different.

• Sister Barbara : If you don't like my noodle ring, you should have accepted Dr. Carpenter's invitation to dinner. I would have.

  Sister Michelle : That'll be five 'Hail Marys'.

  Sister Irene : Nuns and men don't mix.

  Sister Barbara : Oh, I think he's cute.

  Sister Irene : Fifteen.

  Sister Barbara : Honest. He's groovy.

  Sister Irene , Sister Michelle : Twenty-five.

• Sister Irene : Don't talk to me about being black. I've been black all my life. So I don't want to hear that.

  Miss Parker : Everything but the soul. You copped out.

  Sister Irene : I never have. I've done my part!

  Colom : For you. Not for us. See, you're locked in with those ofay chicks. Well, you can't have it both ways.

  Miss Parker : Get it together or get out. You're too pretty not to stay pretty.

• Sister Irene : When little white girls were playing with dolls and wearing party dresses, I was dodging drunks in dark hallways, praying I could get away from the stench of the ghetto. So I could be somebody, not - not 'just another nigger in the streets.

• Sister Irene : I'm a Negro. I think that's pretty obvious.

  Colom : Now where you been, sister? We ain't Negroes, we're black.

  Miss Parker : Not her. She's just been dipped in maple syrup.