15+ Best Theodore Melfi Quotes

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[to Mary] I don’t want to see you get hurt. NASA’s never ever given you guys your due. Having a couple of extra degree ain’t gonna change that. Civil rights ain’t always civil.

— Levi Jackson (Aldis Hodge), Hidden Figures

NASA Civil Rights

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If the product of two terms is zero then common sense says at least one of the two terms has to be zero to start with. So if you move all the terms over to one side, you can put the quadratics into a form that can be factored allowing that side of the equation to equal zero. Once you’ve done that, it’s pretty straightforward from there.

— Young Katherine Coleman (Lidya Jewett), Hidden Figures

College Math quadratic equstions

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Dorothy Vaughan: Mrs. Mitchell, If I could. My application for supervisor, ma’am. I was just wondering if they’re still considering me for that position.

Vivian Mitchell: Yes. Well, the official word is no. They’re not assigning a permanent supervisor for the colored group.

Dorothy Vaughan: May I ask why?

Vivian Mitchell: I don’t know why. I didn’t ask why.

Dorothy Vaughan: We need a supervisor, ma’am. We haven’t had one since Miss Jansen got sick. It’s been almost a year.

Vivian Mitchell: Things are working just fine as-is.

Dorothy Vaughan: I’m doing the work of a supervisor.

Vivian Mitchell: Well, that’s NASA for you. Fast with rocket ships, slow with advancement. Get those trajectory calcs worked out, we need them for the Redstone test.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

NASA Rocket Ships

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White Cop: Damn Russians are watching us right now. Sputniks. You girls ever meet those astronauts? Mercury Seven?

Mary Jackson: Absolutely.

Katherine Johnson: Uh, yes, sir. We work with those gentlemen all the time.

White Cop: Those boys are the best we got. I’m sure of that.

Katherine Johnson: Yeah.

Mary Jackson: Yeah.

White Cop: We got to get a man up there before the commies do.

Katherine Johnson: Yes.

Mary Jackson: Absolutely.

White Cop: Whole damn country’s counting on them.

Dorothy Vaughan: That’s for certain.

Mary Jackson: Hard being of service broken down on the side of the road, though.

White Cop: Right, right. Uh, well, do y’all need a tow or something?

Dorothy Vaughan: No, thank you, Officer. I think I got it. Just give me my…

[Katherine reaches in the car and passes something to Dorothy]

Dorothy Vaughan: Just need to bypass the starter.

Katherine Johnson: She’s good at this stuff.

[Dorothy quickly gets the car started]

Dorothy Vaughan: Wooh! Attagirl. We’re all set.

White Cop: Well, hell, the least I can do is give y’all an escort. I imagine you’re running late to work.

Katherine Johnson: Oh, no, sir. We wouldn’t want to bother you.

Mary Jackson: That would be wonderful, Officer. Thank you so much, sir.

White Cop: Follow me.

Mary Jackson: I’m driving. Hurry up, Dorothy, before he changes his mind.

Dorothy Vaughan: We’re coming. Hold your horses.

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

Cars russians Sputnik Commies

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[as Mary goes to hitchhike she notices a police car approaching them]

Mary Jackson: Girls.

Dorothy Vaughan: No crime in a broken-down car.

Mary Jackson: No crime being Negro neither.

Katherine Johnson: Button it up, Mary. Nobody wants to go to jail behind your mouth.

Mary Jackson: I’ll do my best, sugar.

[the cop car pulls up by them and get out of his vehicle]

White Cop: Not a great place for three of y’all be having car trouble.

Mary Jackson: We didn’t pick the place, Officer. It picked us.

White Cop: Are you being disrespectful?

Mary Jackson: No, sir.

White Cop: You have identification on you?

Mary Jackson: Yes, sir.

Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir. We’re just on our way to work at Langley. NASA, sir.

[all three show him their IDs]

Dorothy Vaughan: We do a great deal of the calculating, getting our rockets into space.

White Cop: All three of you?

Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir.

Mary Jackson: Yes, Officer.

[he takes Mary’s ID and looks at it]

White Cop: NASA, now that’s something. I had no idea they hired…

Dorothy Vaughan: There are quite a few women working in the space program.

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

Cars hitchhiking NASA negro disrespectful

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[whilst Katherine is in class]

Professor Graves: Ms. Coleman, why don’t you solve the equation on the board?

[back to Katherine’s parents with her principal and teacher]

Ms. Sumner: We took up a collection amongst the teachers and such. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to help get you settled in.

Younger Joylette Coleman: That’s more than kind, Ms. Sumner.

— Marion Smithson (as G. Williams), Hidden Figures

College Math Teachers

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Al Harrison: Ruth, what’s the status on that computer?

Ruth: She’s right behind you, Mr. Harrison.

[he turns and sees Katherine]

Al Harrison: Does she handle Analytic Geometry?

Ruth: Absolutely, and she speaks.

Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir, I do.

Al Harrison: Which one?

Katherine Johnson: Both. Geometry and speaking.

Al Harrison: Ruth, get me the…

[Ruth hands him a piece of paper]

Al Harrison: You think you, uh, you think you can find me the Frenet Frame for this data using the Gram-Schmidt…

Katherine Johnson: Orthogonalization algorithm. Yes, sir. I prefer it over Euclidean coordinates.

Al Harrison: Okay, good. Good, then I’m going to need it by the end of the day.

Katherine Johnson: Yes.

Al Harrison: I’m also going to ask you to check Mr. Stafford’s math as well as others’ on this floor from time to time.

Paul Stafford: I can, I can handle that, Al.

Al Harrison: I’m sure you can, Paul. I’m sure they all can. But if that were the case shingles wouldn’t be flying off the heat shield, now would they?

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

NASA Algorithms Geometry Frenet Frame

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Karl Zielinski: There is another opening in the Engineer Training Program.

Mary Jackson: Flat head rivets would reduce wind drag.

Karl Zielinski: Mary, a person with engineer’s mind should be an engineer. You can’t be a computer the rest of your life.

Mary Jackson: Mr. Zielinski, I’m a Negro woman. I’m not going to entertain the impossible.

Karl Zielinski: And I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I’m standing beneath a spaceship that’s going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?

Mary Jackson: I wouldn’t have to, I’d already be one.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

NASA Nazi Polish Jew Holocaust

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[Hampton, Virginia 1961 – Dorothy is under the car trying to fix it as Katherine and Mary wait]

Dorothy Vaughan: Okay, try to turn it over now. Katherine! Mary! Somebody!

Mary Jackson: Katherine! Quit staring off into space and turn the damn car over.

Katherine Johnson: I got it! I’m not deaf.

Mary Jackson: I wonder sometimes.

Katherine Johnson: Here it goes.

[Katherine tries to turn on the car]

Dorothy Vaughan: Yeah, it’s the starter. That is definitely the starter.

Mary Jackson: This starter is starting to make us late. We are all going to end up unemployed riding around in this pile of junk to work every day.

Dorothy Vaughan: Well, you’re welcome to walk the sixteen miles.

Katherine Johnson: Or sit in the back of the bus.

Mary Jackson: I won’t do neither. I’ll hitchhike.

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

Cars starters hitchhiking

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[as they are following the cop who’s escorting them to work]

Dorothy Vaughan: Mary, Mary, slow down. You’re too close!

Mary Jackson: Be quiet, he said to follow him.

Dorothy Vaughan: He didn’t mean up his behind!

Katherine Johnson: Dear Lord, I don’t even know where to begin!

Mary Jackson: Oh, I’ll tell you where to begin. Three Negro women are chasing a white police officer down the highway in Hampton, Virginia in 1961. Ladies, that there is a God-ordained miracle.

Katherine Johnson: And tomorrow, I’m riding the bus.

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

Cars negro Virginia South

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Katherine Johnson: You’re supposed to been asleep a long time ago.

Kathy Johnson: We just wanted to say goodnight. You’ve been gone for three hundred hours.

Katherine Johnson: I know, I work a full-time job now. You all know that. I have to be Mommy and Daddy. I miss your father just as much as anyone.

Kathy Johnson: He’s with the angels.

Katherine Johnson: Yes, he’s with all the angels.

Kathy Johnson: And he’s watching over us.

Katherine Johnson: Every minute, okay? That’s why we have to be strong. Alright?

Joylette, Constance, Kathy: Yes, Mama.

Katherine Johnson: Y’all get some rest, okay?

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

Sleep Angels

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Jim Webb: A damn dog and a damn mannequin. And then, a 1.6 megaton RDS-37 thermonuclear warhead drops down in the middle of Des Moines.

Paul Stafford: Well, that’s a pretty big jump, sir.

Jim Webb: What?

Paul Stafford: Just that, that…

Jim Webb: Who the hell is he?

Al Harrison: Paul Stafford, our lead engineer, Mr. Webb. I think what he meant to say is that speculation, at least on our side of the equation by definition, can be just a little dangerous.

Jim Webb: Dangerous? You know what’s dangerous, Mr. Stafford? Inaction and indecision. The Russians have a spy satellite lapping the planet, taking pictures of God knows what! The President is demanding an immediate response. No more delay. Alan Shepard, John Glenn, your uncle Bob, it doesn’t matter. Get us up there, Harrison. We can’t justify a space program that doesn’t put anything in space.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

russians Spies NASA John Glenn Alan Shepard Space Program

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Vivian Mitchell: Space Task Group needs a computer, ASAP. Someone with a handle on analytic geometry. We can’t fill that position out of the east group.

Dorothy Vaughan: Permanent or temp?

Vivian Mitchell: Everything’s temporary, Dorothy. You have someone?

Dorothy Vaughan: Yes, ma’am. Katherine’s the gal for that. She can handle any numbers you put in front of her.

Vivian Mitchell: I’ll check her credentials [she turns to leave] Didn’t think I’d come all the way down here.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

NASA Geometry

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[to the NASA workers]

Al Harrison: Just to be clear in fourteen days, the Mercury Seven will be here for training, and I have no doubt in my mind that they’re going to be asking us questions about our work. I think that’s pretty reasonable given we’re putting a human on top of a missile, shooting him into space, and it’s never been done before. Because it’s never been done, everything we do between now and then is going matter. It’s gonna matter to their wives, to their children. I believe it’s going matter to the whole damn country. So this Space Task Group will be as advertised. America’s greatest engineering and scientific minds are not going to have a problem with having their work checked. Are they, Paul?

Paul Stafford: No, sir.

Al Harrison: Good. So let’s have an amen, damn it.

NASA Worker: Amen. Amen!

Al Harrison: All right.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

NASA Space Program

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Mary Jackson: That Colonel Jim is a tall glass of water.

Dorothy Vaughan: That he is. Tall, strong, demanding.

Mary Jackson: And I bet he’s like it day and night.

Katherine Johnson: Mary, it’s Sunday. Please have some shame.

Mary Jackson: I will not.

Dorothy Vaughan: Hmm, I think he’s smiling over here.

Mary Jackson: [to Katherine] At you.

Katherine Johnson: Well I’m not smiling back.

Dorothy Vaughan: Yes, you are.

Mary Jackson: Oh, child, you are all teeth right now.

Katherine Johnson: I am not.

[Mary indicates to Jim to come over to them]

Mary Jackson: He’s coming over.

Katherine Johnson: Now why would he be doing that?

Dorothy Vaughan: Because Mary’s waving at him.

Katherine Johnson: No! Ladies, I’m not ready…

Mary Jackson: Sshh. It’s too late. Fix your hair.

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

Tall Glass of Water smiling Flirting

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[Dorothy is driving them home from work]

Dorothy Vaughan: I haven’t been late one day in ten years. Haven’t been out sick. Haven’t complained. My work’s on time. It’s done right, it’s done well.

Mary Jackson: It’s not fair, that’s a fact.

Dorothy Vaughan: What’s not fair is having the responsibility of a supervisor, but not the title or the pay. And watching you two move on. Now, don’t get me wrong. Any upward movement is movement for us all, just isn’t movement for me.

Katherine Johnson: Truth be told, Dorothy, I don’t even know if I can keep up in that room. I’ll be back with the computers in a week, or out of a job entirely.

Dorothy Vaughan: Oh, please. You’re better with the numbers than anyone in there, Katherine, and you know it. Just make that pencil move as fast as your mind does you’ll be fine. And you, have some respect. Get your damn feet off my dashboard. This isn’t your living room. I sound like a supervisor, don’t I?

Mary Jackson: A mean old salty one.

Katherine Johnson: Riddled with authority, no question.

[Katherine and Mary laugh]

Dorothy Vaughan: You don’t mess with Mrs. Vaughan.

Mary Jackson: Turn that music up.

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

NASA computers

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Constance Johnson: Mama?

Katherine Johnson: Yes, baby?

Constance Johnson: Are the Russians fixing to attack us?

Katherine Johnson: Where did you get that from?

Joylette Johnson: We had to hide under our desks today, all scrunched up.

Katherine Johnson: Okay, baby, that’s called a drill. It means, uh, you practice safety just in case something happens. Truth is, we don’t know what they’re doing up there.

Constance Johnson: You going to space, too?

Katherine Johnson: No, baby. But I’m going to do what I can to help those brave men get there. Yes, I am.

Kathy Johnson: You could fly up to space if you wanted to, Mama. You could be an astronaut.

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

NASA russians

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[referring to their meeting with Jim Webb]

Al Harrison: How did that feel in there, Paul? You think you enlightened the administrator? Hm? No, he didn’t look enlightened to me. He look enlightened to you, Sam?

Sam Turner: Not particularly.

Al Harrison: And just so you know, he’s not wrong about what he said in there. You know that, right? Because now that they can get up there, a bomb will follow. It’s what happens to all our good ideas. I imagine theirs too. Where’s… Where’s the machine?

Ruth: Any day now, Mr. Harrison.

Al Harrison: Any day now.

Ruth: Yes, sir.

Al Harrison: What’s it called? The initials?

Ruth: The IBM.

Paul Stafford: International Business Machines.

Al Harrison: Space is a business. I need a mathematician.

Ruth: I’ll put in another request, sir.

Al Harrison: Another request. Jesus Christ. We don’t have a single person in this entire building that can handle analytic geometry?

Ruth: That’s what I’ve been told.

Al Harrison: Tell me something else, Ruth, like we’re going to find such a person before the Russians plant a flag on the damn moon.

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

russians Spies NASA Space Program IBM

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[escorting Katherine to the Space Task Group] Skirts must be worn past the knee. Sweaters are preferred to blouses. No jewelry. A simple pearl necklace is the exception. Your supervisor is Mr. Al Harrison, Director of the Space Task Group. You’ll write research, proof calculations, so forth. Do not talk to Mr. Harrison unless he talks to you. Not many computers last more than a few days. He’s been through a dozen in as many months. Come on, keep up. Things move fast around here. Your clearance. [she gives Katherine her ID badge] They’ve never had a colored in here before, Katherine. Don’t embarrass me.

— Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), Hidden Figures

NASA Segregation colored

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[Katherine enters the Space Task Group offices, as she look around in amazement Sam walks up to her and gives her a garbage bin]

Sam Turner: This wasn’t emptied last night.

Katherine Johnson: I’m sorry, I’m not the…custodian. [Katherine puts the bin down and walk over to Ruth] Excuse me, ma’am. Mr. Harrison’s computer reporting.

Ruth: Take the desk in the back, I’ll get your work in a bit. Mr. Harrison won’t warm up to you, don’t expect it. Do your work, keep your head down.

Katherine Johnson: Thank you.

Ruth: Go on. Get settled.

— Sam Turner (Kurt Krause), Hidden Figures

computer Custodian

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Marion Smithson: West Virginia Collegiate Institute is the best school for Negroes in the state.

Ms. Sumner: It’s the only school past the eighth grade anywhere near here.

[we see young Katherine sitting outside talking to herself as she does math calculations]

Young Katherine Coleman: Isosceles. Scalene. Equilateral. Rhombus. Trapezoid.

Joshua Coleman: Katherine’s in the sixth grade.

Ms. Sumner: They want to take her early.

Young Katherine Coleman: Tetrahedron. Dodecahedron.

Marion Smithson: They’re offering a full scholarship. All you have to do is get there.

— Marion Smithson (as G. Williams) (Gregory Alan Williams), Hidden Figures

Negroes College West Virginia Math

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Theodore Melfi Quotes

Theodore Melfi

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Total quotes (22)

In all my years of teaching I’ve never seen a mind like the one your daughter has.

— Ms. Sumner (Maria Howell), Hidden Figures

[to Mary] I don’t want to see you get hurt. NASA’s never ever given you guys your due. Having a couple of extra degree ain’t gonna change that. Civil rights ain’t always civil.

— Levi Jackson (Aldis Hodge), Hidden Figures

— Young Katherine Coleman (Lidya Jewett), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

— Marion Smithson (as G. Williams), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), Hidden Figures

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

— Katherine G Johnson (Taraji P Henson), Hidden Figures

— Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), Hidden Figures

— Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst), Hidden Figures

— Sam Turner (Kurt Krause), Hidden Figures

— Marion Smithson (as G. Williams) (Gregory Alan Williams), Hidden Figures

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