Driving Miss Daisy Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Driving Miss Daisy.

Quote #7

POLICEMAN: What's this name? Wertheran?

DAISY: Werthan.

POLICEMAN: Never heard that one before. What kind of name is it?

DAISY: It's of German derivation.

POLICEMAN: German derivation. Thank you, ma'am. An old n***** and an old Jew woman riding down the road together. Now that is one sorry sight.

Notice how Daisy has to disguise her family name as "German." She doesn't fool the policemen, though. This is a very revealing scene in that it shows what are racist and anti-Semitic attitudes even among law enforcement. How can anyone expect to get justice?

Quote #8

DAISY: I think it's wonderful the way things are changing.

HOKE: Talk about things changing. They ain't changed all that much.

By this point, it's a little unbelievable that Miss Daisy is so oblivious to the irony of her statement. She's just refused to invite Hoke in to hear Dr. King's speech. It would be nice if Hoke could answer Miss Daisy to her face, but he speaks when he's outside the car and she's still inside. Progress in civil rights looked a whole lot different to African Americans than to whites in the 1960s.