How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Kramer vs. Kramer.
Quote #1
TED: I just gotta call the office before they go. Joey, you're gonna be real proud of me. I got good news.
JOANNA: Ted.
TED: Yeah, one second. Let me just do this.
Ted dials the phone.
TED: You know Jack Edwards over in accounting? He committed suicide. (into the phone) Yeah, hi. Ted Kramer. Listen, I gotta get those photos from the retoucher by tomorrow morning, okay?
JOANNA: I'm leaving you.
TED: Honey, please. I can't hear. (into the phone) What? Okay. You, too. Thanks a lot. See you tomorrow.
Ted hangs up. You guys eat?JOANNA: Ted, I'm leaving you.
You don't have to physically leave someone to abandon them; a person can feel emotionally discarded, too. Joanna's like the invisible woman—minus the rad force field powers, and with an overstuffed suitcase full of her finest husband-leavin' clothes instead.
Quote #2
TED: Do me a favor; just tell me the truth, okay? Did you set my wife up to this?
MARGARET: No, I did not put Joanna up to this.
TED: Give her a little pep talk?
MARGARET: No, I did not give her any pep talk. Joanna and I talk a great deal, yes, and Joanna's a very, very unhappy woman, and you may not want to hear this, but it took a lot of courage for her to walk out of here.
TED: Mm hmm. How much courage does it take to walk out on your kid?
Hold on to your butts: We've got double the abandonment in this exchange. First, Margaret not-so-subtly points out that Joanna's been checked out of their marriage for a looong time; Ted just didn't notice. Ted then not-at-all-subtly points out that Joanna just straight-up abandoned her kid. Point, Ted?
Quote #3
BILLY: I think you forgot the milk.
TED: I didn't. Uh, milk comes last. You've always got to put the milk in last. When you're having a good time, you forget the most important thing, right? I just wanted to see if you were paying attention; it's been a long time since I made this.
On the surface level, we've got Ted acknowledging that, during his marriage, he probably made breakfast about as often as Billy agreed to go to bed early. He never permanently walked out on his family, but he was never very engaged.