How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Kramer vs. Kramer.
Quote #4
TED: I'm not that late, Billy. I'm only 20 minutes.
BILLY: You wanna make a bet?
TED: Yeah.
BILLY: All the other mothers were there before you.
Surprised that all the other parents picking up kids from the birthday party were women? Yeah, us neither. Billy's using "mothers" to mean "primary caregivers"—clueing us in to what was the norm in those days.
Quote #5
JOANNA: I have a whole speech.
TED: No, go ahead.
JOANNA: All my life I've felt like somebody's wife or somebody's mother or somebody's daughter. Even all the time we were together, I never knew who I was. That's why I had to go away, and in California, I think found myself. I got myself a job. I got myself a therapist—a really good one—and I feel better about myself than I ever have in my whole life. And I've learned a great deal about myself.
Personally we find the whole "finding oneself" a little buzzword-y in an otherwise moving speech by Joanna. We'll forgive her because she admits it was kind of a prepared speech.
Quote #6
SHAUNESSY: Now, how old is the child again?
TED: Uh, my son is seven.
SHAUNESSY: Oh, that's tough.
TED: Why?
SHAUNESSY: Well, in most cases involving a child that young, the court tends to side with the mother.
TED: But she signed over custody.
SHAUNESSY: I'm not saying we don't have a shot, but it won't be easy.
At the time the film was made, dads were being awarded custody in increasing numbers, but courts still mostly thought that women are better parents simply by virtue of their gender. Shaunessy is laying out the odds pretty honestly.