Mary: George, I didn't know you could yodel.
George M. Cohan: Learned it on the farm. Nothing but pig callin' with frost on it.

- James Cagney (as George M. Cohan) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

George M. Cohan: It seems it always happens. Whenever we get too high-hat and too sophisticated for flag-waving, some thug nation decides we're a push-over all ready to be blackjacked. And it isn't long before we're looking up, mighty anxiously, to be sure the flag's still waving over us.

- James Cagney (as George M. Cohan) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

George M. Cohan: My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you.

- James Cagney (as George M. Cohan) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

George M. Cohan: Thanks, Sam. It'll be great as long as those critics don't start to eat off my leg.
Sam Harris: Oh, don't worry about the critics! You got a smash hit! It's in the air, kid! It's in the air! You can't stop anything that's in the air!

- Richard Whorf (as Sam Harris) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

[a group of soldiers in marching off to fight in World War II, singing Cohan's World War I song, "Over There"]
Sergeant on parade: What's the matter, old timer? Don't you remember this song?
George M. Cohan: Seems to me I do.
Sergeant on parade: Well, I don't hear anything.
[Cohan starts singing along, with tears coming into his eyes]

- Frank Faylen (as Sergeant on Parade) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

[first lines]
Critic #1: I call it a hit. What'll your review say?
Critic #2: I like it too, so I guess I'll pan it.

- William Forrest (as Critic #1) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

[George M. Cohan comes into apartment and smells something cooking]
George M. Cohan: Mmmmm... ham or bacon?
Mary: Bacon.
George M. Cohan: Good. Ham makes me self-conscious.

- James Cagney (as George M. Cohan) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)