You’re hard.
Lee
You bet I’m hard. I’m in a hard business. It’s like being in an army. The soft man gets licked. You’re soft—and you’re getting licked.
Jack
[Raises his head]. Soft, because I’m giving up the biggest night of my life to keep my mother’s heart from breaking? Soft, because I’m going to pray in a synagogue so that my father can be proud of his family name—so that my father may live?... You think it’s going to be easy for me to stand there singing stuff that doesn’t mean anything to me anymore and give up playing to a big Broadway opening night?... Soft because I’m giving up the only girl I ever loved—
Lee
Giving her up?
Jack
Yes, giving her up. She’s like you. Hardened to the stage idea. She thinks I’m soft, too—sentimental. Don’t you think I went through hell before I came down here?
Lee