Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Though often attributed to Margaret Mitchell because it is associated with her story, the line is spoken by Rhett Butler in the 1939 film adaptation of Mitchell’s novel *Gone with the Wind*, at the moment he finally rejects Scarlett O’Hara after years of tumultuous attachment. The phrase became famous partly because its use of “damn” pushed against Hollywood’s Production Code restrictions; producer David O. Selznick sought special permission by arguing it was a direct quotation from the novel. In the 1936 novel, Rhett’s parting words are similar in intent but not identical in wording.

The line crystallizes Rhett Butler’s emotional severance: a blunt renunciation of the romantic drama that has defined his relationship with Scarlett. Its force lies in the collision of intimacy (“my dear”) with indifference (“I don’t give a damn”), turning a term of endearment into a final, dismissive punctuation. In the broader arc of *Gone with the Wind*, it signals the collapse of Scarlett’s illusions—about love, about control, and about the permanence of her world—while also marking Rhett’s refusal to continue being manipulated by her shifting desires. The quote endures as a cultural shorthand for definitive, unsentimental closure.

1) “My dear, I don’t give a damn.”
2) “Frankly, I don’t give a damn.”