My 10 Favorite Movie Quotes and How they Relate to Me

Movies have always been popular among my family as a way for quality, bonding time and pure entertainment. I grew up in the mid to late eighties with Disney classics, though straying away from the now-cult hits such as The Goonies or even the timeless The Wizard of Oz. To this day, I have not seen either movie, but rather have filled my life with other prevalent flicks both in and out of the limelight.

But not only do movies serve for entertainment purposes for me; they also have a crucial impact on my life due to spectacular writing, pivotal plot points and even just being viewed with the right company. Most of the films I've chosen for my favorite quotes are ones I grew fond of during my four years in college and can somehow connect to the way I was feeling at the precise moment I first watched it or just have such ludicrous stories behind them that they have to be included.

1. Elijah Wood's character, Matt Buckner, in Green Street Hooligans:
"I've never lived closer to danger, but I've never felt safer."
After another enduring brawl for the Green Street Elite firm, Matt finally realizes that the guys he is running around with are so much like family, that even though they fight and face their deaths before and after the football matches, his people have his back.

It's not unlike my life of finding new friends away from home and knowing they've always got my back when things get tough, whether it's a physical or mental battle. Friends are family no matter what and that even includes the few "relatives" you only get along with sometimes and more often than not, have issues with. But in the heat of the moment, it all dissolves.

2. Billy Crystal's character, Miracle Max, in The Princess Bride:
"Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe."
Miracle Max is working toward reviving Westley in his home after Fezzik and Inigo bring him back from the Pit of Despair. Westley utters the words "true love" and Max finds it proper to explain how wonderful love is, but gets sidetracked by his stomach.

Who doesn't love The Princess Bride and how many people out there can't relate to some aspect of the movie? This particular quote always makes me laugh and I've learned I can be just like Billy Crystal's character so much. I am the queen of tangents and it's likely I'll get pulled away by the slightest distraction, including excellent food and drink.

3. Liev Schreiber's character, Marty Kantrowitz, in A Walk on the Moon:
"He's the blouse man. You're screwing the blouse man. Jesus, Pearl, why not screw the dress man? At least then you'd get a whole outfit."
Marty's wife, Pearl, has just confessed to having an affair with the traveling salesman who visits their summer lodgings in upstate New York while Marty has been home working.

I'll be the first to admit it - this movie is just absolutely terrible. We happened upon it while having a Viggo Mortensen marathon, but there's something strangely corny and fun about it that makes us watch it over and over again. This quote in particular is more amusing than meaningful as is the movie as a whole. But Marty has it right - if you're going to do something wrong, why not do it efficiently and gain the most from your bad decision?

4. Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Hal, in Proof:
"Oh they're raging geeks. But they're geeks who, you know, can dress themselves and hold down a job at a major university. Some of them have switched from glasses to contacts. They, uh, play sports, they play in a band, they get laid surprisingly often... So, it makes you kinda question the whole set of terms. Geek, nerd, wonk, dilbert, paste eater..."
Hal has just invited Catherine to watch his geeky friends' band play at a bar and is trying to explain just how geeky they are. She proceeds to call him out on being the drummer of the band.

I love this bit in the movie for the simple fact that I have associated myself in the geek/nerd categories for years, but as time progresses, the conversations and arguments that follow the "true" definitions behind each label throws me back and forth from each group. Either way, I'm a nerdy geek and this movie based purely on love and mathematical proofs makes it one of my favorite films.

5. Mel Gibson's character, Graham Hess, in Signs:
"See, what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: is it possible that there are no coincidences?"
Graham and his brother Merrill are sitting on the couch watching television at night and they're talking about faith, luck and everything else that has been happening with the alien invasion.

Having been a religious man for so long, Graham's quote starts to reflect his feelings of faith and how they have diminished in the past, including his wife's death. This quote impacts me a lot because I think of it every day and how things happen in life. Whether me getting into a car accident is just pure bad luck or if it was meant to happen; whether someone dying was all part of a bigger plan or just because they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

6. Emma Thompson's character, Karen Eiffel, in Stranger Than Fiction:
"It's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die, and then dies... But if the man does know he's going to die and dies anyway. Dies, dies willing, knowing he can stop it, then... Well, isn't that the type of man you want to keep alive?"
Karen is trying to describe her love for her character and why she's conflicted in killing him off as the original first edition of her book has it.

As a writer, this whole movie was brilliant for me. I took a lot of cues and though "Karen Eiffel" is just a made up character for this movie, I look at my work the same way she does. This just really hit home in a fun way.

7. Clive Owen's character, Nick Callahan, in Beyond Borders:
"Are you wearing perfume... in the fucking desert?"
High class Sarah has just arrived to Nick's Doctors Without Borders camp and has not left behind a single aspect of her two-story, white picket fence American life, including her giant sunglasses and pricey perfume.

A lot of this movie deals with the growing bond between Nick and Sarah and how she goes from a classy trophy wife of a woman to a world-traveling Angelina Jolie; ironic how she plays Sarah, no? I love this movie to bits as there are so many good lines and great parts and this one just really sums up the first half of it. The second half is the epitome of change, with the accompanying quote, "You're not wearing perfume" when the two meet again further down the time line.

8. Kate Winslet's character, Iris, in The Holiday:
"I'm looking for corny in my life."
Iris and her neighbor, Arthur, are preparing for an award ceremony being held in Arthur's honor and he gives her a corsage and mentions how old fashioned and "corny" the tradition of giving flowers is.

This whole movie makes me happy. A decent portion of it is devoted to Iris and Arthur and their old-fashioned relationship, including talk of classic films and their classic lines. This individual quote sums me and my life up perfectly.

9. Clive Owen's character, Larry, in Closer:
"Have you ever seen a human heart? It looks like a fist, wrapped in blood."
Larry and Daniel are speaking of how "love must be so easy" for Larry and other matters of backstabbing love and the lack of compassion - Larry being the older, experienced man and Daniel the younger, naive man.

Since we first saw this movie in the theaters, we've always used this line in every day conversations. Many people dissect love and compare it to the human heart, as two perfect halves make a whole and the whole "you complete me" notion. But no one takes the time to ever look at a real heart and see that it's quite the ugly organ that is asymmetrical and not perfect in any form.

10. Robin Williams' character, Sean, in Good Will Hunting:
"And you wouldn't know about real loss, because that only occurs when you lose something you love more than yourself and you've never dared to love anything that much."
Will is meeting with Sean and Sean takes him to a park and he reflects on some previous things Will has said to him and how although it really took a toll on his psyche, Will doesn't know a single thing because he's just a boy with no background.

I love this movie and everything about it since it first came out, since I was a kid. I had a shooting script version of the movie and would read it practically every day and came to appreciate the various aspects of intelligence in the words. It was difficult picking just one perfect quote from the movie, but this really sums up my thoughts on love and loss.