Celine: Memories are wonderful things, if you don't have to deal with the past.
Celine: I was having this awful nightmare that I was 32. And then I woke up and I was 23. So relieved. And then I woke up for real, and I was 32.
Celine: There are so many things I want to do, but I end up doing not much.
Celine: Do I look any different? [long pause] Celine: I do? Jesse: I'd have to see you naked.
Jesse: What do you think were the chances of us ever meeting again? Celine: After that December, I'd say almost zero. But we're not real anyway, right? We're just, uh, characters in that old lady's dream. She's on her deathbed, fantasizing about her ...
Jesse: You want to know why I wrote that stupid book? Celine: Why? Jesse: So that you might come to a reading in Paris and I could walk up to you and ask, "Where the fuck were you?" Celine: [laughing] No - you thought I'd be here today? Jesse: I'm se...
Celine: The past is the past. It was meant to be that way. Jesse: What, you really believe that? That everything's fated? Celine: Well, you know, the world might be less free than we think. Jesse: Yeah? Celine: Yeah, when given these exact circumstan...
[first lines] Journalist #1: Do you consider the book to be autobiographical? Jesse: Uh, well, I mean... isn't everything autobiographical?
Celine: Were you there in Vienna, in December?
Celine: It's amazing what perverts we've become in the past nine years.
Jesse: So what kind of songs do you write? I didn't know you did that. Celine: What kind? Jesse: Yeah, sure. Celine: I don't know, just songs. Jesse: Like? Celine: Like, some are about, you know, people, uh, relationships. One's about my cat. Jesse: ...
Jesse: I heard this story once about when the Germans were occupying Paris and they had to retreat back. They wired Notre Dame to blow, but they had to leave one guy in charge of hitting the switch. And the guy, the soldier, he couldn't do it. You kn...
Celine: They enjoy the goal but not the process. But the reality of it is that the true work of improving things is in the little achievements of the day.
Jesse: [about his marriage] I feel like I'm running a small nursery with someone I used to date.
Jesse: I'm designed to feel slightly dissatisfied!
Celine: An imperialist country can use that kind of thinking to justify their economic greed, you know. I - human rights... Jesse: Is there any particular imperialist country you have in mind, there, Frenchie? Celine: Mmm, no, not really...
Celine: One night I heard some noise on my fire excape, so I called 911. And the cops came eventually... Jesse: Yeah like three hours later. Celine: [laughing] Yeah, after I had been raped and killed about 10 times.
Jesse: At least now we don't have to pretend that each new sexual experience is a life-altering event. Celine: I know. By now, you know, you've stuck it in so many places, it's like about to fall off. Jesse: Yeah, you know, and I can't realistically ...
