There is an oft-repeated quote by an unknown author that wisely states: “Don’t compare your love story to those you watch in movies — those are written by scriptwriters, yours is written by God.” Hollywood takes all the mystery, madness, and messiness of love and wraps it up in a neat, shiny box, tying it off with a pretty bow — all in the course of 120 minutes. Indeed, moviegoers like their romances and romantic comedies gift-wrapped — thank you very much — complete with polished but predictable scripts, attractive lead actors, and the obligatory happy endings. As a tribute to romantic love, here are some of the most famous — and not so famous — quotations about love from the movies:
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” – Love Story
“I love you so much. And I hate this war so much. Oh, it’s a crazy world. Anything can happen. If you shouldn’t get away, I mean, if something should keep us apart, wherever they put you and wherever I’ll be, I want you to know that…” [Rick kisses Ilsa gently] “Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time.” [Rick kisses Ilsa passionately] – Casablanca
“Here’s a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett. Wants to feel your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him. Never mind about loving me, you’re a woman sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful memory. Scarlett! Kiss me! Kiss me… once…” – Gone with the Wind
“When you love somebody, you go deaf, dumb, and blind” – The Way We Were
“It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together… and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known. I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like magic.” – Sleepless In Seattle
“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with a person, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” – When Harry Met Sally
“The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I’d hoped to give you forever.” – The Notebook
“Love is friendship on fire.” – The Perfect Man
“I’d rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.” – Pocahontas
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return.” – Moulin Rouge
Husband: “Do you love me?” Wife: “Yes.” Husband: “Then I have everything I need.” – The Clearing
“You make me want to be a better man.” – As Good As It Gets
“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are… Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.” – Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
“I think that when you get to the end of your life, you have to ask yourself only two questions: Did I live fully and did I love well? And if you can say yes to those two things, then you’re home free.” – Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
“Love cannot be found where it doesn’t exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does.” Kissing a Fool
“Love is passion, obsession, someone you can’t live without. If you don’t start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who’ll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I’m not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you’ll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love – well, you haven’t lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven’t tried, you haven’t lived.” – Meet Joe Black
“I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw. I’m scared of what I did, of who I am…. and most of all, I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.” – Dirty Dancing
“All the men at court are without poetry. If they see me, they see my father’s fortune, I will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all… Not the artful postures of love, but love that overthrows life. Unbiddable, ungovernable, like a riot in the heart, and nothing to be done, come ruin or rapture. Love as there has never been in a play. I will have love.” – Shakespeare in Love
Read related posts: The Best Love Stories
Best Academy Award Quotes
Best Books for Movie Lovers
The Paradox of Love
The Wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke
For further reading: “We’ll Always Have Paris:” The Definitive Guide to Great Lines from the Movies by Robert Nowlan and Gwendolyn Nowlan, Harper Perennial (1995)
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