William Goldman

“But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.”

“It's one of my biggest memories of my father reading. I had pneumonia, remember, but I was a little better now, and madly caught up in the book, and one thing you know when you're ten is that, no matter what, there's gonna be a happy ending. They can sweat all they want to scare you, the authors, but back of it all you know, you just have no doubt, that in the long run justice is going to win out.”

“Enough about my beauty," Buttercup said. "Everybody always talks about how beautiful I am. I've got a mind, Westley. Talk about that.”

“I love you, I know this must come as something of a surprise, since all I’ve ever done is scorn you and degrade you and taunt you, but I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. I thought an hour ago that I loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that I knew that what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm.”

“I'm not witch. I'm your wife.”

“live your life its pain its pleasure leave no path untaken”

“-Te amo -le dijo Buttercup-. Sé que esto debe resultarte sorprendente, puesto que lo único que he hecho siempre ha sido mofarme de tí, degradarte y provocarte, pero llevo ya varias horas amándote, y cada segundo que pasa te amo más. Hace una hora, creí que te amaba más de lo que ninguna mujer ha amado nunca a un hombre; media hora más tarde, supe que lo que había sentido entonces no era nada comparado con lo que sentí después. Mas al cabo de diez minutos, comprendí que mi amor anterior era un charco comparado con el mar embravecido antes de la tempestad. A eso se parecen tus ojos, ¿lo sabías? Pues sí. ¿Cuántos minutos hace de eso? ¿Veinte? ¿Serían mis sentimientos tan encendidos entonces? No importa. -Buttercup no podía morarlo. El sol comenzó a asomar entonces a sus espaldas y le infundió valor -. Ahora te amo más que hace veinte minutos, tanto que no existe comparación posible. Te amo mucho más en este momento que cuando abriste la puerta de tu choza. En mi cuerpo no hay sitio más que para tí. Mis brazos te aman, mis orejas te adoran, mis rodillas tiemblan de ciego afecto. Mi mente te suplica que le pidas algo para que pueda obedecerte. ¿Quieres que te siga para el resto de tus días? Lo haré. ¿Quieres que me arrastre? Me arrastraré. Por tí me quedaré callada, por tí cantaré, y si tienes hambre, deja que te traiga comida, y si tienes sed y sólo el vino árabe puede saciarla, iré a Arabia, aunque esté en el otro confín del mundo, y te traeré una botella para el almuerzo. Si hay algo que sepa hacer por tí, lo haré; y si hay algo que no sepa, lo aprenderé. Pero recuera, por favor, que ella es vieja y tiene otros intereses, mientras que yo tengo diecisiete años y para mí sólo existes tú. Mi querido Westley... nunca te había llamado por tu nombre, ¿verdad...? Westley, Westley, Westley, Westley... querido Westley, adorado Westley, mi dulce, mi perfecto Westley, dime en un susurro que tendré la oportunidad de ganarme tu amor.”

“I suppose I was dying again, so I asked the Lord of Permanent Affection for the strength to live the day. Clearly, the answer came in the affirmative.""I didn't know there was such a Fellow," Buttercup said."Neither did I, in truth, but if He didn't exist, I didn't much want to either.”

“The easiest thing to do on earth is not write…But this is life on earth, you can't have everything.”

“There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.”

“While he was watching the ships, Buttercup shoved him with all her strength remaining. Down went the man in black. "You can die too for all I care," she said, and then she turned away.Words followed her. Whispered from afar, weak and warm and familiar. "As...you...wish...”

“The first morning after Westley's departure, Buttercup thought she was entitled to do nothing more than sit around moping and feeling sorry for herself. After all, the love of her life had fled, life had no meaning, how could you face the future, et cetera, et cetera.”

“Nobody knows anything...... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.”

“I don't like killing a girl," the Spaniard said."God does it all the time; if it doesn't bother Him, don't let it worry you.”

“Pienso que lo más asombroso de llorar es que cuando empiezas, crees que nopararás nunca, pero en realidad no dura ni siquiera la mitad de lo que habías creído.”

“Westley y yo estamos unidos por el lazo del amor y eso es algo a lo que nopodréis seguirle el rastro ni con mil sabuesos, algo que no podéis romper ni con milespadas.”

“Hay muertes, y será mejor que entendáis algo: que mueren algunas personas que no deberían morir. Preparaos, pues. Esto no es un cuento infantil. A mí nadie me lo advirtió y la culpa fue mía (dentro de poco entenderéis por qué os lo digo), y el error fue mío, de manera que no quiero que os pase lo mismo. Mueren algunas personas que no deberían morir, y la razón es ésta: la vida no es justa. Olvidaos de todas las tonterías que os dicen vuestros padres. Acordaos de Morgenstern. Seréis mucho más felices.”

“Hace una hora, creí que te amaba más de lo que ninguna mujer ha amado nunca a unhombre, pero media hora más tarde, supe que lo que había sentido entonces no eranada comparado con lo que sentí después. Mas al cabo de diez minutos, comprendí que mi amor anterior era un charco comparado con el mar embravecido antes de la tempestad.”

“In the kitchen, Chub clung to the wall, made no sound whatsoever, but his mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, as he told himself, kept telling himself, that life was material, everything was material - you just had to live long enough to see how to use it.”

“Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today.”

“I guess the most amazing thing about crying though is that when you're in it, you think it'll go on forever but it never really lasts half what you think. Not in terms of real time. In terms of real emotions, it's worse than you think, but not by the clock.”

“Flaws would not only bring death but, far worse, humiliation.”

“When was the last time you read a book? The truth now. And picture books don't count-I mean something with print in it.”

“As you wish...”

“Cynics are simply thwarted romantics.”

“I would love to say that I wrote (Good Will Hunting). Here is the truth. In my obit it will say that I wrote it. People don't want to think those two cute guys wrote it. What happened was, they had the script. It was their script. They gave it to Rob [Reiner] to read, and there was a great deal of stuff in the script dealing with the F.B.I. trying to use Matt Damon for spy work because he was so brilliant in math. Rob said, "Get rid of it." They then sent them in to see me for a day - I met with them in New York - and all I said to them was, "Rob's right. Get rid of the F.B.I. stuff. Go with the family, go with Boston, go with all that wonderful stuff." And they did. I think people refuse to admit it because their careers have been so far from writing, and I think it's too bad. I'll tell you who wrote a marvelous script once, Sylvester Stallone. Rocky's a marvelous script. God, read it, it's wonderful. It's just got marvelous stuff. And then he stopped suddenly because it's easier being a movie star and making all that money than going in your pit and writing a script. But I did not write [Good Will Hunting], alas. I would not have written the "It's not your fault" scene. I'm going to assume that 148 percent of the people in this room have seen a therapist. I certainly have, for a long time. Hollywood always has this idea that it's this shrink with only one patient. I mean, that scene with Robin Williams gushing and Matt Damon and they're hugging, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault." I thought, Oh God, Freud is so agonized over this scene. But Hollywood tends to do that with therapists.(from 2003 WGA seminar)”

“Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”

“Inside and out, Westley's world was ripping apart and he could do nothing but crack along with it.”

“You could concentrate much more deeply when you were alone with agony.”

“Existence was really very simple when you did what you were told.”

“I’ll tell you the truth and its up to you to live with it.”

“The enemy is always in the mind.”

“I must learn.”

“Love is many things none of them logical.”

“Westley closed his eyes. There was pain coming and he had to be ready for it. He had to prepare his brain, he had to get his mind controlled and safe from their efforts, so that they could not break him. He would not let them break him. He would hold together against anything and all. If only they gave him sufficient time to make ready, he knew he could defeat pain. It turned out they gave him sufficient time (it was months before the Machine was ready).But they broke him anyway.”

“I mean, I really do think that love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops. But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.”

“I write out of revenge.”

“I am your Prince and you will marry me," Humperdinck said.Buttercup whispered, "I am your servant and I refuse.""I am you Prince and you cannot refuse.""I am your loyal servant and I just did.""Refusal means death.""Kill me then.”

“Westley: This is true love — you think this happens every day?”

“But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid - that had to mean something.”

“Inconceivable!""You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!”

“I've been saying it so long to you, you just wouldn't listen. Every time you said 'Farm Boy do this' you thought I was answering 'As you wish' but that's only because you were hearing wrong. 'I love you' was what it was, but you never heard.”

“Well, I’m an abridger, so I’m entitled to a few ideas of my own. Did they make it? Was the pirate ship there? You can answer it for yourself, but, for me, I say yes it was. And yes, they got away. And got their strength back and had lots of adventures and more than their share of laughs. But that doesn’t mean I think they had a happy ending, either. Because, in my opinion, anyway, they squabbled a lot, and Buttercup lost her looks eventually, and one day Fezzik lost a fight and some hot-shot kid whipped Inigo with a sword and Westley was never able to really sleep sound because of Humperdinck maybe being on the trail. I’m not trying to make this a downer, understand. I mean, I really do think that love is the best thing in the world, next to cough drops. But I also have to say, for the umpty-umpth time, that life isn’t fair. It’s just fairer than death, that’s all.”

“I must court her now,' said the Prince. 'Leave us alone for a minute.' He rode the white expertly down the hill. Buttercup had never seen such a giant beast. Or such a rider. 'I am your Prince and you will marry me,' Humperdinck said. Buttercup whispered, 'I am your servant and I refuse.' 'I am your Prince and you cannot refuse.' 'I am your loyal servant and I just did.' 'Refusal means death.' 'Kill me then.' 'I am your Prince and I’m not that bad — how could you rather be dead than married to me?' 'Because,' Buttercup said, 'marriage involves love, and that is not a pastime at which I excel. I tried once, and it went badly, and I am sworn never to love another.' 'Love?' said Prince Humperdinck. 'Who mentioned love? Not me, I can tell you. Look: there must always be a male heir to the throne of Florin. That’s me. Once my father dies, there won’t be an heir, just a king. That’s me again. When that happens, I’ll marry and have children until there is a son. So you can either marry me and be the richest and most powerful woman in a thousand miles and give turkeys away at Christmas and provide me a son, or you can die in terrible pain in the very near future. Make up your own mind.' 'I’ll never love you.' 'I wouldn’t want it if I had it.' 'Then by all means let us marry.”

“And when she at last came out, her eyes were dry. Her parents stared up from their silent breakfast at her. They both started to rise but she put a hand out, stopped them. ‘I can care for myself, please,’ and she set about getting some food. They watched her closely. In point of fact, she had never looked as well. She had entered her room as just an impossibly lovely girl. The woman who emerged was a trifle thinner, a great deal wiser, and an ocean sadder. This one understood the nature of pain, and beneath the glory of her features, there was character, and a sure knowledge of suffering. She was eighteen. She was the most beautiful woman in a hundred years. She didn’t seem to care. ‘You’re all right?’ her mother asked. Buttercup sipped her cocoa. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘You’re sure?’ her father wondered. ‘Yes,’ Buttercup replied. There was a very long pause. ‘But I must never love again.’ She never did.”

“Do you love me, Westley? Is that it?’ He couldn’t believe it. ‘Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches. If your love were—‘ ‘I don’t understand the first one yet,’ Buttercup interrupted. She was starting to get very excited now. ‘Let me get this straight. Are you saying my love is the size of a grain of sand and yours is this other thing? Images just confuse me so—is this universal business of yours bigger than my sand? Help me, Westley. I have the feeling we’re on the verge of something just terribly important.’ ‘I have stayed these years in my hovel because of you. I have taught myself languages because of you. I have made my body strong because I thought you might be pleased by a strong body. I have lived my life with only the prayer that some sudden dawn you might glance in my direction. I have not known a moment in years when the sight of you did not send my heart careening against my rib cage. I have not known a night when your visage did not accompany me to sleep. There has not been a morning when you did not flutter behind my waking eyelids….Is any of this getting through to you, Buttercup, or do you want me to go on for a while?’ ‘Never stop.’ ‘There has not been—‘ ‘If you’re teasing me, Westley, I’m just going to kill you.’ ‘How can you even dream I might be teasing?’ ‘Well, you haven’t once said you loved me.’ ‘That’s all you need? Easy. I love you. Okay? Want it louder? I love you. Spell it out, should I? I ell-oh-vee-ee why-oh-you. Want it backward? You love I.’ ‘You are teasing now; aren’t you?’ ‘A little maybe; I’ve been saying it so long to you, you just wouldn’t listen. Every time you said ‘Farm boy do this’ you thought I was answering ‘As you wish’ but that’s only because you were hearing wrong. ‘I love you’ was what it was, but you never heard, and you never heard.”

“The tears that kept Buttercup company the remainder of the day were not at all like those that had blinded her into the tree trunk. Those were noisy and hot; they pulsed. These were silent and steady and all they did was remind her that she wasn’t good enough. She was seventeen, and every male she’d ever known had crumbled at her feet and it meant nothing. The one time it really mattered, she wasn’t good enough.”

“Look, are you just fiddling around with me or what?""I just want you to feel you're doing well. I hate for people o die embarrassed.”

“We’ll never survive!” “Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.”