BEFORE THE SUNRISE

- Isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?

- I don't know, I think that if I could just accept the fact that my life is supposed to be difficult. You know, that's what to be expected, then I might not get so pissed-off about it and I'll just be glad when something nice happens.

- I used to think that if none of your family or friends knew you were dead, it was like not really being dead. People can invent the best and the worst for you.

- I had worked for this old man and once he told me that he had spent his whole life thinking about his career and his work. And he was fifty-two and it suddenly struck him that he had never really given anything of himself. His life was for no one and nothing. He was almost crying saying that.

- I believe if there's any kind of God it wouldn't be in any of us, not you or me but just this little space in between. If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone sharing something. I know, it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really? The answer must be in the attempt.

- Street Poet: Daydream delusion, limousine eyelash / Oh baby with your pretty face / Drop a tear in my wineglass / Look at those big eyes / See what you mean to me / Sweet-cakes and milkshakes / I'm a delusion angel / I'm a fantasy parade / I want you to know what I think / Don't want you to guess anymore / You have no idea where I came from / We have no idea where we're going / Lodged in life / Like branches in a river/ Flowing downstream / Caught in the current / I carry you / You'll carry me / That's how it could be / Don't you know me? / Don't you know me by now?

- But then the morning comes, and we turn back into pumpkins, right?

- You know what drives me crazy? It's all these people talking about how great technology is, and how it saves all this time. But, what good is saved time, if nobody uses it? If it just turns into more busy work. You never hear somebody say, "With the time I've saved by using my word processor, I'm gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out". I mean, you never hear that.

- I always feel this pressure of being a strong and independent icon of womanhood, and without making it look my whole life is revolving around some guy. But loving someone, and being loved means so much to me. We always make fun of it and stuff. But isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?

- I was in an old church like this with my grandmother a few days ago in Budapest. Even though I reject most of the religious things, I can't help but feeling for all those people that come here lost or in pain, guilt, looking for some kind of answers. It fascinates me how a single place can join so much pain and happiness for so many generations.

- When you talked earlier about after a few years how a couple would begin to hate each other by anticipating their reactions or getting tired of their mannerisms- I think it would be the opposite for me. I think I can really fall in love when I know everything about someone-the way he's going to part his hair, which shirt he's going to wear that day, knowing the exact story he'd tell in a given situation. I'm sure that's when I know I'm really in love.

- I always have this strange feeling that I am this very old woman laying down about to die. You know, that my life is just her memories, or something.

BEFORE THE SUNSET

- If we didn't suffer, we wouldn't learn a thing, you know?

- (...) Certain things are better forgotten.

- Memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the past.

- If you don't believe in any kind of magic or mystery, basically you're as good as dead.

- I feel I was never able to forget anyone I've been with… because each person had their own specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost.

- I guess when you're young you just believe there'll be many people you'll connect with later in life you realize it only happens a few times.

- I can't deal with the day-to-day life of a relationship. Yeah, we have, you know, this exciting time together and then he leaves and I miss him, but at least I'm not dying inside. When someone is always around me, I'm, like, suffocating.

- No, wait, you just said that you need to love and be loved... C: Yeah, but when I do, it quickly makes me nauseous. It's a disaster. I mean, I'm really happy only when I'm on my own. Even being alone—it’s better than sitting next to a lover and feeling lonely. It's not so easy for me to be a romantic. You start off that way, and, after you've been screwed over a few times, you forget about all your delusional ideas, and you just take what comes into your life. That's not even true, I haven't been screwed over, I've just had too many blah relationships. They weren't mean, they cared for me, but they were no real connection, or excitement. At least, not from my side.

- You know, it's not even that, I was fine. Until I read your fucking book. It stirred shit up, you know? It reminded me how genuinely romantic I was, how I had so much hope in things. And now it's like I don't believe in anything that relates to love, I don't feel things for people anymore. In a way I put all my romanticism into that one night, and I was never able to feel all this again. Like somehow this night took things away from me and I expressed them to you and you took them with you. It made me feel cold, like if love wasn't for me.

- You know what? Reality and love are almost contradictory for me.

- I guess I've been heart-broken too many times. And then I recovered. So now, you know, from the starts, I make no effort because I know it’s not going to work out. I know it’s not going to work out…

- You can't do that. You can't do that, you can't live your life trying to avoid pain at the expense of engaging…

- I'm so miserable in my love life, in my relationship, I always act as, like, you know, I'm detached, but I'm dying inside. I'm dying because I'm so numb, I don't feel pain, or excitement. I'm not even bitter, I'm just…

- (...)and I know that there's something wrong, you know, that I can't keep living like this, that there's got to be something more to love than commitment. But then I think that I might have given up on the whole idea of romantic love. That I might have put it to bed, that day when you weren't there. You know, I think I might have done that.

- You know, it's so weird... People think they are the only one going through tough times.