03 May 2008

Before Sunset Quotes


Title: Before Sunset



?: Do you consider the book to be autobiographical?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, I mean, isn’t everything autobiographical? I mean, we all see the world through our own tiny keyhole, right? I mean, I always think of Thomas Wolfe, you know. Have you ever seen that little one page note to reader in the front of Look Homeward, Angel, right? You know what I'm talking about? Anyway, he says that we are the sum of all the moments of our lives, and that, anybody who sits down to write is gonna use the clay of their own life, that you can't avoid that.

?: Mr. Wallace, the book ends on an ambiguous note. We don't know. Do you think they get back together in six months, like they promise each other?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Like they promised... I think how you answer that, you know, is, it's a good test, right, if you're a romantic or a cynic? I mean, you think they get back together, right? You don't, for sure. And you hope they do but, you know, you’re not sure so that’s why you're asking the question.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Happiness is in the doing, right? Not in getting what you want.

Céline ?: No, everyone wants to believe in love. It sells, right?

Céline ?: You know, reading something, knowing that the character in the story is based on you, it's both flattering and disturbing at the same time.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: How is it disturbing?
Céline ?: I don't know, just being part of someone else's memory, seeing myself through your eyes.

Céline ?: Anyway, I got really tired, let's go this way, of having this endless conversation with friends about how the world is falling to pieces. So I decided what I really wanted to do was to find things that could be fixed, and try to fix them, you know?

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You know, I actually alternated between thinking that, you know, everything is irrevocably screwed up, and that things might be getting better in some ways.
Céline ?: Better? How could you possibly say that?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, I just mean, you know, like... I mean, I know it sounds weird, but there are things to be optimistic about.
...
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Maybe what I'm saying is this, the world might be evolving the way a person evolves, right? Like, I mean me, for example. Am I getting worse? Am I improving? I don't know. When I was younger, I was healthier, but I was racked with insecurity, you know? Now I'm older, my problems are deeper but I'm more equipped to handle them.

Céline ?: I had this funny, well, horrible dream the other day. 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; scary!
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: It happens.
Céline ?: Yeah, time goes faster and faster. Apparently, it's because we don't renew our synapses after 20. So, it's pretty much downhill from then on. Oh well.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I like getting older. You know, it feels, I don't know, it feels more immediate. You know, like I can appreciate things more.

Céline ?: But the reality of it is that the true work of improving things is in the little achievements of the day. And that's what you need to enjoy, just in that field.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah, but that's so hard, you know, to be in the moment. I just feel like I'm designed to be slightly dissatisfied with everything, you know? I mean, like always trying to better my situation, you know? I satisfy one desire, and it just agitates another, you know? Then I think, to hell with it, right? I mean, desire is the fuel of life. I mean, do you think it's true that if we never wanted anything, we'd never be unhappy?
Céline ?: I don't know. Not wanting anything, isn't that a symptom of depression? Yeah, that is, right? I mean, it's healthy to desire, right?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah. I don't know. I mean, it's what all those Buddhist guys say, right? You know, liberate yourself from desire, and you'll find that you already have everything you need.
Céline ?: Yeah, but I feel really alive when I want something more than just basic survival needs. I mean, wanting, whether it's intimacy with another person or a new pair of shoes, is kind of beautiful. I like that we have those ever-renewing desires, you know?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, maybe it's just a sense of entitlement. You know, like whenever you feel like you deserve that new pair of shoes, you know. It's okay to want things as long as you don't get pissed off if you don't get them, right? Life's hard, it's supposed to be. If we didn't suffer, we wouldn't learn a thing, you know?

Céline ?: I decided a long time ago that I was gonna be open to everything, but not buy into any one-and-only belief system.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You know, you realize that most of the people that you meet are trying to get somewhere better. You know, they're trying to make a little bit more cash, trying to get a little more respect, have more people admire them. It's just exhausting.
Céline ?: Yeah, no kidding.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You know, it's exhausting to be one of those people yourself, you know? I mean, there I am, right, you know, all greedy to be more spiritual. You know, I wanna be a better person, you know? You can't escape.

Céline ?: You know, sometimes I don't even need to buy anything. I just get high on trying on and looking at things.

Céline ?: Sometimes, I put things in drawers inside my head, and forget about it. I guess it's less painful to put certain things away than to live with it.
...
Céline ?: ... I just meant certain things are better off forgotten.

Céline ?: Memory is a wonderful thing, if you don't have to deal with the past.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I guess a memory is never finished as long as you're alive.

Céline ?: Did you ever keep a journal when you were a kid?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah. On and off, I guess.
Céline ?: It's funny. I read one of mine from 1983 the other day and, what really surprised me, is that I was feeling with life the same way I am now. I was much more hopeful and naive, but the core and the way I was feeling things is exactly the same. It made me realize I haven't changed much at all.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah, I don't think anybody does. People don't want to admit it, but it's like we just, we have these innate set points. You know, it's like nothing much that happens to us changes our disposition.
Céline ?: Really? You believe that?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I think so. I read this study where they followed people who had won the lottery, and people who had become paraplegics, right. I mean you'd think that, you know, one extreme is gonna make you euphoric, and the other suicidal. But the study shows that after about six months, right, as soon as people got used to their new situation, they were more or less the same.
Céline ?: The same?
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Well, yeah. Like if they were basically an optimistic, jovial person, they're now an optimistic, jovial person in a wheelchair. If they're a petty miserable asshole, okay, they're a petty miserable asshole with a new Cadillac, a house and a boat.
Céline ?: So, I’ll now be forever depressed, no matter what great things happen in my life?

Céline ?: But sometimes I worry that I'll get to the end of my life feeling I haven't done all I wanted to do.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Oh, what do you wanna do?
Céline ?: I, um, I want to paint more, I wanna play my guitar everyday, I wanna learn Chinese, I wanna write more songs. There are so many things I wanna do, and end up doing not much.

Céline ?: There's an Einstein quote I really, really like. He said, "If you don't believe in any kind of magic or mystery, you’re basically as good as dead."

Céline ?: My point was, you know, to truly communicate with people is very hard to do.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: You know, I think that book that I wrote, in a way, was like building something so that I wouldn't forget the details of the time that we spent together. You know, like, just as a reminder that once we really did meet, you know, that this was real. This happened.

Céline ?: I feel I was never able to forget anyone I've been with. Because each person have their own specific qualities. You can never replace anyone. What is lost is lost.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I'm serious. I think I wrote it, in a way, to try to find you.
Céline ?: Okay, that's... I know that's not true, but it's sweet of you to say it.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I think it is true. What do you think the chances were of us ever meeting again?

Céline ?: You know, maybe we're... we're only good at brief encounters, walking around in European cities in warm climate!

Céline ?: I guess when you're young, you just believe there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life you realize it only happens a few times.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah, you can screw it up! You know, misconnect.
Céline ?: Well, the past is the past. It was meant to be that way.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: What, you really believe that? That everything is fated?
Céline ?: Well, you know, the world might be less free than we think.
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Yeah?
Céline ?: Yeah. When given these exact circumstances, that's what will happen every time. Two part hydrogen, one part oxygen, you'll get water every time.

James Wallace, also known as Jesse: It's more like I have this, this idea of my best self, you know? And I wanted to pursue that even if it might have been overriding my honest self. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it's funny, like in the moment I remember thinking that it didn't much matter the 'who' of it all. I mean, that nobody is gonna be everything to you, and that ultimately it's just a simple action of committing yourself, you know, meeting your responsibilities that, that matters. I mean what is love, right, if it's not respect, trust, admiration? And I... I felt all those things!

Céline ?: You know, couples are so confused lately. I think it must be that men need to feel essential, and they don't anymore. Because it's been imprinted in their heads for so many years that they had to be the provider. Like, I'm a strong independent woman in my professional life; I don't need a man to feed me, but I still need a man to love me and that I could love, you know.

Céline ?: I was thinking, for me, it's better I don't romanticize things as much anymore. I was suffering so much all the time. I still have lots of dreams, but they're not in regard to my love life. It doesn't make me sad, it's just the way it is.

Céline ?: 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.

Céline ?: You know what? Reality and love are almost contradictory for me. It's funny, every single of my exes, they're now married. Men go out with me, we break up, and then they get married! And later they call me to thank me for teaching them what love is, and...
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: Oh, God.
Céline ?: and that I taught them to care and respect women!
James Wallace, also known as Jesse: I think I'm one of those guys.
Céline ?: You know, I want to kill them! Why didn't they ask me to marry them? I would have said 'no', but at least they could have asked! But it's my fault, I know it's my fault, because I never felt it was the right man. Never!
Céline ?: But what does it mean the right man? The love of your life? The concept is absurd; the idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil, right?

Céline ?: You know, it's so weird that people think they are the only one going through tough times.

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