films-directed-by-whit-stillman

"When we were kids I borrowed some things. It was never ever theft! In each case I either told you... or was about to."

"You are far weirder than someone merely into S&M. At least they have a tradition. We have some idea what S&M is about. There's movies and books about it. But so far as I know, there is nothing to explain the way you are."

"My jazz rule is: If you can't dance to it, you don't want to know about it."

"Positive thinking is fine in theory. But whenever I try it on a systematic basis... I end up really depressed."

"Have you ever heard of Maneuver X? When you get deeply into sales, you realize that every major transaction involves a mini identity crisis for the buyer. You think, "Green carpet. Am I really a green carpet person?" In romance, the same thing applies but on a humongous scale. But what is Maneuver X? It's removing all pressure, creating a space that the customer has to affirmatively cross. Only by disappearing more thoroughly and inexplicably than Montserrat can I change the current dynamic. Will it? I don't know. I think it will. If not, I'm dead."

"I don't go to bed with just anyone anymore. I have to be attracted to them sexually."

"Ramon is very persuasive, and he painted a terrible picture of what it would be like for her to live the rest of her life in America, with all of its crime, consumerism, and vulgarity. All those loud, badly dressed, fat people watching their eighty channels of television and visiting shopping malls. The plastic throw-everything-away society with its notorious violence and racism. And finally, the total lack of culture."

"Americans. Anti Americans. In Love."

"Taylor Nichols - Ted Boynton"

"Chris Eigeman - Fred Boynton"

"Tushka Bergen - Montserrat Raventos"

"Mira Sorvino - Marta Ferrer"

"Pep Munné - Ramon"

"Hellena Schmied - Greta"

"Núria Badia - Aurora Boval"

"Thomas Gibson - Dickie Taylor"

"[to Dan] What if in a few years we don't marry some corporate lawyer? What if we marry some meatball, like you? Or not you, personally, but someone with similarly low socioeconomic prospects."

"Anything I did that was wrong, I apologize for. But anything I did that was not wrong, I don't apologize for."

"This is going to sound dumb, but, it really works. Whenever you can, throw the word sexy - into a conversation. Its a kind of a signal. Like, um, there's something really sexy about strobe lights. Or, eh, this fabric is so sexy."

"Do you think the neurological effects of caffeine are similar to that of cocaine?"

"I could be gay."

"Group social life has its place, but at a certain point other biological factors come into play. Our bodies weren't really designed for group social life. A certain amount of pairing off was always part of the original plan."

"I'm not an addict. I'm a habitual user."

"Yuppie stands for "young upwardly mobile professional". Nightclub flunkie is not a professional category. I wish we were yuppies. Young, upwardly mobile, professional. Those are good things, not bad things."

"Do you know that Shakespearean admonition 'To thine own self be true'? It's premised on the idea that 'thine own self' is pretty good, being true to which is commendable. What if 'thine own self' is not so good? What if it's pretty bad? Would it better, in that case. not to be true to 'thine own self'? See? That's my situation."

"[to Des] I couldn't believe you'd be involved in the kind of things that have been going on here and told them so. I consider you a person of some integrity, except, you know, in your relations with women."

"[About Lady and the Tramp] There is something depressing about it and it's not really about dogs. Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start, the dogs all represent human types which is where it gets into real trouble. Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond cocker spaniel with absolutely nothing on the brain. She's great looking but, let's be honest, incredibly insipid. Tramp, the love interest is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind, an oily jail bird out for a piece of tail or whatever he can get. No, he's a self confessed chicken thief; an all around sleaze ball. What's the function of a film of this kind? Essentially it's a primer about love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches that smooth talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls in sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks."

"Disco will never be over. It will always live in our minds and hearts. Something like this that was this big, and this important, and this great, will never die. Oh for a few years, maybe many years it will be considered passé and ridiculous. It will be misrepresented, caricatured and sneered at, or worse, completely ignored. People will laugh about John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, white polyester suits and platform shoes and going like this! [mimics Saturday Night Fever pose] But we had nothing to do with those things and still loved disco. Those who didn't understand will never understand. Disco was much more, and much better than all that. Disco was too great and too much fun to be gone forever. It has got to come back someday. I just hope it will be in our own lifetimes...Sorry, I've got a job interview this afternoon and I was trying to get revved up, but - most of what I said I, uh, believe."

"Jimmy Steinway: [to Alice] There isn't a chance of you getting infatuated with me again is there?"

"Tom Platt: The environmental movement of our times was sparked by the rerelease of Bambi in the 1950s."

"Ted Boynton: Barcelona is beautiful but in human terms, pretty cold."

"History is made at night."

"Chloë Sevigny - Alice Kinnon"

"Kate Beckinsale - Charlotte Pingress"

"Chris Eigeman - Des McGrath"

"Mackenzie Astin - Jimmy Steinway"

"Matt Keeslar - Josh Neff"

"Robert Sean Leonard - Tom Platt"

"Jennifer Beals - Nina Moritz"

"Matt Ross - Dan Powers"

"Tara Subkoff - Holly"

"Taylor Nichols - Ted Boynton"