27 Swoon-Worthy Love Quotes From Your Favorite 80s Movies
On Monday, I went to see The Spectacular Now, which is pretty much the perfect date movie. On top of announcing Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley as the two of the best actors of their generation, the movie pays homage to many of the 80’s movies we grew up on — a big, fat love better to John Hughes. Like Hughes’ work, the movie is filled with great, heartfelt dialogue, which got me thinking about the best lines from John Hughes and his contemporaries, including William Goldman and Nora Ephron.
Without further ado, here are 27 of the best lines about love, romance and life from 80’s movies.
1. “I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
– Harry, When Harry Met Sally
2. “You said you couldn’t believe in anyone who didn’t believe in you. I believed in you. You just didn’t believe in me.”
– Blaine, Pretty in Pink
3. “She’s gone. She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.”
– Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything
4. “That’s why they call them crushes. If they were easy, they’d call ’em something else.”
– Jim Baker, Sixteen Candles
5. “Maybe I didn’t really know you. Maybe you were just a mirage. Maybe the world is full of food and sex and spectacle and we’re all just hurling towards an apocalypse, in which case it’s not your fault. I’m been thinking about all these things and…you’re probably standing there monitoring. And one more thing: about the letter. Nuke it. Flame it. Destroy it. It hurts me to know it’s out there. Later.”
– Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything
6. “No one can stand being alone. The minute you stop thinking there’s someone out there for you, it’s over you know?”
– Keith, Some Kind of Wonderful
7. “Never trust a woman who says she isn’t angry.”
– Kevin, St. Elmo’s Fire
8. “Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is. And I didn’t know this either, but love don’t make things nice. It ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us. We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.”
– Ronny, Moonstruck
9. “I want a serious girlfriend. Somebody I can love, that’s gonna love me back. Is that psycho?”
– Jake Ryan, Sixteen Candles
10. “I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They’re more important than sex.”
“Ah, come on. Nothing’s more important than sex.”
“Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?”
– Michael and Sam, The Big Chill
11. “First of all, Rat, you never let on how much you like a girl. ‘Oh, Debbie. Hi.’ Two, you always call the shots. ‘Kiss me. You won’t regret it.’ Now three, act like wherever you are, that’s the place to be. ‘Isn’t this great?’ Four, when ordering food, you find out what she wants, then order for the both of you. It’s a classy move. ‘Now, the lady will have the linguini and white clam sauce, and a Coke with no ice.’ And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.”
– Mike, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
12. “I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw. I’m scared of what I did. I’m scared 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.”
– Baby Houseman, Dirty Dancing
13. “She is the only evidence of God I have seen with the exception of the mysterious force that removes one sock from the dryer every time I do my laundry.”
– Kirby, St. Elmo’s Fire
14. “You look good wearing my future.”
– Keith, Some Kind of Wonderful
15. “Do you wanna kiss me?”
“Someday.”
“What’s this “someday” shit?”
“Well, it’s just I get the feeling you’ve been kissed a lot, and I’m afraid I’d suffer by comparison.”
– Ariel and Ren, Footloose
16. “When you grow up, your heart dies.”
– Allison, The Breakfast Club
17. “They’re either married or gay. And if they’re not gay, they’ve just broken up with the most wonderful woman in the world, or they’ve just broken up with a bitch who looks exactly like me. They’re in transition from a monogamous relationship and they need more space. Or they’re tired of space, but they just can’t commit. Or they want to commit, but they’re afraid to get close. They want to get close, you don’t want to get near them.”
– Meg, The Big Chill
18. “Linda, I finally figured it out. I don’t want sex. Anyone can have sex.”
“Yeah, Stacy? What do you want?”
“I want a relationship. I want romance.”
“You want romance? In Ridgemont? We can’t even get cable TV here, Stacy, and you want romance!”
– Linda and Stacy, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
19. “You had to be big shots, didn’t you? You had to show off. When are you gonna learn that people will like you for who you are, not for what you can give them?”
– Lisa, Weird Science
20. “‘Someday my wish is for him to hold me in his arms, in a sea of deep blue, together at last, together as two.’ That’s beautiful. I didn’t know you were a poet.”
– Ronald (reading Cindy’s poetry), Can’t Buy Me Love
21. “Our love is God. Let’s go get a slushie.”
– J.D., Heathers
22. “You know your voice is kind of nice when your mouth isn’t screwing it up.”
“Yeah and you looks are kind of pretty. When your face isn’t screwing it up.”
– Stef and Mouth, The Goonies
23. “There are several quintessential moments in a man’s life: losing his virginity, getting married, becoming a father, and having the right girl smile at you.”
– Kirby, St. Elmo’s Fire
24. “The fact that you’re not answering leads me to believe you’re either (a) not at home, (b) home but don’t want to talk to me, or (c) home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy. If it’s either (a) or (c), please call me back.”
– Harry, When Harry Met Sally
25. “Cameron has never been in love — at least, nobody’s ever been in love with him. If things don’t change for him, he’s gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she’s gonna treat him like shit, because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won’t respect him, ’cause you can’t respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn’t work.”
– Ferris, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
26. “Since the invention of the kiss, there have been only five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”
– Grandpa, The Princess Bride
27. “Nobody thinks it will work, do they?”
“No. You just described every great success story.”
– Lloyd and Diane, Say Anything
Note: That Heathers quote is actually really creepy in context, but if I didn’t find a way to quote Heathers, I would never forgive myself.