Say Anything (1989)

John Cusack: Lloyd Dobler

Photos 

Quotes 

• Diane Court : Nobody thinks it will work, do they?

  Lloyd Dobler : No. You just described every great success story.

• Lloyd Dobler : I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

• Lloyd Dobler : She broke up with me. What do I do? Can she come back? How can I get her back? I can't--I can't get her to talk to me. It's all so fucked up. I feel like crying. She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.

• D.C. : Lloyd, why do you have to be like this?

  Lloyd Dobler : 'Cause I'm a guy. I have pride.

  Corey Flood : You're not a guy.

  Lloyd Dobler : I am.

  Corey Flood : No. The world is full of guys. Be a man. Don't be a guy.

• Lloyd Dobler : I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at like the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?

  Joe : By choice, man.

• Diane Court : Are you shaking?

  Lloyd Dobler : No.

  Diane Court : You're shaking.

  Lloyd Dobler : I don't think so.

  Diane Court : You're cold.

  Lloyd Dobler : I don't think I am.

  Diane Court : Then why are you shaking?

  Lloyd Dobler : I don't know. I think I'm happy.

• Lloyd Dobler : [leaving the last of a series of messages on Diane's answering machine]  "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."

• Diane Court : I love you.

  Lloyd Dobler : What?

  Diane Court : I love you. How many more times do I have to say it?

  Lloyd Dobler : One more would be nice.

  Diane Court : I love you... please. I love you.

• Jim Court : You're not a permanent part of her life. You're a distraction.

  Lloyd Dobler : I'm the distraction that's going with her to England, sir.

• Diane Court : I just can't have any social life right now.

  Lloyd Dobler : Don't worry about it. We're just having coffee. We'll be anti-social.

  Diane Court : Be friends?

  Lloyd Dobler : Yeah. With potential.

• Lloyd Dobler : What I really want to do with my life--what I want to do for a living-- is I want to be with your daughter. I'm good at it.

• D.C. : Why don't you just call her again?

  Lloyd Dobler : I draw the line at 7 unreturned phone calls.

• Diane Court : Nobody knew me before tonight.

  Lloyd Dobler : They knew of you. Now they know you.

• Lloyd Dobler : Oh, I feel like a dick. You must think I'm a dick.

  Diane Court : No, I don't.

  Lloyd Dobler : You do.

  Diane Court : I don't. Lloyd, we shared the most intimate thing two people can share.

  Diane Court : You shared it with a dick.

• [on choosing a career] 

  Lloyd Dobler : How many of them really know what they want, though? I mean, a lot of them think they have to know, right? But inside they don't really know, so... I don't know ,but I know that I don't know.

• Lloyd Dobler : You probably got it all figured out, Corey. If you start out depressed, everything's kind of a pleasant surprise.

• Lloyd Dobler : Just knowing that a version like that exists, knowing that just for a minute she felt that and wrote "I can't help loving you". That has be a good thing.

• Corey Flood : I'm sorry, it's just that you're a really nice guy and we don't want to see you get hurt.

  Lloyd Dobler : I want to get hurt!

• Mike Cameron : I don't know you very well, you know, but I wanted to ask you: how'd you get Diane Court to go out with you?

  Lloyd Dobler : I called her up.

  Mike Cameron : But how come it worked? I mean, like, what are you?

  Lloyd Dobler : I'm Lloyd Dobler.

  Mike Cameron : This is great. This gives me hope. Thanks.

• Joe : Dude, where'd she dump you, man?

  Lloyd Dobler : In the car.

  Denny : Oh, man, your car? Man, Dissed in the Malibu. That's your castle, man.

• Lloyd Dobler : One question: are you here 'cause you need someone, or 'cause you need me?... Forget it, I don't care.

• Lloyd Dobler : Kickboxing. Sport of the future.

• Lloyd Dobler : Hey, my brotha, can I borrow a copy of your "Hey Soul Classics"?

  Jason Dobler : No, my brotha, you have to go buy your own.

  Lloyd Dobler : Hook it off the jab. Hook off!

  Constance : Why can't you be his uncle and not his playmate?

• Lloyd Dobler : What? I'm sorry I said that. Forget I said it, it's what I thought I meant, but...

  Diane Court : Lloyd...

  Lloyd Dobler : ...forget it.

  Diane Court : [making air quotes]  "I love you," okay?

  Lloyd Dobler : What is that? What are you doing with your hands?

  Diane Court : Don't! Don't be--!

  Lloyd Dobler : Talk to me, you're talking like that girl, Sheila!

  Diane Court : Don't be mean, this is hard for me too.

  Lloyd Dobler : [pauses]  Then don't do it.

  Diane Court : Shit.

  [She turns away from him and takes the pen from her coat pocket] 

  Diane Court : Just take this pen, please, and write me?

  [She puts the pen on the car dashboard, and turns away again] 

  Lloyd Dobler : I can't believe this. You just broke up with me.

  [They both sit in silence] 

• Diane Court : I have this theory of convergence, that good things always happen with bad things. I know you have to deal with them at the same time, but I just don't know why they have to happen at the same time. I just wish I could work out some schedule. Am I just babbling? Do you know what I mean?

  Lloyd Dobler : No.

• Lloyd Dobler : I'm gonna call her.

  Corey Flood : Diane Court doesn't go out with guys like you. She's a brain!

  D.C. : Trapped in the body of a game-show hostess.

• Lloyd Dobler : OK, how ya doing? I'm Lloyd, and we're gonna watch the movie "Cocoon." I've never actually seen it, but I heard it's very good, it makes you happy, thats a good thing. It's about a group of older people who go to outer space... hope I didnt give anything away there.

• Corey Flood : Did you sleep with her?

  Lloyd Dobler : I admit nothing.

  D.C. : Lloyd, it's us.

  Corey Flood : Look at his face. He did the deed.

  D.C. : You're an inspiration, Lloyd. You should go on the 700 Club or something.

• [At a party, a drunken Mark slams into Lloyd, knocking him down] 

  Mark : Give me my Firebird keys!

  Lloyd Dobler : You must chill! You must chill! I have hidden your keys! Chill!

• Lloyd Dobler : Joe. Joe. She's written 65 songs... 65. They're all about you. They're all about pain.

  Joe : So what's up?

• Lloyd Dobler : I'm gonna take Diane Court out again.

  Corey Flood : Well, that's unlikely.

  Lloyd Dobler : Is the movies a good second date? You know, as a date?

  Corey Flood : Well, you never had a first date.

  Lloyd Dobler : Yes we did. I sat across from her at a mall. We ate together. We ate. That's eating. Sharing an important physical event.

  Corey Flood : That's not even a scam.

  Lloyd Dobler : What's a scam?

  Corey Flood : Going out as friends.

  D.C. : No, it's not. Scam is lusting.

• Diane Court : You have to meet Bess. She's amazing. She's 93, she's a writer... and I told her about you.

  Lloyd Dobler : [Stops walking, stands in front of Diane]  Wait, wait... You told her about me?

  Jim Court : [Walks by the adjacent hall, Sees to the two and continues walking] 

  Diane Court : [Embarrassed, toys with a nearby water fountain.]  Yes.

  Lloyd Dobler : What'd you say?

  Diane Court : [Embarrassed]  Umm... Just meet her.

• [last lines] 

  Diane Court : Where's the ding?

  Lloyd Dobler : It's coming! Any second now... . Any second now.

• Lloyd Dobler : Why can't you be in a good mood? How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood and be in a good mood once in a while?"

  Constance : Gee, it's easy.

• Lloyd Dobler : The rain on my car is a baptism, the new me, Ice Man, Power Lloyd, my assault on the world begins now.

• Lloyd Dobler : I am looking for a dare to be great situation.

• Lloyd Dobler : [after leaving the Gas & Sip guys]  That was a mistake.

• Lloyd Dobler : You used to be fun. You used to be warped and twisted and hilarious... and I mean that in the best way--I mean it as a compliment!

  Constance : I was hilarious once, wasn't I?

• Diane Court : So, what's your job this summer?

  Lloyd Dobler : Job? Being a great date.

  Diane Court : No, I'm serious.

  Lloyd Dobler : So am I. I wanna see you again. I wanna see you as much as I can before you leave. I said it!

  Diane Court : I only have something like 16 weeks?

  Lloyd Dobler : Sixteen weeks is a long time.

  Diane Court : Then call me tomorrow.

  Lloyd Dobler : Today is tomorrow.

  Diane Court : Then call me later.

• Diane Court : Am I wrecking my car?

  Lloyd Dobler : "Yeah... a little."

• Lloyd Dobler , Corey Flood : What's a date?

  D.C. : A date is prearrangement with a possibility for love.

  Corey Flood : Then what's love?

• Diane Court : Lloyd, I'm sorry.

  Lloyd Dobler : What do you want?

  Diane Court : I'm sorry.

  Lloyd Dobler : What do you want?

  Diane Court : My father's guilty. He lied to me, he lied to everybody. I just left home... I need you.

  Lloyd Dobler : You do?

  Diane Court : Everything else means nothing to me. If I hurt you again, I'll die.

• Corey Flood : Lloyd, listen to me. Everything has changed. You've had sex. No matter what you might think, nothing will ever be the same between you two. You might be 60, you might be walking down the street, and you'll talk to her about something, whatever - But what you'll really be thinking is, "We had sex."

  Lloyd Dobler : What's the point?

  Corey Flood : You've got to do something special. You've got to make a statement.

  D.C. : Wait a minute...

  Corey Flood : You've got to show her respect!

• Lloyd Dobler : I felt like I wanted to tell you something but I didn't put it in the letter. And, I didn't say it, but, I think I want to say it now. But I'm not sure if I should say it, you know. Because, people always say it but they don't mean it. But, I think that I mean it. So...

• Lloyd Dobler : [talking into a handheld cassette tape recorder]  It's me. I'm cruising around. It's pretty late. You know, I haven't called you lately. I guess I didn't wanna be reminded of the Diane nightmare. By the way, I hardly remember her. I've wiped her from my mind. I don't remember when the time or place I knew her. This is it. The site of our controversial first date. I met her in a mall. I should've known our relationship was doomed. To our left, we have - the street where she broke up with me! And there's the path we took.

• Lloyd Dobler : I think I know too many girls! You know, I should hang with more guys. I should be like one of those guys who hang at the AM-PM Gas 'n' Sip on Saturday. But, I don't know, do guys like that really know the answers?

• Lloyd Dobler : One question. Do you need... someone, or do you need me?

  [pause] 

  Lloyd Dobler : Forget it, I don't really care.

  Diane Court : [hugs him]  I need you.

• Lloyd Dobler : Are you going to to go to that party at Vahlere's? Look, Diane, I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to leave the country without going to Vahlere's graduation tonight. This gentleman is 22 and comes out of hiding once a year for this occasion and he dresses up as the Lakeside Rooster. And he makes this drink called the Purple Passion.

• Diane Court : You don't like old people, do you?

  Lloyd Dobler : Me? Sure I do.

  Diane Court : Come on.

  Lloyd Dobler : Except for one thing. I used to work at a smorgasbord and the old people would flock there and they love to eat. And they just jammed their mouths, you know, and they would just eat with their mouths open and, you know, it's just too much for me. I mean, you know, you get to be thinking about how short life is and how maybe everything has no meaning. Because, you wake up and you're frying burgers and you then you're like 60 and 70 and then, you know, you check out and, you know, what are you doing? And I just don't need to think about those kind of things. So, that--that's the reason I was--But, I'm not sure I'm right, about any of that.

  Diane Court : I think that's ageism and that's being prejudiced against people because they're old. Maybe their mouths don't work well as yours.