Daydream Nation (2011) - Quotes

Perceptions of Identity and Relationships

Caroline: [after reading Barry's novel] If you have the audacity... the... inaccuracy... to describe me as "ethereal," as some flawless, perfect thing, then fuck you.

Barry: Wha—

Caroline: No, fuck you. You don't know anything about me. The only reason you think I am ethereal is because all we do is have sex and flirt and have sex.

Barry: There is more to you than that.

Caroline: I know that! I know! But I'm not here to save you. I'm the main character of my life!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

A Confrontation Over Name-Calling

Jenny: [seeing Caroline in the restroom] Ugh, slut.

Caroline: What'd you call me?

Jenny: I think I just called you a slut, slut.

Caroline: Why?

Jenny: Because everyone knows you've banged, like, forty different guys since you came here.

Caroline: Really? Forty? Okay, let's just say I have banged forty guys. What's the problem? You're just jealous cause you've been, uh... brainwashed by puritanical assholes who believe sex is a sin. Then again, your, uh, little... gerbil-sized brain has been reprogrammed by the media to believe sex is the be-all, end-all. So now you're stuck, right? Cause on one hand, you love to fuck, but afterwards you feel overwhelmed by guilt and you're not sure why. Maybe it's because sex is neither as good or as evil as you've built it up to be.

Jenny: [hurt pause] Shut up, slut!

Caroline: Jenny...! Seriously. Listen to me. The highlight of your entire life... is gonna be your yearbook photo. You are already nostalgic for shit that has not even happened yet, cause you have so precious little to look forward to. You're gonna spend the first half of your life planning your wedding, you're gonna spend the second half regretting it. And if I were you—and thank God I'm not cause you have terrible hair—I would stop and I would reconsider your whole value system, because everything you know... is wrong.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Perceptions of a Small Town Community

Thurston: What do you think of our fine town this far?

Caroline: Um... Mm.

Thurston: Well, we're waiting.

Caroline: I think it's a stupefyingly friendly place full of wholesome, God-fearing, gun-bearing... folk.

Thurston: It's not all that bad. Just gotta give people a chance.

Caroline: [[w:Atom Egoyan|Atom Egoyan] Are you... are you high? There's more incest in this town than in an ] film.

Thurston: Who?

Caroline: I said there's a lot of incest here.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Impermanence and the Pursuit of Perfection

Caroline Wexler: People will tell you nothing matters, the whole world's about to end soon anyway. But those people are looking at life the wrong way. I mean... things don't need to last forever to be perfect.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Cost of Sexual Revolution

Caroline Wexler: I know you probably think I'm a manipulative bitch for sleeping with two guys, but try looking at it this way: the sexual revolution is just like any other revolution—there's gonna be casualties.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Seatbelt Woes and Late Romance

Caroline Wexler: [in a car, about to have sex with Thurston] Thurston, there is a seatbelt stabbing into my ovaries. I think it might be a little late for... romance and stuff.

Love's Reality: Secrets and Flaws Revealed

Caroline Wexler: [explaining a dream she had with Thurston] I knew then that our love was not some idealized state, but a union of secrets and flaws, and it broke my heart to think such things.

The Secret Dream of Male Vanity

Caroline Wexler: My mom once told me that if you ever want to make a man happy... flatter his vanity. Tell him he's handsome. She said not to bother calling him interesting or clever, because that's what their bosses and colleagues are for. But every man carries a secret dream of being handsome, and desperately yearns to be recognized as such.

Desire for Transformation and Self-Improvement

Caroline Wexler: Don't we all wanna be somebody different sometimes? Someone smarter and sexier and bolder than we really are?

Defensiveness in the Face of Judgment

Caroline Wexler: When I know people hate me, instead of trying to change their minds, I get defensive and weird and become the exact girl they think I am.