20 quotes
A Proud Acknowledgment of Intelligence
Morgan O’Mally
My boy's wicked smart.
[to Skylar, in thick Bostonian accent]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Playful Exchange About Lines and Love
Will
Dear Sean, tell the professor sorry about the job. I had to go see about a girl.
[voiceover, in a letter to Sean]
Sean
Son of a bitch! He stole my line!
[chuckling]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Limits of Knowledge and Experience
Sean Maguire
I thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting. I stayed up half the night thinking about it. Something occurred to me. I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep, and I haven't thought about you since. You know what occurred to me? You're just a kid. You don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. It's all right. You've never been out of Boston. So if I asked you about ], you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. ], you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the Pope, sexual orientation, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the ]. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling. Seen that. If I ask you about women, you'd probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a tough kid. And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw ] at me, right? ] But you've never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in your lap, and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. I'd ask you about ], you'd probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable. Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like ] put an ] on ] just for you. Who could rescue you from the depths of ]. And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sittin up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms "visiting hours" don't apply to you. You don't know about real loss, cause that only occurs when you've loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you. I don't see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky, scared shitless kid. But you're a ], Will. No one denies that. No one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine. You ripped my fuckin life apart. You're an orphan, right? Do you think I'd know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, cause I read ]? Does that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you I can't read in some fuckin book. Unless you want to talk about you, who you are. Then I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't wanna do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say. Your move, chief.
[pause; [art; [Michelangelo; [w:Sistine Chapel|Sistine Chapel; [Shakespeare; [Henry V#Act III|"Once more into the breach, dear friends."; [love; [God; [angel; [Earth; [Hell; [genius; Will nods; [Oliver Twist]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Boundaries in Patient-Doctor Relationships
Will
Hey, does this violate the uh...patient-doctor relationship?
Sean
Only if you grab my ass.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Importance of Nurturing Talent
Gerry
In 1905, there were hundreds of professors renowned for their studies of the universe, but it was a 26-year-old Swiss patent clerk doing physics in his spare time who changed the world. Can you imagine if ] would have given that up just so he could get drunk with his buddies in Vienna? We all would have lost something. Tim would never have heard of him.
[[Albert Einstein|Einstein; gestures condescendingly to the bartender]
Sean
Pretty dramatic, Gerry.
Gerry
No it's not, Sean. This boy has that gift, he just doesn't have the direction for it. We can give him that.
Sean
Hey Gerry, in the 1960s there was a young man who had just graduated from the University of Michigan who was doing brilliant work in mathematics, specifically bounded harmonic functions. Then he went to Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor and showed amazing potential. Then he moved to Montana and blew the competition away.
Gerry
Yeah, so who was he?
Sean
].
[[Ted Kaczynski]
Gerry
Never heard of him.
Sean
Hey, Timmy?
Tim
Yo.
Tim
The Unabomber.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Exploring Connection and Loneliness in Relationships
Sean
You feel like you're alone, Will?
Will
What?
[chuckles]
Sean
Do you have a soul mate?
Will
Define that.
Sean
Someone you can relate to.
Will
Chuckie.
Sean
No, Chuckie's family. He'd lie down in fuckin traffic for you. I'm talking about someone who opens things up for you.
Will
Sure, I got plenty.
Sean
Well, name them.
Will
], ], ], ], ], ], ]...
[[Shakespeare; [Nietzsche; [Robert Frost|Frost; [w:Flannery O'Connor|O'Connor; [Immanuel Kant|Kant; [Alexander Pope|Pope; [John Locke|Locke]
Sean
Well that's great. They're all dead.
Will
Not to me, they're not.
Sean
You can't give back to them. You can't have a lot of dialogue with them.
Will
Not without some serious smelling salts and a heater.
[laughs]
Sean
Yeah. Well, that's what I'm saying. You'll never have that kind of a relationship in a world where you're always afraid to take the first step because all you see is every negative thing ten miles down the road.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Fear of Imperfection in Relationships
Will
Don't worry about me, I know what I'm doin'. Yeah, but this girl is like, you know, beautiful. She's smart. She's funny. She's different from most of the girls I've been with.
[about Skylar]
Sean
So, call her up, Romeo.
Will
Why? So I can realize she's not that smart, that she's fuckin boring? Y'know? I mean...this girl is like fuckin perfect right now, I don't wanna ruin that.
Sean
Maybe you're perfect right now. Maybe you don't wanna ruin that. I think that's a super philosophy, Will, that way you can go through your entire life without ever having to really know anybody...My wife used to fart when she was nervous. She had all sorts of wonderful idiosyncrasies. You know what? She used to fart in her sleep. Sorry I shared that with you. One night it was so loud it woke the dog up. She woke up and gone like "oh was that you?" I'd say yeah...I didn't have the heart to tell her... Oh God...
[they laugh; cracks up]
Will
She woke herself up?
[laughing hysterically]
Sean
Yes!.... Oh Christ....aahhh, but, Will, she's been dead two years and that's the shit I remember. Wonderful stuff, you know, little things like that. Ah, but, those are the things I miss the most. The little idiosyncrasies that only I knew about. That's what made her my wife. Oh, and she had the goods on me, too; she knew all my little peccadillos. People call these things imperfections, but they're not — aw that's the good stuff. And then we get to choose who we let into our weird little worlds. You're not perfect, sport. And let me save you the suspense. This girl you met, she isn't perfect either. But the question is: whether or not you're perfect for each other. That's the whole deal. That's what intimacy is all about. Now you can know everything in the world, sport, but the only way you're findin out that one is by givin it a shot. You certainly won't learn from an old fucker like me. Even if I did know, I wouldn't tell a pissant like you.
[in hysterics himself; Will stops laughing]
Will
Why not? You told me every other fuckin thing. Jesus Christ. Fuckin talk more than any shrink I ever seen in my life.
Sean
I teach this shit, I didn't say I know how to do it.
Will
Yeah...You ever think about gettin remarried?
Sean
My wife's dead.
Will
Hence the word: remarried.
Sean
She's dead.
Will
Yeah...Well, I think that's a super philosophy, Sean. I mean that way you could actually go through the rest of your life without ever really knowing anybody.
Sean
Time's up.
[smiles uncomfortably]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Pursuing Passion Beyond Expectations
Will
What? You're going to take the professor's side on this?
Sean
Don't give me a line of shit. No.
Will
Look. I didn't want the job.
Sean
It's not about the job. I don't care if you work for the government. But you can do anything you want, you are bound by nothing. What are you passionate about? What do you want? I mean there are guys who work their entire lives laying brick so that their kids have a chance at the opportunities you have here.
Will
I didn't ask for this.
Sean
No. You were born with it. So, don't cop out behind "I didn't ask for this.
Will
What do you mean "cop out?" I mean, w-w-what's wrong with layin brick?
Sean
Nothing.
Will
There's nothing wrong---That's some-- That's somebody's home I'm building.
Sean
Right. My dad laid brick. Okay? Busted his ass so I could have an education.
Will
Exactly. That's an honorable profession. What's wrong with...with fixing somebody's car. Someone can get to work the next day because of me. There's honor in that.
Sean
Yeah, there is, Will. There is honor in that. And there's honor in, you know, taking that forty minute train ride so those college kids come in the morning and the floors are clean and the wastebaskets are empty. That's real work.
Will
That's right.
Sean
Right. And that's honorable. I'm sure that's why you took that job, I mean, for the honor of it. I just have a little question here. You could be a janitor anywhere. Why did you work at the most prestigious technical college in the whole fuckin world? And why did you sneak around at night and finish other people's formulas that only one or two people in the world could do, and then lie about it? Cuz I don't see a lot of honor in that, Will. So, what do you really want to do?
Will
I wanna be a shepherd.
Sean
Really.
Will
I wanna move up to Nashua get a nice little spread get some sheep and tend to them.
Sean
Maybe you should go do that.
Will
What?
Sean
You know, if you're going to jerk off, why don't you just do it at home with a moist towel?
Will
You're chuckin me?
Sean
Yeah, get the fuck out.
Will
Hey, no, no, no. Time's not up, yet.
Sean
Yeah it is.
Will
I'm not leavin'. No!
Sean
Listen. You're not going to answer my questions, you're wasting my fuckin time.
Will
What? I thought we were friends. Whaddaya mean you -
Sean
Playtime's over, okay?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Power of Silence in Therapy
Gerry
What do you mean, he didn't talk? You were in there for an hour.
Sean
He just sat there, counting the seconds until the session was over. It was pretty impressive, actually.
Gerry
Why would he do that?
Sean
To prove to me that he doesn't have to talk to me, if he doesn't want to.
Gerry
... What is this, some kind of staring contest between two kids from the old neighborhood?
Sean
Yeah, it is. And I can't talk first.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Memorable Dates and Personal Connections
Will
So, when did you know, like, that she was the one for you?
Sean
October 21st, 1975.
Will
Jesus Christ. You know the fuckin date?
Sean
Oh yeah. Cus it was game six of the World Series. Biggest game in Red Sox history.
Will
Yeah, sure.
Sean
My friends and I had, you know, slept out on the sidewalk all night to get tickets.
Will
You got tickets?
Sean
Yep. Day of the game. I was sittin in a bar, waitin for the game to start, and in walks this girl... Oh it was an amazing game, though. You know, bottom of the 8th Carbo ties it up at a 6-6. It went to 12. Bottom of the 12th, in stepped Carlton Fisk. Old Pudge. Steps up to the plate, you know, and he's got that weird stance.
Will
Yeah, yeah.
Sean
And BAM! He clocks it. High fly ball down the left field line! Thirty-five thousand people, on their feet, yellin at the ball, but that's not because of Fisk. He's wavin at the ball like a madman.
Will
Yeah, I've seen...
Sean
He's going, "Get over! Get over! Get OVER!" And then it HITS the foul pole. OH, he goes apeshit, and 35,000 fans, you know, they charge the field, you know?
Will
Yeah, and he's fuckin bowlin police out of the way!
Sean
Goin', "God! Get out of the way! Get em away!" Banging people...
Will
I can't fuckin believe you had tickets to that fuckin game!
Sean
Yeah!
Will
Did you rush the field?
Sean
No, I didn't rush the fuckin field, I wasn't there.
Will
What?
Sean
No — I was in a bar havin a drink with my future wife.
Will
You missed Pudge Fisk's homerun?
Sean
Oh yeah.
Will
To have a fuckin drink with some lady you never met?
Sean
Yeah, but you shoulda seen her. She was a stunner.
Will
I don't care if ] walks in the room, that's game six!
[[w:Helen of Troy|Helen of Troy]
Sean
Oh, Helen of Troy...
Will
Oh my God, and who are these fuckin friends of yours they let you get away with that?
Sean
Oh... They had to.
Will
W-w-w-what'd you say to them?
Sean
I just slid my ticket across the table and I said, "Sorry guys, I gotta see about a girl.
Will
I gotta go see about a girl?
Sean
Yeah.
Will
That's what you said? And they let you get away with that?
Sean
Oh yeah. They saw in my eyes that I meant it.
Will
You're kiddin me.
Sean
No, I'm not kiddin you, Will. That's why I'm not talkin right now about some girl I saw at a bar twenty years ago and how I always regretted not going over and talking to her. I don't regret the 18 years I was married to Nancy. I don't regret the six years I had to give up counseling when she got sick. And I don't regret the last years when she got really sick. And I sure as hell don't regret missin some damn game. That's regret.
Will
Wow... Woulda been nice to catch that game, though.
[smiles]
Sean
I didn't know Pudge was gonna hit a homer!
[shrugs sheepishly]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Conflict Over Approaches to Helping Will
Gerry
This is a disaster, Sean. I brought you in here because I wanted you to help me with the boy, not to run him out.
Sean
I know what I'm doing with the boy.
Gerry
I don't care if you have a report on the boy. I don't care if you have a few laughs, even at my expense, but don't you dare undermine what I'm trying to do here.
Sean
Undermine.
Gerry
This boy is at a fragile point right now—.
Sean
I do understand, he is at a fragile point right now, okay? He's got problems.
Gerry
Well, what problems does he have, Sean? That he's better off as a janitor? Better off in jail? Better off hanging out with a bunch of retarded gorillas?
Sean
Why do you think he does that, Gerry? Do you have any fuckin clue why? Mm?
Gerry
He can handle the problems. He can handle the work, and he obviously handled you.
Sean
Gerry, listen to me, listen. Why is he hiding? Why doesn't he trust anybody? Because the first thing that happened to him, he was abandoned by the people who were supposed to love him the most.
Gerry
Oh, come on, don't give me that Freudian crap.
Sean
Listen, Gerry, and why does he hang out with those "retarded gorillas" as you called them? Because any one of them, if he asked them to, would take a fuckin bat to your head, okay? That's called loyalty.
Gerry
Yeah, that's very touching.
Sean
And who's he handling? He pushes people away before they have a chance to leave him. It's a defense mechanism, alright? And, for 20 years, he's been alone because of that. And, if you push him right now, it's gonna be the same thing all over again, and I'm not gonna let that happen to him.
Gerry
Don't you do that, Sean.
Sean
What, Gerry?
Gerry
Don't you do that, don't infect him with the idea that it's okay to quit, that it's okay to be a failure, because it's not okay, Sean. If you're angry at me for being successful, for being what you could have been, Sean—.
Sean
I'm not angry at you, Gerry.
Gerry
Oh, yes you're angry at me, Sean. You resent me.
Sean
Oh, you arrogant shit. That's why I don't come to the goddamn reunions: cause I can't stand that look in your eye, y'know? That condescending, embarrassed look.
Gerry
Oh, Sean.
[under his breath]
Sean
You think I'm a failure. But I know who I am, and I'm proud of what I do. It was a conscious choice. I didn't fuck up! And you and your cronies think I'm some sort of pity case, you and your kiss-ass chorus following you around going "The Fields medal, the Fields medal!" Why are you still so fuckin afraid of failure?!
[singing mockingly]
Gerry
It's about my medal, isn't it? Oh, God, I can go home and get it for you, you can have it.
[chuckles]
Sean
Oh, please don't. Y'know what Gerry? Shove the medal up your fuckin ass, alright? Cause I don't give a shit about your medal cause I knew you before you were a mathematical god, when you were pimple-faced and homesick and didn't know which side of the bed to piss on.
Gerry
Yeah, you were smarter than me then and you're smarter than me now, so don't blame me for how your life turned out, it's not my fault.
Sean
I don't blame you! It's not about you, you mathematical dick! It's about the boy! He's a good kid, and I won't see you fuck him up like you're trying to fuck up me right now. I won't see you make him feel like a failure, too!
Gerry
He won't be a failure, Sean!
Sean
But if you push him, Gerry, if you ride him—!
Gerry
Sean, I am what I am today because I was pushed, and because I learned to push myself.
Sean
He's not you! You get that?!
[yelling]
Will
I can... come back.
Gerry
No, come in. I was just leaving.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Warning Against Disrespecting Loved Ones
Sean Maguire
If you ever disrespect my wife again, I will end you. I will fucking end you!
[Grabbing Will by the throat when he insults Sean's dead wife]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Future Job Prospects and Expectations
Chuckie
So uh...when're you done with those meetin's?
Will
I think the week after I'm 21.
Chuckie
Yeah, they gunna hook you up with a job, or what?
Will
Yeah. Fuckin sit in a room and do long division for the next fifty years.
Chuckie
Eh..probably make some nice bank, though.
Will
I'm gonna be a fuckin lab rat.
Chuckie
Better than this shit. It's a way outta here.
Will
What do I want a way out of here for? I mean, I'm gunna fuckin live here the rest of my life. You know, we'll be neighbors, you know, we'll have little kids fuckin take em to little league together up at Foley field.
Chuckie
Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In 20 years, if you're still livin here, comin over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin construction, I'll fuckin kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact. I'll fuckin kill you.
Will
What the fuck are you talkin about?
Chuckie
Look, you got somethin that none of us —
Will
Oh, come on! Why is it always this, I mean, "I fuckin owe it to myself to do this or that?" What if I don't want to?
Chuckie
No. No, no, no. No, fuck you. You don't owe it to yourself. You owe it to me. Cause tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50. And I'll still be doing this shit. And that's all right, that's fine. I mean, you're sittin on a winning lottery ticket and you're too much of a pussy to cash it in. And that's bullshit. `Cause I'd do anything to fuckin have what you got. So would any of these fuckin guys. It'd be an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years. Hanging around here is a fuckin waste of your time.
Will
You don't know that.
Chuckie
I don't?
Will
No. You don't know that.
Chuckie
Oh, I don't know that? Let me tell you what I do know. Every day I come by your house and I pick you up. And we go out we have a few drinks and a few laughs, and it's great. You know what the best part of my day is? It's for about 10 seconds from when I pull up to the curb to when I get to your door. Because I think maybe I'll get up there and I'll knock on the door and you won't be there. No goodbye, no see you later, no nothin'. Just left. I don't know much, but I know that.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Negotiating Terms and Expectations in Business
Executive 1
Well, Will, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, we've already offered you a position..
Chuckie
Since this is obviously not my first time in such altercations, let me say this: Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
[rubs thumb and fingers together, signifying cash]
Chuckie
At the current time I am looking at a number of different fields from which to disseminate which offer is most pursuant to my benefit. What do you want? What do I want? What does anybody want? Leniency.
Executive 1
I'm not sure--
Chuckie
--These circumstances are mitigated. Right now. They're mitigated.
[throws his hands up]
Executive 1
Okay...
Chuckie
He knows what I'm talking about. A retainer. Nobody in this town works without a retainer. You think you can find someone who does, you have my blessin'. But I think we all know that person isn't going to represent you as well as I can.
[pointing to one of the executives]
Executive 1
Will, our offer starts you at $84,000 a year, plus benefits.
Chuckie
Retainer... retainer.
[singing; softly]
Executive
You want us to give you cash right now?
Chuckie
Whoa-oh-oh... ea--now I didn't say that. Allegedly, your situation — for you — would be concurrently improved if I had $200 in my back pocket right now.
Executive 1
Well, I don't think I...Larry?
Executive 2
I've got, uh... $73.
Executive 1
Will you take a check?
Chuckie
Let me tell you something. You're suspect. Yeah, you. I don't know what your reputation is in this town, but after the shit you tried to pull today, you can bet I'll be looking into you. . Now the business we have heretofore you can speak with my aforementioned attorney. Good day gentlemen, and until that day comes, keep your ear to the grindstone.
[to Executive 1; He stands, slowly approaches Executives.; Takes money off the table]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Journey of Will Hunting's Self-Discovery
Taglines
Wildly charismatic. Impossibly brilliant. Totally rebellious. For the first 20 years of his life, Will Hunting has called the shots. Now he's about to meet his match.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Personal Experience in Counseling
Will
You ever have any, uh, experience with that?
[Sean is going through Will's profile. Inside we see are pictures of Will after brutal assaults by his foster parents]
Sean
Twenty years of counseling, I've seen some pretty awful shit.
Will
No. I mean, have you ever had any experience with that?
Sean
You mean, personally? Yeah. Yeah I have.
Will
I'm sure it ain't good.
Sean
My father was an alcoholic. Mean fuckin drunk. Used to come home hammered, looking to whale on someone. So I would provoke him, so he wouldn't go after my mother and little brother. Interesting nights were when he wore his rings...
Will
He used to just put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the kitchen table and say, "Choose.
Sean
Well, I gotta go with the belt there, Vanna.
Will
I used to go with the wrench.
Sean
Why?
Will
Cause fuck him, that why.
Sean
Your foster father?
Will
Yeah.
Will
So what does it say? Will has an attachment disorder? Fear of abandonment? Is that why I broke up with Skylar?
[looking at his file]
Sean
Didn't know you had. Wanna talk about it?
Sean
Will, you see this, all this shit?
Sean
It's not your fault.
Will
I know...
[Softly, still staring off]
Sean
No you don't. It's not your fault.
Will
I know.
[Serious]
Sean
No. Listen to me son. It's not your fault.
Will
I know that.
Sean
It's not your fault.
Sean
It's not your fault.
[steps closer]
Will
Don't fuck with me, Sean. Not you.
[choking up]
Sean
It's not your fault.
[steps even closer]
Will
Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry Sean!
Sean
Fuck them, OK?
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Power of Belief in Others
Taglines
Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Debating Economic Perspectives in Colonial America
Chuckie
All right, are we gonna have a problem?
Clark
There's no problem. I was just hoping you could give me some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the southern colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War the economic modalities, especially of the southern colonies could most aptly be characterized as agrarian pre-capitalist and...
Will
Of course that's your contention. You're a first year grad student. You just got finished some Marxian historian, Pete Garrison prob’ly, you’re gonna be convinced of that until next month when you get to James Lemon, then you’re gonna be talkin’ about how the economies of Virginia and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back in 1740. That's gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin’ about you know, the Pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization.
[interrupting]
Clark
Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of —
[taken aback]
Will
..."Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth..." You got that from Vickers. "Work in Essex County," Page 98, right? Yeah I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us — you have any thoughts of — of your own on this matter? Or do — is that your thing, you come into a bar, you read some obscure passage and then you pretend — you pawn it off as your own — your own idea just to impress some girls? Embarrass my friend?
Will
See the sad thing about a guy like you, is in about 50 years you’re gonna start doin some thinkin on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One, don't do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a fuckin’ education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the Public Library.
Clark
Yeah, but I will have a degree, and you'll be serving my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
Will
Yeah, maybe. But at least I won't be unoriginal.
[smiles]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Confronting Fears and Misunderstandings in Relationships
Skylar
Well, what aren't you scared of? You live in this safe little world where no one challenges you and you're scared shitless to do anything else but defend yourself because that would mean you'd hafta change.
Will
Oh no. Don't, don't, don't tell me about my world. Don't tell me about my world! I mean you just wanna have your fling with like the guy from the other side of town. Then you're going to go off to Stanford, you're going to marry some rich prick who your parents will approve of and just sit around with the other trust fund babies and talk about how you went slumming too, once.
Skylar
Why are you saying this? What is your obsession with this money? My father died when I was 13 and I inherited this money. You don't think that every day I wake up and wish I could give it back? That I would give it back in a second if I could have one more day with him? But I can't, and that's my life and I deal with it. So don't put your shit on me when you're the one that's afraid.
Will
I'm afraid? What am I afraid of? What the fuck am I afraid of?
Skylar
You're afraid of me! You're afraid that I won't love you back! Fuck it, I wanna give it a shot! At least I'm honest with you.
Will
I'm not honest with you?
Skylar
No, what about your twelve brothers?
Will
All right.
Skylar
No. You're not going. You're not leaving.
Will
What do you want to know?! What?! That I don't have twelve brothers?!
Skylar
Yes.
Will
That I'm a fuckin orphan?!
Skylar
Ye-
Will
No, you don't wanna hear that!
Skylar
I didn't know that.
Will
No, you don't wanna hear that.
Skylar
I didn't know it.
Will
You don't wanna hear that I had fuckin cigarettes put out on me when I was a little kid.
Skylar
Oh...I didn't know that...
[crying]
Will
That this isn't fuckin surgery, that some motherfucker stabbed me. You don't wanna hear that shit, Skylar.
Skylar
I do wanna hear it.
Will
Don't tell me you want to hear that shit!
Skylar
I want to hear it because I want to help you. Because I want to--
Will
Help me?! What the fuck?! What I got a fucking sign on my back that says "save me?!
Skylar
No.
Will
Do I look like I need that?!
Skylar
No. God, I just want to be with you because I love you!
Will
Don't bullshit me. Don't bullshit me. Don't you fuckin bullshit me!
Skylar
I love you. I wanna hear you say that you don't love me. Because if you say that, then I won't call you, and I won't be in your life...
Will
I don't love you.
[pause]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Consequences of Choices in National Security
Will Hunting
Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm workin at the N.S.A. and somebody puts a code on my desk, somethin no one else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it, maybe I break it. And I'm real ] with ], cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. And once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels are hidin'. Fifteen hundred ] that I never met, I never had no problem with, get ]. Now the ] are sayin', Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area, cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there gettin shot. Just like it wasn't them when their ] got called cause they were out pullin a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie over there takin shrapnel in the ass. He comes back to find that the plant he used to ] at got exported to the ] he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile he realizes the only ] he was over there in the first place was so that we could install a ] that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the little skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helpin my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. They're takin their sweet time bringin the oil back, of course, maybe they even took the liberty of hirin an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin play slalom with the icebergs. It ain't too long til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work. He can't afford to drive, so he's walkin to the fuckin job interviews, which sucks because the shrapnel in his ass is givin him chronic hemorroids. And meanwhile he's starvin cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State.So what did I think? I'm holdin out for somethin better. I figure, fuck it, while I'm at it, why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn ], hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected ].
[[happy; [myself; [people; [killed; [politicians; [number; [work; [country; [reason; [government; [enemy; [president]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.