Misery (1990) - Quotes

The Burden of Knowledge in Storytelling

Paul: Remember how, for all those years, nobody knew who Misery's real father was? Or if they'd ever be reunited? It's all right here. Does she finally marry Ian, or will it be Winthorne? It's all right here.

Annie: Paul, you can't!

Paul: Why not? I learned it from you.

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

Complexities of Love and Fear

Annie Wilkes: Here's your pills.

Paul Sheldon: Annie? Annie, what is it?

Annie: The rain. Sometimes it gives me the blues. When you first came here, I only loved the writer part of Paul Sheldon. Now I know I love the rest of him, too. I know you don't love me. Don't say you do. You're beautiful, brilliant, a famous man of the world and I'm not a movie star type. You'll never know the fear of losing someone like you if you're someone like me.

Paul: Why would you lose me?

Annie: Book's almost finished. Your legs are getting better. Soon you'll be wanting to leave.

Paul: Why would I leave? I like it here.

Annie: [pulls out a gun; pulls the trigger; looks at Paul] That's very kind of you, but I'll bet it's not all together true. I have this gun. Sometimes I think about using it. I'd better go now. I might put bullets in it.

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

The Debate Over Misery's Fate

Annie Wilkes: You— You dirty bird, how could you?

Paul Sheldon: What?

Annie: She can't be dead! Misery Chastain cannot be dead!

Paul: Annie, in 1871 women often died during childbirth. But her spirit is the important thing, and Misery's spirit is still alive.

Annie: [shaking Paul's bed violently] I didn't want her spirit! I want her, and you murdered her!

Paul: No I didn't.

Annie: Who did?

Paul: No one, she— she died. She just slipped away.

Annie: [grabbing a bedstand and raising it over Paul] Slipped away? Slipped away? She didn't just slip away! You did it! You did it! You did it! You did it! You did it! You murdered my Misery!

Paul: Annie! Annie!

Annie: [smashing the bedstand against the wall] I thought you were good, Paul, but you're not good, you're just a lying ol dirty birdy. And I don't think I better be around you for a while. And don't even think about anybody coming for you. Not the doctors. Not your agent. Not your family, because I never called them. Nobody knows you're here. And you better hope nothing happens to me, because if I die, you die.

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

Unfinished Thoughts on a New Story

Annie Wilkes: I know I'm only 40 pages into your book, but...

Paul Sheldon: But what?

Annie: [shaking her head] Nothing.

Paul: No, what is it?

Annie: Well, it's ridiculous! Who am I to make a criticism to someone like you?

Paul: It's all right. I can take it.

Annie: Well, it's brilliantly written, but then, everything you write is brilliant.

Paul: Any rough stuff?

Annie: The swearing, Paul. There, I said it.

Paul: The, uh, profanity bothers you?

Annie: It has no nobility.

Paul: These are slum kids, I was a slum kid. Everybody talks like that.

Annie: [spills soup on Paul's bed] They do not! What do you think I say when I go to the feedstore in town? "Oh, now Wally, give me a bag of that F-in pig feed, and ten pounds of that bitchly cow corn"? And at the bank, do I tell Mrs. Bollinger, "Oh, here's one big bastard of a check, give me some of your Christ-ing money?" There! Look there! See what you made me do? I'm sorry.

Threat of Violence and Betrayal

Annie Wilkes: [last words] I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU LYING COCKSUCKER!

Devotion and Reassurance in Obsession

Annie Wilkes: [to Paul Sheldon] I am your number one fan. There is nothing to worry about. You are going to be just fine. I am your number one fan.

Frustration Over a Movie's Inconsistent Plot

Annie Wilkes: Anyway, my favorite was Rocketman, and once it was a no-breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered, but I didn't cheer. I stood right up and started shouting, "This isn't what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn't fair! He didn't get out of the cock-a-doodie car!