20th Century Women * Quotes

"You get to see him out in the world as a person. I never will."
[to Abbie]

"So, sweetie, I don't know if we ever figure our lives out, and the people who help you, they might not be who you thought or wanted. They might just be the people who show up."
[to Jamie]

[President Jimmy Carter on TV]
"We are at a turning point in our history. As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government. It is a crisis of confidence. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our Nation. We always believed that we were part of a great movement of humanity itself, involved in the search for freedom. We've always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning."
Carpenter1: "Wow, he is so screwed. It's over for him."
Dorothea Fields: "I thought that was beautiful."

Jamie: "Stop."
Dorothea Fields: "What?"
Jamie: "Thinking that you know everything that's going on."
Dorothea Fields: "No, I don't. I just think that, you know, having your heart broken is a tremendous way to learn about the world."

Jamie: "Do you think you're happy?"
Dorothea Fields: "Seriously? Look, wondering if you're happy, it's a great shortcut to just being depressed."

William: "Jamie, I also want to say, never have sex with just the vagina, you have to have sex with the whole woman."
Abbie: "That's slightly off topic."

Dorothea Fields: "I think maybe you guys can help me with Jamie. How do you be a good man? What does that even mean nowadays?"
Julie: "Don't you need a man to raise a man?"
Dorothea Fields: "No, I don't think so. I think you're what's going to work for him."