Literature quotes

- Colonel Mustard: I prefer Kipling myself. "The female of the species is more deadly than the male". Do you like Kipling, Miss Scarlet?
- Miss Scarlet: Sure, I'll eat anything.
Martin Mull - Colonel Mustard
Lesley Ann Warren - Miss Scarlet

- Joel: "Audentes Fortunas Juvat", Fortune Favors the Bold. Virgil said that.
- Em Lewin: I'm sure Virgil had Bionic Mutant in mind.
Martin Starr - Joel
Kristen Stewart - Em Lewin

- Isabelle: What happened to you? What made you so fucked up?
- Royce: "There is no hunting like the hunting of a man. And those who've hunted armed men long enough, and like it, never really care for anything else thereafter".
- Isabelle: That's pretty poetic. Did you come up with that all by yourself?
- Royce: No, actually. That was Hemingway.
Alice Braga - Isabelle
Adrien Brody - Royce

- Professor Edward Alcott: I'm sure if she were alive, Betty Friedan would applaud your little epiphany.
- Dora Diamond: Oh really? Well, if Kafka was still alive he'd say "Stop misinterpreting my novels, you pretentious bonehead!"
Greg Kinnear - Prof. Edward Alcott
Mena Suvari - Dora Diamond

“- Michael: I'm getting tired of everything I write being read in the can.
- Harold: You can read Dostoyevsky in the can.
- Michael: Yes, but they can't finish it.”
Jeff Goldblum - Michael
Kevin Kline - Harold

- Dr. Diane Turner: How would you characterize "The Great Gatsby"?
- Thornton Melon: He was... uh... great!
Sally Kellerman - Dr. Diane Turner
Rodney Dangerfield - Thornton Melon

“- Dakin: The more you read, though, the more you'll see that literature is actually about losers.
- Scripps: No.
- Dakin: It's consolation. All literature is consolation.”
Dominic Cooper - Dankin
Jamie Parker - Scripps

“- The Old Man Parker: What is the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse?
- Mother Parker: Ah... Victor! His name is Victor.
- The Old Man Parker: How the hell did you know that?
- Mother Parker: Everybody knows that!”
Darren McGavin - The Old Man Parker
Melinda Dillon - Mother Parker

“- Congressman Starnes: You are quoting from this Marlowe. Is he a communist?
- Hallie Flanagan: I am very sorry. I was quoting from Christopher Marlowe.
- Congressman Starnes: Tell us who Marlowe is, so we can get the proper reference, because that is all we want to do.
- Hallie Flanagan: Put in the record that he was the greatest dramatist in...” (continue)(continue reading)
Gil Robbins - Congressman Starnes
Cherry Jones - Hallie Flanagan

Literary functions are not exactly Jack's speed. I mean, the guy's favorite author is the man who wrote "pull tab to open".
Holland Taylor - Gloria

“- Meg Altman: This whole thing makes me nervous.
- Lydia Lynch: Why?
- Meg Altman: Ever read any Poe?
- Lydia Lynch: No, but I loved her last album!”

Jodie Foster - Meg Altman
Ann Magnuson - Lydia Lynch

“My English teacher talked about this Russian guy who said that if you see a gun in the first half of a book, you can be sure it'll go off in the second half. Somebody was going to use that gun.”

Johnny Depp - Axel Blackmar

“- Wade Hatton: William Shakespeare.
- Rusty Hart: I never heard of him. What part of Texas is he from?”
Errol Flynn - Wade Hatton
Alan Hale - Rusty Hart

"The love that dare not speak its name", in this century, is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Johnathan. Such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy, and such as you may find in the sonnets of Michelangelo or Shakespeare. It is, in this century, misunderstood.

Stephen Fry - Oscar Wilde

“- Michael: You read the Count of Monte Cristo lately?
- Shakes: I dunno, 10 years ago.
- Michael: I read a little bit every night. I read words like revenge, sweet, lasting revenge.”
Brad Pitt - Michael
Jason Patric - Shakes

“- Wedding guest: Do you actually know Oscar Wilde?
- Gareth: Not personally no. But I do know someone who could get you his fax number. Shall we dance?”
Christine Hewett - Wedding Guest
Simon Callow - Gareth - Wedding One

- Nun: Let me get this straight: you don't believe in God because of "Alice in Wonderland"?
- Loki: No, "Through the Looking Glass".
Betty Aberlin - Nun
Matt Damon - Loki

I once asked this literary agent, uh, what kind of writing paid the best... he said, "Ransom notes".
Gene Hackman - Harry Zimm

In the novel you are supposed to read by monday "The Sorrows of Young Werther" Goethe through his art reveals not only the ecstasy of romantic love but also the doomed consequences that necessarily follow.
James Toback - Leo Boscovitch

“I am certain that there are two things in life which are dependable: the delights of the flesh and the delights of literature. I have had the good fortune to enjoy them both equally.”
Vivian Wu - Nagiko

- Chancellor Gorkon: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
- General Chang: "Tah pagh, tah be?".
David Warner - Chancellor Gorkon
Christopher Plummer - Chang

“- Kathleen Conklin: What's gonna happen to me?
- Peina: Read the books. Sartre, Beckett, Burroughs. Who do you think they're talking about? You think they're works of fiction?”
Lili Taylor - Kathleen Conklin
Christopher Walken - Peina