Memorable Quotes from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Joel : Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon. Joel : I know. Clementine : What do we do? Joel : Enjoy it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Clementine and Joel have broken into an empty house on the Montauk beach] Joel : I think we should go. Clementine : No, it's our house! Just tonight... [she looks at an envelope on the counter] Clementine : ....we're David and Ruth Laskin. Which one do you want to be? I'd like to be Ruth, but I can be flexible. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Howard : He's gone off the map! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Is there any risk of brain damage? Howard : Well, technically speaking, the operation is brain damage, but on a par with a night of heavy drinking. Nothing you'll miss. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick : You know that girl we did last week? The one with the potatoes. Stan : That girl? Yeah, that's this guy's girl. Patrick : Yeah. Stan : Right... Was. Took care of that. Patrick : Well uh, I kind of fell in love with her that night. Stan : What? You little fuck! Patrick : What? Stan : She was unconscious, man. Patrick : Well, she was beautiful and... I stole a pair of her panties as well. Stan : Jesus! Patrick : What? It's not like - I mean they were clean and all. Stan : Don't tell me this stuff! I don't wanna hear this shit! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You know me, I'm impulsive. Joel : That's what I love about you. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Can you hear me? I don't want this anymore! I want to call it off! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Sand is overrated. It's just tiny, little rocks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary : Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders. [they click glasses] Mary : Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil. Found it in my Bartlett's. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Clementine is trying to comfort baby Joel by showing him her crotch] Clementine : My crotch is still here, just as you remembered it. Joel : Yuck! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : [narration as Clementine acknowledges him by raising her coffee mug] Why do I fall in love with every woman I see that shows me the least bit of attention? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Mary reads to Dr. Mierzwiak out of "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"; the lines are from Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard"] Mary : How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Joel, I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours. Joel : I remember that speech really well. Clementine : I had you pegged, didn't I? Joel : You had the whole human race pegged. Clementine : Probably. Joel : I still thought you were going to save me. Even after that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I could die right now, Clem. I'm just... happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Hammering noises in the background] Rob : Fuck! Carrie : Rob, give it a rest. Rob : Carrie, I am making a birdhouse. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : This is working like gangbusters. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [looking at the letter from Lacuna, Inc] Joel : What is it? Rob : I don't know, it's a place that does a thing... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [as Joel and Clementine eat out, he thinks about the other glum-looking couples in the restaurant:] Joel : Are we like couples you see in restaurants? Are we the dining dead? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob : The plane crashed. I didn't crash the plane. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Joely? What if you stay this time? Joel : I walked out the door. There's no memory left. Clementine : Come back and make up a goodbye at least, let's pretend we had one... Goodbye, Joel. Joel : ....I love you... Clementine : ....Meet me in Montauk... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick : Mary hates me. I've never been popular with the ladies. Stan : Maybe if you stopped stealing their panties. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Wait. Clementine : Why? Joel : I don't know. Just wait... for a while. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Drink up, young man. It'll make the whole seduction part less repugnant. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Joel, hide me in your humiliation! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary : That was beautiful to watch, Howard. Like a surgeon or a concert pianist. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stan : You looked happy. Happy with a secret. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Barish : Pages ripped out. Don't remember doing that. It appears this is my first entry in two years. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Clementine is leading Joel out onto the frozen Charles River] Joel : I don't know. What if it breaks? Clementine : What if? Do you really care right now? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Look at it out here, it's all falling apart. I'm erasing you and I'm happy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : By morning, you'll be gone. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carrie : She decided to erase you almost as a lark. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Howard : You want to empty your home, your life of Clementine. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I'm fucking crawling out of my skin. I should've left you at the flea market. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Where's the self help section? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Mierzwiak! Please let me keep this memory, just this one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Sometimes I don't think people realize how lonely it is to be a kid. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary : It's a birthmark! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I can't remember anything without you. Clementine : That's sweet, but try. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Mary is stoned, and Joel has just gone off the map] Mary : He could wake up all half-baked and gooey! Mmm, half-baked. I'm hungry. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : My God, there's people coming out of your butt. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carrie : You're stoned and you're driving. Rob : Pot balances me out. Pot brings me up. That's I smoke it if I'm going to be drinking. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank : McRomance. Want some fries with that shake? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I don't see anything I don't like about you. Clementine : But you will! But you will, and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped, because that's what happens with me. Joel : Okay. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [last lines] Clementine : Okay. Joel : Okay. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Look, I'm sorry if I came off a little nutso, I'm not really. Joel : That's okay, I didn't think you were. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Let me show you something... come on... Joel : I think I heard a crack. Clementine : It's not gonna crack, or break, or... it's so thick!... Show me which constellations you know. Joel : Um... oh... I don't... know any. Clementine : Show me which ones you know! Joel : Okay... okay... oh! There's Osidius. Clementine : Where? Joel : Right there... see? Sort of a swoop and a cross, Osidius Emphatic. Clementine : You're full of shit, right? Joel : Nope. Osidius, right there, swoop and cross. Clementine : Shut the fuck up! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I'm gonna marry you... I know it! Joel : Ummm... okay... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Look, I'm sorry if I came off a little nutso, I'm not really. Joel : That's okay, I really didn't think you were. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I'm so ashamed. Clementine : It's okay, you're a little kid. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rob : It's not about us, it's about Joel, who's an adult, okay, not 'Momma Carrie's kid'! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Look man, I'm telling you right off the bat I'm high maintenance. So I'm not gonna tip-toe around your marriage or whatever it is ya got goin' on there. If you wanna be with me, you're with me. Joel : Okay. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [4-year-old Joel watches his mother leave the room] 4-Year-Old Joel : I really want her to pick me up. It's amazing how strong that feeling is. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : Valentine's Day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I wish you'd stayed. Joel : I wish I'd stayed, too. NOW I wish I'd stayed. I wish I'd done a lot of things. I wish I'd... I wish I'd stayed... I do. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I love being bathed in the sink - such a feeling of security. Clementine : I've never seen you happier, baby Joel. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Wish me a happy Valentine's Day when you call. That'd be... nice! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You married? Joel : No. Clementine : Let's move into this neighborhood! Joel : I do sorta live with someone though. Clementine : Male or female? Joel : What? Female... female... Clementine : At least I'm not barking up the wrong tree! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : My embarrassing admission is I really like that you're nice, right now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Patrick knocks on Joel's car window while parked in front of Clem's apartment] Joel : Yes? Patrick : Can I help you? Joel : What do you mean? Patrick : Can I help you with something? Joel : No. Patrick : What are you doing here? Joel : I'm not really sure what you're asking. Patrick : Oh, thanks... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You're not a stalker, or anything, right? Joel : I'm not a stalker. YOU'RE the one that talked to me, remember? Clementine : That is the oldest trick in the stalker book. Joel : Really? There's a stalker book? Great, I gotta read that one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You like? To match my sweatshirt, exactly. Joel : Ahaaahhhhh! Ohhhhhh! I like it! Clementine : You do? Joel : You look like a tangerine! Clementine : Hmmm, Clementine the tangerine. Joel : Juicy... 'n seedless. Clementine : I like that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary : I wanted to understand as much as I could about the procedure as possible... I think it's important for my job to understand the inner-workings of the work that we do, well not that I do, but the work that is done by people where I also work, the work of my colleagues. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Joel calls Clem on the telephone] Clementine : What took you so long? Joel : I just walked in. Clementine : Do you miss me? Joel : Oddly enough, I do! Clementine : You said 'I do', I guess that means we're married! Joel : I guess so! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carrie : I saw you talking to someone pretty! Rob : Yeah, man, who was that? Joel : She was... just a girl. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank : The only Valentine's Day cards I get are from my mother. How pathetic is that? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I would like you to call me. Would you do that? I'd like it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I'm a vindictive little bitch, truth be told! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : What are you, NUTS? Joel : It's been suggested. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I think your name is magical. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You're really nice... God, I have to stop saying that! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel : I had a really nice time last night. Clementine : Nice? Joel : I had the best fucking night of my entire fucking life, last night! Clementine : Thaaaat's better! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : You don't tell me things, Joel. I'm an open book. I tell you everything, every damn, embarrassing thing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : Joely? Joel : Yeah Tangerine? Clementine : Am I ugly? Joel : Uh-uh. Clementine : When I was a kid, I thought I was. I can't believe I'm crying already. Sometimes I think people don't understand how lonely it is to be a kid, like you don't matter. So, I'm eight, and I have these toys, these dolls. My favorite is this ugly girl doll who I call Clementine, and I keep yelling at her, "You can't be ugly! Be pretty!" It's weird, like if I can transform her, I would magically change, too. Joel : [kisses Clementine] You're pretty. Clementine : Joely, don't ever leave me. Joel : You're pretty... you're pretty... pretty... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clementine : I apply my personality in a paste.