-
The Minister: We do not need bells in our church to worship God.
-
The Minister: I would say to you that if there is one of these commandments you do not love and do not obey, you have no business at the Lord's table.
-
The Minister: Can you think of anything of real value that the outsiders have brought with them?
Bess McNeill: Uh... their music!
-
Dr. Richardson: Bess. I... I think you've got yourself involved in something that is out of your control.
Bess McNeill: Have I?
Dr. Richardson: [sighs] Come on Bess. You're not a kid anymore.
Dr. Richardson: Look for Christ's sake, he's... he's forcing you to get screwed by every Tom, Dick and Harry... it's just not you.
Bess McNeill: I don't make love with them. I make love with Jan, and I save him from dying.
Dr. Richardson: [exhales] Well I'm sorry, but, you know, to me seems more like a dirty old man who wants to play the Peeping Tom.
Bess McNeill: Sometimes... I don't even have to tell him about it.
Bess McNeill: Jan and me... we have a spiritual contact.
Bess McNeill: God gives everyone something to be good at. I've always been stupid... but I'm good at this.
Bess McNeill: God gives everyone a talent.
Dr. Richardson: What's Jan talent?
Bess McNeill: He is... He's a great lover.
Dr. Richardson: Well, what's... what's mine, then?
Bess McNeill: I don't know.
Bess McNeill: Haven't you find it yet?
Dr. Richardson: [chuckles] I see... And what's your talent Bess? Because, um, surely it can't be being screwed by men you've never seen before.
Bess McNeill: I can believe.
-
Dodo McNeill: Not one of you has the right to consign Bess to hell!
-
Jan Nyman: [he writes in a paper] Let me die. I'm evil in head!
Bess McNeill: I love you no matter what is in your head!
-
Bess McNeill: I don't make love with them, I make love with Jan and I save him from dying.
-
Bess McNeill: We Think he will be completely paralyzed. But he'll live.
-
[first lines]
Bess McNeill: His name is Jan.
The Minister: I do not know him.
Bess McNeill: [coyly] He's from the lake.
The Minister: You know we do not favor matrimony with outsiders.
An Elder: Can you even tell us what matrimony is?
Bess McNeill: It's when two people are joined in God.
-
Jan Nyman: Love is a mighty power, isn't it?
-
Bess McNeill: I don't understand what you're saying. How can you love a word? You cannot love words. You can't be in love with a word. You can only love another human being. That's perfection.
-
Judge: Listen man, you had the deceased in your care. The court would like to hear the medical facts.
Dr. Richardson: If... if you'd, um... if you were to ask me again to write... um... the conclusion, then... instead of writing "neurotic" or, um, "psychotic" uh, I might... just, um... use a word like... "good".
Judge: Good?
Dr. Richardson: Yes.
Judge: You wish the records of this court to state that, in your medical opinion, the deceased was suffering from being good?
Judge: Perhaps this was the psychological defect that led her to her death!
Judge: Is that what we shall write Doctor Richardson?
Dr. Richardson: [pause] No. Of course not.
-
Bess McNeill: Father, why aren't you with me?
Bess McNeill: [as God] I am with you Bess. What do you want from me?
Bess McNeill: [overjoyed] Where where you?
Bess McNeill: [as God] Well don't you think I have other people who want to talk to me?
Bess McNeill: Well of course. I hadn't thought of that.
Bess McNeill: [as God] There's this silly little thing called Bess who keeps on wanting me to talk to her. And my work's been piling up a bit.
Bess McNeill: But you're with me now?
Bess McNeill: [as God] Of course I am, Bess. You know that.
Bess McNeill: Thank you.
-
Bess McNeill: [as God] Bess McNeill, for many years you've prayed for love. Shall I take it away from you again, is that what you want?
Bess McNeill: Oh, no. I'm still grateful for love.
Bess McNeill: [as God] What do you want, then?
Bess McNeill: I pray for Jan to come home.
Bess McNeill: [as God, in an impatient voice] He will be coming home in ten days. You must learn to endure, you know that.
Bess McNeill: I can't wait.
Bess McNeill: [as God] This is unlike you, Bess. Out there, there are people who need Jan and his work. What about them?
Bess McNeill: They don't matter. Nothing else matters. I just want Jan home again. I pray to you, oh please. Won't you send him home?
Bess McNeill: [as God] Are you sure that's what you want?
Bess McNeill: Yes.
-
Bess McNeill: Have you taken my calendar?
Dodo McNeill: What? No I have not. What would I want with your calendar?
Bess McNeill: You've taken it.
Dodo McNeill: I have not taken it.
Bess McNeill: Yes you have.
Dodo McNeill: I don't know what you're talking about. What calendar?
Bess McNeill: Where is it?
Dodo McNeill: [returns to the room with Bess's calendar] Bess, you have to stop all this, you know. I mean you've got to go on living when he's not here. I mean he's not dead. You're not dead.
Bess McNeill: Give it to me.
Dodo McNeill: You've got to stop it.
[Bess rearranges the ripped up calendar, staring at the words "I love Jan" on the corner]
Breaking the Waves Quotes
Extended Reading
