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Celia Steimer: [voiceover] One day, in a town on the edge of the world, the tide went out and never returned. The sea just left without warning.
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Andrew: You think you're the one being decent? Swanning in here like some film star with your accent...
Paul Prior: You know nothing about me.
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Paul Prior: Another job came through - so I'm leaving - tomorrow.
Andrew: Well, you obviously have more important things... I'll see you in another 17, Paul.
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Paul Prior: She was born eight months after I left.
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Jeff: Don't be frightened of the possibilities, Son. She's a wonderful mistress.
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Celia Steimer: Mum wanted to sing like this?
Paul Prior: Your mother wanted to be Patti Smith.
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Celia Steimer: I'd rather be a no-one somewhere, than a someone nowhere.
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Paul Prior: Who you set out to be is not always who you become.
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Paul Prior: My mum - she was very religious. She had these little sermons about the beauty God hides away in little corners... My dad didn't believe in anything - he was an atheist.
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Celia Steimer: Is that why you push people away?
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Jackie: You have the audacity to bring her here and give her alcohol.
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Paul as a teenager: You shouldn't be here.
Jackie as a teenager: What are you telling me - that I'm not as important as what goes on in your head?
Paul as a teenager: There's just parts of me that you can't have.
[Voice Over]
Paul as a teenager: No-one can.
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Paul Prior: I remember being her.
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Celia Steimer: It's like I've known you my whole life.
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Celia Steimer: I find it hard to imagine what you saw in her.
Paul Prior: Yeah well you're not the first one to think that about their parents.
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Paul Prior: I couldn't get near her... You made sure of it. It was a happy little threesome - Andy, Mum and God. No-one else invited.
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Andrew: You know, sometimes I look at you and all I see is him. Just him. I find that quite disheartening
Paul Prior: Yeah, well, at least I didn't marry my mother.
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Celia Steimer: Did you know? Did you know?... I know what you did when you took the photo of that girl - you walked away and left her, so you withdrew the entry so you wouldn't have to deal with it... Was she just like me? Was she just someone you could pick up and throw away and forget about?... How do you live with yourself?
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Andrew: All this time I wondered why you upped and left. You knew what he was up to didn't you... You know the really sad part - I didn't even find out until I read the will... You killed me when you walked away and left me with that evil piece of scum. You had the gall to come back here and bring that thing into our house, my mother's house... Like father, like son.
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[Paul is very drunk]
Paul Prior: Hey, I've got a joke. What sexual position produces the ugliest children?
Andrew: I don't know.
Paul Prior: Ask your mother!
In My Father's Den Quotes
Extended Reading
