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Ethan Webb: I want you to move from the lower east side. Why do you insist on living in the farthest corner away from us. I think it's intentional. I think it's almost hurtful.
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Thomas Webb: You have 2 apartments?
W.F. Gerald: I'm rich, I'm a fucking Duke.
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Thomas Webb: [referring to his relationship] We should be together.
W.F. Gerald: "Should" is a dangerous word. I don't buy it. You want something more here.
Thomas Webb: Something more what?
W.F. Gerald: Provocative.
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W.F. Gerald: Stop drowning yourself in what you think is moral. You want to fuck Johanna.
Thomas Webb: [long pause] Yes, I think I would.
W.F. Gerald: And you said your life is boring.
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Thomas Webb: And eventually I came up with a collection of essays which I called Mary Jane vs. Everything, which I was incredibly proud of. And, you know, I showed them to my Dad.
Johanna: What did Ethan say?
Thomas Webb: "Serviceable".
Johanna: Ouch.
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Thomas Webb: I don't know man. I... You've experienced the world. I just live here in New York.
W.F. Gerald: New York is the world.
Thomas Webb: I haven't done much with my life.
W.F. Gerald: [Thinks a bit] You've had sex with your father's mistress. Huh! I'd say that's something.
Thomas Webb: [pause] Am I The Only Living Boy in New York?
W.F. Gerald: You are.
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W.F. Gerald: Find a window. Pounce.
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Judith Webb: [Referring to W.F] Is he old?
Thomas Webb: [Nods] And he's messy.
Judith Webb: Yeah, he always was an unmade bed of a man.
Thomas Webb: An unmade bed of a man
[smiles]
Thomas Webb: , I like that.
Judith Webb: You should, your father wrote it.
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Judith Webb: You know, the farthest distance in the world, is between how it is and how you thought it was gonna be.
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[First lines]
W.F. Gerald: [narrating] In the 20th century, if you wanted to know your neighbors, you move to the suburbs. If you wanted to become an *addict*, you move to New York. Now, everything's upside down. The junkies are in the burbs and the building next door is a fucking kickball league.
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Thomas Webb: I'm crazy about you.
Mimi Pastori: I'm crazy about you, but...
Thomas Webb: But don't say "as friends".
Mimi Pastori: Why? Why is that so bad?
Thomas Webb: Because pretty girls like to recruit their rejections and then call them friends.
[Mimi amazed]
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Thomas Webb: She has this boyfriend, Nick and he's in that band, Fahrenheit 185...
W.F. Gerald: [interrupts] The exact temperature it takes to cook heroin. Properly.
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W.F. Gerald: Just make her afraid e something more than being with you in that way.
Thomas Webb: Which is?
W.F. Gerald: Mm... not being with you.
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Mimi Pastori: So what? You're gonna use your father's affair as a confirmation of your own inadequacies?
Thomas Webb: No Mimi.
[Walks away]
Thomas Webb: I have you for that.
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Thomas Webb: How long you been fucking my father?
Johanna: Is that kind of vulgarity *entirely* necessary here?
Thomas Webb: What kind of vulgarity would you perfer?
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Judith Webb: If you found out, he would come back into my life and then everything would go to shit.
Thomas Webb: Well, everything went to shit on its own, so...
Judith Webb: Yeah, I guess.
[Both smile]
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W.F. Gerald: What do you want?
Thomas Webb: Well, my father stop seeing this woman.
W.F. Gerald: No, no, no, in life?... You know, in your life... You want more money?... You want more respect? What is that you want? Think about it, really think about it.
Thomas Webb: I wanna be better.
W.F. Gerald: Better?... In what?
Thomas Webb: I don't know.
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Uncle Buster: [Giving a wedding toast] I'm Uncle Buster... Walter's not here because... He's doing two to five. It's no secret. 'Cause, you all know, two to five, for doing the right thing. For believing in the poetry of the constitution. I have only a few thoughts... Drama... Dramatics of marital romance. Staying together. Like the gypsy... told me the poems, written in life lines are never guaranteed. They get busted up. Its moral begins new poetry. Another romance that will explode from time to time... Poetry of married people, like, the Aurora Borealis. Strewn like stars in the sky and the drama of your lives begins. Chapter after chapter... Stories... Books... Revolutions, as I know, will come. I've seen many, lived through them. They play in the least expected places... So get ready. Casey understands Howard. Howard, knows Casey... No. No, not yet... There's always mystery. You both know that. You both know it isn't perfect... Excitement. Trust... and struggle... And the unknown privacies... That keep us together... Glue of struggle... I raise my glass. Fragile glass who was stumped on and shattered. And we'll forever be putting back together. Like the puzzles, we first worked as children... Learning to be patient... Searching for what fits... So many puzzles... So many books in this room... I talk too much... Let's dance.
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Thomas Webb: Who was she?
W.F. Gerald: Oh, she was this woman I knew. She was taken by someone else, a dear friend. We had a profound connection, but she was his girl. It was a mess.
Thomas Webb: So what did you do?
W.F. Gerald: Oh, I left the scene of the crime.
Thomas Webb: You ran away?
W.F. Gerald: Uh, well, at the time, I called it an adventure. But hindsight turned it into something else, which is what hindsight inevitably does. Yeah, I ran away.
The Only Living Boy in New York Quotes
Extended Reading
