Good Will Hunting (1997) quotes
Director
Gus Van Sant.
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
[during a therapy session] You’re not perfect, sport, and let me save you the suspense: this girl you’ve met, she’s not perfect either. But the question is whether or not you’re perfect for each other.
– Sean
Son of a bitch… He stole my line.
– Sean
[after their last therapy session] Does this violate the doctor-patient relationship?
– Will
Not unless you grab my ass.
– Sean
You’re just a kid, you don’t have the faintest idea what you’re talkin’ about.
– Sean
[continuing the therapy session] I don’t care if Helen of Troy walks in the room, that’s Game 6!
– Will
Oh, Helen of Troy…
– Sean
Oh my God; and who are these fuckin’ friends of yours, they let you get away with that?
– Will
Oh… they had to.
– Sean
W-w-w-what’d you say to them?
– Will
I just slid my ticket across the table, and I said, “Sorry, guys; I gotta see about a girl.”
– Sean
I gotta go see about a girl?
– Will
Yeah.
– Sean
That’s what you said? And they let you get away with that?
– Will
Oh, yeah. They saw in my eyes that I meant it.
– Sean
You’re kiddin’ me.
– Will
No, I’m not kiddin’ you, Will. That’s why I’m not talkin’ right now about some girl I saw at a bar twenty years ago and how I always regretted not going over and talking to her. I don’t regret the 18 years I was married to Nancy. I don’t regret the six years I had to give up counseling when she got sick. And I don’t regret the last years when she got really sick. And I sure as hell don’t regret missin’ the damn game. That’s regret.
– Sean
[pause]
Wow… Woulda been nice to catch that game, though.
– Will
[sheepishly] I didn’t know Pudge was gonna hit a homer.
– Sean
[to Will] You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.
– Sean
[talking through the outside of the glass windows at Dunkin Donuts] Do you like apples?
– Will
[talking through the glass on the inside] Yeah.
– Clark
Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?
– Will
[both leaning on a pick up truck while drinking beers and smoking cigarettes on a construction site] What do I wanna way outta here for? I’m gonna live here the rest of my fuckin’ life. We’ll be neighbors, have little kids, take ’em to Little League up at Foley Field.
– Will
Look, you’re my best friend, so don’t take this the wrong way but, in 20 years if you’re still livin’ here, comin’ over to my house, watchin’ the Patriots games, workin’ construction, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.
– Chuckie
What the fuck you talkin’ about?
– Will
You got somethin’ none of us have…
– Chuckie
Oh, come on! What? Why is it always this? I mean, I fuckin’ owe it to myself to do this or that. What if I don’t want to?
– Will
No. No, no no no. Fuck you, you don’t owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I’m gonna wake up and I’ll be 50, and I’ll still be doin’ this shit. And that’s all right. That’s fine. I mean, you’re sittin’ on a winnin’ lottery ticket. And you’re too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that’s bullshit. ‘Cause I’d do fuckin’ anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin’ guys. It’d be an insult to us if you’re still here in 20 years. Hangin’ around here is a fuckin’ waste of your time.
– Chuckie
[yelling at Gerald] And why does he hang out with those retarded gorillas, as you called them? Because any one of them, if he asked them to, would take a fucking bat to your head, okay? It’s called loyalty.
– Sean
[to Will] You’ll never have that kind of relationship in a world where you’re afraid to take the first step because all you see is every negative thing 10 miles down the road.
– Sean
[in a gentlemen’s bar] Hey, Gerry, In the 1960s there was a young man that graduated from the University of Michigan. Did some brilliant work in mathematics. Specifically bounded harmonic functions. Then he went on to Berkeley. He was assistant professor. Showed amazing potential. Then he moved to Montana, and blew the competition away.
– Sean
Yeah, so who was he?
– Lambeau
Ted Kaczynski.
– Sean
Haven’t heard of him.
– Lambeau
[yelling to the bartender] Hey, Timmy!
– Sean
Yo.
– Timmy
Who’s Ted Kaczynski?
– Sean
Unabomber.
– Timmy
[before leaving the bar to catch up with his friends] Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime?
– Skylar
Great, or maybe we could get together and just eat a bunch of caramels.
– Will
What?
– Skylar
When you think about it, it’s just as arbitrary as drinking coffee.
– Will
[laughs] Okay, sounds good.
– Skylar
[in Skylar’s dorm room] What is your obsession with this money? My father died when I was 13 and I inherited this money. You don’t think that every day I wake up and wish I could give it back? That I would give it back in a second if I could have one more day with him? But I can’t, and that’s my life and I deal with it. So don’t put your shit on me when you’re the one that’s afraid.
– Skylar
I’m afraid? What am I afraid of? What the fuck am I afraid of?
– Will
You’re afraid of me! You’re afraid that I won’t love you back! Fuck it, I wanna give it a shot! At least I’m honest with you.
– Skylar
[to Will with Morgan, Chuckie present] You’re legally allowed to drink now, so we figured the best thing for you was a car.
– Billy
I just have a little question here. You could be a janitor anywhere. Why did work at the most prestigious technical college in the whole fuckin’ world? And why did you sneak around at night and finish other people’s formulas that only one or two people in the world could do and then lie about it? ‘Cause I don’t see a lot of honor in that, Will.
– Sean
I read your book last night.
– Will
So you’re the one.
– Sean
[during a therapy session with Will] My wife used to fart in her sleep.
– Sean
You know what? You can shove your medal up your fucking ass! Because I don’t give a shit about your medal. Because I knew you before you were a mathematical God. When you were pimple-faced and homesick and didn’t know which side of the bed to piss on!
– Sean
Yeah, you were smarter than me then and you’re smarter than me now, so don’t blame me for how your life turned out, it’s not my fault.
– Lambeau
I DON’T BLAME YOU! It’s not about *you*, you mathematical dick!
– Sean
[about Will to Gerald] He pushes people away before they get a chance to leave him. It’s a defense mechanism. And for 20 years he’s been alone because of that. And if you push him right now, it’s gonna be the same thing all over again and I’m not gonna let that happen to him.
– Sean
[upon entering the bar for the first time with Bill, Morgan and Will] So this is a Harvard bar, huh? I thought there’d be equations and shit on the wall.
– Chuckie
[to his class with Gerald present] See you Monday. We’ll be talking about Freud and why he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse.
– Sean
[talking to Skylar in her dorm room] What do you wanna know? That I don’t have 12 brothers? That I’m a fuckin’ orphan? You don’t wanna hear that… no, you don’t wanna hear that. You don’t wanna hear that I got fuckin’ cigarettes put out on me when I was a little kid! That this
– Will
[points to his left ribs]
is ’cause the motherfucker stabbed me! You don’t wanna hear that shit, Skylar. Tell me you don’t wanna hear that shit isn’t fuckin’ surgery!
– Will