Wednesday, July 04, 2012

My favourite Nora Ephron quotes

Still enjoying Heartburn, still feeling sorry that Nora Ephron has died. Here are just a few of my favourite Nora Ephron quotes. The first four are from Sleepless in Seattle. The last is from Heartburn.

1/

Becky: “Verbal ability is a highly over-rated thing in a guy and our pathetic need for it is what gets us into so much trouble.”

2/

Sam: “Even on the news women talk about cute butts. It's really caught on. So how's my butt? “

Sam’s friend: “Not bad.”

Sam: “Is it cute though?”

Sam’s friend (looking at Sam’s trousered butt: “Are we grading on a curve?”

3/

Annie: “Thank God my life is in place.”

4/

Sam: “He’s 8.”

Victoria: “He’s good at it.”

5/

“Vera said: “Why do you feel you have to turn everything into a story?”
So I told her why.
Because if I tell the story, I control the version.
Because if I tell the story, I can make you laugh, and I would rather have you laugh at me than feel sorry for me.
Because if I tell the story, it doesn’t hurt as much.
Because if I tell the story, I can get on with it.”

2 comments:

lyn said...

I've just pulled Heartburn off the shelf to read for the first time. I love Nora Ephron's movies & I can't believe that I've never read her novel. I'm looking forward to it.

Sue Hepworth said...

Hi Lyn,
I finished it last night. It is short and easy to read and very very funny, but I was rationing myself to a bit a day because I like it so much. It is an odd novel and with minimal structure, so is not a great literary work, but she writes very well and is very witty. You can see from it why she was a good columnist - and why that quote from the New York Times is so apt - “all her articles were characterized by humour and honesty, written in a clear, direct, understated style marked by an impeccable sense of when to deploy the punchline.” She writes how I would like to write.