[to Dawson] I want you to know something. Sex doesn't necessarily bring people closer together. It's just a magnifying glass. I mean, if there's a problem, it gets bigger. And if there's closeness... you get closer. As far as you and Gretchen are concerned, I mean... you guys are probably a lot closer than a lot of people who are having sex.
S4Late
Have you and Pacey talked about him being near Worthington next year?
[laughs] Uh, Pacey and I haven't really discussed the future too much lately.
You should. It has a peculiar way of unexpectedly becoming the present.
I really did want your life to be better than mine.
Bessie, you went first. You took on the full brunt of this storm. And you didn't do what others would have. You didn't run, you didn't cower, you created this warm, loving, safe place. And you raised a baby and a little sister. I hope I would have the strength and courage to... create a life for myself that's even remotely like yours.
One night, you're standing in a dark room, exhausted, reaching for diapers and answers on a shelf you can't see, and this little person calls out to you. "Daddy." That's when you get it. You feel your heart expand in a way you never knew was possible, and you love this little person so much... that you actually ache. I can't explain it any better.
Pacey isn't on a fishing trip, is he?
Pacey got arrested for public drunkenness while you were in New York. Doug got the charges dropped, and then he took him camping to try to talk some sense into him.
Oh, my god.
This is an intense time. We're all planning our futures, trying to figure out what we're gonna do with the rest of our lives, but if we can't put all that aside and try to do everything possible to make Pacey's life easier right now, he might not have much of one.
S4Promicide
I was just gonna say, you know, given everything that's happened in the twelve months since last year's prom -- I'm glad we ended up here.
Me too, Dawson.
God, we're so healthy, it makes me wanna puke.
I know. It is kinda sickening.
I'm at the prom, Pacey. I'm at the prom again. I mean, I graduated 4 years ago and I'm still here. You know, tonight for the first time, I didn't just feel older than Dawson, I felt old. Too old to be here. Too old to be doing what I'm doing.
Want pathetic? How's this for pathetic... I'm technically still a junior. I'm not even supposed to be here.
A brother who's too young and a sister who's too old. We're quite the lot now Pacey.
You know... last year... I felt like I could give you something that no one else could give you. I could give you that wall to paint your mural on. I could take you away on a sailboat for a summer. I could even give you that night in the ski lodge. But I don't feel like I have anything left to give you now, Jo. I guess I'm spent. I've become a man who hates himself so much he can't even look at his own reflection in the mirror, and I wish that I could tell you that being with you doesn't make that worse, but it does... because the more that you love me in spite of that, the angrier that I get at you... and the more that I stop loving you back.
How long have you felt this way?
I don't know, but I know it's not right.
Why don't you just tell me how you want me to act? 'Cause I can't win with you, Jo. If I act like I'm unhappy, you get angry with me. But if I act like I'm happy, you get angry with me.
Well, maybe you should stop acting and just talk to me.
Maybe I just don't have anything left to say.
You want me to take off the happy mask? Then happy mask is off. So, now answer me this one question Joey, why are you with me? Why are you with me? Cause I don't know why I'm still with you. I used to know, but now I don't anymore. What I do know, I feel like I'm Josephine Potter's little charity project. I feel like I'm the designated loser...
This isn't about me...
No, it is about you. It's about you and how you make me feel when I'm with you! I feel like I'm stupid, I'm worthless, I'm never right! You know what I realize? It's not my fault! When I'm with you it's "poor Pacey, he didn't get into college," or "stupid Pacey forgot the limo, he ripped my dress, he messed up the corsage."
I told you I don't care about any of that.
But I want you to care! I don't want you to accept it like it's supposed to be. We are not trapped on this boat. You and I are trapped in this relationship! I can't take it anymore Joey. When I'm with you, I feel like I'm nothing. That's why I flinch when you touch me. That's why I never touch you, why I never think about it. Because when I do, it just reminds me that I'm not good enough.
You done?
No, I'm just getting started.
Well, you can stop right now. You can go to hell!
...
You've spent your entire life trying to get out of Capeside, Joey, because you felt like you deserved better. Well, I am Capeside. That's why I didn't get out and you did, and you do deserve better. You deserve better than this place, and you deserve better than me.
You break my heart into a thousand pieces, and you say it's because I deserve better? Just... leave me alone.
S4Separation Anxiety
Look, I just don't think you should go to the party tonight, Pace. I mean, even if you and Joey are supposed to be together, you both need to take some time apart to figure out what went wrong. Otherwise you're gonna wind up making the same mistakes all over again. Trust me. I know from whence I speak.
Trust you? Miss pack-up-and-leave-town? Forgive me if you're not exactly my relationship role model right now.
I'm just trying to help, Pace. I don't want to see you getting hurt.
Well, it's too late for that. I'm already hurt. And that's exactly the situation I'm trying to rectify. That's why I gotta go to this party, just to see what the gods have in store for me.
Um, well... Kubelik wants me to work on his boat this summer. That's what the offer was about. It didn't have anything to do with going to Worthington.
Let's go.
Uh, you know what? I think I'll go. But I think that you should stay here, Jo. I've been watching you in there. You've been... gliding from conversation to conversation with complete confidence and ease this time. I don't know if you remember the last Worthington party that you and I attended together, but... you were kind of a jumble of nerves. I guess I was kind of hoping that... you would need for me to be your savior again tonight. But... that's no longer the case. You don't need that now. Everything's different. I think that they're better this way. The only thing that remains the same is you're still the most beautiful girl in the room. This is... this is your life, and you should enjoy it.
How can I enjoy it without you?
[Dawson reads Gretchen's note in his yearbook]
"Dear Dawson... I've been thinking about what to say to you since I left your house yesterday. I thought about waiting for you to come to my door, saying this face to face, but I knew it would be too hard. I realize that, as much as I need to move on, you need to stay here. Your whole life is about to change in a way that will never be the same. You're opening a new chapter, and you have to give a proper good-bye to the old one. You don't want to miss these moments, even the sad ones, because you'll never get them back. So enjoy this time. Let it wash over you so that your memories of it are strong. Besides, I don't need to spend a month in a car to fall in love with you. I already am in love with you, even more than you know. So good-bye, Dawson Leery. Thank you for changing my life and opening my heart again. You'll never know how much it meant to me. Have a bitchin' summer. Love, Gretchen."
[sighs] Hey, Pace... I'm really sorry about dragging you to that party last night, and... bringing back all of those bad feelings.
It's not your fault, Jo. None of this is your fault. You're not the reason that we broke up.
But I thought that you said...
I know what I said. And I know how I said it, and it makes me sick to my stomach every time I think about it. Blaming you for my insecurities and... then making you feel guilty for all the things that you've accomplished, when you should feel nothing but proud. And I'm so proud of you.
[Mitch and Dawson have just finished watching his movie of Mr. Brooks]
I can't get over how much he reminded me of you.
I remind you of him?
Well, that part where he talks about that girl? How she jumped over the counter, they went off to California together, they didn't even know each other? Who does that?
Hitchhikers.
Risk takers. Dreamers. People who understand that every once in a while, an opportunity presents itself. And whatever they decide to do in that moment will change the rest of their lives forever. Brooks could have told that girl to get lost. He could have gone off to California alone like he planned, but he didn't.
No, he didn't.
Because he knew. Very few men are lucky enough to actually see those moments, Dawson.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Dawson's Creek pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.