My So-Called Life quotes

83 total quotes



All Seasons
 Season 1  



Angela: [voiceover] When I was twelve, my mother gave me my sex talk. I'm not sure either of us has fully recovered.
Patty: Now that you and Jordan are um...
Angela: Oh, my God. Mom, please...
Patty: Angela, I can accept that you have a boyfriend.
Angela: I don't have a boyfriend!
Patty: Fine. A pal. A male pal.

Angela: [voiceover] When you're not sure you trust a person anymore -- say, a person you really trusted; say your father -- you start wishing they'd do something, like, really wrong, just so you could be right about them.

Angela: [voiceover] You know how sometimes the last sentence you said, like, echoes in your brain, and it just keeps sounding stupider? And you have to say something else just to make it stop?

Angela: Brian, this was all my fault..
Brian: '[voiceover] Her hair smelled incredible.
Angela: ...I mean, I ruined your night. And Delia's night. I should have just stayed out of it.
Brian: [voiceover] Like this orange grove we passed when I was eight on our way to see my grandmother.
Angela: And I can't really explain why I even got involved. But I'm sorry.
Brian: [voiceover] But I guess that's just like her shampoo, or whatever.

Angela: Dad, I don't feel like talking. No offense.
Graham: Oh, I don't feel like talking. Certainly not to you. You want me to warm up that spaghetti?
[Angela hands it over]
Angela: [voiceover] I have to say, when my father warms something up, it tastes better than when anyone else does.
Graham: So how did your experiment go? with Brian?
Angela: He did most of it.
Graham: So was this like, a date?
Angela: Dad! It's...they're not...people just hang out. They're not -- it's not dates. There's people. Together. In a bunch.
Graham: So was there someone else there...you like?
Angela: [voiceover] It's so strange how parents can, out of nowhere, turn psychic. It's unnerving.
Graham: It's okay to like someone. But, I mean, boys your age can sometimes --
Angela: Dad, I know. [pause] 'Can sometimes' what?
Graham: Can sometimes not know how to be what you want them to be. My point is that...it's really...hard to figure out how to be a man. Practically every man I know is still working on it.

Angela: Each card has a name: The Magician, The Empress, The Fool, The Wheel of Fortune, Strength. They represent challenges and tests, twists of fate. No card is all good or all bad. Cards can be positive or negative depending on where they fall. When you read someone's future, they must think of a question. They must hold it in their mind. The cards are read in sequence, each card leads to the next. We move from terror and loss to unexpected good fortune and out of darkness, hope is born.

Angela: I can go out on dates, right?
Patty: Yes, but we do have certain ground rules.
Angela: Like what?
Graham: Like what?
Patty: Well, you have a curfew, and we have to know where you're going and with whom, and you can't do any drinking, and you can't get in a car with a boy who's done any drinking, and your father and I have to meet him first, whoever he is. That's it.
Graham: Wow!
Angela: You have to meet him first?
Graham: Yes!
...
Angela: That is so humiliating. This person means something to me.
Graham: Is there a person who means something?
Angela: Yes, and I don't see why you can't just trust that. Why should I have to parade him around in front of you?
Patty: We just want to drag you down to our level.

Angela: I heard you left your family -- abandoned them.
Mr. Racine: I see.
Angela: So are you saying you didn't? I mean, what's the truth?
Mr. Racine: Well, there are a couple of truths. One truth is I left my family. The other truth is my wife is far better off without me. Yes. I got out. I escaped. I broke out of a prison of my own making, and many, many people want to punish me for that -- maybe even you.
Angela: I'm trying to --
Mr. Racine: 'To' what? To understand? Look, my struggle for freedom is mine. Get your own. Get out before it's too late, Amanda.
Angela: 'Get out'? Get out of what?
Mr. Racine: That mind-control factory -- that warehouse they store you in because they don't know what else to do with you.
Angela: You're telling me to drop out of high school?
Mr. Racine: Good question. Yes. Run for your life. Save your life. Let the walls of your gingerbread house come crashing down. Or not.
Angela: It's Angela. And I have to say I don't think leaving high school is the answer. I don't think leaving anything is. The thing is...is I kind of admired you.

Angela: I'm not saying...see, there's thinking about him, right? Which is what I do, all the time, like, like this ...
Rickie: Obsession.
Rayanne: Right, so?
Angela: So, it keeps me going, or something, like I need it, just to get through the day. It -- it's just ...
Rickie: It's an obsession.
Angela: Right. And if you make it real, it, it's not the same. It's not...it's not yours anymore. I don't know -- maybe I'd rather have the fantasy, than even him.
Rickie: I completely understand this.
Rayanne: I totally and completely disagree. You want Jordan Catalano, in actuality, because...there is no 'because'! You just want him! Only you're programmed to never admit it.
Rickie: That does have the ring of truth.

Angela: Sometimes I think if my mother wasn't so good at pretending to be happy, she'd be better at actually *being* happy.

Angela: What'd you tell Rickie?
Brian: I told him not to come over here.
Angela: But, hes my friend!!
Brian: Yeah. I know, He's mine, too, but, just in case we wanted like privacy-
Angela: Why would we want privacy?!
Brian: Well, just in case.....
Angela: What do you think is going on here, Krakow?!
Brain: Well, uh....
Angela: What did you tell Delia?! I explained to you why I wanted a ride to the dance! And it wasn't to come with you! You don't understand people, Krakow! You're so heartless!

Angela: Where is the tape Brian?!
Brian: Tape-what tape?
Angela: Don't play dumb with me! You know! THE tape!

Brian: [voiceover, writing a love letter on behalf of Jordan] Dear Angela, I know in the past I've caused you pain and I'm sorry. And I'll always be sorry 'till the day I die. And I hate this pen I'm holding because I should be holding you. I hate this paper under my hand because it isn't you. I even hate this letter because it's not the whole truth. Because the whole truth is so much more than a letter can even say. If you want to hate me, go ahead. If you want to burn this letter, do it. You could burn the whole world down. You could tell me to go to hell; I'd go, if you wanted me to. And I'd send you a letter from there. Sincerely, Jordan Catalano.

Brian: [voiceover] Finally, an erection from actual physical contact!

Brian: [voiceover] I became yearbook photographer because I liked the idea that I could sort of watch life without having to be part of it. But when you're yearbook photographer, you're, like, never in the picture.