George Sibley quotes from Six Feet Under

George

The greenhouse effect will definitely come to pass if we start to burn coal as oil supplies dwindle over the next twenty years, but I don't think even we could be that stupid!

George

Life is a series of accidents.

George

It's perfectly normal to live in a bombshelter!

George

My name is George Sibley. I was Nate's stepfather. This is a hard day, and we're all very upset. The loss of a young person is always a terrible blow. But in this case, it's even more cruel because Nate was an idealist, and he struggled, all through his life, to be a good man. He wasn't perfect; but then, who among us is? And he never gave up on himself, the people he loved, or even love itself, in all its vexing, beautiful forms.

Ruth

I just cried all over your jacket, and you're a perfect stranger.

George

Not any more, I'm not.

Ruth

[after sex] Do you think we were too loud?

George

It's possible that we were too loud, yes.

George

Did you know that the average American changes careers seven times during his or her lifetime?

David

Is that information supposed to be useful in some way, George?

George

It's just a fact.

Claire

Geology is controversial?

George

Oil, Claire, oil!

Ruth

[about George's other son] Why have you never told me this?

George

Because he's never really been part of my life.

Ruth

If he's sending us shit in the mail, he is a part of your life!

Ruth

I want to know why your other wives left you!

George

Because they asked too many fucking questions!

George

[about David's new cellphone] Well, it's the one good thing about getting robbed, right? It's a great excuse for getting a new gadget.

David

I hope it happens again so I can get a new palm pilot!

George

If you have no interest in the past and you don't read history, how can you possibly comprehend the present?

Anita

George, history is not what really happened. History is some stupid war-mongering patriarchal idea of what happened! Who gives a shit about that?

George

I hope those people aren't going to be here.

Ruth

I think they're just celebrity spokespeople.

George

They're celebrities?

George

So, you stopped taking them? Just like that?

Billy

Yep.

George

How do you feel?

Billy

I feel a little tingly. That's about it. What do they got you on these days?

George

Well, they just switched me from Lithium to Tophranil.

Billy

Oh.

George

In between the shock treatments.

Billy

What are those like?

George

Honestly, I don't know. I go in. They put me on a bed. They give me some oxygen. They say "You're going to feel a little prick in your hand." That always makes me laugh. And then the next thing I know, I wake up with the worst headache I've had in my life.

Billy

You think it's helping?

George

I think that, as Émile Coué used to say, "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better." But not everyone agrees.

Billy

Yeah. It's hard to get your shit together with someone watching all the time.

George

Hm, yeah, it is. But when no one is watching, then where are you? Where the fuck are you then?

George

Nobody grows up thinking this is the way they're gonna turn out to be. If I could change just by snapping my fingers, I'd do it.

Ruth

I know you would, George.

George

I am trying so hard to get better.

Ruth

And you are.

George

But not fast enough for you!

Ruth

You're getting better as fast as you can. I know that.

George

I am so lucky. I hate that I'm the lucky one. No one's ever lucky to have me. Nobody's ever been lucky to have me.