The White Lotus quotes

Here, self-disclosure is discouraged... You know, you don't wanna be too specific as a presence, as an identity. You wanna be more generic.

Generic?

Yes. You know, it's a Japanese ethos where we are asked to disappear behind our masks as pleasant interchangeable helpers. It's tropical kabuki. And the goal is to create for the guests an overall impression of vagueness that can be very satisfying, where they get everything they want but they don't even know what they want, or what day it is, or where they are, or who we are, or what the fuck is going on.

You have to treat these people like sensitive children. They always say it's about the money, but it's not. It's not even about the room. They just need to feel seen. Seen. They wanna be the only child. The special, chosen baby child of the hotel. And we are their mean mummies, denying them their Pineapple room.

Mark Mossbacher

You know, I think... it's like every kid... like, growing up, wants to be the hero of the story. And in the end... you know, you're just happy you're not the villain.

Olivia Mossbacher

Where'd you go to school?

Rachel Patton

SUNY Potsdam.

Paula

Hmm.

Rachel Patton

Uh, and then I... I moved to the city to change the world and make a name for myself and pay off my loans. All of which I have yet to do, so...

Olivia Mossbacher

Won't he pay off your loans?

Rachel Patton

[taken aback] Shane? I...

Paula

But he could?

Rachel Patton

Well, uh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, he could.

Paula

Yeah, of course, 'cause he's super rich.

Rachel Patton

Well, his family is wealthy compared to my family—I mean, compared to most families. Yeah.

Mark Mossbacher

Being a man, being a young man... in this time right now, can't be easy.

Quinn Mossbacher

Why? 'Cause we can't harass girls anymore?

Mark Mossbacher

No. Well, yeah.

Nicole Mossbacher

I just think it's funny that I'm a role model to strangers. But...

Olivia Mossbacher

But what?

Nicole Mossbacher

Most people admire people who achieve things, but you somehow look at it as if it's a personality disorder.

Olivia Mossbacher

Making shit happen all the time is a compulsion. It staves off feelings of emptiness. Or whatever. Ok, the real question is, what exactly are you getting done? Putin is an overachiever. He's impressive, also evil.

Mark Mossbacher

Liv, your mother is not Putin.

Rachel Patton

And I just sometimes feel like... I worry that his orbit is, is stronger than mine and that, like, I don't know, that like his gravitational pull is gonna like just suck me in and, um...

Nicole Mossbacher

Like you'll become a moon to his planet?

Belinda Lindsey

This is so nice. More than dinner, it's nice to get such positive feedback, you know? It's nice to know you're really making a difference 'cause sometimes, I question that.

Tanya McQuoid

Why would you ever question that?

Belinda Lindsey

Well, the clientele here is mostly rich white people, and to be honest, I struggle with that.

Belinda Lindsey

I do think that there's a purpose in helping even rich people, you know? Helping them to find healing, making them feel more present, more aware.

Tanya McQuoid

Yeah.

Belinda Lindsey

Because rich people, they're the ones that, you know... are fucking up the whole world.

Tanya McQuoid

Yeah. I mean, I know a lot of rich, white, fucked up people. They could really use you.

Mark Mossbacher

Never take anything for granted. It's also a reminder to look at things in a new way, and if you do, then, like, every day can be a new day, right? And if it is... it's like you're... you're always being born into life... like, all the time. You're not stuck... decaying or dying. Anyway, that's just what I was thinking about.

Olivia Mossbacher

Dad, what's wrong with you?

Nicole Mossbacher

Your father got some very upsetting news last night.

Olivia Mossbacher

He does have cancer?

Nicole Mossbacher

No. He doesn't have cancer. He found out something about his father that he never knew before.

Olivia Mossbacher

I'm listening.

Nicole Mossbacher

Your grandfather died of AIDS.

Paula

How did he get AIDS?

Nicole Mossbacher

Apparently, Paula, he was having sex with other men.

Quinn Mossbacher

Who was?

Nicole Mossbacher

Your dad's dad.

Quinn Mossbacher

Why?

Olivia Mossbacher

Because he liked it. Why else? He was probably closeted.

Paula

Or bisexual.

Olivia Mossbacher

Dad, why are you so upset, though? You're like catatonic.

Nicole Mossbacher

Well, it was a secret that was kept from him his entire life, Liv. So now, whatever image he had of his father, of his childhood, has been pulverized.

Olivia Mossbacher

You know, he was probably a bottom. That's how you mostly get it. Receiving. Dad, do you feel like your father was less of a man or something?

Paula

He might have not been gay. A lot of straight guys like ass-play.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yeah! Maybe he was just too embarrassed to ask Grandma to use a dildo on him.

Quinn Mossbacher

Oh, Jesus!

Mark Mossbacher

Can we not, please? Uh...

Olivia Mossbacher

Even if he wasn't a top, it doesn't mean he was femme. He could've still been butch, Dad.

Paula

Maybe he was a bossy bottom.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yeah, maybe Grandpa was a power bottom. [to her dad] Does that make you feel better?

Mark Mossbacher

No. That makes me wanna throw up.

Olivia Mossbacher

Dad, you don't wanna say that.

Nicole Mossbacher

Well, he can say whatever he wants. You know, if he's having a negative visceral reaction to his father having gay sex, it's valid. It's fine.

Olivia Mossbacher

Well, it comes off as homophobic.

Nicole Mossbacher

Well, it's not.

Olivia Mossbacher

Well, that's how it comes across.

Nicole Mossbacher

Well, luckily, he's in a safe space and he's here with our family so he can come off however he wants.

Olivia Mossbacher

Up to a point.

Nicole Mossbacher

Or what? You'll cancel him? Dox him? Sic the K-Pop fans on him?

Nicole Mossbacher

When you're young, sex is powerful and intoxicating. And as we mature, it gets demystified. You realize there are more important things to focus on.

Olivia Mossbacher

Like what? Zooming with China?

Nicole Mossbacher

Like holding onto whatever shreds of dignity you still have.

Olivia Mossbacher

That's so perverted.

Nicole Mossbacher

It's funny how you're able to have so much compassion for all these groups of oppressed peoples you don't even know, and yet not for your family.

Olivia Mossbacher

Yep, okay.

Nicole Mossbacher

Who actually know you and love you. Your generation's only sacred value. Biting the hand that feeds you.

Olivia Mossbacher

Whatever.

Mark Mossbacher

Are you gay?

Quinn Mossbacher

No.

Mark Mossbacher

Hey. 'Cause if you are, it's okay. Just, like, be real.

Quinn Mossbacher

I am being real.

Mark Mossbacher

What's real is... like, gay, straight, whatever, we're just monkeys, we're just fucking monkeys.

Quinn Mossbacher

Yeah?

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah. Yeah, we're just animals. I mean, you know, we wanna be, like... superheroes and respectable fathers and pillars in our communities, whatever, but, but in fact, we're just monkeys... living in our own little monkey pods, driven by base instincts to create these hierarchies and hump each other. I thought I knew my father, you know? I only knew the part that he wanted me to see. He hid the monkey, and that screwed me up, Quinn.

Quinn Mossbacher

You think that's what did it?

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah, definitely. Hey, I thought... My whole life, I thought I was the flawed child of an icon. Like, I put him on this, like, enormous pedestal. Meanwhile, like, he's off in some bathhouse on the DL, getting manhandled by some... like, random dudes. Wow. Oh, I wish I had known.

Quinn Mossbacher

I'm sorry.

Mark Mossbacher

Yeah. But I get it. I mean, you know, you don't want your kid thinking you're some sex-crazed lunatic.