I Want to Know

Big Little Lies 2×7

Jane: I don't really... know him well enough to love him. Love is a really... big word, you know?

Mary Louise: Sleeping Beauty... That's how Perry would describe her to me. Sleeping Beauty. He was her prince. And she killed him.

Ira Farber: Mary Louise... only answer the questions that are asked.

Celeste: Maybe I'm not a good mother. Maybe I'm not fit.

Corey: Okay, first, nothing is perfect. Nothing's even... best. But if you can find better, nice... even good is good. Secondly, no matter how good something is, you can ruin it by overthinking it.

Max: Did court go good?
Celeste: Yeah. I think it did.
Max: Were you a superhero?
Celeste: Oh, I was like Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk... combined.

Madeline: About the lie... It had a shelf life.

---

Celeste: Madeline, you and I have a friendship, and Jane. That... That's... the Monterey Five, whatever we call ourselves... The lie is the friendship.

Madeline: Hey. What'd I say about sugar?
Chloe: What doesn't kill you...

Eddie: Do you remember [our wedding day], Madeline?
Madeline: Yeah. I remember it was really joyous.
Eddie: Yeah, it was joyous for me, too. But... delusional. We did not know what we were getting into. ... Most weddings are just like this blind leap of faith. All the vows we take, I mean... we can't even know what the fuck that means.

Eddie: Look, you are not who you were then. And neither am I. People change... We need to renew our vows.

Renata: Maybe you should've shown a woman a little respect!

Renata: No more bullshit. No more lies.

--
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The Bad Mother

Big Little Lies 2×6

Corey: She clearly doesn't think he slipped. She said with five witnesses, the odds are in her favor... one of you will finally crack. The first one who does gets a break. The other four are fucked.

Mary Louise: She's not well. Clearly, you can see that.
Jane: No, what I see is a woman who's struggling. Who isn't?
Mary Louise: Are you struggling, Jane? With your conscience, perhaps?

Eddie: I can't just wave a wand. Neither can you.

— I resent you... for the childhood I had. I resent you for your impatience... for being scared of doing my homework without being yelled at... for all the kitchen cabinet doors you slammed... for slapping me, for all the bruises. I resent you for not feeling safe at home. I resent you for being ashamed of me. I resent you for all the sex I started to have when I was 13 to prove to myself that I could be loved. I resent you for my wanting to beat the shit out of everyone. I resent you for making me feel so fucking worthless that I settled for a man that I don't...

Renata: Shut the fuck up for the rest of your fucked-up fucking life. Do you hear me? I don't wanna hear one fucking word from your fucked-up little fucking twerp mouth on why you fucked up, no matter what fucked-up excuse you come up with. You fucking... fuck shit!

Celeste: It's my fight, Your Honor. I ask that you let me wage it.

Judge Marylin Cipriani: Very well. Tuesday at one o'clock. Until then, we're adjourned.

--
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Kill Me

Big Little Lies 2×5

Eddie: Not everybody gets along, Nathan. I mean, can't we just be comfortable not liking each other? Doesn't have to be a reason.

Mary Louise: Rather it's as you suggest... we have to do what is best for the children.

Madeline: No! This is a healing institute. Not a swinger's convention.

Madeline: If I fuck up again, it will not be with infidelity. I give you my word. All my future mistakes will be brand new ones.

Mary Louise: I was hoping this would just be about... tea, but... people don't do that anymore. Do they?
Renata: Uh, do what?
Mary Louise: Just enjoy each other's company. Just... no agenda. It would be so nice... if people could just be together, you know. But... maybe somebody will invent an app for that...

Renata: Are you placing judgment on my life choices?
Mary Louise: I don't know your life choices. I don't know you, other than you're a friend of Celeste, and you seem like a very nice person who lives in a big house with no furniture.

--
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She Knows

Big Little Lies 2×4

Mary Louise: What shall we call that? Foreplay?

Madeline: The school decided to celebrate Halloween this week. God forbid they wait until the end of the month. I swear everyone in this town is obsessed with first and better and most.

Walter Ruttenberg: It's not like a scarlet letter. People file for bankruptcy all the time. Some even go on to become president.

Bonnie: Celeste, what exactly does your mother-in-law know?

Mary Louise: We need to do what's best for the boys...

--
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The End of the World

Big Little Lies 2×3

Eddie: My betrayal?
Dr. Amanda: Adultery is one form of infidelity. Indifference is another. You describe yourself as a go-along, get-along, don't-make-waves kinda guy. That makes you either wonderfully accommodating, or profoundly disengaged.

Renata: Yes, hello, Doctor, I would like my daughter transferred to Stanford, please.
Dr. Feldman: Because?
Renata: Because it's Stanford!

Corey: You have to be careful with some of the farm shit.
Jane: So you just eat wild?
Corey: Yeah. Yeah, mostly. But there's problems there, too. Some wild fish have tested positive for microplastics. Some wild salmon have tested positive for antidepressants. People have to ask where the fish come from, what they ate, how they lived, even how they died. If they're processed post-rigor, the bacteria can leech right into the flesh... Sorry... I used to work at Santa Monica Seafood, so I was really into all this shit.

Mary Louise: A mother nee... A mother needs to know.

---

Dr. Amanda: I work with and treat quite a few veterans. Many want to return to combat. They can't handle the mundane. Normal life is dull. You miss the war, Celeste.

Renata: What possesses two idiots like yourselves to teach eight-year-olds that the planet is doomed?

Principal Nippal: Okay, this is gonna come as a shock to you. This school is actually here to serve all the children, not just Amabella.
Renata: You think 'cause of this whole bankruptcy thing... that the school thinks I don't matter? Please. I will be rich again. I will rise up! I will buy a fucking polar bear for every kid in this school! And then, I will squish you like the bug that you are!

Principal Nippal: I told you, these second-grade mothers, they are Shakespearean. That woman, she's the fucking Medusa of Monterey.

Renata: I've gotta go back to the school. They wanna talk about climate change and the end of the world, which actually, if it comes, it might be a sweet relief.

Madeline: You know, I think part of the problem is... we lie to our kids. We fill their heads full of Santa Claus and stories with happy endings, when most of us know most endings to most stories fucking suck. Right? Let's just get real. There aren't a lot of happy endings for a lot of people, you know.

--
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Tell-Tale Hearts

Big Little Lies 2×2

Mary Louise: What kind of an emergency?
Madeline: The kind short people have?
Mary Louise: .... You don't like me, do you, Madeline?
Madeline: I'm sure you mean well.

Mary Louise: You know, when I was very young... ... my father gave me the best advice. He said, "Mary Louise, you just seek out the bully... and make friends with her.
Madeline: Am I the bully in this scenario?
Mary Louise: On your awesome days, I suspect you are a godsend. But on your bad days... decidedly less so.

Jane: I don't want to offend you, but you are... I do think you're a very genuine person, but you're a very... You're very strange.
Corey: You know, one of the last socially acceptable bigotries is the one against weirdos.

Celeste: We're a family, and... and a family is meant to be open and honest with each other, so.
Max: I don't think we're that kind of family.

Dr. Amanda: I want you to close your eyes. To replay the incident.... Now, I want you to put a close friend in your place. Let's make it Madeline. Put Madeline there instead of you.....

Renata: I'm not gonna not be rich... I will not not be rich!

Martin: Can we just have a dinner like a normal family?
Elizabeth: We are having dinner like a normal family. Getting in each other's business, that's what families do.

---

Jane: Did Chloe tell you anything else?
Ziggy: She said something about Mr. Wright giving you salt. That's how it happened. He salted you.

Madeline: Can you understand and maybe contemplate for a minute the fundamental violation of a woman's privacy when you're talking about rape?
Eddie: How about the fundamental violation of our family, of our marriage. I mean, I'm your husband. I am supposed to help you with this stuff. ... What are we, people who keep secrets from each other? Is that our thing now?

Chloe: Is Daddy mad at me?
Madeline: Daddy's mad, but that's the thing about families. Is that you can be mad and you can fight, but you get over it, and you always come back together. That's wh... That's what families do.

Jane: I know that you have to protect your boys, but I have to protect mine.

Renata: Oh my... Will somebody give a woman a moment?!!!

Madeline: I think you're being rash, honey. Life is a series of building blocks that you stand on and you grow on, and I feel like you are kicking the most fundamental building block, which is education, right out from under you.
Abigail: You used to claim that family was your most fundamental building block.
Madeline: Well, of course. It's very important.
Abigail: What, you just, like, kicked that one to the side?

Max: We're already friends. What difference does it make?
Celeste: I don't know. This is what I do know: He's part of your family now. And, I mean, family is always everything, but... sometimes it is.

--
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What Have They Done?

Big Little Lies 2×1

Mary Louise: Hey! Quiet!... Fine young men don't suddenly become fine young men all of sudden in a whoosh, you know. It starts with being fine young boys. And part of being a fine young boy is listening and respecting your mother. She works so hard for you. That's why the sun shines on her so.

Madeline: Ed, this is the first day of school. We have to earn our good-mom badges all over again. ...we all get judged all over again. It's a complete double standard 'cause if a dad shows up, they're like, "Wow, there's a dad here. He's involved". But with the moms... it just makes me wanna blow. Boom!

Mary Louise: How have you been?
Madeline: Good, good. The kids are good.

Madeline: How are you?
Mary Louise: I can't complain... Actually, I can. My son is dead.

Mary Louise: You're very short.
Madeline: Excuse me?
Mary Louise: I don't mean it in a negative way.
Madeline: Oh.
Mary Louise: Maybe I do. I find little people to be untrustworthy. My apologies.

Mary Louise: You know, you seem like a nice person. Loving. But also, you strike me as a wanter.
Madeline: A... A wanter?
Mary Louise: Mm. You know... there are people in... in life who content themselves with what they have, and then there are others who just... just want.
Madeline: I'm not a wanter.
Mary Louise: Oh, you don't have to take it personally. Anyway, I'm a wanter myself. You know what I want? I want Perry back.

---

Mary Louise: Madeline and I were just... talking.

Madeline: ...you're still grieving, and that you've been through a tremendous amount of heartbreak, but I don't care for the way you spoke to me before. It was rude, and I didn't deserve it.
Mary Louise: No, you didn't. Um, I apologize.
Madeline: Well, thank you.
Mary Louise: The truth is, it had nothing to do with you. When I was in boarding school, I had... I had a best friend, or so I thought, who revealed herself to be quite treacherous, and, uh, caused me a lot of pain. So... she was just an itty-bitty little thing with a big, bubbly personality that, um... was designed to hide... that she was utterly vapid inside. You remind me so much of her that I suppose I punish you for that. That's wrong of me, and I apologize.

Corey: The way people talk in this town, I don't need to tell you.
Jane: You don't need to tell me? What does that mean?
Corey: You're one of the Monterey Five, right?
Jane: Monterey Five?
Corey: You were there the night the guy fell.

Mary Louise: What, my grief is too loud for you? Oh, Celeste... We should scream! We should scream and beat our breasts and... and tear our hair! Don't you feel angry?!

Mary Louise: So... who are we planning to kill?

--
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You Get What You Need

Big Little Lies 1×7

& Stu: The only mystery to me is why all the damn questions? I mean, you know who did it, for God’s sake.

& Ed: What exactly did you say to her, anyway?
    Madeline: Common sense... I said live right or go straight to hell.

& Jane: They’re kids, though, you know. They bully. It’s human nature. They grow out of it...
    Celeste: Sometimes they don’t.

& Madeline: I think maybe... sometimes I’m just holding on to this idea of perfection so tight... something has to give. And I can’t explain it. And I won’t excuse it.

---

& Gordon: Why would you be the one to get vilified?
    Renata: Because I’m a working mom, I’ve told you. Worse, a CEO, which deems me a bitch. You have no idea... If I get shot in the head tonight, half these moms are gonna say, «She couldn’t bother herself to duck? What, what, she couldn’t get the nanny to stop the bullet?»

& Perry: ...I’m sick. I’ll do whatever it takes. I promise you... In sickness and in health. You took a vow.
    Celeste: Yeah, to have and to hold, to respect, to cherish... they were our vows. Not smashing my head into a wall. Not fucking hurting me.

& Detective Quinlan: Turn it off. I’m so sick of these fucking lies.

& Detective Gibson: Involuntary manslaughter. 12 months community service. Good behavior, she’s out in six, maybe three. Why bother to lie?
    Detective Quinlan: That’s what’s bugging me. Why lie?

--
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Burning Love

Big Little Lies 1×6

Madeline: This is my problem in life... I can never let dead dogs lie.
Jane: Well, but that’s the problem. He’s not dead.

Nathan: You know, it’s okay for things to be ugly sometimes. That’s, like, life.

Dr. Moriarty: When are you gonna leave him, Celeste?... When he hurts you badly enough? When... he hurts the children?

Dr. Moriarty: Get it all ready so we can at least remove «Where on God’s earth would I go?» from the equation.

Celeste: Perhaps my self-worth is made up of how other people see me.
Dr. Moriarty: I’m sorry. I... I’m just amazed by patients who can harbor such profound self-awareness underneath the hard shell of denial.

Dr. Moriarty: «.... In fact, you’ve repeatedly maintained what a wonderful husband and father Perry is. Haven’t you, Mrs. Wright? Nobody’s ever witnessed this alleged abuse, ever. Isn’t that true, Mrs. Wright? We only have your word. You said he was wonderful. Now you say he’s a monster. Were you lying then or are you lying now?..» You’re a lawyer. You know how important it is to have a witness.

---

Jane: Sometimes... magic comes from icky, Ziggy.

Puppet: ♪ Everything in life ♪
               ♪ Is only for now ♪

Ed: Sometimes that’s the... the essence of a happy marriage, isn’t it? The ability to pretend.

Bonnie: She is auctioning off her virginity on the Internet. For Amnesty International... so
it is for a very good cause.
Nathan: She’s... selling her virginity on the Internet?!
Bonnie: Good cause?

Madeline: So, you think our marriage is pretend?
Ed: No, I said that in every marriage there is pretending. Even the best ones.

Madeline: Fucking up doesn’t fix your life.

--
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Once Bitten

Big Little Lies 1×5

Jane: They say just holding one in your hand has psychological benefits for emotional trauma.... Yeah, because it inhibits mentalization, so it helps you block yourself off from emotions.
Madeline: And that’s a good thing?
Jane: Yeah. If the memories are painful enough, absolutely. You know, I feel stronger with one, more empowered...

Madeline: Maybe I should get a gun... There’s more than one person I’d like to shoot in this town.

Renata: I’m getting very, very upset because someone is bullying you. And you never let a bully win. ... You have to speak up, Amabella! You have to be a big girl and use your voice in this world. That’s why they call me a bulldog, because I had to learn how to fight back with a bully!

---

Ed: Are you sure you should be snooping around on her Facebook page?
Madeline: I am her mother. It is my fucking duty to spy on her!

Ed: Well, could’ve been worse. Everybody lived to tell about it.

Principal Nippal: I understand Ziggy’s father’s not involved in his upbringing. Is that right?
Jane: The only thing I know about Ziggy’s father is that he’s keen on erotic asphyxiation and raping women.
Madeline: You did not say that!
Jane: No, of course I didn’t, but I wanted to.

Dr. Moriarty: I’m encouraged that you at least think of it as lovemaking. Because sex isn’t always that.

--
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Push Comes to Shove

Big Little Lies 1×4

& Madeline: «To discuss the transitional parenting paradigms to make sure we don’t have any glaring chasms?» Who talks like that, Nathan?

& Nathan: ...that’s one of the things that really defines being a husband, is your willingness to go along with your wife’s fucked-up ideas.

---

& Madeline: It was like a reflex, you know? Somebody kisses you, you kiss them back.

& Perry: There’s nothing like the sound of crunching cereal in the morning.

--
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Living the Dream

Big Little Lies 1×3

Renata: I’m gonna kill her.

Renata: Okay, how about this? Chloe and the others come to the party, big smiles on their faces, right? And after, I arrange a... a great sleepover weekend trip to Disneyland... all expense paid, VIP passes, the works. Backstage passes to «Frozen.»!
Madeline: Yeah... it’s not gonna work.
Renata: I’ll even get Snow White to sit on your husband’s face. Maybe Dumbo can take a squat on yours!

Brunet, big eyes: Gordon Klein was kind of a fuck-up. Rich, powerful, but DNA... huge fuck-up.

Abigail: There are a lot of high-powered women who live here. Some run banks, others run Google or Yahoo and... sometimes I feel like you’re grooming me to get to a place you, um, couldn’t....

---

Renata: Have I become tragically unfun?... Oh, my God, I have. I’m now one of those people I swore I would never turn myself into... some corporate, controlling, anxious... When did we become past our spontaneous prime?

Principal Nippal: Okay, our first order of business today regards our Annual Fall Gala Fundraiser. Now, given the unprecedented success of last year’s Trivia Night with the theme «Dead Celebrities,» we’ve decided to come back again with yet another costume gala, this year titled... «Elvis and Audrey Night.»

Renata: Can’t make a perfect world. No matter what, shit happens.

Oren: Rich, beautiful, madly in love. Something had to be wrong.

Perry: Would you dance with me?.. I just want to hold you, look into your eyes, be in love with you, and feel you being in love with me. Would you?

--
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Serious Mothering

Big Little Lies 1×2

& Madeline: The ocean is powerful. Mostly it’s vast. It’s full of life, mystery. Who knows what lies out there beneath the surface?
    Chloe: Monsters?

& Madeline: You know what? I’m a lady and I’ve never said this to anybody, ever, in my entire life, but I’m gonna say it to you... You can go fuck yourself on the head!

& Chloe: We’re half-sisters. Sort of. My mom was married to her dad.

& Abigail: You really shouldn’t encourage her to play with dolls.
    Madeline: And why is that, exactly?
    Abigail: It’s a little 1960s, not to mention sexist. Is it a Barbie doll?
    Chloe: You can’t put a phone in a Barbie, dummy.
    Madeline: Chloe!
    Chloe: Barbies aren’t allowed anyways.

& Samantha: Scratch the surface of any Jimmy Stewart... Charlie Manson.

---

& Celeste: Men can be a little more intuitive than we give them credit for, you know?

& Joseph: ... Understood, but we need to pick our battles, and this is just...
    Madeline: And sometimes our battles pick us. We can’t quit. We just can’t.
    Joseph: Is this about the play or winning?

& Principal Nippal: She played a song, she invited Zigfield and Amabella to dance, and it seems your daughter has inherited the «let’s solve everyone else’s problems» gene.

& Chloe: How can you not wanna make up on this song? Come on.
    Madeline: Make up, yes, not make out, silly.
    Chloe: It’s what you guys do when you get mad at each other. Big hug, kiss, bang, and everything’s better again.

& Madeline: Can I just say one thing?
    Eddie: You never leave it at one thing.

--
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Somebody's Dead

Big Little Lies 1×1

& Madeline: In fact, you should be excited. Do you know why?.. Because this is... The Very. First. Day of the rest of your life.

& Oren: It’s possible that had she not fallen... nobody would’ve gotten killed.

& Jane: I’m Jane. Jane No-Middle-Name Chapman.

& Chloe: My mom’s an active talker.

& Jane: You’re... so nice. Thank you.
    Madeline: This is Monterey. We pound people with nice.
    Celeste: To death.

& Jane: You guys are just right. You’re exactly right. And for some reason, that makes me feel... wrong, I guess. It’s crazy. I know I sound crazy.
    Madeline: It’s not crazy. I mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about. But if you were crazy, you’d fit in perfectly in this town. Right, Tom? We love crazy people here. We love our crazy.

& Bonnie: None of us really see things as they are; we see things as we are.

---

& Madeline: Renata, Jane is not a nanny. She’s a mom, just young. Like you used to be?

& Harper: Jane just didn’t fit here. Kind of like a dirty old Prius parked outside of Barneys.

& Madeline: It’s just entirely possible for me to love you with all my heart and still feel...
    Eddie: Hurt over your ex.

& Gordon: Women. You all want to be the envy of your friends, but God forbid you garner too much of it...

& Perry: Post it. People are gonna love it.

& Perry: We don’t want the boys to be getting mixed up with the wrong crowd.
    Celeste: They’re six!..
    Perry: They’re not to associate with him.

& Madeline: What people don’t tell you is that... you lose your children.

--
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