Quotes from Love Story

Erich Segal ·  224 pages

Rating: (46.7K votes)


“Love means never having to say you're sorry.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“What the hell makes you so smart?" I asked. "I wouldn't go for coffee with you, " she answered. "Listen -- I wouldn't ask you." "That, "she replied "is what makes you stupid.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“I was afraid of being rejected, yes. I was also afraid of being accepted for the wrong reasons.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“The pain of not knowing what to do was exceeded only by that of knowing what I had done.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Please, if one of us cries, let both of us cry. But preferably neither of us.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story



“What the hell makes you smart?" I asked.
"I wouldn't go for coffee with you."
"Listen - I wouldn't ask you."
"That," she replied, "is what makes you stupid.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“He had then warned his daughter not to violate the Eleventh Commandment.
"Which one is that?" I asked her.
"Do not bullshit thy father," she said.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Now would you do me a favor?' From somewhere inside me came this devastating assault to make me cry. But I withstood. I would not cry. I would merely indicate to Jennifer - by the affirmative nodding of my head - that I would be happy to do her any favor whatsoever.
'Would you please hold me very tight?' she asked.
I put my hand on her forearm - Christ, so thin - and gave it a little squeeze.
'No, Oliver,' she said, 'really hold me. Next to me.'I was very, very careful - of the tubes and things - as I got onto the bed with her and put my arms around her.
'Thanks, Ollie.'
Those were her last words.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“You don't know about falling off cliffs, Prep­pie,' she said. 'You never fell off one in your god­damn life.'

'Yeah,' I said, re­cov­er­ing the power of speech. 'When I met you.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Her handwriting was curious — small sharp little letters with no capitals (who did she think she was, e. e. cummings?).”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story



“What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl who died?”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“There was a brief silence. I think I heard snow falling.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“What term do you employ when you speak of your progenitor?"
I answered with the term I'd always wanted to employ.
"Sonovabitch."
"To his face?" she asked.
"I never see his face."
"He wears a mask?"
"In a way, yes. Of stone. Of absolute stone.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Jenny, if you're so con­vinced I'm a loser, why did you bull­doze me into buy­ing you cof­fee?'

She looked me straight in the eye and smiled.

'I like your body,' she said.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Either way I don't come first, which for some stupid reason bothers hell out of me, having grown up with the notion that I always had to be number one. Family heritage, don't you know?”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story



“But what does he do to qualify as a sonovabitch?” Jenny asked.
“Make me”, I replied.
“Beg pardon?”
“Make me”, I repeated.
Her eyes widened like saucers. “You mean like incest?” she asked.
“Don’t give me your family problems, Jen. I have enough of my own.”
“Like what, Oliver?” she asked, “like just what is it he makes you do?”
“The ‘right things’”, I said.
“What’s wrong with the ‘right things’?” she asked, delighting in the apparent paradox.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“I think the Peace Corps is a fine thing, don't you?" he said.
"Well," I replied, "it's certainly better than War Corps.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“I began to think about God. I mean, the notion of a Supreme Being existing somewhere began to creep into my private thoughts. Not because I wanted to strike Him on the face, to punch Him out for what He was about to do to me - to Jenny, that is. No, the kind of religious thoughts I had were just the opposite. Like, when I woke up in the morning and Jenny was there. Still there. I'm sorry, embarrassed even, but I hoped there was a God I could say thank you to.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Fue entonces cuando la terrorífica verdad empezó a imponèrseme
-¡Jenny, estamos legalmente casados!
-Si, ahora ya puedo comportarme como una perra”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“I didn't know you were re­lated to Se­wall Boat House too,' she said.

'Yeah. I come from a long line of wood and stone.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story



“Voljeti ne znači vječito ponavljati da ti je žao”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Amar significa nunca tener que decir lo siento”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


“Love Means Not Ever Having To Say You're Sorry.”
― Erich Segal, quote from Love Story


About the author

Erich Segal
Born place: in Brooklyn, New York, The United States
Born date June 16, 1937
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