Oh sweetheart, do you really think if you seal it up, that the pain's gonna go away?
Say what you mean, mean what you say. You know, if everybody followed that rule, there would be a lot less trouble.
— You don't tell me things, Joel. I'm an open book. I tell you everything. Every damn embarrassing thing. You don't trust me.
— You don't have to be afraid of silence, Clementine. Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating.
— I don't do that. I want to know you. I don't constantly talk. Jesus. People have to share things. That's what intimacy is. I'm really pissed that you said that to me.
— I'm sorry. I just don't have anything very interesting about my life.
— I've gotten used to not speaking unless I have something to say.
— If nobody spoke unless they had something to say... the human race would soon lose the power of speech.
"Sometimes I sneak around and listen... and do you know what?"
"What?"
"People don't talk about anything."
Molly, please don't feel the need to make conversation, it's really not your area.
If people thought you were dying, they gave you their full attention. If this might be the last time they saw you, they really saw you. Everything else about their checkbook balance and radio songs and messy hair went out the window. You had their full attention. People listened instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. And when they spoke, they weren't just telling you a story. When the two of you talked, you were building something, and afterward you were both different than before.
Translated from the Russian by Kathleen Cook
"What's going on?"
"Oh, they just sitting around, talking. It's like being a pedestrian, only rarer."