Erich Segal Quotes & Sayings

They glanced at one another like tigers taking measure of a menacing new rival. But in this kind of jungle you could never be sure where the real danger lurked. — Erich Segal

What can you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. The Beatles. And me. — Erich Segal

Living better is the best revenge — Erich Segal

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

He would not question Barretto's love, since to know Jenny is to love Jenny; it's a universal truth — Erich Segal

It scarcely made a column of newspaper space, but it wrote headlines in their lives. — Erich Segal

I wanted to keep looking at her because I wanted to never take my eyes from her, but still I had to
lower my eyes, I was so ashamed that even now Jenny was reading my mind so perfectly.
'Listen, that's the only goddamn thing I'm asking, Ollie. Otherwise, I know you'll be okay.' That thing in my gut was stirring again, so I was afraid to even speak the word 'okay.' I just
looked mutely at Jenny. — Erich Segal

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

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

Love Means Not Ever Having To Say You're Sorry. — Erich Segal

Her handwriting was curious - small sharp little letters with no capitals (who did she think she was, e. e. cummings?). — Erich Segal

Some were brilliant bordering on genius. Others, genius bordering on madness — Erich Segal

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

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

Sometimes I ask myself what would I be if Jenny were alive.
And then I answer :
I would also be alive. - Oliver. — Erich Segal

But Anya, you're not any girl, you are someone very special. You have a gift of happiness that's almost magical".
To Anya the gentle fluttering of new life within reminded her that Adam had not only been there in Stockholm but would remain with her forever.
"It is completely possible. Idiopathic reversals of ovarian failure are well documented in the literature. — Erich Segal

Sometimes I ask myself what I would be if Jenny were alive.
And then I answer:I would also be alive. — Erich Segal

We have turned doctors into gods and worship their deity by offering up our bodies and our souls - not to mention our worldly goods.
And yet paradoxically, they are the most vulnerable of human beings. Their suicide rate is eight times the national average. Their percentage of drug addiction is one hundred times higher
And because they are painfully aware that they cannot live up to our expectations, their anguish is unquantifiably intense. They have aptly been called 'wounded healers.' "

~ Barney Livingston, M.D.
(Doctors, 1989) — Erich Segal

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

Deep down I'm still afraid, but at least I can deal with it. — Erich Segal

a real physician almost never seeks another doctor's help. For they all are painfully aware of just how little anybody understands about curing the sick. — Erich Segal

Although champagne was served, the mood was curiously subdued. After this reunion, they would probably never meet together as a class again - at least not in such numbers. They would spend the next decades reading obituaries of the men who had started out in 1954 as rivals and today were leaving Harvard as brothers. This was the beginning of the end. They had met once more and just had time enough to learn that they liked one another. And to say goodbye. — Erich Segal

And then I did what I had never done in his presence, much less in his arms. I cried. — Erich Segal

I wrote 'Yellow Submarine' for the Beatles. I wrote the screenplay for 'The Games,' about the Olympic Games. I wrote 'Love Story,' both the novel and the screenplay. I wrote 'RPM' for Stanley Kramer. Plus, I wrote two scholarly books and a 400-page translation from the Latin, and I dated June Wilkinson! — Erich Segal

He had spent most of his lifetime studying the art of medicine and realized now that he would never really understand its mysteries.
For medicine is an eternal quest for reasons - causes that explain effects.
Science cannot comprehend a miracle. — Erich Segal

Please, if one of us cries, let both of us cry. But preferably neither of us. — Erich Segal

I went into Harvard one way and came out a different person ... It's the air at Harvard; it's like a Renaissance court. — Erich Segal

I was afraid of being rejected, yes. I was also afraid of being accepted for the wrong reasons. — Erich Segal

Sometimes I amaze even myself. — Erich Segal

I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty-six of them. The rest is ... guesswork. — Erich Segal

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

The 'equilibrium' that people see in me is really an illusion. I am as flawed as anyone. It's only that I seem to have the knack of hiding. — Erich Segal

Something may have been lost in translation, but it certainly wasn't love — Erich Segal

Although science could pinpoint the exact spot in the brain that ignites rage, they had yet to identify the location that produces love. — Erich Segal

Quiet heroism or youthful idealism, or both? What do we know? That life without heroism and idealism is not worth living - or that either can be fatal? — Erich Segal

Professors of classics - not even a professor of English - professors of classics, they're something sacred; it's almost like being a priest. — Erich Segal

This isn't a watercolor, it's a mural. — Erich Segal

There was a brief silence. I think I heard snow falling. — Erich Segal

The explanations for the things we do in life are many and complex. Supposedly mature adults should live by logic, listen to their reason. Think things out before they act.
But maybe they never heard what Dr. London told me one, Freud said that for the little things in life we should react according to our reason. But for really big decisions, we should heed what our unconscious tells us. — Erich Segal

The pain of not knowing what to do was exceeded only by that of knowing what I had done. — Erich Segal

I mean, imagine for a second Olivero Barretto, some nice Italian kid from down the block in Cranston, Rhode Island. He comes to see Mr. Cavilleri, a wage-earning pastry chef of that city, and says, "I would like to marry your only daughter, Jennifer." What would the old man's first question be? (He would not question Barretto's love, since to know Jenny is to love Jenny; it's a universal truth). No, Mr. Cavilleri would say something like, "Barretto, how are you going to support her? — Erich Segal

Part of being a big winner is the ability to be a big loser. There is no paradox involved. It is a distinctly Harvard thing to be able to turn any defeat into victory — Erich Segal

True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked. — Erich Segal

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