Peter Hedges Quotes & Sayings

I would hope that people might view their fellow beings, all beings, with more empathy, more compassion, with a desire to understand. Even if they can't know why people are the way they are, to understand that they're probably that way for a good reason. — Peter Hedges

Who's calling?"
"Don't insult me like that," the voice says.
I stop. Was I just insulting? — Peter Hedges

Describing Endora is like dancing to no music. It's a town where nothing much ever happens, and nothing much ever will. — Peter Hedges

I left this conversation hours ago, but somehow my mouth is still moving, words are still forming, and none have seemed to offend. Amazing, the mind. My mind, I mean. Not hers. — Peter Hedges

Joan and the Judge had gone to a Sunday brunch with friends. They would be home shortly, in good spirits probably, unless of course they saw their boy frozen to the mailbox.
So Claire and Maggie had no choice. They each grabbed a shoulder and hooked under an elbow and yanked suddenly without warning. Scotty brought his hands quickly to his mouth. All three stood quietly staring at the miniature pink circle of flesh still stuck on the mailbox.
"It looks like a little pizza," said Maggie without thinking. — Peter Hedges

My brother's costume is the exception. He looks like an American. In fact, he behaves like one. When he tried to pick up the first kid he knocked down, he smashed into several others, it snowballed, chaos ensued. My brother very much resembled America today in pretty much all things. — Peter Hedges

How can you kill a man who'd already been dead for years? — Peter Hedges

The more Christian you are in this town, the more makeup you wear. I've always thought that it's because if you were to die suddenly, you'd look better for God. — Peter Hedges

A bad dream. You were having a bad dream." "Oh", I say. "Is that what I'm having? — Peter Hedges

She doesn't acknowledge Tucker, and there's no thank you for the cigarettes. She says a person shows their gratitude by action, not by words. So I guess that means she thanks me by smoking every cigarette in every pack. — Peter Hedges

I could go at any time now. — Peter Hedges

I can go at any time now. " -Arnie tells Becky — Peter Hedges

I feel like there's a certain kind of laughter missing in the world. — Peter Hedges

It's supposed to go bing-bing or bong-bong or ding-ding when tires go over it. The one at Dave's stopped working several years ago, and he won't have it fixed because he feels as I do - that none of us need to be reminded we exist. — Peter Hedges

I'm told women scream when they give birth because of the intense pain. And I think about how easily life can just slide away, like thawing ice. And how it's only the living that scream. — Peter Hedges

GOOD AS NEW was born out of the idea of writing a play where the stakes were high and the collisions were of a verbal nature. Also I wanted to write a play where people were smarter than I was, and more alive than I feel normally. I became interested in the idea of characters who would surprise me. I guess one could argue that nothing comes out of you that wasn't within you to begin with, but maybe there are ways to trick yourself into becoming more an observer or an advocate for the characters. — Peter Hedges

I don't want to write my life. I live my life. I want to make up a new world. — Peter Hedges

I have seen God and he is this girl. — Peter Hedges

In a cement park across the street is this giant sculpture. It is a giant umbrella frame lying on its side. It's green. Stand under it, during a rainstorm, you'll still get wet - that's why it's art. — Peter Hedges

A man who works all day, every day and loves each apple he uncrates, who cherishes each can of soup - a man like that surely puts us all to shame. — Peter Hedges

Arnie pulls at my T-shirt. I shove his hand away. He pushes down the toilet handle and the bathroom fills with that flush sound. Tucker says, "You taking a dump?"
"No."
"Liar. I heard the flush. You were taking a dump."
"But I ... "
"I just wish you'd admit it. We got to be honest with each other."
"But ... "
"I heard the flush, Gilbert. You can't fool Tucker Van Dyke. — Peter Hedges

I spent so many years trying to become an actor, trying to be a person that I wasn't. — Peter Hedges

There is nothing more depressing than toast that no one eats. — Peter Hedges

No 'buts', Gilbert. You just make sense to me. It's nothing more special than that. — Peter Hedges

I never want to regret. 'Regret' is the ugliest word. — Peter Hedges

I was fine till the finger, I say to myself, as I shift to reverse. You don't flip off Gilbert Grape. Let that be known. — Peter Hedges

In the living room, the consensus among the guests was that Scotty's looks favored his father, but the Judge was quick to disagree: 'He doesn't look a thing like me. He looks like an hors d'oeuvre.'

Hearing this, Joan thought the following, and pledged it to herself, as both prayer and promise: You will be loved, Scotty Ocean.

And while the guests laughed at the Judge's remark, Joan leaned over and softly whispered to her newborn son, 'You will be loved. — Peter Hedges

He sees me through the glass. We both nod like we give a small shit about each other. — Peter Hedges

I think it's a fantastic thing to be alive. — Peter Hedges

Some people have to live while others get to sit this living thing out. — Peter Hedges

Love is not a feeling. It's an ability. — Peter Hedges

Anyway, they took her body to McBurney's Funeral Home in Motley. They'll be planting her tomorrow. — Peter Hedges

I can't stop terrorism; I can't cure cancer. But I can put some stories out there in their own quiet way that talk about tolerance. — Peter Hedges

I want to make accessible movies for bright people, but I don't want to play games and be coy. — Peter Hedges

I've always written for actors, and if you want to write for good actors, you have to write parts that are surprising, that are human, and that allow them to go to a wide range of places. — Peter Hedges

Yeah, some days you die. — Peter Hedges

I stared at her - unable to accept that at one time I was growing inside her. I was once just a couple of cells. My father and my mother were naked something had to be satisfactory about it, because he came inside her and she got pregnant. She, like me, was once a baby in her mother's stomach and so on and so forth and so it goes. So it goes. — Peter Hedges

He loves to hide, but only if you take the time to find him. And while I suspect that's true for most people, only a retard or a kid would admit it. — Peter Hedges

I don't know anything about directing, but if you love actors, know your story and hire a great company, then anyone can direct a film. — Peter Hedges

People are usually pretty hungry after a funeral. I guess it's because we all realize that time is running out and we better eat all we can. Please don't mention that to my mother. — Peter Hedges

I devised a test.
I turned off the TV and instantly the snoring stopped. She began to move. When I felt her eyes about to open, I turned the TV back on and back to sleep she went. Then I'd turn it off and on - sometimes for millisecond - and she never failed me. Each time it was off, she's move and mutter - each time it was on, she'd sleep.
By the time the headlights from Amy's Nova turned into our driveway, my suspicion had been confirmed. My mother has a more intimate, connected relationship with this television than she has ever had with me. — Peter Hedges

I learned early on that there are all sorts of stories I have no place telling. — Peter Hedges

I was seven when he hung himself, and I don't remember all that much, and anything I did remember, I've managed to forget. — Peter Hedges

Gilbert?
Some days I hate all those who know my name. — Peter Hedges

Bettering your life, getting a fresh start, the bright side. Spout these concepts daily and you will survive in Endora; you might even thrive. — Peter Hedges

God forgives you your sins."
I say right back, "And I forgive him his. — Peter Hedges

I want to write stories that don't help you escape life, but embrace life. — Peter Hedges

People love conversation, and movies are conversations, and an audience has to participate; it has to fill in some blanks. — Peter Hedges

The bigger the budget, the less an audience is trusted, and that's the difference between a big-budget film and a small-budget film. — Peter Hedges

The better the script, the less money there is. That's just the economics of the studio system. — Peter Hedges

These eggs are broken. Cracked."
"Yes, ma'am. That happens sometimes."
"Does it?"
"Yes, it's the unfortunate part of being an egg. — Peter Hedges

My job as a dramatist is to find out where these characters want to go, and make it as hard as possible for them to get there. — Peter Hedges

I've wanted to direct for a long time, but it had to be a story I wanted to tell. The writer's job is to find the story that he should tell. — Peter Hedges

Smiles and friendly nods are like fabric softeners for the face. — Peter Hedges

You can tell the idyllic nature of a family by the upkeep of its picnic table. Ours is its own indictment. We are splintering and peeling. We rot. — Peter Hedges

She loves me-she just doesn't know it yet. — Peter Hedges

Wait a minute, I'm thinking, was this another one of those conversations where what is meant and what is being said are not the same thing? — Peter Hedges