George W Bush - Albert Camus - The Hustler 1961 - Se7en 1995 - Speed II 1997 - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 - Marianne Faithfull - Manhattan 1979 & Woody Allen - Luke 16:26 - H L Mencken - Robert Anthony - J K Rowling - Carl Jung - A A Milne - Martin Amis - Oscar Wilde - Horizon TV - American Ultra 2015 - The Office US TV - Dark Net 2017 - Panorama TV - Eric Berne - Karl Marx - Confucius - Ellen DeGeneres - Psyphoria podcasts -
It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. George W Bush
Human relationships always help us to carry on because they always presuppose further developments, a future – and also because we live as if our only task was precisely to have relationships with other people. Albert Camus
We have a contract of depravity. All we have to do is pull a blind down. The Hustler 1961 starring Paul Newman & Jackie Gleason & Piper Laurie & George C Scott & Myron McCormick & Murray Hamilton & Stefan Gierasch et al, director Robert Rossen, her story
What else have we got? We never talk about anything. We stay in this room and we drink and we make love. We’re strangers. What happens when the liquor and the money runs out, Eddie? ibid. her to him
I had a relationship once. It was very much like a marriage. We got pregnant. This was long time ago. [sighs] I remember getting up one morning and going to work. Just another day like any other, except it was the first day after I knew about … pregnancy. And I felt this fear for the first time ever. I remember thinking, ‘How can I bring a child into a world like this? How can a person grow up with all this around them?’ I told her I didn’t want to have it, and over the next few weeks, I wore her down. Se7en 1995 starring Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman & Kevin Spacey & Gwyneth Paltrow & Richard Roundtree & Richard Schiff & R Lee Ermey & Mark Boone junior & John Cassini & Reg E Cathey et al, director David Fincher, Somerset
Relationships based on extreme circumstances never work out. Speed II 1997 starring Sandra Bullock & Willem Dafoe & Jason Patric & Temuera Morrison & Brian McCardie & Mike Hagerty & Colleen Camp & Bo Svenson et al, director Jan de Bont, Bullock’s driving test
I’ll never understand the humanoid need to ... couple ... I choose not to. Too many compromises. You want to watch the Karo-Net tournament, she wants to listen to music, so you compromise: you listen to music. You like Earth jazz, she prefers Klingon opera, so you compromise: you listen to Klingon opera. So here you were ready to have a nice night watching the Karo-net match and you wind up spending an agonizing evening listening to Klingon opera. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s1e4: A Man Alone, Odo to Quark
I haven’t been in a serious relationship for a long time. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s4e5: Indiscretion, Sisko to Cassidy
I wish I could believe that. But ultimately, it comes down to this ... If you feel about me the way I feel about you ... you won’t get on that transport tomorrow. And if you do leave ... I think we both know you’re never coming back. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s4e6: Rejoined, Dax to ex-wife
Well, I was hoping that our relationship would be a long and happy one, but I suppose I’m willing to settle for short and exciting. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s7e2: Shadows and Symbols, Odo to Kira
What a dump! Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton & George Segal & Sandy Dennis & Agnes Flanagan & Frank Flanagan, director Mike Nichols, opening scene, her to him
I think that’s what I like about you most – your anger. ibid.
My God, you can swill it down, can’t you? ibid. him to her
I’ll talk about any god-damned thing I want to. Any god-damned thing I want. ibid. her to him
My God, you’re a wicked woman. ibid. him to her
You’re looking for a punch in the mouth, do you know that, Martha? ibid. him to her
You’re a monster, you are. ibid.
I am the Earth mother. And you are all flops. ibid. her to male guest
Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs. Marianne Faithfull, 1994
Woody Allen: I give the whole thing four weeks.
Dianne Keaton: I can’t plan that far in advance. Manhattan 1979 starring Woody Allen & Diane Keaton & Michael Murphy & Mariel Hemingway & Meryl Streep & Anne Byrne & Michael O’Donoghue & Wallace Shawn & Karen Ludwig et al, director Woody Allen
Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed. Luke 16:26
Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself. H L Mencken
The one who loves the least, controls the relationship. Robert Anthony
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. Carl Gustav Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933
Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. ‘Pooh!’ he whispered. ‘Yes, Piglet?’ ‘Nothing,’ said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw. ‘I just wanted to be sure of you.’ A A Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other’s otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full contact – all that? Martin Amis, London Fields
But I can’t help detesting my relations. I suppose it comes from the fact that none of us can stand other people having the same faults as ourselves. Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Internet dating is big business. It’s worth over two billion dollars per year. And claims to generate a fifth of all committed relationships. Horizon: How to Find Love Online, BBC 2016
‘There is no way that these algorithms can do what they claim to do.’ ibid. Eli Finkel
‘Even believing that there is such a thing as a soulmate tends to be destructive to relationships.’ ibid.
She was perfect. And I was the fuck-up. American Ultra 2015 starring Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Stewart & Topher Grace & Connie Britton & Walton Goggins & John Leguizamo & Bill Pullman & Tony Hale & Monique Ganderton & Stuart Greer et al, director Nima Nourizadeh
Michael: Carol, you walk out that door and it’s over.
Carol: I know. The Office US 3e10: Benihana Christmas, NBC 2006
Our devices have become our constant companions even when we’re not alone. Is this the beginning of a beautiful relationship or the end of relationships as we know them? Dark Net s2e8: My Relationship, Netflix 2017
The pick-up artists who harass women on the street. And post-footage they secretly film online. I go undercover and find teenagers being approached by older men … Revealing the truth about seduction boot-camps. Panorama: Secrets of the Seduction, BBC 2019
There is a business which claims to offer a formula for success … He [Ahmed] leads a group of men based in Glasgow who call themselves pick up artists … Consent doesn’t seem to be a big concern. ibid.
The seduction industry is said to be worth around £80 million. ibid.
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships. Eric Berne, 1910-1970, American Psychiatrist
Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand. Karl Marx, Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy
Women and servants are most difficult to deal with. If you are familiar with them, they cease to be humble. If you keep a distance from them, they resent it. Confucius, 551-479 B.C.
So many people prefer to live in drama because it’s comfortable. It’s like someone staying in a bad marriage or relationship – it’s actually easier to stay because they know what to expect every day, versus leaving and not knowing what to expect. Ellen DeGeneres