JillWell, you knew my history when you married me.
Isaac DavisI know. My analyst warned me, but you were so beautiful that I got another analyst.
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Isaac DavisWhy is life worth living? It's a very good question. Um... Well, There are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh... Like what... okay... um... For me, uh... ooh... I would say... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing... uh... um... and Wilie Mays... and um... the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony... and um... Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues... um... Swedish movies, naturally... Sentimental Education by Flaubert... uh... Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra... um... those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne... uh... the crabs at Sam Wo's... uh... Tracy's face...
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[first lines]
[music: the opening of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Voiceover]
Isaac DavisChapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion. Eh uh, no, make that he, he romanticized it all out of proportion. Better. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin. Uh, no, let me start this over.
Isaac DavisChapter One: He was too romantic about Manhattan, as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant beautiful women and street smart guys who seemed to know all the angles. Ah, corny, too corny for, you know, my taste. Let me, let me try and make it more profound.
Isaac DavisChapter One: He adored New York City. To him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity that caused so many people to take the easy way out was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in - no, it's gonna be too preachy, I mean, you know, let's face it, I wanna sell some books here.
Isaac DavisChapter One: He adored New York City. Although to him it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage - too angry. I don't want to be angry.
Isaac DavisChapter One. He was as tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat. Oh, I love this. New York was his town, and it always would be.
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Isaac DavisI don't get angry. Okay? I mean, I have a tendency to internalize. I can't express anger. That's one of the problems I have. I grow a tumor instead.
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Isaac DavisI'm old fashioned. I don't believe in extra-marital relationships. I think people should mate for life - like pigeons or Catholics.
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Isaac DavisI had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion.
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YaleYou are so self-righteous, you know. I mean we're just people. We're just human beings, you know? You think you're God.
Isaac DavisI... I gotta model myself after someone.
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Mary WilkeFacts?I got a million facts at my fingertips.
Isaac DavisThat's right, and they don't mean a thing, right? Because nothing worth knowing can be understood with the mind. Everything really valuable has to enter you through a different opening, if you'll forgive the disgusting imagery.
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Party GuestI finally had an orgasm, and my doctor said it was the wrong kind.
Isaac DavisYou had the wrong kind? I've never had the wrong kind, ever. My worst one was right on the money.
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[On her ex-husband]
Mary WilkeI was tired of submerging my identity to a very brilliant, dominating man. He's a genius.
Isaac DavisOh really, he was a genius, Helen's a genius and Dennis is a genius. You know a lot of geniuses, y'know. You should meet some stupid people once in a while, y'know, you could learn something.
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Mary Wilke[reading aloud from Issac's wife's memoir]"He was given to fits of rage, Jewish liberal paranoia, male chauvinism, self-righteous misanthropy, and nihilistic moods of despair. He had complaints about life but never any solutions. He longed to be an artist but balked at the necessary sacrifices. In his most private moments, he spoke of his fear of death, which he elevated to tragic heights when in fact it was mere narcissism."
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Isaac DavisYou know what you are? You're God's answer to Job, y'know? You would have ended all argument between them. I mean, He would have pointed to you and said, y'know, "I do a lot of terrible things, but I can still make one of these." You know? And then Job would have said, "Eh. Yeah, well, you win."
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Isaac DavisIt's an interesting group of people, your friends are.
Isaac DavisSix months are you kidding? Six months you're gonna go for?
TracyWe've gone this long, well what's six months if we still love each other?
Isaac DavisHey, don't be so mature, okay? I mean, six months is a long time! Six months, you know you're gonna be, you'll be in, in, in, in the th - working in a theater there, you'll be with actors and directors, you kno w you're, you know, you go to rehearsal, and you, you hang out with those people, you have lunch a lot, and, and, before you even know it attachments form and, and, you know, I mean, you, you don't want to be get into that kind a, I mean, you, you'll change. You know, you'll be, you'll be, in six months you'll be a completely different person.
TracyWell, don't you want me to have that experience? I mean a while ago you made such a convincing case.
Isaac DavisYe, yeah of course I do, you know, but you - you know, you, I mean you, I, I just don't want - that thing about you that I like to change.
TracyI've got to make a plane.
Isaac DavisC'mon, you don't - c'mon. You don't, you don't have to - go.
TracyWhy couldn't you have brought this up last week? Six months isn't so long. Not everybody gets corrupted. You can have a little faith in people.
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Isaac DavisI got a kid, he's being raised by two women at the moment.
Mary WilkeOh, y'know, I mean I think that works. Uh, they made some studies, I read in one of the psychoanalytic quarterlies. You don't need a male, I mean. Two mothers are absolutely fine.
Isaac DavisReally? Because I always feel very few people survive one mother.
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Isaac DavisYou honestly think that I tried to run you over?
ConnieYou just happened to hit the gas as I walked in front of the car?
Isaac DavisFreud would say I really wanted to run her over, that's why he was a genius.
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Isaac DavisPlus I'll probably have to give my parents less money. It'll kill my father. He's not gonna be able to get as good a seat in the synagogue. He'll be in the back, away from God, far from the action.
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TracyLet's fool around, it'll take your mind off it.
Isaac DavisHey, how many times a night can you, how, how often can you make love in an evening?
TracyWell, a lot.
Isaac DavisYeah! I can tell, a lot. That's, well, a lot is my favorite number.
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Mary WilkeDon't psychoanalyze me. I pay a doctor for that.
Isaac DavisHey, you call that guy that you talk to a doctor? I mean, you don't get suspicious when your analyst calls you at home at three in the morning and weeps into the telephone?
Mary WilkeAll right, so he's unorthodox. He's a highly qualified doctor.
Isaac DavisHe's done a great job on you, y'know. Your self esteem is like a notch below Kafka's.
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Isaac DavisHas anybody read that Nazis are gonna march in New Jersey? Y'know, I read this in the newspaper. We should go down there, get some guys together, y'know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things to them.
Party GuestThere is this devastating satirical piece on that on the Op Ed page of the Times, it is devastating.
Isaac DavisWell, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks and baseball bats really gets right to the point.
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Isaac DavisShe's 17. I'm 42 and she's 17. I'm older than her father, can you believe that? I'm dating a girl, wherein, I can beat up her father.
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Mary WilkeI'm honest, whaddya want? I say what's on my mind and, if you can't take it, well then fuck off!
Isaac DavisAnd I like the way you express yourself too, y'know, it's pithy yet degenerate. You get many dates?
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Isaac DavisMy book is about decaying values. It's about, you see, years ago I wrote a short story about my mother called, 'The Castrating Zionist,' and I want to expand it into a novel.
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Isaac DavisSo what does, what does your analyst say? I mean, did you speak to him?
Mary WilkeWell, Donny's in a coma, he had a very bad acid experience.
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Mary WilkeWell tell me, why did you get a divorce?
Isaac DavisWhy? I got a divorce because my ex-wife left me for another woman.
Mary WilkeReally? God, that must have been really demoralizing.
Isaac DavisWell, I dunno, I thought I took it rather well under the circumstances. I tried to run them both over with a car.
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YaleIt's just gossip, you know. Gossip is the new pornography.
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Isaac DavisThis is so antiseptic. It's empty. Why do you think this is funny? You're going by audience reaction? This is an audience that's raised on television, their standards have been systematically lowered over the years. These guys sit in front of their sets and the gamma rays eat the white cells of their brains out!
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TracyLet's fool around. Let's do it some strange way that you've always wanted to, but nobody would do with you.
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Isaac DavisWhat are you telling me, that you're going to leave Emily, is this true, and run away with the winner of the Zelda Fitzgerald emotional maturity award?
Isaac DavisI liked her first? What are you, six years old? Jeezus!
YaleLook, I thought it was over. I mean, would I have encouraged you to take her out if I still liked her?
Isaac DavisSo, what, you like her, now you don't like her, then you did like her, you know it's still early, you can change your mind one more time before dinner!
YaleDon't get sarcastic about this. You think I like this?
Isaac DavisHow long were you going to see her without saying anything to me?
YaleDon't turn this into one of your big moral issues!
Isaac DavisYou could have said, but all you had to do was call me and talk to me. You know, I'm very understanding. I'd have said no, but you'd have felt honest!
YaleI wanted to tell you about it, I knew it was going to upset you! We had a few innocent meetings.
Isaac DavisA few? She said one! You guys should get your story straight, you know. Don't you rehearse?
Isaac DavisHey come off it, she doesn't drink coffee! What'd you do, meet for Sanka? That's not too romantic, you know, it's a little on the geriatric side.
Isaac DavisBut, you're too easy on yourself! Don't you see that? That's your problem, that's your whole problem. You rationalize everything, you're not honest with yourself. You talk about, you want to write a book, but in the end you'd rather buy the Porsche, you know. Or, you cheat a little bit on Emily and you play around the truth a little with me, and next thing you know, you're in front of a Senate committee and you're naming names, you're informing on your friends!
YaleYou are so self righteous, you know. We're just people! We're just human beings, you know. You think you're God!
Isaac DavisI dunno, I was just thinking. There must be something wrong with me, because I've never had a relationship with a woman that's lasted longer than the one between Hitler and Eva Braun.
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Isaac DavisNo, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was, I was checking out the lingerie ads.
Mary WilkeYes. To me it was very textual, you know what I mean? It was perfectly integrated, and it had a marvelous kind of negative capability. The rest of the stuff downstairs was bullshit.
Isaac DavisBoy, this is really a great city, I don't care what anybody s-s - it's really a knock-out, you know?
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Isaac DavisI think that, under my personal vibrations, I could put her life in some kind of good order.
YaleYeah, that's what you said about Jill, and under your personal vibrations she went from bisexuality to homosexuality.
Isaac DavisYeah, but I gave her the old college try.
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Isaac DavisThis is shaping up like a Noel Coward play. You know, somebody should go out and make some martinis.
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YaleYou know we have to stop seeing each other, don't you.
Mary WilkeOh, yeah. Right. Right. I understand. I could tell by the sound of your voice on the phone. Very authoritative, y'know. Like the pope, or the computer in 2001.
YaleYou just can't live the way you do, you know? It's all so perfect.
IsaacWhat are future generations gonna say about us? My god, you know someday we're gonna
[Isaac points to a hanging skeleton]
Isaacwe're gonna be like him! I mean, he was probably one of the BEAUTIFUL people. He was probably dancing and playing tennis and everything. And now look: this is what happens to us. You know, it's very important to have some kind of personal integrity, you know? I'll be hanging in a classroom one day, and I want to make sure when I thin out, that I'm... well-thought of.
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TracyI can't believe that you met somebody that you like better than me.
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Isaac Davis[after reading his Jill's book about their relationship]I came here to strangle you!
Isaac DavisHit the lights. Go ahead, turn 'em out again. We'll trade fours.
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Mary WilkeYou think I have no feelings? Is that it?
Isaac DavisHey, what? You're so sensitive, Jesus! I never said that. I think you're - I think you're terrific. Really, you know. I - I - you're very insecure. I think you're wonderful, really.
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Mary WilkeHey, listen, I don't even wanna have this conversation. I'm really, I'm just from Philadelphia, you know. I mean, we believe in God so... okay?
Mary WilkeDon't you see? Don't you guys see? That it is the dignifying of one's psychological and sexual hang-ups by attaching them to these grandiose, philosophical issues? That's what it is.
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Isaac DavisYou should think of me sort of as a detour on the highway of life.
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Mary WilkeListen, I gotta get my dog. You wanna wait? I gotta walk it. Or, are you in rush or something like that?
Isaac DavisOh, no, sure. What kind of dog you got?
Mary WilkeThe worst. It's a dachshund. You know, it's a penis substitute for me.
Isaac DavisOh, I would have thought that in your case a Great Dane.
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Mary WilkeOh, what is pretty anyway? I mean, I hate being pretty. It's all so subjective anyway. I mean, the brightest men just drop dead in front of a beautiful face. And the minute you climb into the sack, if you're the least bit giving, they're so grateful.
Mary WilkeOh, God, was he brilliant. I was so crazy about him. Really opened me up sexually. Taught me everything. Women found him devastating!
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TracySo what happens to us?
Isaac DavisWell, you know, we'll always have Paris.
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Isaac DavisAn idea for a short story about, um, people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these real, unnecessary, neurotic problems for themselves because it keeps them from dealing with more unsolvable, terrifying problems about - the universe.
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Mary WilkeI'm a beautiful woman. I'm - I'm young. I'm highly intelligent. I got everything going for me. The point - the point is that - I don't know, I'm all fucked up. I'm just - shit!
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TracyI like it when you get an uncontrollable urge.
Isaac DavisYeah, I know, it's my best feature. My boyish impetuosity.
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Mary Wilke[reading aloud from Issac's wife's memoir]He was given to fits of rage, Jewish liberal paranoia, male chauvinism, self-righteous misanthropy, and nihilistic moods of despair. He had complaints about life but never any solutions. He longed to be an artist but balked at the necessary sacrifices. In his most private moments, he spoke of his fear of death, which he elevated to tragic heights when in fact it was mere narcissism.
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Mary Wilke[reading aloud from Issac's wife's memoir]'He was given to fits of rage, Jewish liberal paranoia, male chauvinism, self-righteous misanthropy, and nihilistic moods of despair. He had complaints about life but never any solutions. He longed to be an artist but balked at the necessary sacrifices. In his most private moments, he spoke of his fear of death, which he elevated to tragic heights when in fact it was mere narcissism.'
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YaleI think the essence of art is to provide a kind of working through the situation for people, you know, so that you can get in touch with feelings that you didn't know you had.
YaleWhat about Isaac? We can't abandon him, you know? He can't function anywhere other than New York, you know that. Very Freudian.
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TracyI'm not hung up on you. I'm in love with you.
Isaac DavisYou *can't* be in love with me. We've been over this. You're a kid. You don't know what love means. I don't know what it means. Nobody out there knows what the hell's going on.
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Isaac DavisDon't write this book. It's a humiliating experience.
Isaac DavisHey, I'm not threatened. Because, of the two of us, I was not the immoral, psychotic, promiscuous one. I hope I didn't leave out anything.
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Isaac DavisYou don't wanna get hung up with one person at your age. It's - charming, you know. Erotic. No question about that. As long as the cops don't burst in, we're - I think we're gonna break a couple of records.
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Isaac DavisWe're having a great time and all that, but you're a kid and I never want you to forget that. You know, you're gonna meet a lot of terrific men in your life and, you know, I want you to enjoy me. My - my wry sense of humor and astonishing sexual technique, but never forget that, you know, you've got your whole life ahead of you.
Mary WilkeGod, you're so the opposite! I mean, you write that absolutely fabulous television show. It's brilliantly funny and his view is so Scandinavian. It's bleak, my God! I mean, all that Kierkegaard, right? Real adolescent, you know, fashionable pessimism. I mean, the silence. God's silence. Okay, okay, okay. I mean, I loved it when I was at Radcliffe, but, I mean, all right, you outgrow it. You absolutely outgrow it.
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Mary WilkeThey're such schmucks up there. Really mired in Thirties radicalism. What do you do, Tracy?
TracyI go to high school.
Mary WilkeOh, really. Really. Somewhere Nabokov is smiling, if you know what I mean.
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Isaac DavisYou see, to me a great movie is with W.C. Fields. That's what I like. Or "Grand Illusion". That's - I see that every time it's on television, if I'm aware of it.
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YaleI think LeWitt's overrated. In fact, he may be a candidate for the Overrated Academy.
Mary WilkeLenny Bruce. We can't forget Lenny Bruce, now, can we? How about Norman Mailer?
Isaac DavisI think those people are all terrific. Everyone that you mentioned.
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TracyIs she Yale's mistress?
Isaac DavisThat will never cease to mystify me. I mean, he's got a wonderful wife and he prefers to - to diddle this yo-yo. You know, but he was always a sucker for those kind of women. You know, the kind that would involve him in discussions of existential reality, you know. They probably sit around on the floor with wine and cheese, and mispronounce "allegorical" and "didacticism".
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Isaac DavisWhat a creep! Could you believe her? I mean she was really...
TracyShe seemed real nervous.
Isaac DavisNervous? She was overbearing. She was, you know, terrible! She was all cerebral. You know, where the hell does a little Radcliffe tootsie come off rating F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gustav Mahler and then Heinrich Böll?
TracyI don't understand why you're getting so mad?
Isaac DavisI'm mad because I don't like that pseudo-intellectual garbage. "Van Goch!" Did you hear that? She said "Van Goch." Like an Arab she spoke. If she had made one more remark about Bergman, I would have knocked her other contact lens out.
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Mary WilkeCan't you hold me? Does your love for me always have to express itself sexually? What about other values like warmth and spiritual contact? Hotel, right? Jesus, I'm a pushover!
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Mary WilkeWhere would we be without rational thought?
Isaac DavisI don't know. You - you - you - you rely too much on your brain. The brain is the most overrated organ, I think.
Mary WilkeI know. You probably think I'm too cerebral.
Isaac DavisWell, you are, you know, kind of on the brainy side.
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Isaac DavisReally? You married your - your teacher?
Isaac DavisTrou... Actually, my middle name is Mortimer.
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Mary WilkeMy problem is I'm both attracted and repelled by the male organ. So, you know, it doesn't make for very good relationships with men.
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Mary WilkeWhat the hell am I doing in this relationship anyway? My phone never stops ringing. I could go to bed with the entire faculty of M.I.T., if I wanted to. It's just - I don't know. I'm wasting myself on a married man, so I don't know.
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TracyWe have laughs together. I care about you. Your concerns are my concerns. We have great sex!
Isaac DavisYou're - you're - But, you're 17 years old.
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EmilyIs this true? Did you make love with Jill and a woman?
Isaac DavisShe put that in? Christ! She wanted to, I think. You know, I didn't wanna be a bad sport.
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Mary WilkeJeremiah, my ex-husband, he was just this oversexed, brilliant kind of animal.
JillLike what? Like you cry when you see "Gone With The Wind".
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TracyYou keep stating it like it's to my advantage when it's you that wants to get out of it.
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EmilyWell, I don't think 17 is too young. Beside that, she's a bright girl.
YaleYou'll get no argument from me. I think she's terrific. He could do a lot worse. He has done a lot worse. I just think he's wasting his life. You know, he writes that crap for television.
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Isaac DavisYou shouldn't ask me for advice. I - when it comes to relationships with women, I'm the winner of the August Strindberg Award.
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Isaac DavisShe's got homework. I'm dating a girl who does homework.
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Mary WilkeIt's a no-win situation. It's just - I'm beautiful and I'm bright and I deserve better!