Quotes from the Movie The Accidental Tourist

I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them.

Macon

I don't really care for movies; they make everything seem so close up.

Macon

While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put.

Julian

Last year, I exp... I lost... I experienced a loss. I lost... I lost my son. He was just... he went into a hamburger joint and someone came, a hold-up man, and shot him. I can't go to dinner with people. I can't... can't talk to their little boys. You have to stop asking me. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm just not up to this. Do you hear ? Every day, I tell myself it's time to be getting over this - I know that people expect it of me. But if anything I'm getting worse. The first year was like a bad dream; I was there at his bedroom door in the morning before I'd remember he wasn't there to be wakened. The second year is real. I've stopped going to his door. I've sometimes let a whole day go by without thinking about him. I believe Sarah thinks I could have prevented what happened somehow - she's so used to my arranging her life. Now I'm far from everyone. I don't have any friends anymore. And everyone looks trivial and foolish, and not related to me.

Macon

The business traveler should bring only what fits in a carry-on bag. Checking your luggage is asking for trouble. Add several travel-size packets of detergent so you won't fall into the hands of unfamiliar laundries. There are very few necessities in this world which do not come in travel-size packets. One suit is plenty, if you take along travel-size packets of spot remover. The suit should be medium gray. Gray not only hides the dirt but is handy for sudden funerals. Always bring a book as protection against strangers. Magazines don't last, and newspapers from elsewhere remind you you don't belong. But don't take more than one book. It is a common mistake to overestimate one's potential free time, and consequently over-pack. In travel, as in most of life, less is invariably more. And most importantly, never take along anything on your journey so valuable or dear that its loss would devastate you.

Macon

I don't think marriage ought to be as common as it is. I really believe it ought to be the exception to the rule. Perfect couples could marry, maybe, but who's a perfect couple?

Macon

In turbulent, troubling times, a good marriage can be the one safe place we know we can go. Once we've been to that place, known that peace, we can never forget it.

Macon

Macon, ever since Ethan died, I've had to admit that people are basically bad. Evil, Macon. They're so evil they'd take our 12-year-old boy and shoot him through the skull for no reason. There have been times I haven't been sure I...Haven't been sure I could live in this kind of world anymore.

Sarah

I want us to have a real wedding night. I want to do everything right. God, Macon, isn't it amazing how two separate lives can link up together? I mean, two differentnesses.

Julian

Can you tell me one unique thing about her? I mean, one really special quality, Macon, not something sloppy like "she appreciates me"?

Porter

I'm not such a bargain myself, if you haven't noticed. Somebody ought to warn her away from me.

Macon

The trouble with you is, you don't believe in people opening up. You think everyone should stay in their own little sealed package.

Sarah

Okay. Let's say that that's true. Let's say for now that you do know what the trouble with me is, that nothing that I might feel could surprise you. And that the reason I don't want to hear about this thing is that I can't open up! If we agree on all that, can we drop it?!

Macon

No. It's wrong to think we can plan everything. As though it were a business trip. I don't believe that anymore. Things just happen. I don't regret a minute I've spent with you, Sarah. When I saw you at Rose's wedding I knew that somehow you'd recovered, that you'd gone on with your life after Ethan. Well, I'd tried, but I couldn't do it on my own. This woman, this odd woman, helped me. She's given me another chance to decide who I am. To step out of the Leary groove and stay out. You don't need me anymore. We both know that. But I need her.

Macon