Quotes from Sunset Boulevard
Important quotes
Character | Quote | Theme |
Joe | “An old-time star is involved. One of the biggest” | Fame, Hollywood |
Joe | “Nobody important really. Just a movie writer with a couple of B pictures to his credit” | Ambition Hollywood Insecurity |
Joe | “Before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it” | Hollywood |
Joe | “In the end he got his own pool. Only the price turned out to be a little high” | Ambition |
Joe | “Only I seem to have lost my touch” | Ambition Hollywood Insecurity |
Betty | “A rehash of something that wasn’t very good to begin with” | Ambition Hollywood Insecurity |
Betty | “I found it flat and trite” | Ambition Hollywood Insecurity |
Joe | “That was last year. This year I am trying to make a living” | Ambition Hollywood Insecurity |
Joe | “Apparently I just didn’t have what it takes…time to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home” | Ambition Hollywood |
Joe | “Why don’t you take a crack at Hollywood” | Hollywood |
Joe | “It was a great big white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy 20’s. A neglected house gives an unhappy look. This one was in spades” | Manipulation
|
Norma | “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small” | Delusion |
Norma | “They took idols and smashed them” | Hollywood |
Norma | “A return for the millions of people who have never forgotten me for leaving the screen” | Delusion |
Joe | “The great grandson of King Kong really” | Delusion |
Norma | “Sagittarius. I like Sagittarius, you can trust them” | Delusion
|
Joe | “You know I am pretty expensive” | Manipulation Greed |
Max | “Madame is the brightest of the all” | Ambition Loyalty Hollywood Manipulation |
Joe | “There was something else going on below” | Deception |
Joe | “Was her life really as empty as that” | Loneliness |
Joe | “She was around all the time, hovering over me” | Manipulation |
Norma | “Why do they write me letter every day? Why do they beg me of my photograph” | Delusion Manipulation Deception |
Joe | “Her celluloid self. The great Norma Desmond. How could she breathe in that house?” | Loneliness Fame |
Joe | “She was afraid of the outside world. Afraid of the world that has passed” | Loneliness Delusion Longing |
Max | “Madame has moments of melancholy” | Loyalty Manipulation |
Norma | “Now I have forgotten how many spades are out” | Hollywood |
Joe | “Why her career? She’s got enough out of it” | Hollywood Delusion |
Max | “I wouldn’t look too closely at the post marks” | Deception |
Joe | “Poor devil. Still waving proudly to a parade that has long since passed her by” | Delusion Hollywood Fame |
Joe | “That sad embarrassing revelation” | Loneliness Delusion |
Norma | “Here’s to us” | Delusion Manipulation |
Joe | “I felt caught like her cigarette on that contraption on her finger” | Entrapment Manipulation |
Joe | “Has it ever occurred to you that I have a life of my own” | Manipulation |
Betty | “I’ve been hoping to run into you” | Ambition |
Joe | “Thirsting for the coolness of your lips” | Love |
Joe | “Suddenly I find myself terribly afraid of losing you” | Love Desperation |
Joe | “Life can be beautiful” | Love |
Max | “Madame got the razor from your room and she cut her wrists” | Manipulation |
Norma | “To fall in love with you that was the idiotic thing” | Love Deception Desperation |
Norma | “Great stars have great pride” | Deception |
Joe | “You’re the only person in this stinking town that has been good to me” | Desperation |
Norma | “I’ll do it again” (self harm) | Manipulation |
Norma | “This is the day! Here’s the chart from my astrologer. She read DeMille’s horoscope, she read mine” | Delusion |
Norma | “DeMille used to say I was his greatest star!” | Delusion Fame Hollywood |
Norma | “I have never looked better in my life. You know why? Because I have never been so happy in my life” | Delusion Manic Manipulation |
Betty | “You don’t know how excited I am to see you” | Ambition |
Betty | “It’s not your career. It’s mine” | Ambition |
Betty | “I don’t want to be a reader all my life” | Ambition |
Joe | “Whenever she suspected I was getting bored, she would put on a show for me” | Manipulation |
Joe | “I was thinking of that girl of Artie’s, that Miss Schaefer. She was so like all us writers when we first hit Hollywood. Itching with ambition. Planning to get our names up there” | Ambition |
| “She must be a million years old” | Ageing |
DeMille | “You didn’t know Norma Desmond as a lovely little girl as 17. With more courage and wit and hot.” | Fame Hollywood |
Norma | “The last place I saw you it was at a place that was very gay” | Fame Hollywood |
Hog eye | “Let’s get a good look at you” | Fame Hollywood |
| “Welcome home Mrs Desmond” (Hollywood) | Hollywood Fame |
Max | “Madame” | Loyalty |
Betty | “I’m just not good enough to do it all by myself” | Ambition |
DeMille | “Tell him forget about the car” | Deception |
Joe | “Ready for those cameras that will never turn” | Delusion |
Norma | “I don’t want to be left alone” | Desperation |
Joe | “It’s fun writing with you” | Love |
Betty | “Look at this street all cardboard, all hollow, all phony, all done with mirrors.” | Hollywood |
Betty | “I come from a picture family. Naturally, they expected me to become a great star. So, I had 10 years of dramatic lessons, diction, dancing. Then the studio made a test. Well, they didn’t like my nose. Slanted this way a little. So, I went to a doctor and had it fixed. They made more tests and they were crazy about my nose. Only they didn’t like my acting” | Hollywood Ambition Fame |
Joe | “It’s more like freshly-laundered handkerchiefs” | Love |
Max | “I’m greatly worried about madame” | Loyalty |
Max | “She never will, that is my Job and it has been for a long time. You must understand I discovered her when she was 16. I made her a star, and I cannot let her be destroyed” | Manipulation Fame Hollywood |
Max | “It was me that asked to come back. Humiliating as it may be” | Manipulation |
Betty | “I’m not in love with him anymore…(What happened?)…You did” | Love |
Joe | “Peculiar prison” | Mansion |
Joe | “Betty Schaefer’s future right in the palm of my hand” | Ambition Manipulation |
Norma | “I’m trying to do you a favour, I’m trying to spare you a great deal of misery. Of course, you may be too young to suspect there are men of his sort” | Jealousy Deception Manipulation |
Norma | “Don’t hate me, Joe. I did it because I need you. I need you as I’ve never needed you before. Look at me! Look at my hands! Look at my face! Look under my eyes! How can I go back to work after wasting away in this torment” | Manipulation Desperation Ageing |
Norma | “Say you don’t hate me, Joe!” | Desperation |
Norma | “You’re leaving me?” | Manipulation |
Joe | “The audience left 20 years ago” | Hollywood Fame |
Norma | “That’s a lie they want me!” | Delusion Hollywood Fame |
Joe | “Tell her there isn’t any letters except the ones you write” | Deception |
Max | “Madame is the greatest star of them all” | Loyalty |
Joe | “Norma you’re a woman of 50. Now grow up” | Ageing |
Norma | “No one ever leaves a star. That’s what makes one a star” | Delusion Desperation |
Norma | “Stars are ageless, aren’t they?” | Delusion |
Joe | “Ageing actress” | Ageing |
Norma | “Cameras.” | Fane Hollywood |
Norma | “Tell Mr DeMille ill be on set at once” | Delusion |
Norma | “I must get ready for my scene” | Delusion |
Norma | “Alright Mr DeMille I’m ready for my close up” | Delusion |