The Accidental Tourist (1988)

William Hurt: Macon Leary

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Quotes 

• Macon : 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 : [Opening lines]  A 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 from 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 ones potential free time and consequently overpack. 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 it's loss would devastate you.

• Rose Leary : Don't try to spoil this Macon.

  Macon : Sweetheart, I only want to try to protect you. It's wrong, you know, what you said at Thanksgiving. Love is not what it's all about. There are all kinds of other issues.

  Rose Leary : He ate my turkey - and didn't get sick. Two - big - helpings.

• Macon : 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 : Even the most disciplined professional traveler may sometimes stumble across that unexpected item he feels he simply must take home. That's fine; as long as one is willing to accept the inconvenience and awkwardness that comes with each additional piece of baggage.

• Muriel Pritchett : You think about it and give a call. Muriel. Muriel Pritchett. Remember, Muriel Pritchett. Let me give you my card.

  Macon : Oh, I'll bear that in mind. Thank you very much.

  Muriel Pritchett : Or, just call for no reason. Call and talk.

  Macon : Talk?

  Muriel Pritchett : Sure. Talk about Edward, his problems. Talk about anything. Pick up the phone and just talk. Don't you ever get the urge to do that?

  Macon : Not really.

• Macon : Its wrong to think we could plan everything, as though it were a business trip. I don't believe that anymore. Things just happen.

• Mr. Loomis : [On a plane]  I'm sorry I'm so fat. Name's Lucas Loomis.

  Macon : Macon Leary.

  Mr. Loomis : You a - Baltimore man?

  Macon : Yes.

  Mr. Loomis : Me too. Greatest city on the earth. One of these seats is not really enough for me. The stupid thing is, I travel for a living. I demonstrate software to computer stores. What do you do, Mr. Leary?

  Mr. Loomis : I write travel guide books.

  Mr. Loomis : Is that so, what kind?

  Macon : Well, guides for businessmen. People just like you, I guess.

  Mr. Loomis : Accidental Tourist!

• Sarah Leary : So, how was Atlanta?

  Macon : About the same: Peachtree Road, Peachtree Center, Peachtree fire hydrant.

• Julian : Call it something catchy, Reluctant Tourist, and you are the fella to write it.

  Macon : But, I hate to travel.

  Julian : I thought so. So, do businessmen. I mean these folks would rather be at home in their living rooms. So, *you* will be helping them to pretend - that that's where they are.

• Macon : [Last lines]  Stop, for that woman.

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

• Muriel Pritchett : If I could go anywhere, I'd go to Paris. It sounds so romantic.

  Macon : Paris - is terrible. Everybody's impolite.

  Muriel Pritchett : Take me with you next time. I could show you the good parts.

  Macon : I have a very limited expense account. I never even took my wife! My wife?

  Muriel Pritchett : I was only teasing. Did you think I meant it?

• Macon : Is this the Thanksgiving we all die?

• Rose Leary : Love is what it's all about. You want to make me miss it.

  Macon : Goodness.

  Rose Leary : You just don't want me to stop cooking for you and taking care of this house. You don't want Julian to fall in love with me.