Famous Love Quotes from Hollywood Movies

Popular culture has always been a fairly accurate representation of what people feel in a particular time and place. Hollywood movies especially reflect emotions and feelings in a powerful way so much so that sometimes characters on the silver screen appear to say and think exactly what lies in people’s hearts, particularly when it comes to love. Here are some of the most famous love quotes from Hollywood movies, ranging from the iconic to the deeply emotional.

“I love you without knowing how, why, or even from where”.

This sentence is from the 1998 comedy-drama Patch Adams seems to encapsulate what loving is all about – it is having a powerful surge of affectionate feelings for someone for reasons that cannot be explained - indeed the very uniqueness of the emotions make it such a personal and individual experience. In the movie, Hunter ‘Patch’ Adams, a medical student with highly unorthodox methods falls in love with Carin, a fellow student and says these words as a way of expressing what drew him to her. The movie was based on the life story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams and the book Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter by Adams and Maureen Mylander.

“We’ll always have Paris.”

This quote is from the 1942 romantic classic Casablanca which won three Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay. Set amidst the intrigue of World War II, Casablanca is about a man torn between his love for a woman and his noble side which allows her to leave with her Czech resistance leader husband in a bid to escape from Nazi sympathizers. The film’s dialogues, characters and music have steadily increased in popularity over the years so as to become iconic while the movie itself consistently figures among the most loved films in cinematic history. This love quote is symbolic of the very spirit of the movie, an intense love buffeted by the winds of circumstances but sharing a powerful bond which can never be forgotten.

“Swoon. I’ll catch you.”

This love quote from The English Patient throbs with the passion that beats at the heart of every love affair, particularly one that is forbidden. Winner of nine Oscars in 1996, including those for Best Picture, Director and Actress in a Supporting Role, The English Patient is based on a novel of the same name by Sri Lankan-Canadian writer, Michael Ondaatje. Set in the tumultuous times of the Second World War, the film is a story of love and loss in which a young nurse tends to an English archeologist who has been badly burnt in a plane crash. Through flashbacks, the film divulges details of Fiennes’ affair with Kristin Scott Thomas, a married woman. This quote comes during one of their memorable love scenes.

“Sleep well, and when you dream, dream of me.”

This beautiful quote which expresses the soft tenderness of love is a line from West Side Story – a 1961 take on Shakespeare’s “Romeo And Juliet,” where rival New York City street gangs make up the families of lovers locked in conflict. This quote occurs during the duet “Tonight,” with both main characters professing their forbidden love.

”I am just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her.”

This unforgettable quote comes from one of the most loved romantic comedies of modern times, Notting Hill. In this 1999 movie, Hugh Grant plays a shy book-keeper while Julia Roberts is a Hollywood star. The plot spins through the many misunderstandings and confusions that are bound to take place when the paths of two people from such diverse backgrounds collide – nevertheless as Roberts’ character points out in the quote, the emotions of desire and hope that being in love entails are universal and so are the hesitations and anxieties related to it. This quote occurs during the movie’s climactic dialogue, when the couple must decide if they can make it work.

“I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it.”

While City Of Angels impressed neither the critics nor the masses, the 1998 movie had a fantasy storyline perfect for giving voice to such romantic quotes as these. In the movie, Nicholas Cage plays Seth, an angel whose jobs is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next life. He falls in love with a human Maggie and exchanges eternal life for human form and emotions. However his ecstasy in love is short-lived as Maggie is involved in a road accident and dies. Seth now experiences the painful side of humanity in the form of loss and death. He questions if he is being punished for leaving heaven to be a human, when he was meant to stay where he was. Now grieving and alone, Seth is visited by another angel, Cassiel who tries to comfort him and asks Seth if he knew this would happen, would he still decide to become human. Seth answers with the quote and begins a difficult adjustment to his new life.

“I have one thing to say, one thing only; I'll never say it another time, to anyone and I ask you to remember it: In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once, and never again, no matter how many lifetimes you live”.

This love quote is from the 1995 movie The Bridges of Madison County based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Robert James Waller. In the film Eastwood plays a photographer who engages in a brief but intense affair with Meryl Streep. Despite the brevity of their affair, the experience acts as a definitive experience for both and this quote embodies both the passionate  immediacy as well as far reaching relevance of the romance.

“You complete me”.

Just three words are enough to make this line from Jerry Maguire, one of the most popular love movie quotes ever. Indeed this line is a theme throughout the 1996 film in which Tom Cruise plays a down-on-his-luck sports agent who falls for single mom Renee Zellweger. This quote comes during the movie’s climax, as part of Cruise’s romantic speech when he has suffered the twists and turns of fate and come to the realization that home is where the heart is.