
Marisa: We don’t have men like you in Orange County.
Ryan: Thank you.
Marisa: That is why I believe in the future of Orange County.
Summer: Must you flirt?
Seth: Well, I don’t have to, but I find it natural.
Summer: Suppress it.
Marisa: Darling, remember you’re Ryan Atwood. You’re a crook. I want you as a crook. I love you as a crook. I worship you as a crook. Steal, swindle, rob – but don’t become one of those useless, good-for-nothing gigolos!
Teresa: Good night, Ryan darling.
Ryan: Good night, sweetheart.
Teresa: Well, I leave you alone with that lady – but if you behave like a gentleman – I’ll break your neck. Goodbye, darling!
Seth: Do you love me?
Summer: Oh, Seth, people should not ask that question at the O.Sea underwater prom. It’s either too late or too early.
Luke: You know, if I like a man I remember him...and if I don’t like him, I never forget him.
Ryan: See here, my good man. You’ve been saying good-bye for the last half hour and staying on. I wish you’d say “How do you do,” and go.
Summer: Mr. Cohen, what you are, I wouldn’t eat.
Seth: How dare you call me a ham?
Seth: It’s amazing how a few insults can bring people together in three hours.
Summer: It was certainly good to hear all the names you called me. I haven't heard them since I left my stepmother’s house.
Summer: You see, Zach, you’re sort of like a ragged straw hat with a very soft lining. A little bit out of shape, very dashing to look at, and very comfortable to wear. And you, Seth: piquant, perched over one eye…and has to be watched on windy days. And both so becoming.
Anna: A thing happened to me that usually happens to men. You see, a man can meet two, three, or four women and fall in love with all of them, and then, by a process of interesting elimination, he is able to decide which he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct, guesswork, if she wants to be considered nice.
Marisa: If you don’t change your attitude, I shall have to complain to your employer.
Ryan: I’m not employed here. I’m not a book salesman. I took one look at you and followed you into the store. If you’d walked into a restaurant, I would have become a waiter. If you’d walked into a burning building, I would have become a fireman. If you’d walked into an elevator, I would have stopped it between two floors and we’d have spent the rest of our lives there. Please forgive me but you can’t walk out of my life like that.
Caleb: Marriage isn’t a series of thrills. marriage is a peaceful, well-balanced adjustment of two right-thinking people.
Julie: I’m afraid that’s only too true.
Seth: Ryan, I’ve been your friend for two years.
Ryan: And I want you to remain my friend for the next twenty years. So please shut up.
Kirsten: Why do people go to cocktail parties?
Sandy: Because people give cocktail parties.
Kirsten: Why do people give them?
Sandy: Because people go to them.
Kirsten: It’s a vicious circle…like perpetual motion.
Oliver: Mr. Atwood? What is your annual income, in round figures?
Ryan: In round figures? Zero.
Oliver: May I ask what you live on?
Ryan: Nothing. I survive on miracles.
Seth [spying through the cafe window]: There’s a cup of coffee on the table. She’s taking a piece of cake…Ryan, she’s dunking!
[Image via]
My god, you write just picture-perfect golden era dialogue!
I feel like this would written explicitly and exclusively for me. But clearly there are others flying this particular freak flag!