Top 160 William Goldman Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “I guess the most amazing thing about crying though is that when you’re in it, you think it’ll go on forever but it never really lasts half what you think. Not in terms of real time. In terms of real emotions, it’s worse than you think, but not by the clock.”

— William Goldman

102. “I’ve been in the revenge buisness for so long, now that it’s over I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.”

— William Goldman

103. “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it. How is such a thing possible? I’ll do my best to explain.”

— William Goldman

104. “Fezzik’s in trouble, bubble bubble, His brain is just not in the pink, His mind is rubble, rub-a-dub double, Because everyone needs him to think.”

— William Goldman

105. “The sun was rising behind her now; she could feel the heat on her back, and it gave her courage.”

— William Goldman

106. “Inconceivable!”

— William Goldman

107. “She does not get eaten by the sharks at this time,” my father said. I looked up at him. “What?” “You looked like you were getting too involved and bothered so I thought I would let you relax.”

— William Goldman

108. “One of the things that happens to careers out here is that people destroy themselves because they begin to think they’re wonderful. They begin to think they know what they’re doing, and the minute that happens, it’s over.”

— William Goldman

109. “There were some things you did, no matter what, and when a friend needed help, you helped them.”

— William Goldman

110. “Terrible things can happen when you’re overtired. I was overtired the night your father proposed.”

— William Goldman

111. “You keep using that word!” the Spaniard snapped. “I don’t think it means what you think it does.”

— William Goldman

112. “I have stayed these years in my hovel because of you. I have taught myself languages because of you. I have made my body strong because I thought you might be pleased by a strong body. I have lived my life with only the prayer that some sudden dawn you might glance in my direction. I have not known a moment in years when the sight of you did not send my heart careening against my rib cage. I have not known a night when your visage did not accompany me to sleep. There has not been a morning when you did not flutter behind my waking eyelids.”

— William Goldman

113. “Inigo stood still a moment, panting. Then he made a half turn in the direction of Count Rugen and executed a quick and well-formed bow. “Hello,” he said. “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

— William Goldman

114. “There is one crucial rule that must be followed in all creative meetings. Never speak first. At least at the start, your job is to shut up.”

— William Goldman

115. “Back when we were on the farm, I thought I loved you, but that was not love. When I saw your face behind the mask on the ravine floor, I thought I loved you, but that was again nothing more than deep infatuation. Beloved: I think I love you now, and I pray you only give me the chance to spend my life in constant proving.”

— William Goldman

116. “My Westley will come for me.”

— William Goldman

117. “Someone would have to keep his wits, and he had assumed automatically that since Fezzik had so few, he would find retaining them not all that difficult.”

— William Goldman

118. “I love you, I know this must come as something of a surprise, since all I’ve ever done is scorn you and degrade you and taunt you, but I have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. I thought an hour ago that I loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that I knew that what I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt then. But ten minutes after that, I understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm.”

— William Goldman

119. “Stop saying that word. It was inconceivable that anyone could follow us, but when we looked behind, there was the man in black. It was inconceivable that anyone could sail as fast as we could sail, and yet he gained on us. Now this too is inconceivable, but look – look – ” and the Spaniard pointed down through the night. “See how he rises.”

— William Goldman

120. “Being a screenwriter is not enough for a full creative life.”

— William Goldman

121. “I seemed busy, busy, busy, but I suppose, if pressed, I might have admitted that, for all my frenzy, I was very much alone.”

— William Goldman

122. “Hello,” he said. “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

— William Goldman

123. “Every night for the next year he always said something like that to me: ‘Thank you for everything, Westley, good night now, I’ll probably kill you in the morning.”

— William Goldman

124. “The writing is never what takes the most time. It’s trying to figure what you’re going to put down that fills the days. With anger at your own ineptitude, with frustration that nothing is happening inside your head, with panic that maybe nothing will ever happen inside your head, with blessed little moments that somehow knit together so that you can begin to visualize a scene.”

— William Goldman

125. “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.”

— William Goldman

126. “I write out of revenge.”

— William Goldman

127. “Why was it worth so much of your life?” “Because I could not fail him again.” “Fail who?” “My father.”

— William Goldman

128. “At 8:23 there seemed every chance of a lasting alliance starting between Florin and Guilder. At 8:24 the two nations were very close to war.”

— William Goldman

129. “Don’t expect too much from life, Buttercup told herself as she rode along. Learn to be satisfied with what you have.”

— William Goldman

130. “We have more than hope,” Buttercup said. “There is true love.”

— William Goldman

131. “You mock my pain! Life is pain, anyone who says otherwise is obviously selling something!”

— William Goldman

132. “I can live without love.” And with that she left Westley alone.”

— William Goldman

133. “He always felt better when he could dole out pain alone.”

— William Goldman

134. “You have a dizzying intellect.”

— William Goldman

135. “We have now decided that the poisoned cup is most likely in front of you. But the poison is powder made from iocane and iocane comes only from Australia and Australia, as everyone knows, is peopled with criminals and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as I don’t trust you, which means I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”

— William Goldman

136. “The Serpent, to my interpretation, was pain.”

— William Goldman

137. “I just know once you’re over your emotional outbursts, you’ll come up with-? I mean if we even had a wheelbarrow, that would be something,? Westley said.”

— William Goldman

138. “Duhhhhhhh, tanks, Buttercup.”

— William Goldman

139. “I must know!” “Get used to disappointment.”

— William Goldman

140. “The only actual change that had come over him in the past years was that, for some reason, his impediment had gotten worse. “Mawidge,” he said. “Vewy old.”

— William Goldman

141. “Because there was a limit to just how much you could lie to yourself.”

— William Goldman

142. “It appears to me as if we’re doomed, then,” Buttercup said. Westley looked at her. “Doomed, madam?” “To be together. Until one of us dies.” “I’ve done that already, and I haven’t the slightest intention of ever doing it again,” Westley said. Buttercup looked at him. “Don’t we sort of have to sometime?” “Not if we promise to outlive each other, and I make that promise now.” Buttercup looked at him. “Oh my Westley, so do I.”

— William Goldman

143. “There were stories that the King was dying, that he was already dead, that he had been dead long since, that he was fine.”

— William Goldman

144. “This was after stew. But then, so is everything. When the first man crawled out of the slime and went to make his home on land, what he had for dinner that night was stew.”

— William Goldman

145. “It’s not important, believe me; the past has a way of being past.”

— William Goldman

146. “I mean if we even had a wheelbarrow, that would be something.”

— William Goldman

147. “No one could be following us yet?” the Spaniard asked. “No one,” the Sicilian assured him. “It would be inconceivable.” “Absolutely inconceivable?” “Absolutely, totally, and, in all other ways, inconceivable,” the Sicilian reassured him. “Why do you ask?”

— William Goldman

148. “I could feel almost my heart emptying into my pillow. Iguess the most amazing thing about crying though is that when you’re in it, you think it’ll go on forever but it never really lasts half what you think. Not in terms of real time.”

— William Goldman

149. “Buttercup sat up in bed. It must be his teeth. The farm boy did have good teeth, give credit where credit was due.”

— William Goldman

150. “We are one heartbeat,” and she kissed him softly and said, “And will always be.”

— William Goldman