The Art of Getting By

Principal Martinson:
Don't play the angles, George. They don't work. Neither do jokes.

Harris McElroy:
You're going to have to start using that brain of yours to access that talent of yours to show that beautiful heart of yours.

Sally Howe:
I have fears but I thought they were pretty run-of-the-mill: pain, death.

George Zinavoy:
Not me. I fear life.

Charlotte Howe:
You know, ticklish people make great lovers. Everything is erogenous.

Principal Martinson:
Just be careful, they have an easier time of getting by than you do.

George Zinavoy:
I have no idea what I'm doing here.

Dustin:
I don't think anybody does, at least you admit it.

Dustin:
You like her... You should like her if you don't.

Sally Howe:
Are you okay?

George Zinavoy:
I'm allergic to hormones.

Sally Howe:
What hormones?

George Zinavoy:
My own.

Zoe Rubenstein:
Would you like me to introduce you to some girls?

George Zinavoy:
What?

Zoe Rubenstein:
I have a lot of slutty friends you might like.

George Zinavoy:
I'm sorry, I ruined your night.

Sally Howe:
No, I'm sorry. I lost you. I didn't keep my promise.

Dustin:
Women like being desired. Just throw her up against a wall and start kissing her. Chances are she'll kiss you back, and if she doesn't, at least you tried. You've got to do something or else you'll lose her.

Dustin:
You and George should be together, Sally.

Sally Howe:
We're just friends.

Dustin:
There's no such thing.

George Zinavoy:
I'm trying to speak to you honestly.

Vivian Sargent:
I don't care, I can't listen to your lies anymore.

George Zinavoy:
There you go again with the mind games. Treacherous, sadistic little hussy !

Sally Howe:
You know we're gonna be together one day. We have to sort through all of our messed-up issues and... you have to sleep with a lot of girls to get it out of your system.

George Zinavoy:
Don't go. Please.

Sally Howe:
It's a long life. We're not done.

George Zinavoy:
[teasingly] Treacherous, sadistic little hussy !

Sally Howe:
I love you too.

Dustin:
Isn't it better that it is me? I opposed to some douchebag she just met and wouldn't even let you look at her.

George Zinavoy:
You want me to thank you!

Dustin:
I actually felt something. That doesn't always happen, it hasn't happened in a very long time... and I have lived long enough to know that when it does, you should act on it. I didn't think you were ready.

George Zinavoy:
I read a quote once when I was a kid "We live alone, We die alone. Everything else is just an illusion." it used to keep me up at night.

Sally Howe:
What were you like as a child?

George Zinavoy:
I was such a better person than I am now.

Sally Howe:
Come on.

George Zinavoy:
I'm serious. I was happy. I was open. I was curious. But I'll tell you this: I knew when it was ending. I was overwhelmed with sadness when I realized that I was going to change, and that it was all most likely going to get worse, like a nostalgia for the present. I couldn't shake it... What? I'm weird, right?

Sally Howe:
No... No, you're not.

Sally Howe:
Thanks for covering for me.

George Zinavoy:
No problem.

Sally Howe:
Why did you ?

George Zinavoy:
Uhh, I don't know. Uhh, you were doing something so renegade that I thought you deserved to get away with it. I run afoul of the authorities so often, I figured I could handle it better than you.

Sally Howe:
You're really weird.

George Zinavoy:
I'm the Teflon slacker.

Sally Howe:
Do you have any friends, George ?

George Zinavoy:
I'm kind of a misanthrope. Not a choice, just a fact.

George Zinavoy:
My favorite part of the book is how the town's layout us described from the perspective of a bee traveling from one side of town to the other. It's so visual. So, I guess what Hardy's doing is aligning his point of view not with an all-seeing God but with an insect: the tiniest, humblest creature in nature. Which is pretty Romantic.

Ms. Herman:
I think you just found your term paper, George.

George Zinavoy:
I'm in love with you. I always have been. I thought you were the unfair one, but it was unfair of me not to say it. So I've said it. I was nothing. I felt like nothing. Less than. You changed that.

[I just feel like I'm full of sh*t, like I'm trying to be something that I'm not]