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Tzi Ma, Shuzhen Zhao, Han Chen, Aoi Mizuhara, Hong Lu, Diana Lin, Awkwafina, and Yongbo Jiang in The Farewell (2019)

Quotes

The Farewell

Edit
  • Billi: Okay, when were you guys going to tell me this? How could you let me find out like this?
  • Jian: How should I have told you? "Oh, your grandma's on the roof".
  • Nai Nai: I walked the path of life and I have to say, you will face with difficulties. But you have to have an open mind. Don't be like a bull hitting his horns all over the walls of the room. Life isn't just about what you do, it's more about how you do it.
  • Jian: Chinese people have saying, when people get cancer they die. It's not cancer that kills them, it's the fear.
  • Billi: You know, one of the few good memories of my childhood were those summers at Nai Nais's. They had that garden, Ye Ye and I would catch dragonflies. And then we just moved to the States. Everything was different. Everyone was gone. And it was just the three of us.
  • Jian: I know it was hard. It was hard for us too.
  • Billi: I wanted to believe that it was a good thing, but all I saw was fear in your eyes. And I was confused and scared constantly because you never told me what was going on. And then Ye Ye died. You didn't even tell me he was sick. So it felt like he just vanished suddenly. And you wouldn't even let me go to his funeral.
  • Jian: You were at school. We didn't want you to miss school. We did what we thought was best for you.
  • Billi: But I never saw him again. And every time I came back to China, he just... he just wasn't there anymore. And I come back and he's just gone. The house is gone, A Die's gone, our Beijing home is gone and soon she'll be gone too.
  • Billi: [frustrated] Are you going to tell Nai Nai?
  • Haiyan: I can't, Billi. I won't go against my family.
  • Uncle Haibin: Billi, there are things you misunderstand. You guys moved to the West long ago. You think one's life belongs to oneself. But that's the difference between the East and the West. In the East, a person's life is part of a whole. Family. Society.
  • Uncle Haibin: You want to tell Nai Nai the truth, because you're afraid to take the responsibility for her. Because it's too big of a burden. If you tell her, then you don't have to feel guilty. We're not telling Nai Nai because it's our duty to carry this emotional burden for her.
  • Jian: I don''t like, you know, put all my emotion on display. Like I''m in the zoo. But in here, if you don''t cry, you don''t put a show, they think that you don''t love your family. You know, in here, they even hire some professional criers. Just to show how sad they are. It''s just so ridiculous. I hate that.
  • Jian: I know it was hard. It was hard for us too.
  • Jian: You're broke again? Are you always going to live like this?
  • Billi: Poor but sexy? I hope so!
  • Jian: [Asking a second time] So, YuPing, are you still going to send Bao away for college?
  • Michael: So what do you think's better? China or America?
  • Billi: It's different.
  • Michael: What do you mean different? It must be nicer in America.
  • Billi: It's just... different.
  • Michael: But I guess you're more used to America, right?
  • Billi: I guess.
  • Billi: Shouldn't we tell her?
  • Doctor Song: In her situation, most families in China would choose not to tell her. When my grandmother had cancer, my family didn't tell her.
  • Billi: Isn't it wrong to lie?
  • Doctor Song: I mean, if it's for good, it's not really a lie.
  • Billi: I mean, it's still a lie.
  • Doctor Song: It's a good lie.

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