Life Lessons Learned From ‘When Harry Met Sally’ Quotes

When Harry Met Sally - Special Edition
When Harry Met Sally – Special Edition

When Harry Met Sally premiered 25 years ago and I still find it completely relevant to my life and everyone’s life around me. (But perhaps that’s because I grew up obsessed with it.) Here are some definitive life lessons taught in When Harry Met Sally.

MEN AND WOMEN CAN’T BE FRIENDS, EXPLAINED

Harry Burns: Would you like to have dinner?… Just friends.
Sally Albright: I thought you didn’t believe men and women could be friends.
Harry Burns: When did I say that?
Sally Albright: On the ride to New York.
Harry Burns: No, no, no, I never said that… Yes, that’s right, they can’t be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can… This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted… That doesn’t work either, because what happens then is, the person you’re involved with can’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you’re just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say “No, no, no it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,” the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let’s face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can’t be friends.

SOME ORGASMS ARE FAKED, DUH

“Nothing. It’s just that all men are sure it never happened to them and all women at one time or other have done it so you do the math.” – Sally

LOVE AND HATE ARE CLOSELY RELATED

“You say things like that and you make it impossible for me to hate you!” – Sally

GOOD TIP ON HOW TO READ BOOKS

“When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.” – Harry

SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING (to borrow from Avril)

“Right now everything is great, everyone is happy, everyone is in love and that is wonderful. But you gotta know that sooner or later you’re gonna be screaming at each other about who’s gonna get this dish. This eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of That’s Mine, This Is Yours.”

DATING RULES, RE: AIRPORTS

“You take someone to the airport, it’s clearly the beginning of the relationship. That’s why I have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.” – Harry

EVERYONE IS DELUSIONAL

“Everybody thinks they have good taste and a sense of humor but they couldn’t possibly all have good taste.” – Marie

AND THIS IS WHY YOU’LL NEVER MARRY RYAN GOSLING…PROXIMITY

“All I’m saying is that somewhere out there is the man you are supposed to marry. And if you don’t get him first, somebody else will, and you’ll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that somebody else is married to your husband.”

FUCK. YES.

“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Thought Catalog Logo Mark


About the author

Erin Mallory Long

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