words worth reading

I finally saw Midnight in Paris. Which means for 94 minutes straight, I was smiling like a giddy child on Christmas morning. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, rent it tonight. It captures my favorite city in a way I've never seen before. The plot was brilliant, the music had me tapping my toes, and the writing! Well, see for yourself. Here are a few of my favorite lines from Woody Allen's beloved homage to the enchanted City of Lights.

"Adriana: That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me."

"Ernest Hemingway: I believe that love that is true and real creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving or not loving well, which is the same thing. And when the man who is brave and true looks death squarely in the face, like some rhino hunters I know, or Belmonte who is truly brave, it is because they love with sufficient passion to push death out of their minds. Until it returns, as it does to all men, and then you must make really good love again. Think about it."

"Adriana: I can never decide whether Paris is more beautiful by day or by night.
Gil: No, you can't, you couldn't pick one. I mean I can give you a checkmate argument for each side. You know, I sometimes think, how is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city. You can't. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form and when you think that in the cold, violent, meaningless universe that Paris exists, these lights, I mean come on, there's nothing happening on Jupiter or Neptune, but from way out in space you can see these lights, the cafés, people drinking and singing. For all we know, Paris is the hottest spot in the universe."

"Gil: Can you picture how drop dead gorgeous this city is in the rain? Imagine this town in the '20s. Paris in the '20s, in the rain. The artists and writers!"

For those of you who won't be making it to Paris today, allow Mr. Allen and me to take you on a little tour:

And because no one can deliver that Hemingway line quite like the actor did: