- [English subtitled version]
- Antoine Doinel: [to Alphonse as he is about to head off to music camp] If you practice hard, you'll be a great musician.
- Alphonse Doinel: What if I don't?
- Antoine Doinel: If you don't, you'll wind up a music critic.
- Liliane: Antoine's always falling apart. He needs a wife, a mistress, a little sister, a nanny, and a nurse.
- Christine Doinel: That's too much, Antoine - to forget the day you're getting divorced! No one would believe it.
- Antoine Doinel: Yet the unbelievable is sometimes true.
- Sabine Barnérias: I made love with you right away because I wanted it just as much as you. But then, when I asked where we stood, you couldn't answer. So I thought I'd better protect myself. I don't know much about life, but it seems two people who love each other should share everything. Neither should feel left out of what's going on with the other, or else I just don't understand love. I knew what I wanted from you, but when I saw you couldn't decide between life with me or life without me, I knew I'd better be careful. I tried to control my feelings, to love you less, but it didn't work. And since I hate to suffer, I decided we'd never see each other again. I let you pick me up and it was very nice. I don't regret it. But pick-up artists are a dime a dozen around here.
- Antoine Doinel: I gave in to temptation. But that's the last time.
- Sabine Barnérias: It is?
- Antoine Doinel: As of today, I'm walking the path to chastity.
- Sabine Barnérias: Oh, come here. Come here like last night.
- Antoine Doinel: Last night was last night.
- Juge Divorce: As Judge of the family court, I hereby declare that Mr. Antoine Doinel and Mrs. Christine Doinel, maiden name Darbon, born in Dijon on March 12, 1951, upon their joint petition, are granted a divorce.
- Sabine Barnérias: Listen, a normal guy, if you get my drift, who enjoys sleeping with a woman who enjoys sleeping with him, if this normal guy would keep a razor and some clothes at her place, they'd both save a fortune in rent.
- Xavier Barnérias, le libraire: Listen, Colette, in here you're just another customer to me.
- Colette Tazzi: Nonsense. You're much more than a bookseller to me.
- Xavier Barnérias, le libraire: You've got some way of showing it.
- Colette Tazzi: Oh-la-la, la-la, no need to be so bitter and nasty. It was just a fling.
- Sabine Barnérias: I've wanted to meet your son forever.
- Antoine Doinel: Sabine, this isn't the time to confuse Alphonse with that.
- Sabine Barnérias: You always have to complicate things. I'm sure your wife - ex-wife - would agree.
- Antoine Doinel: My life's split into pieces and I can't change it overnight.
- Sabine Barnérias: All your little intrigues and quirks tire me out.
- Antoine Doinel: Since the divorce, Alphonse meets too many strangers anyway...
- Sabine Barnérias: Strangers? Thanks a lot! Listen, if I'm just a hooker to you, then say so, and pay me for each time we make love.
- Monsieur Lucien: The misunderstandings between you two hurt her very much. Actually, a lot of people misunderstood her. They thought she was angry at the whole world, which wasn't true. She just couldn't tolerate hypocrisy. So she was sore at everyone: the media, the clergy, shopkeepers, politicians.
- Colette Tazzi: You haven't changed. You're as self-centered as ever. For example, you saw the porter give me this message. Were you the slightest bit curious?
- Antoine Doinel: Mere discretion, Colette.
- Colette Tazzi: No! Sheer indifference, Antoine! Who have we been talking about for two hours? You! Mere discretion again, I suppose.
- [wets her lips]
- Colette Tazzi: I know you don't care, but I'll tell you anyway. This message is from that ape I ran into in the corridor. He's offered me 1,000 francs to sleep with him tonight. What should I do? Times are hard. I've got a law degree, but I'm out of work. So like other women with half-decent looks, I get by somehow. Night trains are my specialty! Of course, the porter gets 10%. Get the picture? Our little chat is costing me a thousand francs. So!
- Antoine Doinel: I think I'd better be going.
- Antoine Doinel: Mr. Lucien said my mother was like a little bird. A little bird? Were we talking about the same person? But Mrs. Doinel did teach me one thing: Love is all that matters.
- Mère de Colette: Do you remember the first time we met?
- Antoine Doinel: Yes, it was at the Edith Piaf concert.
- Monsieur Lucien: It wasn't wasn't easy getting a place for her in the Montmartre cemetery, but I insisted, because she loved this neighborhood. She'd be happy to know she's next to Marguerite Gauthier. You know who that is?
- Antoine Doinel: No, no. I don't think I do, Monsieur Lucien.
- Monsieur Lucien: Marguerite Gauthier! "La Dame aux camélias" by Alexandre Dumas.
- Antoine Doinel: Oh, yes! I thought she was made up.
- Monsieur Lucien: No, she really existed.
- Xavier Barnérias, le libraire: Same old story. It's a deadlock. I don't know where I stand. You and I are alike. Just watch: we'll end up together.
- Colette Tazzi: Why should I meddle in Antoine's life when my own is so mixed up? Professional habit, I suppose.
- Colette Tazzi: Wait! There's a picture of Sabine in this envelope. Don't ask me to explain, but if Antoine gets this back, this could all have a happy ending.
- Christine Doinel: I was surprised, but not as surprised as they were. Antoine tried to pass it off with one of his classic excuses: He had given Liliane a book, and he noticed she protected it with a newsprint dust jacket. This so moved him...
- Colette Tazzi: That he jumped into bed with her!
- Christine Doinel: Exactly!
- Colette Tazzi: What could be more logical?
- [both laugh]
- [last lines]
- Client at Music-shop: Do you have the latest record by Alain Souchon?
- Christine Doinel: Ah, you're in luck. It just came in. It's called, "Love on the Run."
- Client at Music-shop: Could we hear it?
- Christine Doinel: Certainly. In the booth over here.