With the death of Nora Ephron, the rom-com genre loses a rock star. Ephron, who passed yesterday at age 71, was the queen of snappy wit and tear-jerking chick flicks.
From the spot-on gender dichotomy of Harry and Sally to the starry-eyed sweetness of Sleepless in Seattle, her all-too-apt portrayals of romantic relationships (with a helping of fairy-tale fantasy thrown in) have earned her a permanent spot in the hearts of movie-goers.
And so, to commemorate the career of this talented scribe, we've collected the 10 most memorable quotes from her various flicks.
10. "When you're attracted to someone, it just means that your subconscious is attracted to their subconscious, subconsciously. So what we think of as fate is just two neuroses knowing that they are a perfect match."
-- David Hyde Pierce to Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle
9. "You know, it's dangerous for you to be here in the frozen food section."
"Why is that?"
"Because you could melt all this stuff."
-- Steve Martin to Carol Kane in My Blue Heaven
8. "I always read the last page of a book first so that if I die before I finish I'll know how it turned out."
--Billy Crystal to Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally
7. "Well, how long is your program? Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together... and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home... only to no home I'd ever known... I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic."
-- Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle
6. "It's not tipping I believe in. It's overtipping."
-- Steve Martin in My Blue Heaven
5. "I don't want to be someone that you're settling for. I don't want to be someone that anyone settles for. Marriage is hard enough without bringing such low expectations into it, isn't it?"
--Bill Pullman in Sleepless in Seattle
4. "I see that it's funny. I have a sense of humor."
"Of course you have a sense of humor. Everyone thinks they do, even people who don't."
--Rick Moranis to Joan Cusack in My Blue Heaven
3. "You are the butter to my bread; you are the breath to my life."
--Stanley Tucci to Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
2. "I'll have what she's having."
-- Older woman in When Harry Met Sally
1. "I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. 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."
-- Billy Crystal to Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally
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