Wild Strawberries Quotes

In our relations with other people, we mainly discuss and evaluate their character and behavior. That is why I have withdrawn from nearly all so-called relations. This has made my old age rather lonely. My life has been full of hard work and I am grateful. It began as toil for bread and butter and ended in a love of science.

Professor Isak Borg: Give me a cigar, anytime. That's stimulating and relaxing. That's a vice for men.
Marianne Borg: And what vices may a woman have?
Professor Isak Borg: Weeping, giving birth and speaking ill of her neighbors.

I'm so sad! You've hurt me so! You've made a bad woman of me. At any rate, nearly. I never want to see you again, at least not before brunch.

Well, does God exist?

As professor emeritus, you ought to know why it hurts. But you don't know. You know so much, and you don't know anything.

Old sourpuss.

If I have been worried or sad during the day, it often calms me to recall childhood memories.

In the early hours of June 1st, I had a weird and very unpleasant dream. I dreamt that during my morning walk I lost my way among empty streets with ruined houses.

I dozed off, but was haunted by vivid and humiliating dreams. There was something overpowering in these dream images that bored relentlessly into my mind.

Marianne Borg: You're a coward.
Dr. Evald Borg: Yes. This life sickens me. I will not be forced to take on a responsibility that will make me live for one day longer than I want to. And you know that I mean what I say.

There should be a law forbidding women to smoke.

Marianne Borg: I know that this is wrong.
Dr. Evald Borg: There's neither right nor wrong. We act according to our needs.

Dr. Evald Borg: It's absurd to bring children into this world and think they'll be better off than we were.
Marianne Borg: That's just an excuse.
Dr. Evald Borg: Call it what you want. I was an unwanted child in a hellish marriage.

Professor Isak Borg: I have liked having you about the house.
Marianne Borg: Like a cat.
Professor Isak Borg: A cat, or a human being.

Professor Isak Borg: I like you, Marianne.
Marianne Borg: I like you too, uncle Isak.

If I have been feeling worried or sad during the day, I have a habit of recalling scenes from childhood to calm me. So it was this evening.

All along the line, there's nothing but cold and death and loneliness

Marianne Borg: You're a coward.
Dr. Evald Borg: Yes. This life sickens me. I will not be forced to take on a responsibility that will make me live for one day longer than I want to. And you know that I mean what I say.

Marianne Borg: I know that this is wrong.
Dr. Evald Borg: There's neither right nor wrong. We act according to our needs.

Marianne Borg: I saw you with your mother, and I was panic-stricken.
Professor Isak Borg: I don't understand.
Marianne Borg: I thought: That's his mother. An old woman, cold as ice, more forbidding than death. And this is her son, and there are light years between them. He himself says he's a living corpse. And Evald is growing just as lonely, cold and dead. And I thought of the baby inside me. All along the line, there's nothing but cold and death and loneliness. It must end somewhere.

Dr. Evald Borg: It's absurd to bring children into this world and think they'll be better off than we were.
Marianne Borg: That's just an excuse.
Dr. Evald Borg: Call it what you want. I was an unwanted child in a hellish marriage.

I'd better tell you I'm a virgin. That's why I'm so cheeky. And I smoke a pipe.

Professor Isak Borg: The place where wild strawberries grow!
Professor Isak Borg: Perhaps I got a little sentimental. Perhaps I got tired and felt a bit sad. It's not impossible that I began to think of this and that, associated with places where I played as a child. I don't know how it happened, but the day's clear reality dissolved into the even clearer images of memory that appeared before my eyes with the strength of a true stream of events.

I can't think of anything worse than growing old.

Sara: Good-bye, father Isak. Can't you see you're the one I love? Today, tomorrow and forever
Isak Borg: I'll keep that in mind

My name is Isak Borg and I am 78. Tomorrow I shall receive an honorary degree in Lund Cathedral.