134 Almost Famous Quotes (2024)

Almost Famous

Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: Because they make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I

thought I was, I knew I wasn't.
Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.

Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I'm glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester

Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.

Almost Famous

Penny Lane: I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriosuly, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.

Almost Famous

Penny Lane: How old are you?
William Miller: Eighteen.
Penny Lane: Me too! How old are we really?
William Miller: Seventeen.
Penny Lane: Me too!
William Miller: Actually, I'm sixteen.
Penny Lane: Me too. Isn't it funny? The truth just

sounds different.
William Miller: I'm fifteen.

Almost Famous

Dennis Hope: If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken.

Almost Famous

Dennis Hope: I didn't invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella.

Almost Famous

William Miller: I have to go home.
Penny Lane: You are home.

Almost Famous

Anita Miller: FECK YOU!
Elaine Miller: HEY!
Anita Miller: This is a house of lies!
Elaine Miller: Well there it is, your sister used the "F" word.
Young William: I think she said "feck."
Elaine Miller: What's the difference?
Young William:

The letter "u."

Almost Famous

Russell Hammond: [Russell grabs phone away from William] Hey, mom! It's Russell Hammond. I play guitar in Stillwater. Hey, how does it feel to be the mother of the greatest rock journalist we've met? Hello? Hello...? Look, you've got a really great kid here. There's nothing to worry about. We're taking good care of him, and you should come to the show sometime - join the circus...

Elaine Miller: Hey, hey, listen to me, mister. You're charm doen't work on me - I'm on to you. Of course you like him...
Russell Hammond: Well, yeah...
Elaine Miller: He worships you people. And that's fine by you as long as he helps make you rich.
Russell Hammond: Rich? I don't think so...

Elaine Miller: Listen to me. He's a smart, good-hearted fifteen year old kid with infinite potential.
Russell Hammond: [Russell is stunned]
Elaine Miller: This is not some apron-wearing mother you're speaking with - I know all about your valhalla of decadence and I shouldn't have let him go. He's not ready for your world of

compromised values and diminished brain cells that you throw away like confetti. Am I speaking to you clearly?
Russell Hammond: Yes - yes, ma'am...
Elaine Miller: If you break his spirit, harm him in any way, keep him from his chosen profession which is law - something you may not value, but I do - you will meet the voice on the other end of this

telephone and it will not be pretty. Do we understand each other?
Russell Hammond: Uh, yes, ma'am...
Elaine Miller: I didn't ask for this role, but I'll play it. Now go do your best. Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. Goethe said that. It's not too late for you to become a person of substance, Russell. Please get my son home safely.

You know, I'm glad we spoke.
[Elaine hangs up]
Russell Hammond: [Russell stands holding phone in stunned silence]

Almost Famous

Russell Hammond: If something should happen... maybe I never said this enough. I love all of you.
Dennis Hope: I once hit a man in Dearborn, Michigan. A hit and run. I hit him and just kept on going. I don't know if he's alive or dead... but I'm sorry. Not a day goes by I don't see his face.
Leslie: Oh my God!
Dick

Roswell: Look, I love you all too. You're like a family to me. Especially since Marna left me. And listen, fellas... I just want you to know, if I took an extra dollar or two here and there... it's because I knew I'd earned it.
Russell Hammond: Yeah. I slept with Marna, Dick.
Jeff Bebe: I did too.
Larry Fellows: I

waited until you broke up with her, Dick. But me too.
Jeff Bebe: [to Russell] I also slept with Leslie, when you were fighting.
Russell Hammond: [to Leslie] You slept with Jeff?
Leslie: Yeah, but it didn't count. It was the summer we decided to be free of all rules.
Russell Hammond: [to Jeff] And you

say you love me!
Jeff Bebe: I don't love you, man. I never did. None of us love you. You act above us. You always have.
Larry Fellows: Finally, the truth.
Jeff Bebe: You just held it over us, like you might leave. Like we're lucky to be with you. And we had to live with it, man. I had to live with you, and now I might die with

you, and it's not fucking fair!
Russell Hammond: Please, enough!
Jeff Bebe: And I'm still in love with you, Leslie.
Leslie: Oh, I don't wanna hear any more. Shut up, Jeffrey!
Dick Roswell: It's all happening.
Russell Hammond: What the fuck! Whatever happens, Bebe, you're dead.

Jeff Bebe: Don't be self-righteous, Russell. Not now, man. You were sleeping with Penny, that fucking groupie, last summer up until yesterday. Why don't you tell Leslie that?
Russell Hammond: Shut up!
Dennis Hope: I quit!
Russell Hammond: I'm gonna kill you!
Dennis Hope: I quit!

William Miller: "That groupie"? She was a Band-Aid! All she did was love your band. And you used her, all of you! You used her and threw her away! She almost died last night while you were with Bob Dylan. You guys, you're always talking about the fans, the fans, the fans; she was your biggest fan, and you threw her away! And if you can't see that, that's your biggest

problem. And I love her! I love her!

Almost Famous

Sapphire: They don't even know what it is to be a fan. Y'know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.

Almost Famous

Penny Lane: We are not Groupies. Groupies sleep with rockstars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music. We are Band Aids.

Almost Famous

William Miller: Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you? Like "Love Thing," where did you write that and who was it about?
Russell Hammond: When did you get so professional?

Almost Famous

[Finally getting his interview with Russell Hammond]
William Miller: So Russell... what do you love about music?
Russell Hammond: To begin with, everything.

Almost Famous

Jeff Bebe: Some people have a hard time explaining rock 'n' roll. I don't think anyone can really explain rock 'n' roll. Maybe Pete Townshend, but that's okay. Rock 'n' roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking... and it's not about money and popularity. Although, some money would be nice. But it's a voice that says, "Here I am... and fuck you if you can't understand me." And one

of these people is gonna save the world. And that means that rock 'n' roll can save the world... all of us together. And the chicks are great. But what it all comes down to is that thing. The indefinable thing when people catch something in your music.

Almost Famous

Lester Bangs: So, you're the one who's been sending me those articles from your school newspaper.
William Miller: I've been doing some stuff for a local underground paper, too.
Lester Bangs: What, are you like the star of your school?
William Miller: They hate me.
Lester Bangs: You'll

meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.

Almost Famous

Lester Bangs: Music, you now, true music - not just rock n roll - it chooses you. It live in your car, or alone listening to your headphones, you know, with the cast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It's a place apart from the vast, benign lap of America.

Almost Famous

Elaine Miller: May I speak with William, please?
Sapphire: He's not here. He's down in the bar with the band. They just got back from the radio station. Is this Maryann with the pot?... Hello?
Elaine Miller: No, this is not Maryann with the pot. This is Elaine. His mother. Could you please give him a message for me? Could you tell

him to call home immediately? And could you also tell him - I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.
Sapphire: All right. But I'm just going to say this, and I'm going to stand by it: you should be really proud of him. 'Cause I know men, and I'll bet you do too. And he respects women, and he likes women, and let's just pause and appreciate a man like that. I mean, you created him out of

thin air, and you raised him right, he's having a great time, he's doing a good job, and don't worry - he's still a virgin. And we're all looking out for him. And that's more than I've ever even said to my own parents, so there you go... This is the maid speaking, by the way.

Almost Famous

Penny Lane: Maybe it is love, as much as it can be, for somebody...
William Miller: Somebody who sold you to Humble Pie for fifty bucks and a case of beer! I was there! I was there!... Look- I'm sorry.
Penny Lane: [sniffs] What kind of beer?

Almost Famous

Russell Hammond: And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I'm on drugs!
[crowd cheers]
William Miller: Russell! I think we should work on those last words!
Russell Hammond: I got it, I got it. Last words - I dig music.
[a few claps]
Russell Hammond: [beat]

Russell Hammond: I'm on drugs!
[crowd cheers]