Jerry Maguire Quotes

Context

This line is from the film Jerry Maguire, directed by Cameron Crowe (1996).

If you listen very carefully, you can hear the distinct sound of millions of people making gagging noises.

Okay, so yeah… this one's up there when it comes to cheesy rom-com lines. The only wonder is that it didn't get snatched up years earlier and used in some Molly Ringwald flick in the '80s.

The speaker is Jerry Maguire, a self-obsessed sports agent who finally realizes that the real secret to his happiness has been under his nose the whole time. (Although, considering how conceited he is, pretty much everything has been under his nose the whole time.)

He approaches his secretary-turned-love-interest, Dorothy (no, she's not a 90-year-old pensioner), and tells her he can't live without her because she "completes" him. He'd better hope so, because he's been a fairly incomplete person since the start of the film.

Keep the Pepto-Bismol handy and check out this clip.

Where you've heard it

First of all, there's a Keyshia Cole song that clearly ripped off the line. Eh, on second thought, maybe it's just a coincidence. It's such a clichéd sentiment that we wouldn't be surprised if Keyshia had never even heard of the movie.

All the same, here's a search code completion engine that has a little fun with the line, and here's an article that argues that one person simply can't complete another. That's probably a good thing, because we're not sure there's even room for anyone else in these pants.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If we were measuring the Saccharine Factor, this quote would be off the charts. The idea of someone basically telling another person that, because of them, his heart/soul is, at last, whole and at one with the universe is just plain cheesy. But cheesy doesn't mean pretentious.