# Characters who say "I love you" without saying "I love you" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 27, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960 "2007-11-27T21:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/41 "2007-11-28T15:34:31Z")
From [Serenity](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/): **Capt. Malcolm Reynolds:** Ready to get off this heap, back to civilized life? **Inara Serra:** I, uh… I don’t know. **Capt. Malcolm Reynolds:** Good answer. And a really fine example of a father and son trying to express their love for one another without actually saying the words comes from [Breaking Away](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/): **Dad:** I cut the stone for this building. **Dave:** You did? **Dad:** Yeah. I was one fine stonecutter. Mike’s dad, Moocher’s, Cyril’s…all of us. Well, Cyril’s dad…never mind. Thing of it was, I loved it. I was young and slim and strong. I was damn proud of my work. And the buildings went up. When they were finished, the damnedest thing happened. It was like…the buildings was too good for us. Nobody told us that. Just… Just felt uncomfortable, that’s all. Even now, I…I’d like to be able to stroll through the campus and look at the limestone, but I just feel out of place. You guys still go swimming in the quarries? **Dave:** Sure. **Dad:** So all you got to show for my 20 years of work is the holes we left behind. **Dave:** I don’t mind. **Dad:** _I_ do. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/42 "2007-11-28T16:06:52Z")
Star Trek IV– Sarek (to Spock): Is there anything you would like me to tell your mother? Spock: Yes. Tell her…I feel fine. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/43 "2007-11-28T16:09:23Z")
‘I am glad that you are here with me,’ said Frodo. ‘Here at the end of all things, Sam.’ ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/44 "2007-11-28T16:11:57Z")
_I see friends shaking hands, Saying “How do you do?”…_ –“What a Wonderful World” ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/45 "2007-11-28T16:13:43Z")
Now, you listen to me! I don’t want any plastics, and I don’t want any ground floors, and I don’t want to get married - ever - to anyone! You understand that? I want to do what I want to do. And you’re…and you’re… ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/46 "2007-11-28T16:19:24Z")
Just how much of a troglodyte is one, if one cannot place the movie/book for that last quote, **BubbaDog**? I’ve since figured it out, but it took Google helping me. On my own I was lost. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/47 "2007-11-28T17:08:29Z")
“I am incomplete without you.” Worf to K’Ehleyr in Star Trek the Next Generation ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/48 "2007-11-28T17:45:38Z")
Some more from Joss Whedon’s Serenity. They’re both about the love Mal has for River. Well, actually, it isn’t love, but he is as protective of her and as loyal to her as he is to all his crew members. Mal: “Cut her down.” Crazy backward villager, ready to light a fire underneath the tied-up River: “The girl is a witch.” Mal: “Yeah, but she’s our witch.” (cocks gun) “So cut her the hell down.” Mal: Know what the first rule of flying is? Of course you do, since you already know what I’m going to say. River: Yes. But I like to hear you say it. Mal: Love. You can know all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she’s hurting before she keens. Makes her a home. River: Storm’s getting worse. Mal: We’ll pass through it soon enough. _The love between the married couple Zoe and pilot Wash:_ ZOE: “Sir? I’d like you to take the helm, please. (re: Wash) I need this man to tear all my clothes off.” \*Kaylee and Simon are waiting for enemy to break down the door and start a fight they probably won’t survive. Simon finally admits he would have liked to have started something with Kaylee, but he didn’t because he wanted to take care of his siter River first. \* Kaylee: You mean to say as in… sex? Simon: I mean to say. Kaylee: Well, hell with this. I’m gonna live! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/49 "2007-11-28T18:01:06Z")
Morant and Handcock wordlessly clasp hands as they walk in front of the firing squad in _Breaker Morant_. “Let me help,” which James T. Kirk tells Edith Keeler is an even more highly-valued sentiment than “I love you,” according to one alien poet. Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) offers to resign from the Secret Service if it means he can be with fellow agent Lily (Rene Russo), in the outstanding thriller _In the Line of Fire_. (I don’t think their characters say “I love you” in the entire movie). Hellboy whispers to the gods of the afterlife, kisses his dead girlfriend and she bursts into flame (fortunately unhurt, as that’s her paranormal power) and comes back to life in _Hellboy_. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/50 "2007-11-28T18:01:42Z")
Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/51 "2007-11-28T18:22:16Z")
Homer (to Marge): _There’s_ the dirty girl I married! * * * SNL prison sketch Kevin Nealon: Sometimes I worry that you’ll leave me for another man. Martin Lawrence: You my bitch! I’ll never leave you! Unless I kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/52 "2007-11-28T18:46:41Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] SNL prison sketch Kevin Nealon: Sometimes I worry that you’ll leave me for another man. Martin Lawrence: You my bitch! I’ll never leave you! Unless I kill you. [/QUOTE] Somehow I doubt that’s what the OP had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/53 "2007-11-28T19:06:17Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] Umm, no. If you’d seen the end of the movie, you’d know he was saying he loved her. [/QUOTE] I retract my accusation of thread-shitting. ---
**Author:** ![baronsabato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@baronsabato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baronsabato)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/54 "2007-11-28T19:25:16Z")
Both “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” and “On the Street Where You Live” from _My Fair Lady_ are great examples of this. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/55 "2007-11-28T20:10:40Z")
Rita Hayworth to Glenn Ford in _Gilda_: “I hate you too, Johnny. I hate you so much I think I’m going to die from it.” Still hot over 60 years later. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/56 "2007-11-28T20:33:34Z")
The last scene in _Lost in Translation_, where he whispers to her. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/57 "2007-11-28T20:38:00Z")
[QUOTE=Malthus] The last scene in _Lost in Translation_, where he whispers to her. [/QUOTE] But maybe he _did_ say “I love you”… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/58 "2007-11-28T21:37:20Z")
Colonel Brandon in _Sense and Sensibility_. Everything he did for Marianne Dashwood spoke of his love, from handing her his pocketknife so she could cut flowers easily to begging Eleanor to give him some errand to do, lest he go mad with worry over Marianne when she was dangerously ill. At that point, I think I hoped her character would die so that I could have Colonel Brandon’s children! _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/59 "2007-11-28T21:54:25Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] But maybe he _did_ say “I love you”… 😉 [/QUOTE] Heh, true. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960/60 "2007-11-28T23:00:57Z")
Han Solo wins. Thread over. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-say-i-love-you-without-saying-i-love-you/427960.md?page=4)