The United States of Leland Quotes

The United States of Leland is a television show that first aired in 1970 . The United States of Leland completed its run in 1970.

It features Kevin Spacey as producer, Jeremy Enigk in charge of musical score, and James Glennon as head of cinematography.

The United States of Leland is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of The United States of Leland is 104 minutes long. The United States of Leland is distributed by Paramount Vantage.

The cast includes: Ryan Gosling as Leland, Sherilyn Fenn as Mrs. Calderon, Kevin Spacey as Albert T. Fitzgerald, Michael Peña as Guillermo, Don Cheadle as Pearl Madison, Wesley Jonathan as Bengel, Ron Canada as Elden, and Jena Malone as Becky Pollard.

The United States of Leland Quotes

Ryan Gosling as Leland

• (Ryan Gosling) "You want a why. Well, maybe there isn't one. Maybe -- Maybe this is just something that happened."

• (Ryan Gosling) "You know what the funny thing about earthquakes is? After an earthquake you see people pulling other people out of broken down buildings and people hugging and junk because they saw a little girl's shoe in the middle of the road and no little girl around. Then a couple days later they forget all about it --"
• (Don Cheadle) "Well it still shows you that there's goodness in people."
• (Ryan Gosling) "During earthquakes at least --"

• (Ryan Gosling) "Maybe it makes sense now. Maybe somewhere in all of this there's a reason. Maybe somewhere in all of this there's a why. Maybe somewhere there's that thing that lets you tie it all up with a neat bow and bury it in the backyard. But nothing, not getting angry, not prayers, and not tears, nothing can make something that happened unhappen."

• (Ryan Gosling) "This one is something a friend of mine said to me. "You have to believe that life is more than the sum of its parts, kiddo." I remember it right now to the "kiddo" part. But when I think about what she said, the same thing always comes into my head. What if you can't put the pieces together in the first place?"

• (Ryan Gosling) "It covers my eyes. It's all I can see. Say there's some kids playing baseball. All I see is the one kid they won't let play because he tells corny jokes. And no-one thinks they're funny. Or I see a boy and a girl in love and kissing, you know. I just see that they're gonna be one of those sad old couples one day who just cheats on each other and can't even look at each other in the eye. And I feel it. I feel all of their sadness. I feel it probably even worse than that sad old couple or that corny kid will ever feel it."

• (Ryan Gosling) "I think there are two ways you can see the world. You either see the sadness that's behind everything or you choose to keep it all out."

• (Unnamed) "Why did you do it, Leland?"
• (Ryan Gosling) "Because of the sadness."
• (Unnamed) "What sadness? Whose sadness?"
• (Ryan Gosling) "Your sadness."

• (Ryan Gosling) "And that's when I figured out that tears couldn't make somebody who was dead alive again. There's another thing to learn about tears, they can't make somebody who doesn't love you any more love you again. It's the same with prayers. I wonder how much of their lives people waste crying and praying to God. If you ask me, the devil makes more sense than God does. I can at least see why people would want him around. It's good to have somebody to blame for the bad stuff they do. Maybe God's there because people get scared of all the bad stuff they do. They figure that God and the Devil are always playing this game of tug-of-war game with them. And they never know which side they're gonna wind up on. I guess that tug-of-war idea explains how sometimes, even when people try to do something good, it still turns out bad."

• (Ryan Gosling) "When I say I don't remember that day, I'm not lying. I wish I did, but I just don't. Sometimes the most important stuff goes away. Goes away so bad it's like it was never there to begin with."

Don Cheadle as Pearl Madison

• (Don Cheadle) "Its all part of the trade off man. I mean, Love is only such a great thing because you know what it feels like to get your heart broken. What it feels like to be alone."

• (Don Cheadle) "This is bulls***, Elden. This is just red-tape bulls*** and you know it."
• (Ron Canada) "No, Madison, this is about you running your own program. You asked me about this kid, I told you no. Then you, in effect, say: "f*** you, I do whatever I want. Elden Gilmore be damned.""
• (Don Cheadle) "Look, this is about a kid who was so screwed up --"
• (Ron Canada) "No, this is about a book. And you wanna talk about red-tape bulls***? Let's talk about how fast I could have you fired for turning your classroom over to non-certified personnel while you went off to play your '20/20' bit with this kid. Man, I am pulling you from S.H."
• (Don Cheadle) "Wait a minute --"
• (Ron Canada) "No, after lunch, report to A wing. You're taking over Bellsey's class."

• (Don Cheadle) "I'm only human, man."
• (Ryan Gosling) "It's funny how people only say that after they do something bad. I mean, you never hear someone say, "I'm only human" after they rescue a kid from a burning building."

Jena Malone as Becky Pollard

• (Jena Malone) "I don't want to hurt you."
• (Ryan Gosling) "Then don't."

Kevin Spacey as Albert T. Fitzgerald

• (Unnamed) "Excuse me. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but aren't you an actor?"
• (Kevin Spacey) "Aren't we all dear"
• (Unnamed) "No, no, no. I mean a famous actor. You know, a movie star actor? I know your face"
• (Kevin Spacey) "I was in Stanley Kubrick's musical, the one about the alcoholic pirates. I played Captain Morgan."
• (Kevin Spacey) "Whenever you're done with the front page dear"

Wesley Jonathan as Bengel

(We don't have any quotes for this character)

Michael Peña as Guillermo

• (Michael Peña) "What you in for, dawg?"
• (Michael Peña) "Hey, I'm not asking you because I'm gonna kick your ass if you did some f***ed up s***, because I already know you did some f***ed up s***. Hey, a guy like me. You know he's in SH 'cause he ratted out some bitch from State Street. Now half the pop wants to stick a f***ing pencil through his eye. Hey, but white boys ain't about that gang s*** though, huh? Especially not white boys like you who don't look like no Slim Shady. White boys like you the ones who did some f***ed up s***, huh?"
• (Michael Peña) "That's cool dawg"

• (Michael Peña) "Hey Pearly, help me out here bro. I'm developing this theory, right, that the suicide rate of Venice is real low. 'Cause if you jump off a building, all your ass is gonna do is splash in a canal and s***, right?"
• (Don Cheadle) "OK, well, why don't we expand on that theory tomorrow?"

Sherilyn Fenn as Mrs. Calderon

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