Domenico Soriano: [subtitled version] The more the world changes, the more it stays the same. Houses, palaces, skyscrapers. And in the middle... an old story like ours.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Domenico Soriano) in Marriage Italian Style

Guido: Accept me as I am. Only then can we discover each other.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: All the confusion of my life... has been a reflection of myself! Myself as I am, not as I'd like to be.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: Could you walk out on everything and start all over again? Could you choose one single thing, and be faithful to it? Could you make it the one thing that gives your life meaning... just because you believe in it? Could you do that?"
Claudia: I don't know... could you?"
Guido: No, the character I'm thinking of couldn't. He wants to possess and devour everything. He can't pass anything up. He's afraid he'll miss something. He's drained.
Claudia: That's how the film ends?
Guido: No, that's how it begins. Then he meets a girl at the springs. She gives him water to heal him. She's beautiful... young, yet ancient... child, yet already a woman... authentic, complete. It's obvious that she could be his salvation.
[Looks over at Claudia]
Guido: You'll wear white... with long hair, just as you do now.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: Enough of symbolism and these escapist themes of purity and innocence.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I'm the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: My Dears... Happiness consists of being able to tell the truth without hurting anyone.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: The truth is: I do not know... I seek... I have not yet found. Only with this in mind can I feel alive and look at you without shame.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: What is this flash of joy that's giving me new life? Please forgive me sweet creatures; I didn't realize, I didn't know. How right it is to accept you, to love, you... and how simple! Luisa, I feel I've been set free. Everything looks good to me, it has a sense, it's true. How I wish I could explain, but I can't... everything's going back to what it was. Everything's confused again, but that confusion is me; how I am, not how I'd like to be. And I'm not afraid to tell the truth now, what I don't know, what I'm seeking. Only like that do I feel alive and I can look into your loyal eyes without shame. Life is a party, let's live it together. I can't say anything else, to you or others. Take me as I am, if you can... it's the only way we can try to find each other.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½

Guido: You came just in time. Why are you smiling? Suppose I told you... Claudia.


--Marcello Mastroianni (as Guido Anselmi) in 8½