American Beauty Love and Sex Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from American Beauty.

Quote #1

LESTER: It's the weirdest thing. I feel like I've been in a coma for about twenty years, and I'm just now waking up.

Once Lester comes across Angela at his daughter's dance performance, all his emotions (well, lust primarily) get stirred up, and he remembers what it's like to feel passion again. He didn't realize how dead inside he'd been feeling until… he didn't feel that way.

Quote #2

ANGELA: It's okay. I'm used to guys drooling over me. It started when I was about twelve. I'd go out to dinner with my parents—every Thursday night, Red Lobster! Every guy there would stare at me when I walked in, and I knew what they were thinking. Just like I knew guys at school thought about me when they jerked off.

Here, Angela is reassuring Jane that she totally doesn't mind that Lester was perving on her at the basketball game. Angela's whole self-image seems to revolve around sex—or more specifically, who wants to have sex with her (and she also takes care to make others think she's promiscuous). We later learn it's all a front.

Quote #3

ANGELA: You were defending him! You love him! You want to have, like, ten thousand of his babies.

We don't know it quite yet, but Angela's not really as worldly and experienced as she likes to pretend—and it kind of shows here in her teasing. Sure, she's joking, but even the humor is kind of immature and reminds us that she's still a young girl, not the sexy vamp she's trying to be.