How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Good Will Hunting.
Quote #1
MAGUIRE: I ask you about love, y'probably quote me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable... known someone that could level you with her eyes.
It doesn't take long for Maguire to see through Will's childish mind games, no matter how clever they are. He knows that Will has experienced all of life through the books in his tiny apartment. But he also knows that Will doesn't have firsthand knowledge of the world because he's too scared to take risks with his heart.
Quote #2
MAGUIRE: And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel, to have that love for her be there forever. Through anything. Through cancer.
Maguire knows that Will is a lot smarter than he is, but he also knows he has something that Will doesn't: the true experience of loving someone and being totally out of control. He knows that Will has never dealt with watching someone he loves die of cancer, and that gives Maguire an advantage in his efforts to help Will open up.
Quote #3
MAGUIRE: You don't know about real loss, because that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much.
Maguire makes a good point when he says that Will doesn't know real loss because he's never let himself love someone enough to be devastated by losing them. And in this sense, he's never really lived. Because in Maguire's view, feeling real loss is one of the things that makes us fully human.