How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Memento.
Quote #1
TEDDY: Hey! Hey, that's not your car!
LEONARD: It is now.
TEDDY: Jesus Christ, you can't take it!
LEONARD: Why not?
TEDDY: Because the guy you just killed owns it! Somebody'll recognize it.
LEONARD: You know, I think I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer.
Leonard already stole Jimmy's clothes and how he's taking his car. Is he really just trying to avoid detection? Or is there something else at play? It seems really strange to want to put on the clothes of the man who raped and killed your wife, but maybe assuming John G.'s identity is just another type of revenge.
Quote #2
LEONARD: If you have a piece of information which is vital, writing on your body instead of on a piece of paper can be the answer. It's a permanent way of keeping a note.
That's an interesting way of thinking about it: a permanent note. But really, tattoos seem like a lot more than that: they become a part of your identity. You can throw a note away but a tattoo will be there forever. Visually, we have a much different impression of Leonard than we would have had he been tattoo-less. Like his condition, his tatted up body has very much become a part of who he is.
Quote #3
LEONARD: Beg forgiveness and then you pay.
TEDDY: You don't have a clue, you freak!
LEONARD: Beg my wife's forgiveness before I blow your brains out.
TEDDY: Leonard, you don't know what's going on. You don't even know my name.
LEONARD: Teddy.
TEDDY: 'Cause you read it off a f***ing picture. You don't know who you are.
LEONARD: I'm Leonard Shelby from San Francisco.
TEDDY: That's who you were. That's not... what you've become.
LEONARD: Shut your mouth.
TEDDY: You want to know, Lenny? Come on. Come on; let's go down to the basement. Let's go down, you and me together. Then you'll know who you really are.
As much as we hate to admit it, Teddy is 100% right here. Leonard has no clue what's happening. He has lied to himself and doesn't know he's about to kill the wrong guy… who's kind of the right guy. But if he would go into the basement he would see Jimmy and know that he's not only a killer, but has already killed a different John G.
Quote #4
Leonard is talking on the phone about Sammy. We see a shot of Sammy sitting in a chair. He is watching a person who walks in front of him. The person passes in between him and the camera, obscuring him. When we see Sammy again, he has been replaced by Leonard.
Teddy lies so often that it's hard to believe him when he tells Leonard that the story he thinks is Sammy's is actually his own. But despite Teddy being unreliable, this scene provides some pretty clear evidence that he's actually telling the truth this time. If Leonard is Sammy, that changes everything. It means his wife survived the assault and that he inadvertently killed her with her insulin shots. But does it change who he is?
Quote #5
LEONARD: We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I'm no different.
Leonard is comparing looking at ones physical appearance in a mirror to his own reading tattoos in a mirror. He's convincing himself that his need to be constantly reminded of who he is is a need that everyone experiences. Even if his is a bit more extreme, it's hardly abnormal. That's why we have this theme called identity. People care a lot about who they are… and how their hair looks.
Quote #6
LEONARD: So where are you? You're in some motel room. You just wake up and you're in... in a motel room. There's the key. It feels like maybe it's the first time you've been here but... perhaps you've been there for a week... three months, it's… it's kind of hard to say, I... I don't know. It's just an anonymous room.
We can't disagree. Not only is it an anonymous room it's also an anonymous town. And not only is it an anonymous town, but it's an anonymous man. Who is this guy narrating? He never tells us much about himself; he just appears on the screen and starts talking. Of course, he's a bit anonymous to himself as well, but we don't know that yet.