October Road

It is the fool who fails to return to the place of his last happiness!

Never settle for anything less than the unexpected adventure.

You make a terrible mistake. You only get one shot to get it back.

Bennett Goldman(Editor): Dufresne College called. They wanna know if you'd be interested in teaching a one-day intensive on the art of the novel.
Nick Garrett: Not so much. Dufresne College - -that's in my hometown. I haven't been back there in 10 years. There's some people there that might not be so happy to see me.
Bennett Goldman(Editor): Maybe that's why you're blocked. Go back there. Make peace with it all. You've got to get past your fears, kiddo. G. Gordon Liddy was afraid of rats, so he cooked one up and ate it. Fear gone.
Nick Garrett: If you're suggesting that I cook and eat my old friends, I can assure you, in their opinion, I already have.

Hannah Daniels: Right. I think it was two weeks before my 18th birthday that you left. Yes, I'm quite sure because I remember getting those roses, thinking they were for my birthday, but they weren't. They were a goodbye present as in, goodbye I'm no longer in your present.

Nick Garrett: Look, I really am sorry, Eddie. I never thought anyone would get torn up in the process, especially you. I left here that summer with every intention of coming back to the Ridge. Then on the last night of the trip... I'm literally packing my bags and... I remembered something mom told me before she died. She said "You gotta promise me, Nicky... never to settle for anything less than unexpected adventure." And I couldn't kick the feeling that if I came back here, I'd be have giving up on that. It's like once I stayed away... staying away became a way. Any of this make sense?

Eddie Latekka: Hey Ikey! What do you even know about Janet? She may be the coolest person in this bar, but you'll never find out 'cuz you're too busy judging her on the outside, instead of finding out what's on the inside.
Ikey: All right, maybe I should find out what's on the inside. My guess is cake. Lots of cake.

Dean Leslie Etwood: Is this a joke? Because if this is a joke I'm still stuck in the setup. Which as you may recall involved you panicking and sputtering your way out of a one day seminar, with a case of the dry-heaves, leaving an entire lecture hall in the lurch. And now you want me to give you your own class?
Nick Garrett: Just, a little class. A nice, little graduate writing class.
Dean Leslie Etwood: What makes you think you can actually teach? And please don't tell me it's because you wrote a popular novel.
Nick Garrett: No, no. But... the journey, getting there, the journey which those students wish to embark upon, I can share my experience.
Dean Leslie Etwood: Then let's talk about that journey.
Nick Garrett: Let's talk about it.
Dean Leslie Etwood: The um, epic struggle of a coward who left his home, wrote a book about the friends and family that he abandoned, for reasons unknown, and now is afraid to face his own life.
Nick Garrett: Wow. I think you're leaving out the part where I burned down the orphanage and drunk-dialed the pope.
Dean Leslie Etwood: A teacher by nature is a leader. And a leader is someone who embraces their life. Not one who runs away from it. In other words, Mr. Garrett, my students have nothing to learn from you.

Nick Garrett: Just that she's like Stalin, only without the dreamy compassion.

Aubrey: And thus, the arsonist returns to the scene of his last great blaze.
Nick Garrett: Going down in flames does seem to be the motif.
Aubrey: What's the difference between self-pity and self-loathing?
Nick Garrett: Well I'd answer you but I'm too busy feeling sorry for my vile existence.

Eddie Latekka: Nah, it's nothing like that. I just wanna apologize for roughing up your friend. A few too many tequilas, misguided anger.

Dean Leslie Etwood: I am thinking of the students. That's why I'm not hiring Mr. Garrett. Because he's the very worst thing a teacher could be. A dilettante. Someone who does a job to suit his momentary needs. He reminds me of another man who came down to teach at a school in a parish of New Orleans. Only this man, he told the students that they could learn to sing. And so he sang to them, and the song was, uh, "Where Is Love" from the show "Oliver". But then this man, he left soon after, went back to his real life, leaving the students devastated. I remember that, because I was one of those children. And I remember the crushing sense of loss when that man left. So do not talk to me about the students Mrs. Weiner. Because everything I do, every fiber of my being is for these students.

Janet The Planet Meadows: I've always said Eddie, as shady as it may be, you got to admire a guy who conjures up a talking raccoon to impress the ladies.
Eddie Latekka: Yeah, I think maybe what I've got to work on is the type of ladies I'm trying to impress.

Eddie Latekka: Maybe sometime you want to come out, meet Ernesto, the singing koala bear who lives in my attic?

The Commander: Just because you are an idiot, it doesn't mean you have to act like one.

Ronny: Not true! I think we can do much better. Forget about Hannah and aging documents. Nothing beats a live testimonial. It's like I always said - "If you can't deliver the bacon, bring them the pig!"

Nick Garrett: Look, I'm trying to confront this stuff that I ran from years ago. And I'm willing to face anything, anything that comes my way. I will not leave you, Dean Etwood. Or your students either. This time I'm not leaving anything until it's ready to be left.

Dean Leslie Etwood: What makes you think you can actually teach? And please, don't tell me it's because you wrote a popular novel.
Nick Garrett: No! No. But... the journey. Getting there. The journey that those students wish to embark upon. I can share my experience.
Dean Leslie Etwood: Then let's talk about that journey.
Nick Garrett: Let's talk about it.
Dean Leslie Etwood: The, ahm, epic struggle of a coward who left his home, wrote a book about the friends and family that he abandoned for reasons unknown and now is afraid to face his own life. A teacher by nature is a leader and a leader is someone who embraces their life. Not one who runs away from it. In all the world Mr. Garrett, my students have nothing to learn from you.