Brothers & Sisters

As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the episode “Book Burning.” Did I miss one of your favorites? Share it in the comments.

Rebecca: If I pick up, I know she’s gonna make me feel guilty. And then I’m gonna give her a second chance, and she’s inevitably gonna do something awful. That’s just the story of my life.

Kitty: Why don’t we just open up a foster home for all dad’s illegitimate offspring?
Nora: Well, there’s only one — please, God.

Justin: She wants to spend the night in Santa Barbara and get a motel room.
Sarah: (to Justin, on phone) A motel room? (to Tommy, in office) Rebecca wants to have sex with him. He’s freaking out.
Tommy: Why?
Sarah: Because he likes her.
Justin: Okay, so what do I do?
Sarah: Well, whatever happens will be fine.
Justin: I don’t want fine, okay? Fine is for the girl you meet at a bar, and you don’t remember her name. Fine is not fine for this. It’s actually not even in the vicinity of fine, Sarah.
Sarah: (to Tommy) He’s losing his mind.
Tommy: (grabbing for phone) Gimme that.
Sarah: No, stop, wait! (to Justin) Listen, you’re putting way too much pressure on yourself.
Justin: All right, so what do I do? I mean, do I get, like, candles and massage oils?
Sarah: (to Tommy, disapprovingly) Oh, he’s talking massage oil.
Tommy: All right, that’s it. Give me the phone. (to Justin) Justin, what is wrong with you?
Justin: Tommy, what?
Tommy: Rebecca is smoking hot, she wants to have sex with you, it’s not complicated, just do it.
Justin: Could you put Sarah back on?
Tommy: No. You are acting like a girl. Just cut the melodrama and get busy.

Holly: Why can’t you just accept this gift in the spirit that it’s being given?
Rebecca: Which is what, to buy back a relationship with me? Mom, you never give anything without expecting something in return.

Nora: (reading) “My mother, easily a blue-stater, claims to be socially progressive. She’s even got an arrest for possession of marijuana under her belt.” What, my criminal record is now public knowledge?
Justin: You know, it’s a misdemeanor, Mom.
Nora: Says the drug addict.

Nora: “But look past what she says, and she’s the embodiment of a ’50s housewife, hiding herself behind cookbooks, a perfectly decorated home, and five children.” She’s calling me a hypocrite. I read three national newspapers every morning, not to mention my subscription to The Economist.
Justin: Mom, you know, she’s got a point, though. I mean, you kinda live in this kitchen.
Nora: Oh, really?
Justin: Really.
Nora: Why don’t I read you what she says about you?
Justin: What’d she say about me?

Sarah: (on phone) Justin, being impulsive isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Justin: Well, it’s not just impulsive. It’s immature, uninformed …
Nora: Don’t forget disaffected!
Justin: … and disaffected. Listen to this, you ready? “My brother’s generation, while they may have their hearts in the right place, are the easiest to sway because every decision is an impulsive emotional reaction. Did my baby brother really think he was going to impress our dad because he enlisted after 9/11?” I didn’t do it just to impress Dad.
Nora: Of course you didn’t, It’s mean-spirited and condescending.
Justin: And she better stop with this “baby brother” stuff, too.

Sarah: “My older sister’s a product of my mother’s conflicted ideals. She tries to do it all — the home, the family, the 70-hour work week — and then she’s disappointed that she can’t.” Well, Mom, that’s true.
Justin: Well, you got off easy, Miss “C.E.O. Soccer Mom Who’s Too Hard on Herself.”
Nora: Meanwhile, I’m the liberal fascist. Page 72.
Sarah: (to Tommy) Mom — liberal fascist — page 72.

Tommy: She’s making me sound like some throwback from the ’50s. Listen to this: “The immovable, entrenched-in-his-own-point-of-view, traditional man’s man who believes he’s obligated to hold the mantle of our forefathers.”
Sarah: Well, you are running our dad’s company.
Tommy: She doesn’t actually think she’s going to publish this, right?
Sarah: I don’t know, my brother, “the Retro White Guy.”
Tommy: This has to be libelous.
Sarah: Maybe. Why don’t you ask Kevin? Oh no, that’s right, Retro White Guy fired him.

Kevin: Oh, don’t even get me started. I’m the obsessive cynic hiding behind identity politics? You know why I’m obsessive? I’m a gay man living in a country where I can’t legally marry the guy I love in 48 states.
Tommy: Kev, there’s got to be something we can do about this, right?
Kevin: Tommy, you’re not seriously asking me for legal advice, are you?

Robert: Great, so we’re all in the same boat. Mad at you and pretending we’re not.

Nora: God, I thought we were past this. I thought you’d changed. I hate this part of you.
Robert: Nora, that’s enough. You know, the very thing that you like least about Kitty is the thing that I love the most about her. She is up-front, she is honest, she is opinionated, just like the rest of you. She invited you here tonight because she thought you’d make a good impression.
Kevin: Oh, I see you haven’t read the book.
Robert: No. No, I didn’t go into her bag and read something she wasn’t prepared for me to see.
Nora: Robert, I understand you’re feeling protective. But this is between Kitty and us.
Robert: No. No. Tonight is about Kitty and me. It’s not about anybody else. All you needed to do was keep your opinions to yourself for two hours.
Nora: We tried.
Robert: Well, you didn’t try hard enough. Look, I spend all my time dealing with spoiled, self-centered politicians. And tonight, I feel like I never left D.C.
Nora: Well, we aren’t politicians, Robert. We’re human beings. And we don’t know how to hide our feelings and pretend everything is hunky-dory.
Robert: It’s not pretending. It’s being considerate.
Nora: I am considerate. I consider all my children all the time. And you don’t know what it’s like to feel that you’ve been betrayed by one of them.
Robert: No, no, I know how you feel. I know how all of you feel. ‘Cause the minute you have a feeling, you start spewing with complete disregard for anybody else like a bunch of children. You’re adults. Get a filter.

Rebecca: This woman invested 20 years of her life being a mistress for this money. It’s dirty money. If I take this money, I am just as bad as her.

Sarah: I’m just an easy target. Your daughter won’t talk to you, my mother just told you about Ryan Lafferty, it’s pretty clear you’re taking your self-loathing out on me.

Nora: Your dad was the one you respected and admired. I was just the one who drove you back and forth to ballet class.

For more recaps and memorable lines, visit the pages for Season 1 and Season 2.

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