While teen movies are intended for a specific age group, many of us who are fully grown adults still love watching these films because they are often filled with energy and wisdom.
Whether it’s films like The Breakfast Club or Mean Girls, even if we are long past high school students, we can still relate to these movies and the character struggles just as much. What are some of the quotes that stood out the most from our favorite teen movies? Read on to find out.
10. “DO YOU THINK THEY ARE MAYBE THE SAME THING? LOVE AND ATTENTION?” - LADY BIRD
An incredible coming of age story, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as the unique leading protagonist. Her character is struggling to accept the life she leads in Sacramento, California. Her biggest desire is to move to the East Coast where she believes there is more culture, and she wants to get as far away from her mother as possible because she feels as though her mom is constantly criticizing her.
It isn’t until Lady Bird gets this sound advice from one of her teachers that she begins to reconsider her relationship with her mother. She learns that all the attention her mom gives her (even if the attention is sometimes negative), is just her own way of expressing her love. This movie is definitely worth the watch if you haven’t seen it yet, and even if you have, it’s even better the second time around.
9. “WE ACCEPT THE LOVE WE THINK WE DESERVE.” - PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
This is a beautiful quote from Perks of Being a Wallflower starring Emma Watson and Logan Lerman. Lerman plays Charlie, an introverted observer who is able to see the world in a beautiful way that others might not be able to grasp.
Paul Rudd plays Charlie’s teacher, and he provides this quote that will always stick with us. It isn’t until we love ourselves, as we can see here, that we can experience a healthy and loving relationship. If we are okay with being mistreated, it is because we think we deserve it.
8. “WE’RE ALL PRETTY BIZARRE. SOME OF US ARE JUST BETTER AT HIDING IT.”- BREAKFAST CLUB
The Breakfast Club is hands down one of the greatest teen-centric films of all time. Director John Hughes is able to look deeply into the struggles of people in this age group, and even if you aren’t a teenager, you can still easily identify with all of these characters and the situations they find themselves in.
Although at the beginning of the movie none of the characters can relate to each other because they all come from completely different social groups, as they get more comfortable during their time in detention, their real selves are revealed and their masks come off. As this occurs, we realize they are all bizarre once they allow themselves to let loose. Even the jock and the popular girl are straight-up weirdos and we love it.
7. “WHO ALLOWED YOU TO BE THIS BEAUTIFUL?” - BOOKSMART
Booksmart is a wonderful coming of age film that has a number of unique and inspiring lessons to be learned throughout the film. One of these lessons is to value your platonic friendships just as you would your romantic relationships.
We love seeing the unbreakable bond grow between the two main characters and this quote reminds us how important it is to lift your friends up and make them feel good about themselves.
6. “WE’LL ALWAYS BE FREAKS AND WE’LL NEVER BE LIKE OTHER PEOPLE!” - AMERICAN BEAUTY
Let that freak flag fly! Thora Birch’s character says it best in American Beauty when she and her boyfriend are accused of being freaks. Instead of taking offense to it, she embraces it because being different is always better than being a conventional person who exists to be normal.
Being different means you aren’t afraid to be your true self. If being authentic means being a freak, then maybe being labeled as such is actually a good thing.
5. “UGH, AS IF!” - CLUELESS
Everyone associates the phrase “As If” with Cher Horowitz because this character is the queen of inventing slang words that we still use to this day. “As If” is just one of the many phrases that we love from Alicia Silverstone’s character in Clueless, including “totally buggin’” and “total betty”.
All of her original sayings make her even more lovable than she already is because she exudes originality as well as confidence for frequently blurting out these terms. There should be a whole dictionary dedicated to Cher Horowitz invented slang because we’d totally buy it if we could.
4. “BUT THE REALLY AMAZING THING IS, IT IS NOBODY’S GODDAMN BUSINESS” - EASY A
Easy A stars Emma Stone as a high school student who is channeling her inner Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter by wearing a giant red “A” on her chest. She is trying to embrace the rumors that are surrounding her, claiming that she is “easy”.
Her character Olive decides to take this with stride and she single-handedly redefines what it means to be a sexually active female throughout her high school. It is a movie that is filled with excellent life lessons and it was the film that caused most of us to adore Stone as an actress.
3. “WHAT, LIKE IT’S HARD?” - LEGALLY BLONDE
What teenager hasn’t thrown a Legally Blonde viewing party at least once in their lives? Even though the movie takes place at grad school, it is a film that teenagers tend to flock to. This is because there is something so endearing and relatable about Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elle Woods.
Most of us can identify with her treatment at Harvard where she is an outcast who is misjudged. We love that she is never afraid to embrace her authentic self, even if it goes against the grain. When she gets accepted into Harvard, she uses this quote to prove herself as a perfectly capable and intelligent lady, even if society tries to convince her otherwise.
2. “SHE DOESN’T EVEN GO HERE!” - MEAN GIRLS
Mean Girls is truly one of the funniest movies of our generation. It focuses on the authentic high school experience which unfortunately tends to include a whole lot of bullying. Tina Fey masterfully gave us a peek into the lives of “The Plastics” aka the meanest/most popular girls in the school. Towards the end of the film, the teachers throw an assembly to address all of the issues they’ve noticed throughout the school, all thanks to the Burn Book that the girls have created where they basically insult everyone in the grade and spread rumors about them.
During the assembly scene, a girl walks up to the stage and gives a whole tearful speech about how she wishes high school could be more like middle school where everyone just bakes cakes made out of “rainbows and smiles”. Damien points out the fact that the girl giving the speech doesn’t even go to their school, to which she admits is true- she just has a lot of feelings.
1. I WANNA GO TO THE ROOFTOP AND SCREAM “I LOVE MY BEST FRIEND, EVAN!” - SUPERBAD
Don’t we all love movies that center around friends who love each other unconditionally? Superbad is one of the best examples of this because, while the film does see the boys in romantic relationships with other girls, the real romance revolves around Evan and Seth.
Although they love each other platonically, this doesn’t change the pure level of affection they share for one another. They are in a shameless bromance, and this quote is proof.
