The 43 best quotes from The Bridges of Madison

The bridges of Madison (1992) is a romantic novel by American writer Robert James Waller. It was an immediate bestseller, establishing itself in a couple of years as one of the best-selling books of the 20th century. In addition, a film adaptation and a musical have been made.

You probably know the plot of the story thanks to the film of the same name directed by Clint Eastwood and starring him and Meryl Streep. The film has a rating of 7.6/10 on IMDb, and contributed to the popularization of the book among film fans.

Today we bring you the best phrases of The bridges of Madison both the original work and its film adaptation.

Phrases and reflections from The Bridges of Madison

The work is known for being one of the most powerful in the romantic drama genre. It has attracted the attention of adults and adolescents, as well as specialized critics.

1. “The human heart has a way of becoming great again even after it has been broken into a million pieces.”

Robert Walller wrote the novel in just 11 days. He did so while on leave from his job at the University of Northern Iowa. While photographing the Mississippi River, he focused on the covered bridges of Madison County. He coupled this with a song he had written years before about a woman named Francisca. This is the origin of the best-selling success.

2. “Complex things are easy to do. Simplicity is the real challenge.”

It was the first novel written by Waller, although not the last. She also wrote Slow Waltz at Cedar Bend (1993), Puerto Vallarta squeeze (nineteen ninety five), border music (nineteen ninety five), The paths of memory (2002), Tango in Paradise (2005) and The Long Night by Winchell Dear (2007).

3. “The old floors were good dreams. “They weren’t fulfilled, but I’m glad I had them.”

The novel managed to sell at least 60 million copies before the end of the 20th century.. It thus established itself as one of the best-selling works of that century, despite being published during the last years of this century.

4. “In a universe of ambiguity, this kind of certainty comes only once and never again, no matter how many lives you live.”

It remained one of the best-selling books in the US for several years, although its initial rise was a bit slow. The support of critics enhanced his interest among the public.

5. “Analysis destroys wholes.”

Among many who helped popularize the play was Oprah Winfrey.

6. “The heart never forgets, never gives up, the territory marked for those who came before.”

After its publication, the Madison Covered Bridges became a tourist destination, as well as a place where brides and grooms went to celebrate their weddings.

7. “Sometimes I get the feeling that you have been here a long time, more than a lifetime, and that you have lived in private places that none of us have dreamed of.”

The plot of the story is complemented by The Paths of Memory: An Epilogue to the Bridges of Madison (2002).

8. “First you have to have the images, then come the words.”

The film was adapted to film in 1995 by Clint Eastwood. He not only produced and directed it, but also starred in it alongside Meryl Streep.

9. “Reality isn’t exactly what the song started out to be, but it’s not a bad song.”

The film received several award nominations and won many of them. For her performance, Streep was nominated for best actress, although the statuette would go to Susan Sarandon for her role in Dead Man Walking.

10. “Anyone who can feel that way about a woman is worth loving themselves.”

The film was produced with a budget of $22 million and earned a total of $182 million at the box office. It was therefore a success, doubling the initial budget up to eight times..

11. “I am the road and a pilgrim and all the sails that once set sail.”

The tape is included in AFI’s 100 years… 100 passions and in AFI’s 100 years… 100 songs. These compilations from the American Film Institute (AFI) profile it as one of the best films of all time.

12. “Like two solitary birds flying across the great prairies according to the celestial reckoning, all these years and lives we have been moving towards each other.”

The film was shot chronologically from Francesca’s point of view. The scenes were filmed at various locations in Madison County.

13. “Some things, magical things, are meant to remain whole. If you look at their pieces, they go away.”

In its beginnings, the film was classified only for those over 17 years of age, this due to only one line in which reference to sex is made. Eastwood appealed and it was eventually distributed for ages 13 and up.

14. “I was acting like another woman, but I was more myself than ever.”

As expected, the film made the novel even more popular, so that its sales skyrocketed even more.

15. “I don’t like feeling sorry for myself. That’s not what I am. And most of the time I don’t feel that way. Instead, I’m grateful to have at least found you. “We could have passed by like two pieces of cosmic dust.”

The play was also adapted into a musical in 2013. It won a Tony Award and performed up to 100 times on Broadway before being dropped.

16. “Here I am walking with another person inside me. Although I think I put it best the day we broke up when I said that there is a third person that we have created from the two of us. And now I am stalked by that other entity.”

Adaptations to plays have also been made. The most popular of all is the one made by the Argentine theater director Luis Romero.

17. “There are songs that come free from the blue-eyed grass, from the dust of a thousand rural roads. This is one of them”.

After the economic success that came with the sale of the work and its rights Robert Waller made several donations to the universities where he had studied.

18. “In retrospect, it seems inevitable, it couldn’t have been any other way, a case of what I call the high probability of the improbable.”

Although his later works had some success, they could never match the popularity of his first novel.

19. “Eventually, computers and robots will run things. Humans will operate those machines, but that doesn’t require courage or strength, or characteristics like that. In fact, men are ceasing to be useful.”

Madison County has been proud to have been the place chosen to set the plot of the story. This has led to an increase in interest in the county from a tourist point of view.

20. “Something I have never been able to adapt to is understanding how they can lavish so much love and care on animals and then see them sold to the slaughterhouse.”

During the 19th century, a total of 19 covered bridges were built in the county. Of these, only 6 remain standing, which are part of the history that we all know.

21. “This is why I am here on this planet, at this moment, Francesca. Not to travel and take photos, but to love you.”

In the beginning, the bridges were covered with the aim of protecting the road. This is because it was cheaper to maintain the wooden covering than the actual bridge beams due to exposure to sun and water.

22. “Once a person knows a kiss and a kind word you can’t blame them for never wanting to live without them again.”

Since 1970, the Madison County Covered Bridge Festival has been held. It takes place the second weekend in October and attracts locals and foreigners. A detail that accompanies our phrases of The bridges of Madison.

23. “And in that moment, everything I knew to be true about me up until that moment disappeared.”

The oldest covered bridge still standing is the Imes Bridge, built in 1870. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2008.

24. “For the universe, four days is no different than four billion years. “I try to keep that in mind.”

The work has been translated into at least 40 languages ​​and the original edition, published by Warner Books, had 192 pages.

25. “We have both lost ourselves and created something else, something that exists only as an intertwining of the two of us.”

The work is one of the most important best-selling hits in American history. Consider that a classic like The catcher in the rye (1951) has sold around 65 million copies, compared to 60 million for this novel. A no minor detail of our phrases of The bridges of Madison.

26. “God or the Universe or whatever one chooses to label the great systems of balance and order does not recognize Earth time.”

The 1995 novel Puerto Vallarta squeeze It was also adapted to film in 2003. On IMDb the film has an approval rating of 5.7/10.

27. “All the philosophical rationalizations I can conjure do not prevent me from wishing you, every day, every moment, the merciless lament of the time that will never be able to spend with you, deep in my head.”

Among the actresses considered for the role of Francesca were Isabella Rossellini, Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange and Cher. Eastwood was the one who convinced the team to give it to Meryl Streep.

28. “Such physical affairs were enjoyable, yet for him the intelligence and passion born of life, the ability to move and be moved by the subtleties of mind and spirit was what really counted.”

The film was shot in a total of 52 days. Before starting, they worked for 42 days on photography for the film. Another detail of the phrases of The bridges of Madison for fans of the film adaptation.

29. “He was an animal. An elegant, tough male animal who did nothing overtly to dominate her, but he completely dominated her, exactly the way she wanted it to happen at that moment.”

During its first week at the box office, it ranked second in terms of number of sales, only behind casper.

30. “And you catch my sadness again to keep it in your pocket, to keep it away from me. Once again you have planted the garden of my nightmares with new dreams.”

The work was the first book written by Waller. This did not in any way affect its success with the public and critics.

31. “In a way, women asked men to be poets and passionate lovers at the same time.”

Despite its popularity, the plot is still controversial. Just as he has admirers all over the world, he also has strong detractors.

32. “Personalized brings predictability, and predictability brings its own comforts.”

It far surpassed gone With the Wind (1953) as the best-selling hardcover fiction book of all time. This allows us to measure the success of the work.

33. “The market kills artistic passion more than anything else.”

The prose of the novel is quite simple, and even the author…