Love means never having to say you're sorry is a line from the 1970 movie Love Story starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal. Love Story is a 1970 romance motion picture drama based on the 1970 best-seller, written by Erich Segal, and directed by Arthur Hiller. ... Alice MacGraw (born April 1, 1938 in Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York) was an American model and actress. ... Patrick Ryan ONeal (born April 20, 1941) is an American actor. ...

The quote was voted #13 in the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of top movie quotes.^[1] The American Film Institute (AFI) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act. ... Part of the AFI 100 Years. ...

The quote appears twice in the film. Once toward the middle when MacGraw's character Jennifer Cavilleri said it, and again as the last line in the film, repeated by O'Neal's character Oliver Barrett IV as a tribute to Jennifer.

Criticism

Many consider the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry" to be a nonsensical piece of fluff, while others have condemned the quote as advocating the notion that "love" means one can commit abuse, violence, adultery against a loved one and never have to apologize for one's actions no matter how vile they are.

Influences, parodies and spoofs

• John Lennon famously said, "Love means having to say you're sorry every fifteen minutes."
• Toward the end of the 1972 screwball comedy What's Up, Doc?, which stars Ryan O'Neal, when Barbra Streisand's character coos "Love means never having to say you're sorry" while batting her eyelashes, O'Neal's character responds, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."
• The Simpsons features an episode where the Simpson family rent the video Love Story. When the movie got to the line "Love means never having to say you're sorry," Lisa objects, "No it doesn't!"
• A song by reggae artist Beres Hammond is entitled "Love Means Never Having To Say I'm Sorry"
• An episode of television's "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" is entitled "Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry."
• An episode of "Doogie Howser, M.D." is entitled "Love Means Constantly Having to Say You're Sorry."
• In the Rugrats episode "Rebel Without a Teddy Bear", Angelica remarks that "[b]eing bad means never having to say you're sorry."
• In an episode of Nightcourt, Judge Harry Stone quips, "Being judge means never having to say you're sorry."

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), born John Winston Lennon, was an iconic English 20th century composer and singer of popular music, best known as the founding member of The Beatles, in which he and Paul McCartney formed the massively successful Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership... Whats Up, Doc? is a screwball comedy directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan ONeal, and Madeline Kahn. ... Barbara Joan Streisand (born April 24, 1942 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American singer, theatre and film actress, composer, film producer and director. ... The Simpsons is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Network, becoming one of the first hits for the network, and is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed television shows ever produced. ... Beres Hammond (b. ... Sabrina, the Teenage Witch was the name of a American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. ... The television show Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989–1993) starred Neil Patrick Harris as a brilliant teenaged doctor who was also faced with the problems of being a normal teenager. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Angelica Charlotte Pickles is a character voiced by Cheryl Chase in the Nickelodeon shows Rugrats and All Grown Up!, and is among the series original characters. ...

References