The comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once amassed huge acclaim from movie fans, critics, and awards bodies thanks to its unique take on the multiverse, its compelling characters, and its moving story. There are more than a few tear-jerking scenes in the sci-fi film, which uses its fantastical premise as a background for its more important narrative about a mother (Michelle Yeoh) and daughter (Stephanie Hsu) who are experiencing a lot of internal anguish that many people can relate to.
From Joy’s chilling line about the guilt she carries to Waymond’s (Ke Huy Quan) admission about doing laundry and taxes, the saddest Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes reflect the dysfunctional Wang family’s main conflicts with each other. It’s easy to see the impressive emotional depth that the film has through the well-written quotes that will likely stay with viewers long after they’ve seen the movie.
10 “Becky Is A Very Good Friend.”
Evelyn Quan Wang
When Joy is introducing Becky (Tallie Medel) to Gong Gong (James Hong) as her girlfriend, she struggles to find the right word for “girlfriend” in Mandarin. Instead of helping her, Evelyn steps in and turns it into a disheartening scene when she says Becky is a “good friend.” Joy’s reaction says everything the audience needs to know about how hurtful that line is, as she’s obviously disappointed and understandably angered by her mom’s insensitive decision. The moment is only made worse by the fact that Becky has no idea what just happened. Evelyn thankfully makes up for this towards the end of the film with a proper introduction.
9 “If Nothing Matters, Then All The Pain And Guilt You Feel For Making Nothing Of Your Life Goes Away – Sucked Into A Bagel.”
Jobu Tupaki
A thought-provoking quote from Jobu perfectly captures her motivation for making the black hole that’s destroying everything in the multiverse. After explaining to Evelyn how “nothing matters,” she reveals the personal impact that this realization has, underscoring how much she’s hurting by thinking she has made nothing of her life. It’s the scene that turns the monstrous Jobu Tupaki into just another version of Joy, albeit a dangerous and seemingly omnipotent one. She carries the same pain that Evelyn’s Joy does, and this line makes the audience feel that pain too.
8 “I Saw My Life Without You. I Wish You Could Have Seen It… It Was Beautiful.”
Evelyn Quan Wang
Before Evelyn is reminded of how important Waymond really is to her and how much she actually loves him, she seems to be learning all the wrong lessons. For the most part, Waymond Wang is a very likable character, which is why it’s a gut-wrenching moment when Evelyn coldly told him that life without him was “beautiful.” Her quote is not just sad because of Waymond’s heartbreaking reaction, but also because it highlights how much Evelyn hates her current variant. She’s too caught up in the tempting what-ifs that the multiverse offers, which prevent her from seeing the value in her own life and family.
7 “I’m Tired. I Don’t Want To Hurt Anymore And For Some Reason When I’m With You, It Just Hurts The Both Of Us.”
Joy Wang
The emotional argument that takes place between Evelyn and Joy towards the end of the film is one of the most tumultuous and memorable parts of the whole epic journey. Joy admits that she’s tired of how every interaction “just hurts” the both of them, asking Evelyn to let her go. It’s a monologue that expresses just how miserable Joy is, which is why it’s so jarring to hear Evelyn reply with “okay.” It’s thankfully not how Everything Everywhere All at Once ends, as the duo begins the long road to healing and forgiveness soon after.
6 “Do You Know Why I Actually Built The Bagel? It Wasn’t To Destroy Everything. It Was To Destroy Myself.”
Jobu Tupaki
The bagel that Jobu builds is destroying the entire multiverse, but that wasn’t the goal she had in mind when she built it. She just wants a way to “finally escape” and “actually die,” inviting Evelyn to go with her so that she doesn’t “have to do it alone.” It’s a tear-jerking confession that makes the audience want to hug the lonely character. She has seen too much and felt too much and, thinking that she can never be happy again, she chooses to walk into the abyss with the one person who understands her.
5 “You Have So Many Goals You Never Finished, Dreams You Never Followed. You’re Living Your Worst You.”
Alpha Waymond
With so many intriguing variants of Evelyn across the multiverse, it’s hard for the protagonist to believe that she’s the only one who can save the world. Waymond’s explanation only makes her feel worse, as it turns out that she’s the worst version of herself. Since “every failure” in Evelyn’s universe “branched off into a success for another Evelyn in another life,” she’s unusually close to countless “alternate life paths,” which makes her powerful. This is, of course, not what the offended Evelyn hears, as she’s hung up on how she’s worse than “that hot dog one.”
4 “We’re All Small And Stupid.”
Evelyn Quan Wang
After a long time spent fighting, Evelyn and Joy both end up as rocks in a world within Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s multiverse where the conditions weren’t right for life to form, and Joy launches into an angry rant about how humanity’s “whole deal” is to be “small and stupid.” After detailing how people eventually realized they weren’t the center of the universe, Evelyn finishes her statement about how “every new discovery” is just a reminder of that fact. It’s a melancholic exchange, as it’s apparent that Evelyn now shares her daughter’s nihilism about the multiverse and the meaninglessness of life – this only further confirms Joy’s pessimistic outlook.
3 “Why Not Go Somewhere Where Your Daughter Is More Than Just This?”
Joy Wang
During her climactic argument with her mother, Joy can’t believe that Evelyn would choose her over Marvel-like multiversal possibilities, reminding her that she could be “anything, anywhere.” She starts crying when she asks why Evelyn would want to be with a version of her daughter who is “just this.” It’s an incredibly sad quote that reflects her insecurities and deepest fears. Joy wrongly believes that she is a disappointment, even though she’s actually the most important person in the world to Evelyn, who would risk her life traveling through the multiverse to save her.
2 “I Have Felt Everything Your Daughter Has Felt And I Know The Joy And The Pain Of Having You As My Mother.”
Jobu Tupaki
Both the audience and Evelyn finally understand who Jobu really is when she says her spine-chilling Everything Everywhere All at Once quote about how “every version of Joy is Jobu Tupaki.” This means that everything Joy has felt across the multiverse, including “the pain” of having Evelyn as her mother, is somewhere inside Jobu. It’s obvious how much hurt, guilt, and anger she carries in the way she says the haunting line. Viewers already have a good idea of where this pain comes from, as the complicated mother-and-daughter relationship is still at its worst point at that moment.
1 “So, Even Though You Have Broken My Heart Yet Again, I Wanted To Say, In Another Life, I Would Have Really Liked Just Doing Laundry And Taxes With You.”
Waymond Wang
After listening to Evelyn reject him and callously say that she doesn’t want to keep “going around in circles,” the successful variant of Waymond reminds her that he’s a fighter through a brilliant monologue. This variant gets some of the best quotes in Everything Everywhere All at Once, with this one being among the saddest in the entire film. The final line he says is brutally honest and deeply emotional, as it highlights how different his perspective is from Evelyn’s. Unlike her, he’s more than content and happy to live his life doing supposedly menial tasks like “laundry and taxes” – they become special because she was there with him.
