Summary

  • Moving dialogue in Everything Everywhere All at Once reflects deep themes of emotional connection and existential discovery.
  • The best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes showcase poignant moments that explore love, self-worth, and the human condition.
  • The film weaves humor with heartfelt messages, highlighting the importance of kindness and personal growth.

Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes show why the 2022 genre-bending multiverse movie gained acclaim for being layered with deeply emotional messages. The film follows Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh) as she gets a new perspective on the life she has chosen and the family that she must reconnect with. Though the movie is filled with exciting action sequences, the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes have become widely shared parts. Whether they're deep insights into the human condition or uplifting messages of compassion, the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes are hard to forget.

As one of the most acclaimed films of 2022, winning a swathe of prestigious awards, including Best Picture at the Oscars, Everything Everywhere All at Once is naturally strewn with quotable dialogue. Though the delivery of the lines from the equally-lauded core ensemble is naturally impeccable, the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes lose none of their moving power even when they're simply read.

Related
Everything Everywhere All At Once Review: Yeoh Delivers In Imaginative Sci-Fi
Everything Everywhere All At Once is weird in the best of ways, emotional, smart, and ready to take viewers on a ride they won’t soon forget.

20 "I Would Have Really Liked Just Doing Laundry And Taxes With You."

Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan)

Ke Huy Quan as Waymond in the Wong Kar Wai scene in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The one that stands out as the most memorable and heartbreaking is when an alternate version of Waymond reunites with Evelyn at her most successful and admits to just wanting a simple life with her.

Ke Huy Quan’s return to movies is one of the most heartwarming aspects of the success of Everywhere All at Once. His performance playing the various versions of Waymond is largely the heart of the movie and provides some of the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes. However, the one that stands out as the most memorable and heartbreaking is when an alternate version of Waymond reunites with Evelyn at her most successful and admits to just wanting a simple life with her. The small idea of doing taxes and laundry together makes for a beautiful declaration of love.

19 "We're All Small And Stupid."

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

The rocks with googly eyes in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Jobu: "Every New Discovery Is Just A Reminder—"

Evelyn: "We're All Small And Stupid."

Bizzare as it may seem, perhaps one of the most emotional scenes in Everything Everywhere All at Once stars only rocks. When Evelyn and Joy/Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu) come to one of the many universes where life never formed, they sit as rocks, overlooking a peaceful landscape, and discuss the meaning of existence.

At this point, so much has happened to Evelyn that the weight of the multiverse is beginning to weigh down on her, just as it does on Jobu Tupaki with every passing moment. The two simultaneously reach an ephiphany about their place - or lack of - in the wider multiverse, but that this insignificance is actually a blessing. While this is one of the saddest quotes from Everything Everywhere All at Once, it's also one of the most thought-provoking and relatable.

18 "I Got Bored One Day And Put Everything On A Bagel."

Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu)

The Everything Bagel in Everything Everywhere All At Once

The everything bagel in Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of many brilliant concepts in directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's thought-provoking movie. It is also another great example of how Everything Everywhere is able to throw out such seemingly silly ideas only to explore them in thoughtful ways.

Jobu Tupaki creates this destructive force seemingly on a whim to destroy the multiverse. However, the more the movie reveals about Jobu, the more tragic this line becomes. She was not bored and decided to destroy everything, but rather she was alone and wanted to no longer exist.

17 "She's Seen Too Much!"

Raccacoonie

Raccoon in Everything Everywhere all at once

One of the joys of the movie is how it can introduce such an outrageous idea as a seemingly throwaway joke only to bring it back and double down on it again and again. At one point, Evelyn misremembers the Pixar movie Ratatouille and reimagines it as a story of a raccoon chef named Raccacoonie.

The joke only gets better when Evelyn finds herself in one of Everything Everywhere All at Once’s alternate universes where she is a chef whose main rival is a chef being controlled by a raccoon. The moment she discovers the raccoon who immediately attempts to silence Evelyn is one of the funniest quotes from Everything Everywhere All at Once, albeit one that only really works in context.

Related
Everything Everywhere All At Once's Real Meaning Explained
The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All At Once shows deep understanding of philosophy, the multiverse, and what it means to live a life worth living.

16 "Just Be A Rock."

Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu)

Googly eyes on a rock in Everything Everywhere All at Once

The rock scene in Everything Everywhere All at Once is not just a visually interesting and conceptually funny scene, but also has some very poignant aspects hidden behind the silliness. When Evelyn and Joy find themselves in this reality, Evelyn comments on how peaceful it is in the universe where the only thing they can do is exist as rocks.

When she then tries to apologize to Joy, Joy stops her and tells her to simply “be a rock.” It is a relatable idea that cutting themselves off from problems and emotions can sometimes be easier for people, but just as a rock is strong and durable. However, it is also cold and unmoving, something Evelyn realizes is not the way to be.

15 "Joy? Why Are You Dressed All Stupid?"

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

Stephanie Hsu as Jobu walks in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Jobu Tupaki is a terrific villain for this Everything Everywhere All at Once as she is appropriately formidable and intimidating while also being a lot of fun. This is perfectly seen in her introduction scene, which plays in great contrast to how timid Joy has been. The scene also subtly addresses the relationship between Evelyn and her daughter as Evelyn sees the flamboyantly dressed Jobu Tupaki — who is identical to Joy — and immediately insults her look. It is a funny moment of Evelyn's bluntness as a mother which, as Joy suggests, is her unique way of expressing her love.

14 "'Right' Is A Small Box Invented by People Who Are Afraid."

Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu)

Jobu Tupaki in a white room in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Like all the best movie villains, Jobu Tupaki does not see herself as the villain of the story but rather as someone who is not willing to bend to the rules of lesser people. Even the idea of destroying the universe is not an evil idea in her mind, and the notion of right or wrong is a concept she doesn't even believe in. This deeply considered moral outlook is also the reason Stephanie Hsu's villain is the source of many of the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes.

Her insistence in Everything Everywhere All at Once that people determining what is "right" do so as a reaction that comes from fear. Jobu sees herself as someone who is willing to push things further, regardless of who might try to stop her and what they label her as.

13 "I Wasn't Looking For You So I Could Kill You. I Was Just Looking For Someone Who Could See What I See, Feel What I Feel."

Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu)

Jobu Tupaki in a white room in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once has a very imposing villain in Jobu Tupaki, who has lost all sense of morality after experiencing everything in the multiverse all at once. She hunts down variant versions of her mother, all in an attempt to find someone who could share her immense pain. Until she finally comes face to face with the Evelyn whom she searches the multiverse for, Jobu Tupaki seems like a callous and cruel villain with no tangible motivation.

However, when she finds what she's been searching for, it is revealed through this poignant Everything Everywhere All at Once quote that Jobu is driven by a desire for companionship, suddenly becoming a complex and compelling character.

Related
Everything Everywhere All At Once Explained: Ending, Bagel & More
The 11-time Oscar-nominee Everything Everywhere All at Once ends on a satisfying yet question-prompting note. Here's the EEAAO ending explained.

12 "If Nothing Matters, Then All the Pain And Guilt You Feel For Making Nothing of Your Life Goes Away."

Jobu Tupaki (Stephanie Hsu)

Michelle Yeoh in insurance office in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Not only is Jobu Tupaki a more complex character than she initially seems, but her plan to destroy all of existence becomes appealing to Evelyn over the course of Everything Everywhere All at Once. One of the biggest emotions that Evelyn struggles with in the story is the feeling that she has wasted her life. This is only amplified by seeing all the other versions of herself and the things they were able to accomplish.

Jobu manipulates those feelings and shows Evelyn how the pain of her existence can simply end if all of this is wiped out.

Jobu manipulates those feelings and shows Evelyn how the pain of her existence can simply end if all of this is wiped out. This quote from the 2022 movie is not only an idea that is appealing to Evelyn, but gives insight into Jobu's own desires.

11 "I Always Learn Something When I Hang Out With The Elderly. Old People Are Very Wise."

Becky (Tallie Medel)

Tallie Medel as Becky in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Becky Sregor (Tallie Medel) is the girlfriend of Joy, Evelyn's daughter, and does her best to help out the Wang family in any way she can. When given a chance to meet Joy's grandfather (James Hong), she jumps at the chance with the kind of charming positivity that makes her — as Evelyn comes to understand by the end — Joy's version of her husband, Waymond.

She's a caring, patient, and just generally pure soul. As with some of the best aspects of the movie, Becky is a character who is able to bring in moments of levity while also representing a more emotional and touching aspect of the story. This Everything Everywhere All at Once quote perfectly captures both aspects of the character, as it's incredibly poignant, but Tallie Medel's delivery and timing also adds a healthy dash of humor.

10 "The Only Thing I Do Know Is That We Have To Be Kind. Please, Be Kind. Especially When We Don't Know What's Going On."

Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan)

Stephanie Hsu as Joy and Ke Huy Quan as Waymond look shocked in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Waymond is often looked down on by his wife, as Evelyn views him as naive, overly sentimental, and ignorant of the very real struggles the couple face. However, Waymond being so jovial and understanding, even in the face of violence and overwhelming peculiarity, is one of his most endearing features. At no point in the film does the original version of Waymond fully understand the concept of the multiverse, yet he never falters in his resolve to be kind.

His musings on kindness itself throughout the movie are heartfelt and heartbreaking, as it can seem like he is the only one trying in the universe who values kindness. This Everything Everywhere All at Once quote from the original Waymond is especially powerful, as he makes a desperate plea not because he is in control of the situation, but because at a moment where he is confused and alone, he knows that basic kindness is still a necessity.

9 "You Are Not Unlovable. There Is Always Something To Love. Even In A Stupid, Stupid Universe Where We Have Hot Dogs For Fingers, We Get Very Good With Our Feet."

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh in the Everything Everywhere All At Once hot dog finger universe

The best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes both remind the audience of life-affirming universal truths and highlight just how weird the movie can be. At the end of Everything Everywhere All At Once, upon choosing kindness over violence and hate, Evelyn comes to see her opponents not as enemies, but as broken people in need of finding their purpose. She illustrates that with a reference to a far-flung universe in which humans evolved to have hotdogs for fingers.

As Evelyn says this to the largely antagonistic IRS inspector Deidre (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the version of Evelyn in the hotdog fingers universe is in a romantic relationship with the Deidre of that universe, Evelyn saying this shows her progress in embracing Joy's relationship with Becky. It completes one of the movie's most satisfying arcs, turning Deidre into a much more sympathetic figure.

Related
Everything Everywhere All At Once: The 7 Most Intriguing Evelyn Multiverse Variants
In Everything Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn Wang visits different universes through several fascinating versions of the same person.

8 "The Universe Is So Much Bigger Than You Realize."

Alpha Waymond (Ke Huy Quan)

Ke Huy Quan holding a folder in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once dives right into the concept of the multiverse early in the film, as the version of Waymond from the Alpha universe reveals to Evelyn that the reality she knows is only a small fraction of existence as a whole. Over the course of the film, Evelyn learns the daunting truth of the universe but her embracing new ideas that once seemed alien and frightening to her is one of the film's most beautiful themes.

Like her daughter's sexuality or her husband contemplating divorce, Evelyn is confronted by things she'd rather ignore, but the universe stops allowing her to, and she rises to the occasion. While this Everything Everywhere All at Once quote might initially seem like simple exposition, it's also a blunt explanation of one of the core thematic concepts at the center of the thought-provoking movie.

7 "Every Rejection, Every Disappointment Has Led You Here To This Moment."

Alpha Waymond (Ke Huy Quan)

A fractured image of Evelyn in Everything Everywhere All At Once

All these versions of Evelyn connect to the one the audience meets at the beginning of the film.

Michelle Yeoh's Oscar-winning role gives her the unique opportunity to play multiple versions of one character in one of her best roles to date. All these versions of Evelyn connect to the one the audience meets at the beginning of the film, who had embarked on so many failed paths throughout her life that she was beginning to feel like a failure.

Evelyn failed at many things, but each of these failures connected her to a different version of herself who succeeded. Some of the best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes are reminders that failure is inevitable in life, and it's how people respond to life's challenges that really counts.

6 "It's Okay If You Can't Be Proud Of Me. Because I Finally Am."

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) looking up in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Along with the many relationships Evelyn must mend in Everything Everywhere All at Once is the one with her father. However, at the center of that is her larger issue of not feeling her own self-worth. Evelyn's father disowned her when she left home to start a life with Waymond, and she has been left wondering if that was the right decision ever since.

However, at the climax of the movie, Evelyn was able to finally confront the fact that her father could so easily discard his own daughter while also finding pride in herself after so long. It is a cathartic moment that allows Evelyn to move on from one of the most painful aspects of her life and find happiness.

5 "Of All The Places I Could Be, I Just Want To Be Here With You."

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

Evelyn hugging Joy at the end of Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once is fundamentally a film about family. This is something that Evelyn must learn throughout her journey, eventually learning how to fully express her love for her daughter, despite their many differences. It would have been easy for Evelyn to become distracted by the incredible feats done on this journey, including the traversal of the multiverse itself.

However, one of her most important takeaways from such events was the revelation of just how connected she is to her daughter. This Everything Everywhere All at Once quote reminds the audience that, despite their somewhat rocky relationship, Joy is truly the best thing that happened to Evelyn in any universe.

Related
1 Bizarre Everything Everywhere All At Once Universe Is Subtly Foreshadowed By The Movie's Opening Shot
The multiverse came as a shock to Evelyn in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but there were clues about the universes she would travel to.

4 "When I Choose To See The Good Side Of Things, I'm Not Being Naive. It Is Strategic And Necessary. It's How I Learned To Survive Through Everything."

Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan)

Evelyn and her husband talking in Everything Everywhere All At Once

Ke Huy Quan is another actor who gets to experiment with various versions of the same role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The original Waymond that the audience meets in the beginning of the movie has a lot of that same childlike spirit that Quan was known for in his child actor roles such as Short Round in the Indiana Jones franchise. However, alternate versions of Waymond show his wise and intellectual side with memorable quotes.

Waymond may not be a fighter in the same way as Evelyn, but he's more effective at fighting than her, and his successful variant reveals his primary weapons to be kindness and optimism. It's an unforgettable Everything Everywhere All at Once and a tear-jerking moment that no doubt helped Ke Yu Quan secure his Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor.

3 "I Don't Know. I Just Talked To Her."

Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan)

Ke Huy Quan as Waymond Wang looking sad in Everything Everywhere All at Once

One of the brilliant things about the climax of Everything Everywhere All at Once is how Evelyn faces impending trouble in various universes at the same time. In her own universe, she is at the risk of being arrested for assaulting Deirdre which is not as high-stakes as the universe in which all of existence is being threatened. However, it is in dealing with this dilemma that Waymond shows Evelyn the path to fixing everything.

After seeing Waymond and Deirdre exchange words, Deirdre tells the police not to arrest Evelyn. When Evelyn suggests that is impossible, Waymond explains that he simply talked to her. That simple act of humanity is a sign to Evelyn that even in the most dire of situations, kindness can overcome a lot.

2 "He Told Me About Your Situation."

Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis)

Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) sitting outside on the laundromat in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

While Waymond's act of simply talking to Deirdre instead of fighting her resolves the issue, it also requires a giant act of sympathy on behalf of Deirdre herself. For much Everything Everywhere All at One, Jamie Lee Curtis's character is seen as a cold and unpleasant antagonist who is out to get Evelyn. However, at this crucial moment, despite the fact that she is the one who has been wronged, she sees Evelyn's struggle and decides to give her a pass.

When Evelyn asks Deirdre what Waymond told her, she explains that he told her about the separation and explains her chaotic reaction to her own husband divorcing her. It is a simple yet satisfying Everything Everywhere All at Once quote that opens up Deirdre as a character, showing a sadness within her while also showing how shared experiences can make people understand and sympathize more.

1 "I'm Learning To Fight Like You."

Evelyn Quan Wang (Michelle Yeoh)

Evelyn with a googly eye on her forehead in Everything Everywhere All at Once

The best Everything Everywhere All at Once quotes are inspiring and this may be the most inspiring moment of the film. Over her long multiversal travels, Evelyn reassesses each of her closest relationships, including with her husband, Waymond. She ultimately learns that, though she had once looked down on his kindness, she could learn quite a bit from how Waymond goes through life.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is now streaming on Netflix and Prime Video.

Until then, Evelyn had always treated her husband as someone who was naive and unassuming, and whose kindness was his weakness. However, she learns over the course of her journey to appreciate Waymond's tactics, finding that kindness is a far more effective battle technique than hostility.

Everything Everywhere All at Once
R
Adventure
Comedy
Action
Where to Watch

*Availability in US

  • stream
  • rent
  • buy

In Everything Everywhere All at Once, a middle-aged laundromat owner (Michelle Yeoh) is distracted from her financial and family issues by a multiversal crisis. With just her husband (Ke Huy Quan) to support her through the confusion, she must contend with her overbearing traditional father (James Hong), a pencil-pushing auditor (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her emotionally-distant daughter (Stephanie Hsu). 

Director
Daniel Kwan , Daniel Scheinert
Release Date
March 25, 2022
Cast
Jenny Slate , Ke Huy Quan , Stephanie Hsu , Harry Shum Jr. , Jamie Lee Curtis , James Hong , Michelle Yeoh
Runtime
132 minutes