Few movies can capture what it’s like to be in a dysfunctional family, so if you’re curious, read these Little Miss Sunshine quotes we’ve gathered!
Little Miss Sunshine is a movie that starts simply. It’s about a family determined to get Olive to win the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. While traveling interstate to get to the venue, we better understand everyone’s personality.
As it turns out, each family member has their quirks. Olive’s brother is a fan of Nietzsche and vowed silence until he reached his goal, her uncle attempted suicide, and more!
Their family dynamics can be chaotic, but it portrays a realistic dysfunctional household. Moreover, it gives us a snippet of how the downsides of our life can shape us more than our victories.
Little Miss Sunshine is a must-watch, and its best quotes are must-reads. Don’t miss out on the best ones from the movie when you read through to the end of our collection!
And make sure to check out these Million Dollar Baby quotes and American Beauty quotes.
Best Little Miss Sunshine Quotes
1. “There are two kinds of people in this world—winners and losers. Inside each and every one of you, deep inside the core of your being, is a winner waiting to be awakened and unleashed upon the world.” – Richard Hoover
2. “Do you know what a loser is? A real loser is somebody who is so afraid of not winning they don’t even try.” – Grandpa Edwin Hoover
3. “It’s not about luck, Frank. Luck is the name losers give to their own failings. It’s about wanting to win. Willing yourself to win. You’ve gotta want it badder than anyone.” – Richard Hoover
4. “Richard, whatever happens, you tried to do something on your own, which is more than most people ever do. I include myself in that category. You took a big chance, it took guts, and I’m proud of you.” – Grandpa Edwin Hoover
5. “No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier! Outstanding!” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
6. Olive Hoover: “Hi, Uncle Frank!”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Oh, hey, Olive. Wow, you’re getting big, almost like a real person.”
7. Olive Hoover: “Grandpa?”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Yeah?”
Olive Hoover: “I don’t wanna be a loser.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “You’re not a loser. Where’d you get the idea you’re a loser?”
Olive Hoover: “Because Daddy hates losers.”
8. Olive Hoover: “Grandpa, am I pretty?”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Olive, you are the most beautiful girl in the whole world.”
Olive Hoover: “You’re just saying that.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “No! I’m madly in love with you, and it’s not because of your brains or your personality. It’s because you’re beautiful, inside and out.”
9. Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Can I give you some advice? Well, I’m going to give it to you, anyway. I don’t want you making the same mistakes I made when I was young. Dwayne, that’s your name, right? Dwayne? Listen to me, this is the voice of experience talking. Are you listening? F*ck a lot of women, Dwayne.”
Richard Hoover: “Dad!”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “I got no reason to lie to you, kid. F*ck a lotta women. Not just one, a lot. So are you gettin’ any? Is it going anywhere?”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “No? Jesus! What are you? Fifteen? You should be gettin’ that young stuff! That young stuff is the best stuff in the world!”
Richard Hoover: “Hey! Hey! Dad! That’s enough! Stop it!”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Will you kindly not interrupt me, Richard! See, right now, you’re jailbait; they’re jailbait. It’s perfect. I mean, you hit 18, man! You’re talkin’ about three to five.”
10. “Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he’s also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he, uh, he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life, ’cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn’t learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you’re 18—ah, think of the suffering you’re gonna miss. I mean, high school? High school—those are your prime suffering years. You don’t get better suffering than that.” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
Little Miss Sunshine Quotes for Some Words to Ponder On
11. “You do what you love, and f*ck the rest.” – Dwayne Hoover
12. “Whatever happens, we’re a family. And what’s important is that we love each other. And I love you guys so, so much.” – Sheryl Hoover
13. “Now I believe we’d be doing a grave disservice to his memory if we were to just give up now.” – Richard Hoover
14. “Dwayne has a goal. He has a dream. It may not be my dream, and it may not be yours, but he’s pursuing it with great conviction and focus.” – Richard Hoover
15. “We’ve gotta let Olive be Olive.” – Sheryl Hoover
16. Olive Hoover: “I practice every day.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Well, then, good luck.”
17. Olive Hoover: “Why did you try and kill yourself?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “I tried to kill myself because I was very unhappy.”
Olive Hoover: “Why were you unhappy?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “There were a lot of reasons, mainly though I fell in love with someone who didn’t love me back.”
Olive Hoover: “Who?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “One of my grad students. I was very much in love with him.”
Olive Hoover: “Him? It was a boy? You fell in love with a boy?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Yes, I did. Very much so.”
Olive Hoover: “That’s silly.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Yes, you’re right. It was very, very silly.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “There’s another word for it.”
Olive Hoover: “So that’s when you tried to—.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Well, no, you see, that was okay, except he went and fell in love with a colleague of mine, Larry Sugarman.”
Sheryl Hoover: “Who’s Larry Sugarman?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “He’s the second highest-regarded expert on Marcel Proust in the US.”
Richard Hoover: “Oh. Who’s number one?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “That would be me, Richard.”
18. Richard Hoover: “I feel sorry for you.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “You do?”
Richard Hoover: “Sarcasm is the refuge of losers.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “It is? Really?”
Richard Hoover: “Sarcasm is losers trying to bring winners down to their level, and that’s step four in the program.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Thank you for opening my eyes to what a loser I am! How much do I owe you for those pearls of wisdom?”
Richard Hoover: “Oh, that one’s on the house!”
Sheryl Hoover: “Guys, stop it, stop it!”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “He started it!”
19. “What, dinner? What, you don’t talk anymore? Why not? You can talk, but you choose not to. Is that Nietzsche? You don’t speak because of Friedrich Nietzsche? Far out.” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
20. Sheryl Hoover: “I’m so glad you’re still here.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Well, that makes one of us.”
Little Miss Sunshine Quotes to Give You a Fresh Perspective
21. “Who do you hang out with? No one? What about your family?” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
22. “‘Okay, but I’m not going to have any fun.’ Yeah, well, we’re all with you on that one, Dwayne.” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
23. “Not on your watch; I wouldn’t do that to you. Thank you, Dwayne. Coming from you, that means a lot. Goodnight.” – Dr. Frank Ginsberg
24. Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “I take it you didn’t like it at Sunset Manor?”
Sheryl Hoover: “Frank.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Are you kidding me? It was a f*cking paradise. They got pool, they got golf; now I’m stuck with Mr. Happy here, sleeping on a f*cking sofa. Look, I know you are a homo and all, but maybe you can appreciate this. You go to one of those places, there’s four women for every guy. Can you imagine what that’s like?”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “You must have been very busy.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Ho-oh. I had second-degree burns on my johnson, I kid you not.”
Dr. Frank Ginsberg: “Really?”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Forget about it.”
Olive Hoover: “What are you talking about?”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Politics.”
25. Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Every night, it’s the f*cking chicken! Holy God Almighty! Is it possible, just once, we could get something to eat for dinner around here that’s not the goddamned f*cking chicken?”
Richard Hoover: “Whenever you are ready to cook your own food, you’re more than welcome to it.”
Grandpa Edwin Hoover: “Well, at Sunset Manor, ya know—.”
Richard Hoover: “If you liked Sunset Manor so much, you shouldn’t have gotten yourself kicked out of there, right?”
Who Among the Hoover Family Could You Relate to the Most?
The Hoover family is dysfunctional, and no one can contest that. However, through each member, we get fresh insights that will change the way we look at things.
On the way to the pageant venue, they get into random predicaments that force them to work together to resolve all sorts of issues. They recognized that the only way to move forward was to turn to each other for support. The Hoover family was honest with themselves and others and didn’t shy away from what they were experiencing.
This is something essential to embody because suffering makes us who we are. Often, we think that our wins define who we are as a person. But, our suffering—and how we overcome them—molds us into the people we are today.
Our family also plays a significant role in this, as they are the people who will guide us throughout our childhood. No family will ever get along 100%; there will be fights and disagreements. Just be open and communicate, as this is the key to fixing anything!
With that, we hope this list of Little Miss Sunshine quotes was able to shift your perspective on family and what shapes you as an adult. Look back and read this list whenever you need some words that you can relate to!
