"I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away"
About this Quote
Hughes’ specific intent feels practical on the surface: keep working, keep the engine running. But the subtext is louder. Writing “another one” isn’t ambition so much as a coping mechanism, a way to outrun the sadness that comes when a story’s spell breaks. It’s an artist’s version of pushing “next episode” before the credits can sting. The “desperately” matters: it frames the work not as a leisurely craft but as an urgent emotional need.
The context makes it hit harder. Hughes built his legacy on adolescent interiors - the liminal spaces of high school, family dysfunction, suburban boredom - where endings are always loaded because leaving is the plot. His films fetishize the last day, the final bell, the car pulling away. So this quote quietly reveals the engine behind that sensitivity: he wasn’t merely observing teenage transience; he was haunted by it, too. In Hughes’ world, the cure for goodbye is another beginning, drafted fast enough to keep the lights on in the room you just created.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hughes, John. (2026, January 16). I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-so-desperately-hate-to-end-these-movies-that-90571/
Chicago Style
Hughes, John. "I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-so-desperately-hate-to-end-these-movies-that-90571/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I so desperately hate to end these movies that the first thing I do when I'm done is write another one. Then I don't feel sad about having to leave and everybody going away." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-so-desperately-hate-to-end-these-movies-that-90571/. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.






