20 Years Later: Friends’ 10 Most Quotable Lines

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Friends’ premiere episode. We are rerunning this piece, which was originally published on March 11, 2013. Vulture’s commenters had many more suggestions, which you can read here. And read Margaret Lyons’s piece on why she still loves the show a decade after it ended.

PI-vot! If you’ve moved a couch in the last ten years, some unhelpful person has probably shouted this as you’ve hoisted it down a hallway or flight of stairs. PI-vot! Ross Geller will live on forever. But that’s just one of many Friends lines that’s worked its way into everyday use. Let’s take a walk through the show’s most potent quotables and concepts, covering romance, revenge, and, yes, couch-moving.

1. “We were on a break!�

Sorry, Bill Clinton: Ross’s dalliance with the girl from the copy place is what defined — or redefined — fidelity in the late nineties.

2. “Here come the meat sweats.�

Before Joey Tribianni, we did not have a term to describe the exhaustion and exertion of overeating. (Note: Unfortunately, most Friends clips have had embedding disabled.)

3. “When were you … under me?�

It’s just a good way to describe that time before you got over someone.

4. The concept of being lobsters.

Love is real! It’s a thing.

5.  “Fifteen Yemen Road, Yemen.�

Anytime anyone recites an address, all we can hear is Janice.

6. “Pivot!�

It’s Ross at his worst, but maybe Friends at its best.

7. “Gum would be perfection.�

Sometimes gum really would be perfection.

8. “Seven!�

Quotable and helpful.

9. “Could I be wearing any more clothes?�

It’s rare to wear all of someone else’s clothing. But it’s common to dress in one too many layers.

10. Putting books in the freezer.

Fine, this isn’t a quote. But as a concept, putting a scary or sad book in the freezer to halt its progress is just a good idea. It just is!