Diane: You know, it took a great deal of courage for Norman to do what he did. I admire and envy him. He has heeded Thoreau who admonished us that, quote, "Life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."
Coach: Why didn't he just say one 'simplify'?

Coach: Norm, do you want to hear a crazy, hopeless dream? I wanted to play baseball and maybe coach a little, you know. And then afterwards tend a bar in a nice place. And look what happened to me.
Sam: Coach, that's exactly what happened to you.
Coach: Oh, yeah. No wonder I'm such a happy guy.
Sam: Good try, Coach, good try.

[Norm enters Cheers with a small bird perched on his finger]
Norm: This is that bar that I was telling you about. These people sit in here night after night, wasting their lives away. But, no, don't hate them. Pity them, as I do. You see, they're chained here, unable to soar free like you and me. [goes outside] Soar, little guy, soar.
Sam: You want to sit down and have a beer or something?
Norm: Oh, no. No time for that. I just stopped in to say goodbye. You see, I'm sailing for Bora Bora.
Sam: Bora Bora?
Norm: Yeah. Ever since I was a boy, the South Pacific has been calling, "Come to me, Norm. This is where you belong." I've always ignored that call, till now. So I'm going to go to the beach and build a hut, send for Vera, and live there the rest of our lives.
Sam: Isn't that nice?
Norm: Yeah, I booked passage on one of those cargo ships where you just work light duties. We shove off at midnight, so...

Sam: Norm, has any of this helped you?
Norm: [o.s.] Yeah, I'm doing a jig in here, Sam. Go away!
Cliff: All right, Sammy, clear the decks. It's up to me. Normie, it's your best buddy.
Norm: [o.s.] Go away, Frank.
Cliff: Even in pain he can make us smile. Norm? You know it's Cliffie. And l, too, once had a dream, Norm. No, more than a dream, really. It was an all-consuming passion. I wanted to be a trapeze artist.
Sam: Trapeze artist? Like in a circus?
Cliff: No, like in your finer restaurants, Sam. When I was a lad I went to see the movie Trapeze with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
Coach: No kidding, Cliffie. Did you sit between them?
Cliff: I must have seen it 20 times. I always imagined myself up there with them, high above the center ring. The spotlight shines upon me, sweat glistens from my body. Below me, the women's eyes glaze over with lust, the men grind their teeth with envy. I lunge at the bar with almost an insane daring. Flying through the air completing, one, two, three, oh, my God, four somersaults. The first quadruple in the history of the big top, Norm! But, I became a postal carrier and the rest is history. No, Norm, having a dream isn't stupid. It's not having them that's stupid.
Carla: What's stupid is the picture of you in one of those outfits. [all laugh]

Sam: Trust me. These people are your friends, man. Just listen.
Cliff: Another toast. To Paul Gauguin, Robert Louis Stevenson and Norm Peterson. Three men cut from the same cloth, only they had to use a few more yards for our pal Norm.

Carla: Did you find Norm?
Cliff: Yeah, boy, is he weirding out.
Sam: What do you mean?
Cliff: Well, by the time I caught up to him, he was sitting in the middle of a garden. He said he wanted to smell the roses.
Diane: Well, I don't think that's weird.
Cliff: Yeah, it was a vegetable garden.
Diane: That's weird.
Cliff: Yeah. Yeah, I mentioned it to him. He said, "So I want to smell the squash. Leave me alone." Then he got up and wandered on down towards the pier. I shudder to think what he wants to smell down there.

Norm: Hey, hey, hey. Stop laughing at my pal here, all right? This man had the only dream that was more ridiculous than mine.
Cliff: Oh, yeah?
Norm: A lot more, I might add.
Cliff: Is that right, Marco Rollo?
Norm: I've got to buy a drink here for the great Cliffini.
Cliff: Oh, the next round is on me for Ferdinand Magelly-belly.
Norm: Listen to the Flying Rear-enda here.
Cliff: Oh, is that right, Christopher Colum-butt?

Diane: I challenge you to a waitressing contest. Whoever gets the most tips between now and closing time wins.
Carla: You're on, sucker. I'll even give you a ten buck head start.
Diane: That's an insult! And thank you. We'll need a judge to make sure this contest is conducted on the up and up.
Carla: It's Sam's bar, we'll let him be judge.
Sam: Oh, ladies, I'm honored, but don't you think it would be better to find someone who gives a rat's behind?
Coach: Well, I do, make me the judge.
Diane: Oh, we couldn't have a more impartial judge.
Coach: Well, thank you, Diane. Now, if either one of you suspects any wrongdoing, you come to me and I'll make an immediate and final decision.
Carla: Do we have any appeal?
Coach: Well, I think you're both cute as a button, but that's not going to affect my decision.

Cliff: Oh, oh, get ready for the good times. The big guy doth approach.
Norm: [enters slowly] [weakly] Afternoon, everybody.
All: Norm?
Diane: Norman?
Sam: Why don't you sit down, Norm?
[Norm sits down on the spot in front of the door]
Sam: What's the problem?
Norm: You know that job I landed over in Braintree? I had to take a company physical this afternoon and apparently there was something on the chest X-ray.
Coach: Something bad, Normie?
Norm: No, a happy face. Sorry, Coach. Yes, something bad. A spot of some sort. They sent it over to a specialist to take a look.
Sam: Well, now, come on, Norm, these things happen sometimes and they turn out to be nothing, They just come to nothing.
Norm: Yeah, we all come to nothing, Sam. I'm just going to get there a little sooner.

Diane: Norman, you're jumping to conclusions. Now stop being so morbid.
Norm: Ever since I heard this news, all I can think of is how I may be coming to the end of my life with nothing to show for it.
Diane: Well, you've got all of us, your friends. And we're going to be with you all the way through this.
Sam: You bet.
Coach: You mean we're going to have to have the surgery and everything, Diane? I'm not saying I won't do it!
Diane: I'll explain it later, Coach.
Coach: Everybody says, "l'll explain it later."