"You never knocked me down. You could never knock me down."

The Movie: Raging Bull, 1980 (Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin, screenwriters, based on the book by Jake LaMotta; Martin Scorsese, dir.)
Who says it: Robert DeNiro as boxer Jake LaMotta
The context: Jake LaMotta has just lost a fight to Sugar Ray Robinson (Johnny Barnes), who beat him within an inch of his life but never knocked Jake down.
How to use it: As bravado, to show that you're down but not out.

A car full of teenagers ran a red light last night in Porter Square and made a left turn into my Beetle. They hit me hard, and my airbags deployed. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the car is wrecked -- again. I don't think it's totaled, but once it's fixed I'll be selling it. There's no denying it any more: the damn thing is jinxed.

"You gotta laugh," the Cambridge fireman said to me last night. It's true, but I cried a little too. Thank God for Tom and Hetchen Ehrenfeld, who gave me a place to stay last night and a ride to the bus station this morning; for Val Wheaton, who took care of Dizzy since I couldn't get home; and for Anna Bragdon, who picked me up in Portland this afternoon.

I'm going to quit driving for a while. My Grandmother McLaughlin never did get a driver's license, and even as a child that seemed like a wise choice to me.