"You realise of course that we could never be friends."

"No man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.

So, you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?

No. You pretty much want to nail 'em too.

What if they don't want to have sex with you?

Doesn't matter because the sex thing is already out there so the friendship is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the story."

* * *

"Would you like to have dinner?... Just friends.

I thought you didn't believe men and women could be friends.

When did I say that?

On the ride to New York.

No, no, no, I never said that... Yes, that's right, they can't be friends. Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can... This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted... That doesn't work either, because what happens then is, the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you're just friends with. Like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do you have to go outside to get it? And when you say "No, no, no it's not true, nothing is missing from the relationship," the person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with, which you probably are. I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let's face it. Which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends."

Harry Burns to Sally Albright in When Harry Met Sally