James Cool Todd Smith I try to do the right thing with money. Save a dollar here and there, clip some coupons. Buy ten gold chains instead of 20. Four summer homes instead of eight.

High Fidelity Sometimes I got so bored of trying to touch her breasts that I would try to touch between her legs instead. It was like trying to borrow a dollar, getting turned down, and asking for fifty grand instead.

Either Or by Søren Kierkegaard … what you lack, altogether lack, is faith. Instead of saving your soul by entrusting everything to God, instead of taking this shortcut, you prefer the endless roundabout way, which perhaps will never take you to your destination.

Schoolhouse Rock Helpin' wash the dishes
And I drop a cup.
Why does everything fall down
Instead of up?
Ridin' up a hill I spill
And hit the ground.
Wish I could fall up instead of always falling down.

Fight Club Narrator: When people think you're dying, they really, really listen to you, instead of just …
Marla Singer: … instead of just waiting for their turn to speak?
Narrator: Yeah. Yeah.

Friends Joey: Her place was really that bad?
Ross: You know how you throw your jacket on a chair at the end of the day? Well, like that — only, instead of a chair, it's a pile of garbage. And instead of a jacket, it's a pile of garbage. And instead of the end of the day, it's the end of time and garbage is all that has survived!

Lanark A Life in Four Books by Alasdair Gray Instead of visiting ten parties since you came here, laying ten women and getting drunk ten times, you've watched thirty days go by. Instead of making life a continual feast you chop it into days and swallow them regularly, like pills.

Lorna Luft The only difference between the Bel Air of the '90s and the Bel Air of my childhood is that now the nannies are Latina instead of British, and the cars European instead of American.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.

Mentalist, The [talking about the relationship between Melanie and Hector]
Hector Ramirez: What we had... was special.
Jane: You made her feel like a captured princess instead of a small town choir nerd. And she made you feel like a dashing pirate instead of what you are... sort of a bad-tempered pharmacist.