How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Citizen Cane.
Quote #7
LELAND: You want love on your own terms, don't you, Charlie—love according to your own rules.
According to Leland, Charles Kane is totally incapable of letting himself be vulnerable with another person. He needs everything on his own terms or else he goes to pieces. And that's just the problem, because he desperately wants love but has no clue how to love someone properly.
Quote #8
KANE: To love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody knows... his own.
Eventually, Charles Kane admits to his friend Leland that he wants love on his own terms and that's that. In his mind, a person can only love on their own terms because he can't imagine it being any other way. The idea that two people can be totally vulnerable with each other and share their lives is completely off his radar.
Quote #9
LELAND: No. I wish you'd go home to Emily. She'll be pretty upset by all this—she still loves you—
Leland thinks that even with everything that's happened with Kane's public affair, his wife Emily still loves him and he should go home to her. But that means Kane will have to humble himself and be vulnerable, and that's not something he plans on doing anytime soon. So he just lets his marriage dissolve.