Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness...

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods
There is a rapture on the lonely shore
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more...
(Lord Byron)

And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.


I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.


It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west.

I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.

Happiness only real when shared.

You see...I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the curve

Alfred: A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of the tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine... The bandit had been throwing them away.

Bruce Wayne: Then why steal them? 

Alfred: Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. 

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The Jocker (to Rachel): A little fight in you. I like that. 

Batman: Then you're going to love me.

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The Jocker: You just couldn't let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won't kill you, because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.

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The Jocker: Do you wanna know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little... emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards? 

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Batman: What did you do? 

The Jocker: I took Gotham's white knight, and brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. Y'see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little...push.

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The Jocker: You'll see, I'll show you, that when the chips are down, these uh... civilized people, they'll eat each other. You see, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve

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The Jocker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So, when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know that I'm telling the truth. 

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The Jocker: It's the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had plans, and uh, look where that got you. I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that like a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all, part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds.

Charlie Wilson's War

Gust Avrakotos: There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse... and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful. The boy got a horse". And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later, the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everybody in the village says, "how terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight... except the boy can't cause his legs messed up. And everyone in the village says, "How wonderful"...and the Zen master says, "We'll see."
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Joanne Herring: Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing?
Charlie Wilson: Well, tradition mostly.
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Charlie: You mean to tell me that the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is to have the Afghans keep walking into machine gun fire 'til the Russians run out of bullets?
Gust: That's Harold Holt's strategy, not U.S. strategy.
Charlie: What is U.S. strategy?
Charlie: Most strictly speaking, we don't have one. But we're working on it.
Charlie: Who's 'we'?
Gust: Me and three other guys.
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Joanne: May I ask what it is that I've done to make you dislike me, Mr. Avrakotos?
Gust:I like you just fine, Mrs. Herring, it's just been my experience that when people with money and too much free time get involved in politics, pretty soon, I forget who it is I'm supposed to be shooting at.
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Joanne: Are you Catholic, Mr. Avrakatos?
Gust: Greek Orthodox.
Joanne: Still a Christian, though.
Gust: Imagine my relief.
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Gust: Promises were made!
Cravely:Not by me.
Gust: I've been with the company for twenty-four years. I was posted in Greece for fifteen. I've advised and armed the Hellenic Army. I've neutralized champions of communism. I've spent the past three years... learning Finnish!! Which would come in handy here in Virginia, and I'm never ever sick at sea. So I wanna know why... I'm not gonna be your Helsinki station chief!
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Gust: Excuse me, what the fuck?

I feel it in my fingers...

(recently saw this one... found it oddly funny.)

Sam: Worse than the total agony of being in love?

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Juliet: Banoffee pie? 

Mark: No, thanks. 
Juliet: Thank God. You would've broken my heart if you'd said yes. 
Mark: Oh, right, well, lucky you.

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Billy Mack: Oh yeah... hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs...... Become a pop star, and they giv'em to you for free!

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Daniel: So, let's go. We can definetly crack this. Remember... I was a kid once too. So come on, it's someone from school, right?

Sam: Yeah.

D: Aha, good, good. And what does she - he feel about you?

S: SHE doesn't even know my name. And even if she did, she'd despise me. She's the coolest girl in school and everyone worships her because she's heaven.

D: Good. Good. Well... Basically, you're fucked, aren't you?

-----

Sam: Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.

Venus

Maurice: I am about to die and I know nothing about myself.

Ian: You have been loved, Maurice. You've been adored.

Maurice: Yes. And so have you Ian, a little bit. Except you didn't always noticed it.

Maurice: My dear, would you pass me my trousers?

Jessie: What is that?

M: A catheter

J: Oh, my god!

M: I think it's leaking.

J: I don't want it n my shoes! You're always dripping, Maurice. There's always bits of you where there shouldn't be.

Maurice: For most men, the woman's body is the most beautiful thing they will ever see.

Jessie: What's the most beautiful thing a girl sees?

Maurice: Her first child.

How many wrongs...?

I always believed that fear belonged to other people. Weaker people. It never touched me. And then it did. And when it touches you, you know... that it's been there all along. Waiting beneath the surfaces of everything you loved.

Aufwiedersehen Lenin!

Der Wind der Wende wehte bis zu den Ruinen unserer Republik.
Der Sommer war gekommen und Berlin war der schönste Ort auf Erde.
Wir hatten das Gefühl das Zentrum der Welt zu sein. Dort, wo sich etwas bewegte, und wir bewegten uns damit auch. Die Zukunft lag in unsren Händen, unwissend und viel versprechend.