Ian Richardson Quotes

Jean-Paul Marat Don't be deceived when our Revolution has been finally stamped out, and they tell you that things are better now. Even if there's no poverty to be seen, because the poverty's been hidden. Even if you've got more wages and can afford to buy more of these new and useless goods. And even if it seemed to you that you'd never had so much - that is only the slogan of those who have that much more than you. Don't be taken in when they pat you paternally on the shoulder and tell you there's no more inequality worth speaking of, no more reason for fighting. If you believe them, they will be completely in charge in their shining homes and granite banks, from which they rob the people of the world under the pretense of bringing them freedom. Watch out, for as soon as it pleases them, they will send you out to protect their wealth, in war - whose weapons, rapidly developed by servile scientists, will become more and more deadly until they can, with the flick of a finger, tear a million of you to pieces.

Susan Well, that about wraps it up for this dress... I'd just like to ask, purely out of academic interest, you were sure I was going to survive, were you?

Death I was quite confident.

Susan Good. Now, tell me--

Death What would have happened if you hadn't saved him?

Susan Yes.

Death The sun would not have risen.

Susan Then what would have happened?

Death A mere ball of flaming gas would have illuminated the world.

Susan Alright, I'm not stupid. You're saying that humans need fantasies to make life bearable?

Death No. Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.

Susan With tooth fairies? Hogfathers?

Death Yes. As practice, you have to start out learning to believe the little lies.

Susan So we can believe the big ones?

Death Yes. Justice, mercy, duty, that sort of thing.

Susan Well, they're not the same at all.

Death You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder, and sieve it through the finest sieve, and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. And yet, you try to act as if there is some ideal order in the world. As if there is some... some rightness in the universe by which it may be judged.

Susan But people have got to believe that, or what's the point?

Death My point exactly. You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?

Isaac I'm calling the police. You two have been stealing - from my uncle.

Manley No... The girls had nothing to do with it. It was Antonio.

Isaac Antonio...

Antonio Isaac, our plan could still work! It could be our words against theirs. Her fingerprints are still on the safe, man!

Isaac I don't know what you're talking about! What plan? I'm calling the police...

Death Could I give you a hand?.

Death Onwards, Binky, to the Hogfather's Castle of Bones.

Arresting Officer That is your receipt for your husband... and this is my receipt for your receipt.

Bill, Department of Works Mistakes? We don't make mistakes.

Charlie, Department of Works Bloody typical, they've gone back to metric without telling us.

Guard Don't fight it, son. Confess quickly! If you hold out too long you could jeopardize your credit rating.

Mr. Warrenn Ahhhh! Here we are. Your very own number, on your very own door. And behind that door, your very own office! Congratulations, DZ-stroke-oh-one-five. Welcome to the team!

Mr. Warrenn And what the hell is this mess. An empty desk is an efficient desk...I don't know what's going on here, Lowry, but don't think you can intimidate us with your friends and relatives in high places. NOW SHAPE UP!

Kurtzmann It's been confusion from the word go! He's been overcharged for Information Retrieval Procedures and someone somewhere is trying to make us carry the can.

Jack Lint We've always been close, haven't we? Well, until this whole thing blows over, just stay away from me.

Jack Lint This is information retrieval not information dispersal.

Dr. Lewis Jaffe Can you believe it? Just me and my little knife. Snip, snip, slice, slice...But this is just the beginning...You've seen her with her clothes off. Faces are a doddle compared to tits and ass. No hairlines.

Dr. Chapman That technique...I've tried it. A nice effect, but highly unstable. In six months, she'll look like Grandma Moses.

Spoor Where'd you get this from, eh? Out yer nostril?

Spoor All you've got to do is blow your nose and it's fixed, in't it?

Holly Put it on, big boy. I won't look at your willy.

Mrs. Terrain My complication had a little complication. But Dr. Jaffe says I'll soon be up and bounding about like a young gazelle.

Frederick Abberline Give him to me.

Sir Charles Warren He'll be taken care of. I swear.

Frederick Abberline I want him.

Sir Charles Warren It's over. He's done. I give you my word.

Frederick Abberline Fuck your word! I'll bring every last one of you fucking cunts down. You and your fucking brothers.

Sir Charles Warren Now, listen to me, Abberline. Your situation, your difficult situation has been thoroughly discussed. You are reinstated. Indeed, you are promoted.

Sergeant Gotley No! This is not helping anything.

Sir Charles Warren Don't be a fool, inspector. You will be very closely watched.

Jean-Paul Marat We invented the Revolution, but we didn't know how to run it. Look. Everyone wants to keep something from the past, a souvenir of the old regime. So, this man decides to keep a painting; this man keeps his mistress; this man keeps his horse; this man keeps his garden. That man keeps his farm lands; that man keeps his house in the country; that man keeps his factories; that man couldn't bear to part with his shipyards; that man keeps his army; and that one keeps his King. And so we sit here and write into the Declaration of the Rights of Man, "the sanctity of private property". And now we see where that leads: Every man is equally free to fight, fraternally and with equal arms, of course. Every man, his own millionaire. Man against man, group against group, in happy, mutual robbery. And we sit here, more oppressed than when we begun, and they think the Revolution's been won.

State Prosecutor But your own words demand for direct confrontation!

Steve Biko That's right, we demand confrontation.

State Prosecutor Isn't that a demand for violence?

Steve Biko Well, you and I are now in confrontation, but I see no violence.

Death Applesauce.

Death Do YOU Believe?

Death I don't know if you noticed, Albert, but that was a pune, or play on words.

Marquis de Sade It's easy to get mass movements moving. Movements that move in vicious circles. I don't believe in idealists who charge down blind alleys. I don't believe in any of the sacrifices that have been made for any cause. I believe only in myself.

Jean-Paul Marat I believe in the Revolution! We have routed out the old tyrants, and now we have new tyrants. But still I believe in the Revolution. The spoils have been grabbed by businessman, middle-men, financiers, salesmen, operators, manipulators. But the Revolution must continue.

Albert What good is a god that gives you everything you want?

Death You have me there.

Mr. Book Shut it down! Shut it down forever!

Mr. Book He is powerful, yes — dangerous — but he can also lead us to what we seek: what the doctor calls the soul. It is time for our experiment to move into a final phase.

Death Ho ho ho. You couldn't resist it in the end. A mistake, I fancy. It gets under your skin, life. Speaking metaphorically, of course. And you see, the more you struggle for every moment, the more alive you stay. Which is where I come in, as a matter of fact.

Auditor You can't do this! There are rules!

Death Yes, there are rules. But you broke them! How dare you? How dare you?! And now, there remains only one final question: Have you been naughty... or nice? Ho. Ho. Ho.

Death I AM last minute stuff.

Death There has to be something in the stocking that makes a noise. Otherwise, what is 4:30 A.M. for?

Mr. Book Is it done?

Mr. Hand Oh, yes, Mr. Book. I have John Murdoch in mind.

Death Oh, yes, and um...Ho Ho Ho.

Marquis de Sade Compassion. Now, Marat, you are talking like an aristocrat. Compassion is the property of the privileged classes. When the pitier lowers himself to give to a beggar, he throbs with contempt. To protect his riches he pretends to be moved, and his gift to the beggar amounts to no more than a kick. No, Marat, no small emotions, please, your feelings were never petty. For you just as for me, only the most extreme actions matter.

Jean-Paul Marat If I am extreme I am not extreme in the same way as you. Against Nature’s silence I use action. In the vast indifference I invent a meaning. I don’t watch unmoved, I intervene and say that this and this are wrong, and I work to alter them and improve them. The important thing is to pull yourself up by your own hair, to turn yourself inside out and see the whole world with fresh eyes.