Arrival Quotes

Dr. Louise Banks I know what it is.

Ian Donnelly What?

Dr. Louise Banks It's not a weapon. It's a gift. The weapon is their language. They gave it all to us.

Ian Donnelly So we can learn Heptapod?

Dr. Louise Banks If you learn it... really learn it, you get to perceive time the way they do. So you get to see what's to happen. But time, it isn't the same for them. It is not linear.

Dr. Louise Banks If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?

Ian Donnelly Maybe I would say what I feel more often than I... I don't know. You know I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you.

Col. Weber I don't want to take away from your success, but Dr. Banks, is it really the right approach? Try to teach them how to speak and read? That's gonna take long.

Dr. Louise Banks You're wrong! It's faster.

Col. Weber Everything you do here, I have to explain to a room full of men, whose first and last question is "How can this be used against us?". So you'll have to give me more than that!

Dr. Louise Banks Kangaroo.

Col. Weber What is that?

Dr. Louise Banks In 1770, Captain ]'s ship ran aground off the coast of ] and led a party, where they found the aboriginal people. One of the sailors pointed to the animals that hop around and put their babies in their pouch, and he asked what they were. The Aborigines said, "Kangaroo".

Col. Weber And your point is?

Dr. Louise Banks It wasn't until later that they learned that "kangaroo" means "I don't understand". So...I need this so that we don't misinterpret things in there, otherwise it is going to take 10 times as long.

Col. Weber I can sell that for now. But I need you to submit your vocabulary of words before the next session. Remember what happened to the Aborigines. A more advanced race, nearly wiped them out.

Ian Donnelly It's a good story.

Dr. Louise Banks Thanks. It's not true, but it proves my point.

Agent Halpern We're a world with no single leader. It's impossible to deal with just one of us.

Ian Donnelly You know, I was just thinking about you. You approach language like a mathematician. You know that right?

Dr. Louise Banks I will take that as a compliment.

Ian Donnelly But it is. And... I watched you steer us around these communication traps that I did not even know existed. What...? I guess this is why I'm still single.

Dr. Louise Banks Trust me, you can understand communication and still end up single.

Col. Weber Good Morning.

Dr. Louise Banks Colonel?

Col. Weber Gravisti.

Dr. Louise Banks That's the word, but what did he say it means?

Col. Weber He said it means an argument. What does it really mean?

Dr. Louise Banks A ] for more cows.

Col. Weber Pack your bags.

Ian Donnelly There's so much we still don't know about heptapods. ("Hepta", seven, and "Pod", foot). The breakthrough came when we realized what a heptapod says, has nothing to do with what a heptapod writes. Unlike all human written language, their writing is symbolic. It conveys meaning, it does not represent sound. Perhaps they view our form of writing as a wasted opportunity, passing every second communications channel. We have our friends in Pakistan to thank for their study on how the heptapods write. Because unlike speech, a logogram is free of time. Like their ship or their bodies. Their written language has no form or no direction. Linguists call this nonlinear orthography. Which raises the question: "Is this how they think?" Imagine you wanted to write a sentence using two hands, starting from either side. You'd have to know each word you wanted to use, as well as how much space they will occupy. A heptapod can write a complex sentence in two seconds effortlessly. It took us a month to make the simplest vocabulary.

Dr. Louise Banks I used to think this was the beginning of your story. ] is a strange thing. It does not work like I thought it did. We are so bound by ]. By its order...But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived.

Col. Weber You have a vocabulary list for me?

Dr. Louise Banks I do.

Col. Weber You're gonna teach them, your name, and Ian's?

Dr. Louise Banks Yes, so that we can learn their names, if they have names, and then introduce pronouns later.

Col. Weber These are all grade-school words. Eat. Walk. Help me understand.

Dr. Louise Banks Okay, this is where you want to get to, right?

Col. Weber That is the question.

Dr. Louise Banks Okay. So, first, we need to make sure that they understand what a question is. The nature of a request for information, along with a response. Then, we need to clarify the difference between a specific "you"...and a collective "you", because we don't want to know why Joe Alien is here, we want to know why they all landed. And purpose requires an understanding of intent. We need to find out: do they make conscious choices, or is their motivation so instinctive that they don't understand a "why" question at all. And biggest of all, we need to have enough vocabulary with them, that we understand their answer.

Col. Weber I get it. Stick to your list. Just...Don't add anything to it.

Dr. Louise Banks They have names. But what're we going to call them?

Ian Donnelly I'm thinking "Abbott & Costello".

Dr. Louise Banks God... are they...? They are using a game to communicate with the Heptopods?

Col. Weber Maybe... why?

Dr. Louise Banks Let's say I taught them ] instead of English. Every conversation would be a game, every idea expressed through opposition. Victory... defeat. You see the problem? If all I ever gave you was a hammer...

Col. Weber Everything's a nail. We need to ask the big question. Ready or not.

Dr. Louise Banks Costello. Where's Abbott?

2nd Heptapod Abbott is death process.

Dr. Louise Banks I'm sorry.

Col. Weber How would you approach translating this? You hear any words? Phrases?

Dr. Louise Banks I do not... I do not know.

Col. Weber So what can you tell?

Dr. Louise Banks I can tell you that it is impossible to translate an audio file. I would need to be there to interact with them.

Col. Weber You did not need that for Farsi translation.

Dr. Louise Banks I did not need because I already knew the ], but this is...

Col. Weber I know what you're doing.

Dr. Louise Banks Tell me what I'm doing.

Col. Weber I'll not take you to Montana. It's all I can do to keep it turning into a tourist site for everybody who has a clearance.

Dr. Louise Banks I'm just telling you what it would take to do this job.

Col. Weber It is not a negotiation. If I leave here... your chance is gone. Good day.

Dr. Louise Banks Colonel...You mentioned Berkeley. Are you going to ask Danvers next?

Col. Weber Maybe.

Dr. Louise Banks Before you commit to him...ask him the Sanskrit word for "]" and its translation.

Dr. Louise Banks So, Hannah...This is where your story begins. The day they departed...Despite knowing the journey...and where it leads...I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it.

Dr. Louise Banks ] is the foundation of ]. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first ] drawn in a conflict.

Agent Halpern We have to consider the idea that our visitors are prodding us to fight among ourselves until only one faction prevails.

Dr. Louise Banks There's no evidence of that.

Agent Halpern Sure there is. Just grab a history book. The British with India, the Germans with Rwanda...

Ian Donnelly How are you feeling?

Dr. Louise Banks I need some sleep, but...I am fine.

Ian Donnelly Yeah?

Dr. Louise Banks I've been doing a bit of reading about this idea that...What if you immerse yourself into a foreign language?...You can actually rewire your brain.

Ian Donnelly It is a hypothesis.

Dr. Louise Banks It is a theory that...It is the theory that...The language you speak determines how you think. Yes, it affects how you see everything...

Ian Donnelly I'm curious. Are you dreaming in their language?

Dr. Louise Banks I've had some dreams. I don't think that makes me unfit to do this job.