The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Quotes

Tag lines: So Dark The Con of Man

Tag lines: Seek the truth, seek the codes.

Tag lines: Seek The Truth

Robert Langdon: Hey.

Sophie Neveu: She has some things she wants to tell me. About my family.

Robert Langdon: What will you do? The legend will be revealed when the heir reveals himself.

Sophie Neveu: They just got the pronoun wrong. She said when Sauniere died he took the location of Mary's sarcophagus with him. So there's no way to empirically prove that I am related to her. What would you do, Robert?

Robert Langdon: Okay, maybe there is no proof. Maybe the Grail is lost forever. But, Sophie, the only thing that matters is what you believe. History shows us Jesus was an extraordinary man, a human inspiration. That's it. That's all the evidence has ever proved. But... when I was a boy... when I was down in that well Teabing told you about, I thought I was going to die, Sophie. What I did, I prayed. I prayed to Jesus to keep me alive so I could see my parents again, so I could go to school again, so I could play with my dog. Sometimes I wonder if I wasn't alone down there. Why does it have to be human or divine? Maybe human is divine. Why couldn't Jesus have been a father and still be capable of all those miracles?

Sophie Neveu: Like turning water into wine?

Robert Langdon: Well, who knows? His blood is your blood. Maybe that junkie in the park will never touch a drug again. Maybe you healed my phobia with my hands.

Sophie Neveu: And maybe you're a knight on a Grail quest.

Robert Langdon: Well, here's the question: A living descendant of Jesus Christ - would she destroy faith? Or would she renew it? So again I say, what matters is what you believe.

Sophie Neveu: Thank you. For bringing me here. For letting him choose you, Sir Robert.

Robert Langdon: You take care.

Sophie Neveu: Yes.

Sophie Neveu: [Sophie walks up to a nearby pond, sticks out a foot to see if she can walk on it and fails] Hey. Nope. Maybe I'll do better with the wine.

Robert Langdon: [Robert smiles] Godspeed.

Robert Langdon: [Dismissively] This is an old wives tale.

Sir Leigh Teabing: The original one, in fact!

Robert Langdon: There's virtually no empirical proof!

Sir Leigh Teabing: He knows as well as I do, there's much evidence to support it!

Robert Langdon: Theories. There are theories.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [Zooms out on the screen, to show Jesus and Mary in the same frame. They are wearing blue on their outside arms and a bright colour on their inside arms; their clothing illuminates as the rest of the picture darkens, to heighten Teabing's point.] Notice how Jesus and Mary are clothed. Mirror images of each other!

Robert Langdon: The mind sees what it chooses to see.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [he highlights the area, which resembles a triangle pointing down] And venturing into the even more bizarre, notice how Jesus and Mary appear to be joined at the hip and are leaning away from each other, as if to create a shape in the negative space between them. Leonardo gives us...the chalice!

Robert Langdon: Hmm.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [laughs briefly; He brings a representation of Mary over to Jesus' left side, so it looks like she has her head on His shoulder.] Yes. Ooh, and Robert, er, notice what happens when these two figures change position.

Sophie Neveu: Just because Da Vinci painted it doesn't make it true.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[Gospel of Philip|Gospel according to Philip] No. But history, she does make it true! Now, listen to this. It's from the ].

Sophie Neveu: Philip?

Sir Leigh Teabing: [reading from a book] Yes, it was rejected at the Council of Nicea, along with any other gospels that made Jesus appear human and not divine. "And the companion of the Saviour was Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her on -

Sophie Neveu: [interrupting] But this says nothing of marriage!

Sir Leigh Teabing: Well, actually, um, Robert...?

Robert Langdon: Actually, in those days, the word "companion" literally meant "spouse".

Sir Leigh Teabing: [crossing the room to another book on a lectern] And this is from the gospel of Mary Magdalene herself.

Sophie Neveu: She wrote a gospel?

Robert Langdon: She may have.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Robert, will you fight fair?

Robert Langdon: She may have.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [reading; To Sophie; He sits down and illuminates figures on the screen.] And Peter said, does He prefer her to us? And Levi answered, Peter, I see you contending against a woman like an adversary. If the Saviour made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her?!'" Yes. And then, my dear, Jesus goes on to tell Mary Magdalene that it's up to her to continue His Church. Mary Magdalene. Not Peter. The Church was supposed to be carried on by...a woman. Few realise that Mary was descended from kings, just as her husband was. Now, my dear, the word in French for "holy grail".

Sophie Neveu: Le Sangrine.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [He writes the word on the screen, using his tablet.; He divides it into two four-letter words.] From the Middle English, "Sangreal", of the original Arthurian legend. Now, as two words. Can you translate for our friend?

Sophie Neveu: Sang Real, it means "royal blood".

Sir Leigh Teabing: When the legend speaks of the chalice that held the blood of Christ, it speaks, in fact, of the female womb that held Jesus royal bloodline.

Sophie Neveu: But how could Christ have a bloodline, unless...

Sir Leigh Teabing: [He gets up.; [France] Mary was pregnant at the time of the Crucifixion. For her own safety, and for that of Christ's unborn child, she fled the Holy Land and came to ]. And here, it is said that she gave birth to a daughter, Sarah.

Sophie Neveu: They know the child's name?

Robert Langdon: A little girl.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Yes.

Robert Langdon: If that were true, it's adding insult to injury.

Sophie Neveu: Why?

Robert Langdon: [[Paganism|Pagans] The ] found transcendence through the joining of male and female.

Sophie Neveu: [[sex] People found God through ]?

Robert Langdon: [[Heaven; [salvation] In Paganism, women were worshipped, as a route to ], but, the modern church has a monopoly on that, in ] through Jesus Christ.

Sir Leigh Teabing: And he who keeps the keys to Heaven rules the world.

Robert Langdon: Women, then, are a huge threat to the Church. The Catholic Inquisition soon publishes what may be the most blood-soaked book in human history.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[Malleus Maleficarum; He throws a book at Langdon, who catches it.] The ]!

Robert Langdon: The Witches Hammer.

Sir Leigh Teabing: It instructed the clergy on how to locate, torture and kill all free-thinking women.

Robert Langdon: Over three centuries of witch-hunts, fifty thousand women are captured and burned alive at the stake.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [To Sophie] Oh, at least that! Some say millions! Imagine then, Robert, that Christ's Throne might live on in a female child? You asked what would be worth killing for. Witness the greatest coverup in human history. This is the secret the Priory of Sion has defended for over twenty centuries. They are the guardians of the royal bloodline, keepers of the proof of our true past. They are the protectors of the descendants of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [To Sophie] This used to be the ballroom. I have little occasions to dance these days. I trust you recognise The Last Supper, the great fresco, by Leonardo Da Vinci. My dear, if you would close your eyes?

Robert Langdon: Leigh, save us the parlour tricks.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [To Sophie, who has closed her eyes] You asked for my help, I recall. Allow an old man his indulgences. And Mademoiselle, where is Jesus sitting?

Sophie Neveu: In the middle.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Good. He and His disciples are breaking bread. And...what drink?

Sophie Neveu: Wine. They drunk wine.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Splendid. And one final question: how many wine glasses are there on the table?

Sophie Neveu: One? The Holy Grail.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [Sophie does so, and looks at the screen the painting is being displayed on; To Robert] Open your eyes. No single cup. No chalice. Well, that's a bit strange, isn't it? Considering both the Bible and standard Grail legend celebrate this moment as the definitive arrival of the Holy Grail. Hmmm. Now, Robert, you could be of help to us. If you'd be so kind as to show us the symbols for man and woman?

Robert Langdon: [He presses his fingertips together, keeping his hands apart] No balloon animals? I can make a great duck. This is the original icon for male. It's a rudimentary phallus.

Sophie Neveu: Quite to the point.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Yes, indeed.

Robert Langdon: This was known as the "blade". It represents aggression and manhood. It's a symbol still used today in modern military uniforms.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Yes, the more penises you have, the higher your rank. Boys will be boys!

Robert Langdon: [He pressees the heels of his hands together, keeping his fingers apart, in the shape of a begging bowl] Now, as you can imagine, the female symbol is its exact opposite. This is called the "chalice".

Sir Leigh Teabing: [Also making the shape with his hands] And the chalice resembles a cup, or vessel, or, more importantly, the shape of a woman's womb. No, the Grail has never been a cup! It is, quite literally, this ancient symbol of womanhood. And in this case, a woman who carried a secret so powerful that if revealed, it would devastate the very foundations of Christianity.

Sophie Neveu: Wait, please. You're saying the Holy Grail is a person...a woman?

Sir Leigh Teabing: [Pointing at the screen, still showing the painting] And it turns out, she makes an appearance, right there.

Sophie Neveu: But they are all men,

Sir Leigh Teabing: [As Sophie approaches the screen, which now shows the figure seated on Jesus' right hand side, supposedly [[John the Evangelist|the Apostle John] Are they? What about that figure on the right hand of Our Lord, seated in the place of honour? Flowing red hair, folded feminine hands, hint of a bosum, no?

Sophie Neveu: Incroyable!

Sir Leigh Teabing: [He replies to Sophie in French, then addresses her and Robert in English] It's called scotoma. The mind sees what it chooses to see.

Sophie Neveu: Who is she?

Sir Leigh Teabing: My dear, that's Mary Magdalene.

Sophie Neveu: The prostitute?

Sir Leigh Teabing: [Offended; Puts his tablet aside] She was no such thing! Smeared by the church in 592, Anno Domini, poor dear. Magdalene was Jesus wife.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[w:Pagan|Pagan; [Constantine the Great|Constantine] The Good Book did not arrive by facsimile from heaven. The Bible, as we know it, was finally presided over by one man. The ] emperor ].

Sophie Neveu: I thought Constantine was a Christian.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Oh, hardly, no. He was a lifelong Pagan who was baptized on his deathbed. Constantine was Rome's supreme holy man. From time immemorial, his people had worshipped a balance between nature's male deities and the goddess, or sacred feminine. But a religious turmoil was gripping Rome. Three centuries earlier a young Jew named Jesus had come along, preaching love and a single God. Centuries after his crucifixion, Christ's followers had grown exponentially, and had started a religious war against the Pagans.

Robert Langdon: Or was it the Pagans who commenced making war against the Christians? Leigh, we can't be sure who began the atrocities of that period.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[w:325AD|325] Well, we can agree that the conflict grew to such proportion that it threatened to tear Rome in two. So, Constantine may have been a lifelong Pagan but he was also a pragmatist. And in ] Anno Domini he decided to unify Rome under a single religion, Christianity.

Robert Langdon: Christianity was on the rise, he didn't want his empire torn apart.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[w:Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea; [w:sacraments|sacrament; [w:Christology|immortality of Jesus] And to strengthen this new Christian tradition, Constantine held a famous ecumenical gathering known as the ], and at this council the many sects of Christianity debated and voted on well, everything from the acceptance and rejection of specific gospels to the date for Easter to the ministry of ], and of course, the ].

Sophie Neveu: I don't follow.

Sir Leigh Teabing: [[Jesus] Ma Chère, until that moment in history ] was viewed by many of his followers as a mighty prophet, as a great and powerful man, but a man nevertheless. A mortal man.

Robert Langdon: Some Christians held that Jesus was mortal. Some Christians believed he was divine.

Sophie Neveu: Not the Son of God?

Sir Leigh Teabing: Not even his nephew twice removed.

Sophie Neveu: Hold on, you're saying Jesus divinity came from a vote?

Sir Leigh Teabing: Remember, in those days gods were everywhere. By infusing Jesus the man with divine magic, making him capable of earthly miracles and his own resurrection, Constantine turned him into a god within the human world. He basically knocked the more distant gods out of the game.

Robert Langdon: Constantine did not create Jesus divinity. He simply sanctioned an already widely held idea.

Sir Leigh Teabing: Semantics.

Robert Langdon: No, it's not semantics. You're interpreting facts to support your own conclusions!

Sir Leigh Teabing: [angrily] Fact: for many Christians, Jesus was mortal one day and divine the next!

Robert Langdon: For a few Christians, Jesus had his divinity enhanced!

Sir Leigh Teabing: Absurd! There was even a formal announcement of his promotion.

Robert Langdon: They couldn't even agree on the Nicene Creed!

Sophie Neveu: Excuse me! "Who is God, who is man?" How many have been murdered over this question?

Sir Leigh Teabing: [he draws his crutches off the table, and uses them to prepare to stand up; he stands up] As long as there has been One True God, there has been killing in His name. Now, let me show you the Grail.

Sophie Neveu: What happened to her?

Sir Leigh Teabing: No one knows. Mary Magdalene lived out her days in hiding. And the zealots pursued her still... even in death, trying to destroy proof of her existence. But she always had her Knights. Brave men sworn to defend her. You see, to worship before her sarcophagus... to kneel before the bones of Mary Magdalene was to remember all those who were robbed of their power... who were oppressed. Ultimately, the Priory hid her remains and the proof of her bloodline... until most believed her sarcophagus... the Holy Grail was finally lost in time.

Sophie Neveu: Any ideas, Professor?

Robert Langdon: You-you could have just handed me a piece of the UFO from Area 51.

Sophie Neveu: What's the next step?" With him, it's always "Sophie, what's the next step?" Puzzles, codes...

Robert Langdon: A treasure hunt.

Sophie Neveu: To find his killer.

Sophie Neveu: Maybe there is something about this Priory of Sion.

Robert Langdon: I hope not. Any Priory story ends in bloodshed. They were butchered by the Church. It all started over a thousand years ago when a French king conquered the holy city of Jerusalem. This crusade, one of the most massive and sweeping in history was actually orchestrated by a secret brotherhood: the Priory of Sion and their military arm, the Knights Templar.

Sophie Neveu: But the Templars were created to protect the Holy Land.

Robert Langdon: That was a cover to hide their true goal, according to this myth. Supposedly the invasion was to find an artefact lost since the time of Christ. An artifact, it was said, the Church would kill to possess.

Sophie Neveu: Did they find it, this buried treasure?

Robert Langdon: Put it this way: One day the Templars simply stopped searching. They quit the Holy Land and traveled directly to Rome. Whether they blackmailed the papacy or the Church bought their silence, no one knows. But it is a fact the papacy declared these Priory knights, these Knights Templar, of limitless power. By the 1300s, the Templars had grown too powerful. Too threatening. So the Vatican issued secret orders to be opened simultaneously all across Europe. The Pope had declared the Knights Templar, Satan worshipers and said God had charged him with cleansing the earth of these heretics. The plan went off like clockwork. The Templars were all but exterminated. The date was October 13th, 1307. A Friday.

Sophie Neveu: [[Friday the 13th] ]...

Robert Langdon: The Pope sent troops to claim the Priory's treasure but they found nothing. The few surviving Knights of the Priory had vanished and the search for their sacred artifact began again.

Sophie Neveu: What artifact? I've never heard about any of this.

Robert Langdon: [[Holy Grail] Yes, you have. Almost everyone on Earth has. You just know it as the ].

Sophie Neveu: Please, Saunière thought he knew the location of the Holy Grail?

Robert Langdon: May be more than that. This cross and the flower, this-this could be very real, but look. This metal, here, underneath, is much newer and there's a modern ID stamp. "HAXO 24". These dots...these dots are read by a laser. This is more than a pendant, this is a key your grandfather left you.

Sophie Neveu: He left us, Professor.

Bishop Aringarosa: I cannot be implicated here, there are still important works to be done

Silas: (Final lines) Soy un fantasma!

Silas: Every breath you take is a sin

Silas: Do not move, woman. Cripple, put the box on the table.

Silas: Job 38:11, you know it, Sister

Silas: Stop now, tell me where it is! You and your brethren possess that which is not rightfully yours.

Remy: (at the hangar while police are searching plane) You know, I could run them over if you wish, sir.

Sir Leigh Teabing: As long as there has been One True God, there has been killing in His name.

Sir Leigh Teabing: We are in the middle of a war. One that has been going on forever to protect a secret so powerful that if revealed it would devastate the very foundations of mankind.

Sir Leigh Teabing: (After landing in Kent, to local police) I have a medical appointment to go to, sir. If you wish to keep us here longer, you'll just have to shoot us. (Points at Remy) You can start with him.

Sophie Neveu: A cryptex. They are used to keep secrets. It's Da Vinci's design.

Sophie Neveu: We are what we protect, what we stand up for.

Robert Langdon: I'm into something here that I cannot understand.

Robert Langdon: Only the worthy can find the Grail, Leigh. You told me that.

Robert Langdon: Anagram is right. O Draconian Devil! Oh lame saint! becomes Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa

Robert Langdon: Understanding our past determines actively our ability to understand the present. So, how do we sift truth from belief? How do we write our own histories, personally or culturally, and thereby define ourselves? How do we penetrate years, centuries, of historical distortion to find original truth? Tonight, this will be our quest.