The Day the Earth Stood Still Quotes

Mr. Harley Your impatience is quite understandable.

Klaatu I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.

Mr. Harley I'm afraid my people haven't. I'm very sorry... I wish it were otherwise.

Klaatu I am fearful when I see people substituting ] for ].

Taglines The screen has never conceived a creature like this!

Klaatu I am leaving soon, and you will forgive me if I speak bluntly. The ] grows smaller every day, and the threat of aggression by any group, anywhere, can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure. Now, this does not mean giving up any ] except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made ]s to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them. We of the other planets have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of ]. Their function is to patrol the planets—in space ships like this one—and preserve the ]. In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us; this power can not be revoked. At the first sign of ], they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is that we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war—free to pursue more profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer; the decision rests with you.

Klaatu You have ], Professor Barnhardt?

Barnhardt It isn't faith that makes good ], Mr. Klaatu, it's curiosity. Sit down, please. There are several thousand questions I'd like to ask you.

Barnhardt One thing, Mr. Klaatu: suppose this group should reject your proposals. What is the alternative?

Klaatu I'm afraid there is no alternative. In such a case, the planet Earth would have to be... eliminated.

Barnhardt Such power exists?

Klaatu I assure you, such power exists.

Klaatu It was a gift for your President… with it, he could have studied ] on other ]s.

Taglines From Out Of Space... A Warning And An Ultimatum!

Taglines What is this invader from another planet... Can it destroy the Earth?

Taglines A robot and a man . . . hold the world spellbound with new and startling powers from another planet!

Klaatu I'm worried about Gort. If anything should happen to me, I'm worried about what he might do.

Helen Benson Gort? But he's a ]. Without you, what can he do?

Klaatu There's no limit to what he can do! He could destroy the Earth. Helen: if anything should happen to me, go to Gort, and repeat these words: Klaatu… barada… nikto.

Taglines Strange Power From Another Planet Menaces The Earth!

Bobby That's my father. He was killed at Anzio.

Klaatu Did all those people die in ]s?

Bobby Most of em. Didn't you ever hear of the Arlington Cemetery?

Klaatu No, I'm afraid not.

Bobby You don't seem to know much about anything, do you, Mr. Carpenter?

Klaatu Well, I'll tell you, Bobby, I've been away a long time. Very far away.

Bobby Is it different where you've been? Don't they have places like this?

Klaatu Well, they have cemeteries, but not like this one. You see, they don't have any wars.

Bobby Gee, that's a good idea.

Bobby What d'you think it runs on?

Klaatu A highly refined form of atomic power, I imagine.