WarGames (1983) - Quotes

The Dilemma of Choosing Peace Over Conflict

Taglines: Where the only winning move is NOT TO PLAY. We shall make world peace so you have a decision to make now.

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The Consequences of a Dangerous Game

Taglines: To David Lightman, "Global Thermonuclear War" will just be one hell of a game. To everybody else, it will be hell waiting to happen.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

A Weekend Without Chess Strategy

Taglines: This is the weekend they didn't play chess...but they should have.

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The Seriousness of Global Thermonuclear War

Taglines: Global Thermonuclear War." You may think it's one hell of a game. You couldn't be more right.

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Game or Reality: A Thoughtful Question

Taglines: Is it a game, or is it real?

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The Futility of Winning in Games

Joshua/WOPR: Greetings, Professor FALKEN.

Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.

Joshua/WOPR: A STRANGE GAME. THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY.. ... HOW ABOUT A NICE GAME OF CHESS?

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Escalating Tensions Over Control of Nuclear Launch

McKittrick: General, the machine has locked us out. It's sending random numbers to the silos.

Pat Healy: Codes. To launch the missiles.

General Beringer: Just unplug the goddamn thing! Jesus Christ!

McKittrick: That won't work, General. It would interpret a shutdown as the destruction of NORAD. The computers in the silos would carry out their last instructions. They'd launch.

General Beringer: Can't we disarm the missiles?

Pat Healy: Over a thousand of them? There's no time. At this rate it will hit the launch codes in... 5.3 minutes.

General Beringer: Mr. McKittrick, after very careful consideration, sir, I've come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.

McKittrick: I don't have to take that, you pig-eyed sack of shit.

General Beringer: Oh, I was hoping for something a little better than that from you, sir. A man of your education.

Officer: Sir, it's the President.

McKittrick: What are you going to tell him?

General Beringer: [talks into the phone] That I'm ordering our bombers back to fail-safe; we might have to go through this thing after all. Yes, sir.

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Escalating Tensions in War Games

Stephen Falken: [looking at screens] How far's he gone?

McKittrick: Well, the President’s about ready to order a counter-strike. That's what we're recommending he do.

Stephen Falken: It's a bluff, John, call it off.

McKittrick: No, it's not a bluff. It's real.

Stephen Falken: [raising his voice from stairs] Hello, General Beringer! Stephen Falken!

General Beringer: [standing] Mr. Falken you picked a hell of a day for a visit!

Stephen Falken: Uh, uh, General, what you see on these screens up here is a fantasy; a computer-enhanced hallucination. Those blips are not real missiles. They're phantoms.

McKittrick: Jack, there's nothing to indicate a simulation at all. Everything is working perfectly!

Stephen Falken: But does it make any sense?

General Beringer: Does what make any sense?

Stephen Falken: [points to the screens] That!

General Beringer: Look, I don't have time for a conversation right now.

Stephen Falken: General, are you prepared to destroy the enemy?

General Beringer: You betcha!

Stephen Falken: Do you think they know that?

General Beringer: I believe we've made that clear enough.

Stephen Falken: Then don't! Tell the President to ride out the attack.

Colonel Conley: Sir, they need a decision.

Stephen Falken: General, do you really believe that the enemy would attack without provocation, using so many missiles, bombers, and subs so that we would have no choice but to totally annihilate them?

Female Airman First Class: [on loudspeaker] One minute and thirty seconds to impact.

Stephen Falken: General, you are listening to a machine! Do the world a favor and don't act like one.

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Debating a Swim to an Island

David: [runs ahead for a moment and stops] I think I saw one. What kind of an asshole lives on an island and he doesn't even have a boat?

Jennifer: Maybe we can swim for it. How far do you think it is?

David: No. It's uh, two, three miles at least. Maybe more.

Jennifer: Well, what do you say? Let's go for it!

David: No.

Jennifer: [starts to remove her shoes] Come on!

David: [pause] No! I can't swim.

Jennifer: You can't swim?

David: No, I can't, okay, Wonder Woman? I can't swim!

Jennifer: Well, what kind of an asshole grows up in Seattle and doesn't even know how to swim?

David: I never got around to it, okay? I always thought there was gonna be plenty of time!

Jennifer: Sorry.

David: I wish I didn't know about any of this! I wish I was like everybody else in the world, and tomorrow it would just be over. There wouldn't be any time to be sorry... about anything. Oh, Jesus! I really wanted to learn how to swim! I swear to God I did.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

The Cycle of Nature and Human Mistakes

Stephen Falken: Now, children, come on over here. I'm going to tell you a bedtime story. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time, there lived a magnificent race of animals that dominated the world through age after age. They ran, they swam, and they fought and they flew, until suddenly, quite recently, they disappeared. Nature just gave up and started again. We weren't even apes then. We were just these smart little rodents hiding in the rocks. And when we go, nature will start again. With the bees, probably. Nature knows when to give up, David.

David: I'm not giving up. If Joshua tricks them into launching an attack, it'll be your fault.

Stephen Falken: My fault? The whole point was to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves; to get the computer to learn from mistakes we could not afford to make. Except, that I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.

David: What's that?

Stephen Falken: Futility. That there's a time when you should just give up.

Jennifer: What kind of a lesson is that?

Stephen Falken: [[w:Tic-Tac-Toe|tic-tac-toe] Did you ever play ]?

Jennifer: Yeah, of course.

Stephen Falken: But you don't anymore.

Jennifer: No.

Stephen Falken: Why?

Jennifer: Because it's a boring game. It's always a tie.

Stephen Falken: Exactly. There's no way to win. The game itself is pointless! But back in the war room, they believe you can win a nuclear war. That there can be "acceptable losses.

Game or Reality: A Question Explored

David: Is this a game or is it real?

Joshua/WOPR: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

David: Oh, wow.

Understanding DEFCON Levels in Military Context

McKittrick: See that sign up here - up here. "DEFCON." That indicates our current "def"ense "con"dition. It should read "DEFCON 5," which means peace. It's still on 4 because of that little stunt you pulled. Actually, if we hadn't caught it in time, it might have gone to Defcon 1. You know what that means, David?

David: No. What does that mean?

McKittrick: World War III.

The Objective of the Game

David: What is the primary goal?

Joshua/WOPR: YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT, PROFESSOR. YOU PROGRAMMED ME.

David: Oh, c'mon. What is the primary goal?

Joshua/WOPR: TO WIN THE GAME.

Decision to Engage in a Game

Joshua/WOPR: SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

David: Oh!

Jennifer: I think it missed him.

David: Yeah. Weird isn't it? Love to. How about Global Thermonuclear War?

Joshua/WOPR: WOULDN'T YOU PREFER A GOOD GAME OF CHESS?

David: Later. Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.

Joshua/WOPR: FINE.

Asexual Reproduction Discussion in Class

Mr. Liggett: Now there seems to be a lot of confusion on this next question: asexual reproduction. Could someone tell me please who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex?

David: [whispers something to a classmate] Ah-heh.

Mr. Liggett: Miss Mack! What is so amusing?

Jennifer: I...

Mr. Liggett: Alright, Lightman. Maybe you could tell us who first suggested the idea of reproduction without sex.

David: Umm... Your wife?

Mr. Liggett: [pointing to the door] Get out, Lightman. Get out.