Twelve Monkeys Quotes

Kathryn Railly ] in Greek legend, you recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence the agony of foreknowledge combined with the impotence to do anything about it.

L.J. Washington I don't really come from outer space.

Jeffrey Goines Oh. L.J. Washington. He doesn't really come from outer space.

L.J. Washington Don't mock me, my friend. It's a condition of mental divergence. I find myself on the planet Ogo, part of an intellectual elite, preparing to subjugate the barbarian hordes on Pluto. But even though this is a totally convincing reality for me in every way, nevertheless Ogo is actually a construct of my psyche. I am mentally divergent in that I am escaping certain unnamed realities that plague my life here. When I stop going there, I will be well. Are you also divergent, friend?

Jeffrey Goines You know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules. Take germs, for example.

James Cole Germs?

Jeffrey Goines Uh-huh. Eighteenth century: no such thing, nada, nothing. No one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person. Along comes this doctor, uh, ], Semmelweis. Semmelweis comes along. He's trying to convince people, other doctors mainly, that's there's these teeny tiny invisible bad things called germs that get into your body and make you sick. He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny, tiny, invisible? What do they call it? Uh-uh, ]? Huh? What? Now, up to the 20th century — last week, as a matter of fact, before I got dragged into this hellhole — I go in to order a burger at this fast-food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. James, he picks it up, he wipes it off, he hands it to me like it's all OK. "What about the germs?" I say. He says "I don't believe in germs. Germs is a plot made up so they could sell disinfectants and soaps." Now he's crazy, right? See? Ah! Ah! There's no right, there's no wrong, there's only popular opinion. You... you... you believe in germs, right?

Dr. Peters I think, Dr. Railly, you have given your "alarmists" a bad name. Surely there is very real and very convincing data that the planet cannot survive the excesses of the human race: proliferation of atomic devices, uncontrolled breeding habits, the rape of the environment, the pollution of land, sea, and air. In this context, isn't it obvious that "Chicken Little" represents the sane vision and that Homo Sapiens motto, "Let's go shopping!" is the cry of the true lunatic?

Poet Yet among the myriad microwaves, the infra-red messages, the gigabytes of ones and zeroes, we find words, byte-sized now, tinier even than science lurking in some vague electricity, but if we but listen we can hear the solitary voice of that poet telling us, "Yesterday This Day's Madness did prepare; Tomorrow's Silence, Triumph or Despair: Drink! for you know not whence you came, nor why: Drink! for you know not why you go, nor where.

James Cole Look at them. They're just asking for it. Maybe the human race deserves to be wiped out.

Jeffrey Goines Wiping out the human race? That's a great idea. That's great. But more of a long-term thing. I mean, first we have to focus on more immediate goals.

Jeffrey Goines And when my father finds out I'm in this kind of place, he'll have them transfer me to one of those classy joints where they treat you properly, like a person, like a guest. With sheets and towels like a big hotel, with great drugs for all of us nut-case, lunatic, maniac devils.

Jeffrey Goines You are a total nutcase, completely deranged, delusional, paranoid. Your ] process is all fucked up. Your ] tray is jammed, man!

Jeffrey Goines So if you want to watch a particular television program, say All My Children or something, you go to the Charge Nurse and tell her day and time the show you want to see is on. But you have to tell her before the show is scheduled to be on. There's this guy and he's always requesting shows that had already played. Yes, no. You have to tell her before. He couldn't quite grasp the idea that the Charge Nurse couldn't make it be yesterday. She couldn't turn back time, thank you, ]. Now he, he was nuts. He was a fruitcake, Jim!

James Cole All I see are ] ].

Jeffrey Goines ], games. Here's some games. Games you wanna get out. Ha! See, more games. Games, they vegitize you. If you play the games, you're voluntarily taking a tranquilizer...Drugs! What'd they give you? Thorazine? Haldol? How much? Learn your ] — know your doses. It's elementary...

James Cole It's just like what's happening with us, like the ]. The movie never changes. It can't ]; but every ] you see it, it seems different because you're different. You see different things.

Dr. Owen Fletcher Kathryn, you're a rational person. You're a trained psychiatrist. You know the difference between what's real and what's not.

Dr. Kathryn Railly And what we say is the truth is what everybody accepts. Right, Owen? I mean, ]: it's the latest ]. We decide what's ] and ]. We decide who's ] or not. I'm in trouble here. I'm losing my ].

Jeffrey Goines Sorry. Uh, sorry. I, I, I got a little agitated. The thought of, uh, escape had crossed my mind, and then suddenly — suddenly — suddenly I felt like bending the fucking bars back, and ripping out the goddamn window frames and eating them — yes, eating them! Leaping, leaping, leaping! Colonics for everyone! All right! You dumbasses. I'm a mental patient. I'm supposed to act out! Wait'll you morons find out who I am! My father's gonna be really upset, and when my father gets upset, the ground SHAKES! My father is ]! I worship my father!

Taglines They're coming.

James Cole Oh, wouldn't it be ] if I was ]? Then the ] would be okay.

Jeffrey Goines Telephone call? Telephone call? That's communication with the outside world. Doctor's discretion. Nuh-uh. Look, hey — if all of these nuts could just make phone calls, they could spread insanity, oozing through telephone cables, oozing into the ears of all these poor sane people, infecting them. Wackos everywhere, a plague of madness. In fact, very few, very few of us here are actually mentally ill. I'm not saying you're not mentally ill, for all I know, you're crazy as a loon. But that's not why you're here. That's not why you're here. That's not why you're here! You're here because of the system.

Taglines The ] is ].

Kathryn Railly He's been living in a meticulously constructed fantasy world, and that world is starting to disintegrate. He needs help.

Jeffrey Goines There's the television. It's all right there — all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive anymore. We don't make things anymore. It's all automated. What are we for then? We're consumers. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then, I ask you? What? Mentally ill. Fact, Jim, fact — if you don't buy things: toilet paper, new cars, computerized yo-yos, electrically-operated sexual devices, stereo systems with brain-implanted headphones, screwdrivers with miniature built-in radar devices, voice-activated computers...

James Cole This is a place for ] people. I'm not crazy.

Dr. Peters We don't use the term "crazy," Mr. Cole.

James Cole Well, you've got some real nuts here.