The Matrix/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The Matrix

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland, and I show you just how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
Morpheus
As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson. It seems that you've been living...two lives. In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a Social Security number, you pay your taxes, and... you help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias Neo, and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not. I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson. You're here because we need your help. We know that you've been contacted by a certain individual...the man who calls himself Morpheus. Now, whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive. My colleagues believe that I'm wasting my time with you, but I believe you wish to do the right thing. We're willing to wipe the slate clean. Give you a fresh start. And all that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
Agent Smith
That sounds like a good deal. But I've got a better one. How about I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call?
Neo, in response
Tell me, Mister Anderson: what good is a phone call... if you are unable to speak?
Smith
I've seen an Agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
Morpheus


The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
Morpheus


I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure.
Agent Smith


Dodge this.
Trinity



You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It is the sound of your death. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson.
Agent Smith


My name...is Neo!
Neo
I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world ... without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.
Neo


The Matrix Reloaded

I'm looking for Neo. I have something for him, a gift. You see, he set me free.
Smith


Hiya, fellas.
Neo, to the upgraded Agents


Hmm... upgrades.
Neo


That went as expected.
Yes. It's happening exactly as before.

Well, not exactly.
Smith, Smith and Smith

Smith: I killed you, Mister Anderson, I watched you die - with a certain satisfaction, I might add. And then something happened. Something that I knew was impossible, but it happened anyway. You destroyed me, Mister Anderson. Afterward, I knew the rules, I understood what I was supposed to do, but I didn't. I couldn't. I was compelled to stay, compelled to disobey. And now, here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson - because of you, I'm no longer an Agent of the system. Because of you, I've changed. I'm unplugged. A new man, so to speak - like you, apparently free.

Neo: Congratulations.

Smith: Thank you.

It is purpose that created us. Purpose that connects us. Purpose that pulls us. That guides. That drives us. It is purpose that defines. Purpose that binds us.
Smith


You look surprised to see me, again, Mr. Anderson. That's the difference between us. I've been expecting you.
Smith


The Matrix Revolutions

I'm not so bad... Once you get to know me...
Smith


Smith: The great and powerful Oracle. We meet at last. I suppose you've been expecting me, right? The all-knowing Oracle is never surprised. How can she be, she knows everything. But if that's true, then why is she here? If she knew I was coming, why didn't she leave? (Smith smashes a plate of cookies on the table against the wall) Maybe you knew I was going to do that, maybe you didn't. If you did, that means you baked those cookies and set that plate right here deliberately, purposefully. Which means you are sitting there also deliberately, purposefully.
Oracle: What did you do with Sati?
Smith: "Cookies need love like everything does." (the other Smiths chuckle obscenely)
Oracle: You are a bastard.
Smith: You would know, Mom.


Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you. Do you like what I've done with the place?
Smith


Can you feel it Mr. Anderson? Closing in on you? Oh, I can. I really should thank you for it, after all, it was your life that taught me the purpose of all life. The purpose of life is to end.
Smith


Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? WHY DO YOU PERSIST?!
Smith
Because I choose to.
Neo, in response

Architect: You've played a very dangerous game.
Oracle: Change always is.
Architect: Just how long do you think this peace is going to last?
Oracle: As long as it can. [the Architect starts to leave] What about the others?
Architect: What others?
Oracle: The ones who want out.
Architect: Obviously, they will be freed.
Oracle: I have your word?
Architect: What do you think I am? Human?


Back to The Matrix