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V for Vendetta (film)

V for Vendetta is a 2006 film drama set in a dystopian future United Kingdom, where V, a mysterious radical anarchist wearing a Guy Fawkes costume, works to bring down an oppressive fascist government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters. It was released in theatres March 17, 2006.
 * Directed by James McTeigue. Written by Lilly (then Andy) Wachowski and Lana (then Larry) Wachowski, and adapted from the graphic novel V for Vendetta'' by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

Remember, remember the 5th of November. (taglines)

V

 * V: Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof!

 * V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! (carves the letter V in sign with his knife) The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. (laughs wheezily) Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.
 * V's Introduction To Evey

 * V: Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquillity of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the fifth, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well, certainly, there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. They were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic, you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words; they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
 * V's Speech To England

 * V: Our story begins, as these stories often do, with a young, up-and-coming politician. He's a deeply religious man and a member of the Conservative Party. He's completely single-minded and has no regard for the political process. The more power he attains, the more obvious his zealotry and the more aggressive his supporters become. Eventually, his party launches a special project in the name of "national security". At first, it's believed to be a search for biological weapons and is pursued without regard to its cost. However, the true goal of this project is power, complete and total hegemonic domination. The project, however, ends violently; but the efforts of those involved are not in vain, for a new ability to wage war is born from the blood of one of the victims. Imagine a virus, the most terrifying virus you can, and then imagine that you, and you alone, have the cure. But if your ultimate goal is power, how best to use such a weapon? It's at this point in our story that along comes a spider. He is a man seemingly without a conscience, for whom the ends always justify the means, and it is he who suggests that their target should not be an enemy of the country but rather the country itself. Three targets are chosen to maximise the effect of the attack: a school, a tube station, and a water treatment plant. Several hundred die within the first few weeks. Fueled by the media, fear and panic spread quickly, fracturing and dividing the country until, at last, the true goal comes into view. Before the St Mary's crisis, no-one would have predicted the results of the election that year. No-one. And then, not long after the election, lo and behold, a miracle. Some believe it was the work of God himself, but it was a pharmaceutical company controlled by certain party members that made them all obscenely rich. A year later, several extremists are tried, found guilty, and executed, while a memorial is built to canonise their victims. But the end result, the true genius of the plan, was the fear. Fear became the ultimate tool of this government, and through it, our politician was ultimately appointed to the newly-created position of high chancellor. The rest, as they say, is history.
 * V's story to Inspector Finch, disguised as William Rookwood

 * Vi veri veniversum vivus vici
 * By the power of truth, I while living have conquered the universe.

 * There is a face beneath this mask, but it's not me. I'm no more that face than I am the muscles beneath it, or the bones beneath them.

Evey Hammond

The fifth of November The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason Why the gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot." But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes, and I know that, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught. He can be killed and forgotten. But four hundred years later an idea can still change the world. I've witnessed first-hand the power of ideas. I've seen people kill in the name of them, and die defending them. But you cannot kiss an idea, cannot touch it, or hold it. Ideas do not bleed. They do not feel pain. They do not love. And it is not an idea that I miss, it is a man. A man that made me remember the fifth of November. A man that I will never forget.
 * "Remember, remember
 * Are you like a crazy person?
 * After V has just saved her from the Fingermen and finished his verbose introduction
 * God is in the rain.
 * A fake ID works a lot better than a Guy Fawkes mask.
 * I worried about myself for a while. But one day I was at a market and a friend, someone I'd worked with at the BTN, got in line behind me. I was so nervous that when the cashier asked me for my money I dropped it. My friend picked it up and handed it to me. She looked me right in the eye and didn't recognise me. I guess whatever you did to me worked better than I'd ever have imagined.
 * No-one will ever forget that night, and what it meant to this country. But I will never forget the man, and what he meant to me.
 * I remember them arguing at night. Mum wanted to leave the country. Dad refused. He said if we ran away, they would win. Win, like it was a game.
 * Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.
 * I wish I believed that was possible. But every time I've seen this world change, it's always been for the worse.

Valerie Page

 * I know there's no way I can convince you this is not one of their tricks, but I don't care; I am me. My name is Valerie. I don't think I'll live much longer, and I wanted to tell someone about my life. This is the only autobiography I'll ever write, and God - I'm writing it on toilet paper. I was born in Nottingham in 1985. I don't remember much of those early years, but I do remember the rain. My grandmother owned a farm in Tuttlebrook, and she used to tell me that God was in the rain. I passed my 11th lesson into girl's grammar. It was at school that I met my first girlfriend. Her name was Sara. It was her wrists. They were beautiful. I thought we would love each other forever. I remember our teacher telling us that it was an adolescent phase people outgrew. Sara did. I didn't. In 2002, I fell in love with a girl named Christina. That year I came out to my parents. I couldn't have done it without Chris holding my hand. My father wouldn't look at me; he told me to go and never come back. My mother said nothing. But I had only told them the truth. Was that so selfish? Our integrity sells for so little, but it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us, but within that inch, we are free.
 * I'd always known what I wanted to do with my life, and in 2015 I starred in my first film, The Salt Flats. It was the most important role in my life, not because of my career, but because that was how I met Ruth. The first time we kissed, I knew I never wanted to kiss any other lips but hers again. We moved to a small flat in London together. She grew scarlet carsons for me in our window box, and our place always smelled of roses. Those were the best years of my life. But America's war grew worse and worse … and eventually came to London. After that, there were no roses anymore. Not for anyone.
 * I remember how the meaning of words began to change. How unfamiliar words like "collateral" and "rendition" became frightening, while things like Norsefire and the Articles of Allegiance became powerful. I remember how different became dangerous. I still don't understand it, why they hate us so much. They took Ruth while she was out buying food. I've never cried so hard in my life. It wasn't long till they came for me. It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years, I had roses and apologised to no-one. I shall die here. Every inch of me will perish. Every inch but one. An inch … it is small, and it is fragile, but it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us. I hope that, whoever you are, you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better. But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you. Valerie.

Delia Surridge

 * [Notes from her covert journal, whom Finch reads]

 * May 23. My first batch of subjects arrived today, and I have to admit that I am very excited. This could be the dawn of a new age. Nuclear power is meaningless in a world where a virus can kill an entire population and leave its wealth intact...
 * May 27. Commander Prothero toured the lab with a priest, Father Lilliman, who I was told is here to monitor for rules and rights violations. It made me nervous, but the commander assured me there wouldn't be a problem.
 * June 2. I kept wondering if these people knew how they might be helping their country if they would act any differently. They're so weak and pathetic. They never look you in the eye. I find myself hating them.
 * August the 18th. Of the original four dozen, over 75 per cent are now deceased. No controllable pattern has yet emerged.
 * September the 18th. There is one case that continues to give me hope. He exhibits none of the immune system pathologies the other subjects developed. I've discovered cellular anomalies in his blood that I've been unable to categorise. The mutations seem to have triggered the abnormal development of basic kinaesthesia and reflexes. The subject said he could no longer remember who he was or where he was from. Whoever he was, he is now the key to our dream and the hope that all of this will not have been in vain.
 * November the 5th. It started last night, around midnight. The first explosions tore open the entire medical section. All my work, gone. I was trying to understand how it could've happened when I saw him. The man from room five. He looked at me. Not with eyes. There were no eyes. But I know he was looking at me because I felt it.
 * Oh my God...what have I done?

Lewis Prothero

 * So I read that the former United States is so desperate for medical supplies that they have allegedly sent several containers filled with wheat and tobacco. A gesture, they said, of goodwill. You want to know what I think? Well, you're listening to my show, so I will assume you do. I think it's high time we let the colonies know what we really think of them. I think it's payback time for a little tea party they threw for us a few hundred years ago. I say we go down to those docks tonight and dump that crap where everything from the Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica belongs. Who's with me? Who's bloody with me? Did you like that? USA; Ulcered Sphincter of Arse-erica. I mean, what else can you say? Here was a country that had everything, absolutely everything, and now, 20 years later, is what? The world's biggest leper colony. Why? Godlessness. Let me say that again: Godlessness. It wasn't the war they started. It wasn't the plague they created. It was judgement. No-one escapes their past. No-one escapes judgement. You think He's not up there? You think He's not watching over this country? How else can you explain it? He tested us, but we came through. We did what we had to do. Islington, Enfield. I was there. I saw it all. Immigrants, Muslims, homosexuals, terrorists, disease-ridden degenerates. They had to go! Strength through unity, unity through faith! I'm a God-fearing Englishman and I am god-damn proud of it!
 * First BTN Speech

 * I'll tell you what I know, I'll tell you what I know, I'll tell you what I know, England prevails!
 * The only part of his second BTN speech ever seen or heard.

 * I'll tell you what I know. I know this is not a man. A man does not wear a mask. A man does not threaten innocent civilians. He's what every gutless, freedom-hating terrorist is: a god-damn coward!
 * First part of his third BTN speech

 * There will be no negotiation, Roger. When I arrive in the morning, the Paddy will be gone. I'm looking at the tape right now, and he has no idea how to light me. My nose looks like Big fucking Ben! Listen to me, you bleeding sod. England prevails because I say it does! And so does every lazy cunt on this show, and that includes you! Find another DOP, or find yourself another job!
 * Phone call to Roger Dascombe

 * I'll tell you what I wish: I wish I'd been there. I wish I'd had the chance for a face-to-face. Just one chance, that's all I need.
 * Second part of his third BTN speech, before V breaks into his home

 * This so-called "V" and his accomplice, Evey Hammond, neo-demagogues, spouting their message of hate. A delusional and aberrant voice, delivering a terrorist's ultimatum. An ultimatum that was met with swift and surgically precise justice. And the moral of this story, ladies and gentlemen, is: "GOOD GUYS WIN, BAD GUYS LOSE, AND AS ALWAYS, ENGLAND PREVAILS!"
 * Third and final part of his third BTN speech, moments before he comes face-to-face with V in person

High Chancellor Adam Sutler

 * My fellow Englishmen: tonight, our country, that which we stand for, and all we hold dear, faces a grave and terrible threat. This violent and unparalleled assault on our security will not go undefended. Or unpunished. Our enemy is an insidious one, seeking to divide us and destroy the very foundation of our great nation. Tonight, we must remain steadfast. We must remain determined. But most of all, we must remain united. Those caught tonight in violation of curfew will be considered in league with our enemy and prosecuted as a terrorist without leniency or exception. Tonight, I give you my most solemn vow: that justice will be swift, it will be righteous, and it will be without mercy!

Dialogue

 * V: I can assure you, I mean you no harm.
 * Evey: Who are you?
 * V: Who? Who is but the form, following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.
 * Evey: Well, I can see that.
 * V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
 * Evey: Oh, right.
 * V: But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.
 * ''V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valourous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! (carves V in sign with sword) The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. (Laughs wheezily) Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.
 * Evey: Are you like a crazy person?
 * V: I am quite sure they will say so. But to whom may I ask am I speaking?
 * Evey: I'm Evey.
 * V: Evey? E-V — of course you are.
 * Evey: What do you mean by that?
 * V: It means I, like God, do not play with dice, and do not believe in coincidence. Are you hurt?

 * Sutler: Gentlemen, you have had four hours, you had better have results. Mr Creedy?
 * Peter Creedy: The Bailey area is quarantined, and all significant witnesses have been detained.
 * Sutler: Good. Mr Etheridge?
 * Brian Etheridge: A recording device was found wired into the central emergency broadcast system. The DCD was Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.
 * Sutler: Add it to the blacklist. I never want to hear that music again.
 * Etheridge: Yes, sir. We also doubled our random sweeps and are monitoring a lot of phone surveillance, indicating a high percentage of conversation concerned with the explosion.
 * Sutler: Mr Dascombe, what are we doing about that?
 * Roger Dascombe: We're calling it an "emergency demolition". We have spin coverage on the network and throughout the InterLink, and several experts have been lined up to testify against the Bailey's structural integrity.
 * Sutler: I want Prothero to speak tonight on the dangers of these old buildings and how we must avoid clinging to the edifice of a decadent past. He should conclude that the New Bailey will become the symbol of our time and the future that our conviction has rewarded us. Mr Heyer?
 * Conrad Heyer: Our surveillance cameras captured several images of the terrorist, though the mask obviously makes retinal identification impossible. We also managed to get a photo of the girl that Creedy's men were detaining.
 * Sutler: Who is she, Mr Finch?
 * Eric Finch: Not sure, yet, sir, but we're working on several leads.
 * Sutler: Anything else?
 * Finch: We located the fireworks launch and found traces of the explosives used at both sites. Unfortunately, it appears that despite the heavy level of sophistication, these devices were homemade with over-the-counter chemicals, making them very difficult to trace. Whoever he is, Chancellor, he is very good.
 * Sutler: Spare us your professional annotations, Mr Finch. They are irrelevant.
 * Finch: Apologies, Chancellor.
 * Sutler: Gentlemen, this is a test. Moments such as these are matters of faith. To fail is to invite doubt into everything we believe, everything that we have fought for. Doubt will plunge this country back into chaos and I will not let that happen. Gentlemen, I want this terrorist found, and I want him to understand what terror really means. England prevails!
 * Party leaders: England prevails.

 * [just as the Old Bailey demolition report is broadcast]
 * Patricia: You think people will buy this?
 * Dascombe: Well, why not? This is the BTN. Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That's the government's job.

 * [Dominic Stone is driving Finch to Jordan Tower to find Evey, while he looks her up.]
 * Finch: This looks serious. Her parents were political activists. They were detained when she was 12.
 * Dominic: What happened to her?
 * Finch: Juvenile reclamation project. For five years. We're going to need back-up, but keep it minimal.
 * Dominic: You sure about that, sir?
 * Finch: I just want a chance to talk to her before she disappears into one of Creedy's black bags.

 * News reporter: We're interrupting your regularly scheduled program to bring you this terrifying report of a terrorist takeover of Jordan Tower, which ended only moments ago. A psychotic terrorist, identified only as the letter V, attacked the control booth with high-powered explosives and other weapons, that he used against unarmed civilians in order to broadcast a message of hate. We've just received this footage of a daring police raid.
 * Police officer: Stop!! Stop! Stay where you are or we'll shoot! Stay where you are!!
 * News reporter: Now this is only an initial report. But at this time, it's believed that during this heroic raid, the terrorist was shot and killed.
 * Girl with Spectacles: Bollox!
 * News reporter: Again, from what we've been told by authorities, the danger is now over. The terrorist is dead.

 * Evey: What is this place?
 * V: It's my home. I call it the Shadow Gallery.
 * Evey: It's beautiful... where did you get all this stuff?
 * V: Oh, here and there. Most of it from the vaults of the Ministry of Objectionable Materials.
 * Evey: You stole them?
 * V: Oh, heavens, no. Stealing implies ownership. You can't steal from the censor; I merely reclaimed them.
 * Evey: God, if they ever find this place...
 * V: I suspect if they do find this place, a few bits of art will be the least of my worries.
 * Evey: You mean, after what you've done? God, what have I done? I Maced that detective. Why did I do that?
 * V: You did what you thought was right.
 * Evey: No. I shouldn't have done that. I must have been out of my mind.
 * V: Is that what you really think, or what they would want you to think?
 * Evey: I think I should go.
 * V: May I ask where?
 * Evey: Home. I have to go home.
 * V: You said they were looking for you. If they know where you work, they certainly know where you live.
 * Evey: I have friends. I could stay with them.
 * V: I'm afraid that won't work either. Now, you have to understand, Evey. I don't want this for either of us, but I couldn't see any other way. You were unconscious, and I had to make a decision. If I had left you there, right now, you'd be in one of Creedy's interrogation cells. They'd imprison you, torture you, and, in all probability, kill you in the pursuit of finding me. After what you did, I couldn't let that happen, so I picked you up and carried you to the only place I knew you'd be safe: here, to my home.
 * Evey: I won't tell anyone, I swear. You know you can trust me.
 * V: I'm sorry, but I can't take that risk.
 * Evey: But I don't even know where this is. We could be anywhere.
 * V: You know it's underground. You know the colour of the stone. That'd be enough for a clever man.
 * Evey: What are you saying? That I have to stay here?
 * V: Only until I'm done. After the 5th, I no longer think it'll matter.
 * Evey: You mean, a year from now? I have to stay here for a year?
 * V: Sorry, Evey. I didn't know what else to do.
 * Evey: You should have left me alone! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!

 * [A shot of an Egg in the Basket over a frying pan zooms out to V's scarred hands holding the pan. Evey wakes up to Stan Getz, Tom Jobim, João Gilberto, and Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl from Ipanema"]
 * Evey: V?
 * V: Ah. Bonjour, mademoiselle.
 * Evey: I just wanted to apologise for my reaction last night. [V just nods] I understand what you did for me, and I wanted you to know I am grateful. [turns attention to V's scarred hands] Your hands!
 * V: [notices his hands, which were un-gloved] Yes. [puts gloves back on] There. That's better. I hope I didn't put you off your appetite.
 * Evey: No, please. It's just — are you all right?
 * V: Oh, yes, yes. Yes, I'm fine.
 * Evey: Can I ask what happened?
 * V: [hesitates for a moment] There was a fire. A long time ago. Ancient history for some. Not really very good table conversation. Now, would you care for a cup of tea with your egg?
 * Evey: Yes, thank you. I'm starving, actually.
 * V: Have a seat.
 * ''[Evey approaches the table, sits down, and eats the dish.]
 * Evey: Mmm. It's delicious!
 * V: Mmm. Good.
 * Evey: God, I haven't had real butter since I was a little girl. Where did you get it?
 * V: A government supply train on its way to Chancellor Sutler.
 * Evey: [chokes] You stole this from Chancellor Sutler!?
 * V: [nonchalantly] Yes.
 * Evey: You're insane!

 * Evey: Can I ask about what you said on the telly?
 * V: Yes.
 * Evey: Did you mean it?
 * V: Every word.
 * Evey: You really think that blowing up parliament is going to make this country a better place?
 * V: There's no certainty, only opportunity.
 * Evey: I think you can be pretty certain that if anyone does show up, Creedy will black-bag everyone of them.
 * V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
 * Evey: And you are going to make that happen by blowing up a building?
 * V: The building is a symbol, as is the act of destroying it. Symbols are given power by the people. Alone, a symbol is meaningless, but with enough people, blowing up a building can change the world.
 * Evey: I wish I believed that was possible, but every time I've seen the world change it's always been for the worse.

 * Prothero: Holy Christ! Jesus--! [slips and falls to the floor]
 * V: Good evening, Commander Prothero.
 * Prothero: Oh God! How did you get in here?!
 * V: Don't worry; I've made sure our reunion won't be disturbed by any pesky late-night phone calls, Commander.
 * Prothero: Stop that! Why do you keep calling me that?
 * V: That was your title, remember? When we first met, all those years ago. You wore a uniform in those days.
 * Prothero: [After some flashbacks of his time at Larkhill, including the fire, he figures out V as the man from Room 5] You. It is you!
 * V: The Ghost of Christmas Past.

 * Evey: V, yesterday I couldn't find my ID. You didn't take it, did you?
 * V: Would you prefer a lie or the truth?
 * Evey: [stands, gesturing toward the TV, which has just finished an announcement of Lewis Prothero's death] Did you have anything to do with that?
 * V: Yes, I killed him.
 * Evey: You? Oh, God!
 * V: You're upset.
 * Evey: I'm upset? You just said you killed Lewis Prothero!
 * V: I might have killed the Fingermen who attacked you, but I heard no objection then.
 * Evey: What?
 * V: Violence can be used for good.
 * Evey: What are you talking about?
 * V: Justice.
 * Evey: Oh... I see.
 * V: There's no courtroom in this country for men like Prothero.
 * Evey: And are you going to kill more people?
 * V: [nonchalantly] Yes.

 * Evey: My father was a writer. You would've liked him. He used to say that artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.
 * V: A man after my own heart.

 * Evey: [reading inscription on mirror] Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici...
 * V: "By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe".
 * Evey: Personal motto?
 * V: From Faust.
 * Evey: That's about trying to cheat the devil, isn't it?
 * V: It is.

 * Delia: [wakes in an apparently empty room] It's you, isn't it? You've come to kill me.
 * V: [from the shadows] Yes.
 * Delia: [lets out a sob] Thank God...

 * Delia: After what happened, after what they did, I thought about killing myself. But I knew that one day you'd come for me. I didn't know what they were going to do. I swear to you. Read my journal.
 * V: What they did was only possible because of you.
 * Delia: Oppenheimer was able to change more than the course of a war. He changed the entire course of human history. Is it wrong to hold on to that kind of hope?
 * V: I've not come for what you hoped to do. I've come for what you did.
 * Delia: It's funny. I was given one of your roses today. I wasn't sure you were the terrorist until I saw it. What a strange coincidence that I should be given one today.
 * V: There are no coincidences, Delia. Only the illusion of coincidence. I have another rose [takes one out], and this one is for you. [hands it to her]
 * Delia: Are you going to kill me now?
 * V: I killed you ten minutes ago. [holds up a small hypodermic needle] While you slept.
 * Delia: [frightened] Is there any pain?
 * V: No.
 * Delia: Thank you. [pauses briefly] Is it meaningless to apologise?
 * V: Never.
 * Delia: [quietly] I'm so sorry.

 * Finch: The terrorist obviously wanted us to have it. He wanted us to know the whole story or at least a part of it.
 * Sutler: Am I to understand that you have read this document, inspector?
 * Finch: Yes, sir.
 * Sutler: Has anyone else read it, besides you?
 * Finch: No, sir.
 * Sutler: Then let me make this perfectly clear to you. The contents of this document are a matter of national security, constituting an assault on the character of several important party members as well as a blatant violation of the Articles of Allegiance. As the authenticity of this document cannot be verified, it could be an elaborate forgery created by the terrorist, as easily as it could be the deranged fantasy of a former party member who resigned for psychological reasons. Any discussion of this document or its contents will be regarded, at the very least, as an act of sedition, if not a willful act of treason. Is that understood, Mr Finch?
 * Finch: Yes, sir.
 * Sutler: You would do well, inspector, to put it out of your mind.

 * [A shot of an Egg in the Basket over a frying pan zooms out to Gordon's hands holding the pan, reminiscent of V preparing the same dish. Evey wakes up to Stan Getz, Tom Jobim, João Gilberto, and Astrud Gilberto's "Corcovado". She had previously sought refuge at Gordon Deitrich's home after escaping from V]
 * Gordon: Bonjour, mademoiselle.
 * Evey: [puzzled] What is that you're making?
 * Gordon: We call it "Eggie in the Basket". My mum used to make them.
 * Evey: This is weird.
 * Gordon: What?
 * Evey: The first morning I was with him, he made me eggs just like this.
 * Gordon: Really?
 * Evey: I swear!
 * Gordon: That is a strange coincidence. Although there's an obvious explanation.
 * Evey: There is?
 * Gordon: Yes, Evey. I am V. At last, you know the truth. [Evey looks incredulously at Gordon] You're stunned, I know. It's hard to believe, isn't it? That beneath this wrinkled, well-fed exterior, there lies a dangerous killing machine with a fetish for Fawkesian masks. ¡Viva la revolución!
 * Evey: That is not funny, Gordon.
 * Gordon: [sighs] Yes, I know. I'm useless without a studio audience.
 * Evey: I've seen people go to jail for less than that.
 * Gordon: Of course. He was right, wasn't he? There is something wrong with this country.

 * Finch: I want to ask a question, Dominic. I don't care if you answer me or not. I just want to say this aloud... The question I want to ask is about St Mary's and Three Waters. The question that's kept me up for the last 24 hours, the question I have to ask, is: What if the worst, the most horrifying, biological attack in this country's history was not the work of religious extremists?
 * Dominic: Well, I don't understand. We know it was. They were caught. They confessed.
 * Finch: And they were executed, I know. And maybe that's really what happened. But I see this chain of events, these coincidences... and I have to ask: What if that isn't what happened? What if someone else unleashed that virus? What if someone else killed all those people? Would you really want to know who it was?
 * Dominic: Sure.
 * Finch: Even if it was someone working for this government? That's my question. If our own government was responsible for what happened at St Mary's and Three Waters... if our own government was responsible for the deaths of almost a hundred thousand people... would you really want to know?

<hr width="50%" />
 * [Gordon pops a champagne bottle]
 * Evey: What is this all about?
 * Gordon: I'm celebrating.
 * Evey: Celebrating what?
 * Gordon: I think this could be the best show we've ever done.
 * Gordon: [on the television] Very good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Listen. We've got an extraordinary show for you tonight. You're not going to believe it. As a matter of fact, I don't think I do. Would you please give a warm welcome to our own Chancellor Adam Sutler!
 * ["God Save the Queen" plays on the background as an impersonator of Adam Sutler enters]
 * Mother: No way!
 * Girl with Spectacles: It can't be!
 * Gordon: We threw out the censor-approved script, and shot a new one I wrote this morning.
 * Evey: Oh, my god.
 * [Cuts to the audience applaud on being threatened by the fake Sutler's soldiers. Evey chokes on her champagne]
 * Gordon: Chancellor, Chancellor, Chancellor. I understand you've been under tremendous strain lately since the beginning of this whole terrorism business, and we thought it would be a nice idea to try and help you relax. Girls?
 * [Deitrich's girls arrive with a humidor, from where the fake Sutler takes a cigar. Another girl offers him a glass of milk]
 * Fake Sutler: Ah! Warm milk. There's nothing better.
 * Gordon: I understand you enjoy a glass every night, Chancellor.
 * Fake Sutler: Since I was a boy. [The real Sutler is shown sitting in his bunker while watching, holding a glass of milk] But you're wrong, Mr Deitrich. The terrorist was never a serious concern.
 * Gordon: (in background) Oh, really?
 * [A prankster dressed as V ties the fake Sutler's shoelaces together, whilst replacing his cigar with an exploding one]
 * Girl with Spectacles: It's him!
 * Gordon: Chancellor, Chancellor, are you saying that he's not still alive and active?
 * Fake Sutler: The terrorist has been neutralised.
 * [The cigar explodes as the fake Sutler huffs from it.]
 * Gordon: Oh, my God, Chancellor, look! The terrorist!
 * Fake Sutler: The terrorist! [The camera pans to the fake V among the musicians, scraping a washboard] Get him! [Sutler walks toward the fake V, but having been shoe-laced, stumbles.]
 * Gordon: Oh, dear!
 * [As Boots Randolph's "Yakety Sax" plays, the show plays a sped-up chase of V, the girls, and the soldiers, while the fake Sutler still struggles to get off from being shoe-laced. An actor in a gorilla suit appears randomly and bangs his chest with his fists. Gordon then throws a banana peel, and the fake V slips on it, and is tackled by the fake Sutler's soldiers]
 * Fake Sutler: At last! And now, for all the world to see!
 * [The fake Sutler approaches the fake V, now restrained by the soldiers. He unmasks the fake V, who was revealed to be another Sutler impersonator]
 * Girl with Spectacles: [As her mother gasps and shakes her head] It's him!
 * Fake V/Sutler: Unhand me! I am your chancellor!
 * [A group of old men, who are watching the show, laugh out loud]
 * Fake Sutler: How dare you! I am the chancellor!
 * [Gordon makes a funny act of confusion, pointing to one fake Sutler after the other]
 * Fake V/Sutler: Imposter! [the two fake Sutlers tackle each other in a farcical fight. Gordon makes a funny act of sympathy before they get back up.] Soldiers! That man is the terrorist!
 * Fake Sutler: I order you to shoot that traitor!
 * Fake V/Sutler: Liar!
 * Fake Sutler: Faker!
 * Fake V/Sutler: Fraud!
 * Fake Sutler: Ready...
 * Fake V/Sutler: Aim...
 * Fake Sutlers: [together, as Gordon blocks his ears with his fingers in a funny act of fright] FIRE!
 * [The soldiers shoot both fake Sutlers. The curtain closes, the entire public is left laughing and as Gordon bows down to the clapping audience, another fake V sneaks in from the cyclorama, snickering as he holds a cigar. The real Sutler shatters the glass of milk in his hand as he watches]

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [Gordon is on the phone to his agent, after his satire of Norsefire is broadcast]
 * Gordon: What are they going to do, fine us? Big deal. We've got the most-watched show on air! Well, you're my agent, that's what I pay you for. Protect me! [hangs up] I should have hired him years ago to be my mother.
 * Evey: You're mad!
 * Gordon: Either that or I wasn't breast-fed.
 * Evey: Is everything a joke to you, Gordon?
 * Gordon: Only the things that matter.
 * Evey: What if they come after you?
 * Gordon: I'll tell you what's going to happen. I'll have to make some kind of apology and do some boring fund-raiser, but in the meantime, our ratings will go through the roof. It'll be fine! Trust me.

<hr width="50%" />
 * Interrogator: Do you know why you're here, Evey Hammond?
 * Evey: No. Please...
 * Interrogator: You've been formally charged with three counts of murder, the bombing of government property, conspiracy to commit terrorism, treason, and sedition — the penalty for which is death by firing squad. You have one chance, and only one chance, to save your life. You must tell us the identity or whereabouts of code name V. If your information leads to his capture, you will be released from this facility immediately. Do you understand what I'm telling you? You can return to your life, Ms Hammond. All you have to do is co-operate. Process her.

<hr width="50%" />
 * Interrogator: I am instructed to inform you that you have been convicted by special tribunal and that unless you are ready to offer your co-operation, you are to be executed. Do you understand what I'm telling you?
 * Evey: Yes.
 * Interrogator: Are you ready to co-operate?
 * Evey: No.
 * Interrogator: Very well. Escort Ms Hammond back to her cell. Arrange a detail of six men and take her out behind the chemical sheds and shoot her.
 * [Later, as Evey sits alone in her cell, holding Valerie Page's letter tightly, the door swings open.]
 * Guard: It's time.
 * Evey: I'm ready.
 * Guard: [hesitates] Look, all they want is one little piece of information. Just give them something, anything.
 * Evey: Thank you, but I'd rather die behind the chemical sheds.
 * Guard: Then you have no fear anymore. You're completely free.

<hr width="50%" />
 * [Evey is allowed to leave her prison unexpectedly and finds she was actually in V's lair the whole time]
 * V: [entering] Hello, Evey.
 * Evey: ..You...it was you...
 * V: [quietly] Yeah.
 * Evey: [gestures behind her] That wasn't real... Is Gordon — ?
 * V: I'm sorry, but Mr Deitrich's dead. I thought they'd arrest him, but when they found a Qur'an in his house, they had him executed.
 * Evey: [whispers] Oh, God.
 * V: Fortunately, I got to you before they did.
 * Evey: You got to me? You did this to me... You cut my hair... You tortured me... You tortured me! Why?
 * V: You said you wanted to live without fear. I wish there would have been an easier way, but there wasn't.
 * Evey: [whispers] Oh, my God!
 * V: I know you may never forgive me, but nor will you ever understand how hard it was for me to do what I did. Every day, I saw in myself everything you see in me now. Every day, I wanted to end it. But each time you refused to give in, I knew I couldn't.
 * Evey: [shouting angrily] You're sick! You're evil!
 * V: You could have ended it, Evey. You could have given in, but you didn't. Why?
 * Evey: Leave me alone! I HATE YOU!
 * V: THAT'S IT! See, at first, I thought it was hate, too. Hate was all I knew. It built my world, imprisoned me, taught me how to eat, how to drink, how to breathe! I thought I'd die with all the hate in my veins. But then something happened. It happened to me, just as it happened to you.
 * Evey: SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR LIES!
 * V: Your own father said that artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie, but because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.
 * Evey: No...
 * V: What was true in that cell is just as true now. What you felt in there has nothing to do with me.
 * Evey: I CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING ANYMORE!
 * V: Don't run from it, Evey. You've been running all your life.
 * Evey: [gasping heavily] I can't... can't breathe... Asthma... When I was little... [collapses while V catches her]
 * V: Listen to me, Evey. This may be the most important moment of your life. Commit to it. They took your parents from you. They took your brother from you. They put you in a cell and took everything they could take except your life. And you believed that was all there was, didn't you? The only thing you had left was your life, but it wasn't, was it?
 * Evey: [sobbing] Oh... please...
 * V: You found something else. In that cell, you found something that mattered more to you than life. Because when they threatened to kill you unless you gave them what they wanted... you told them you'd rather die. You faced your death, Evey. You were calm. You were still. Try to feel now what you felt then.

<hr width="50%" />
 * V: What was done to me was monstrous!
 * Evey: Then they created a monster.

<hr width="50%" />
 * Heyer: Chancellor, I know no-one seems to want to discuss this, but if we're to be prepared for any eventuality, then it can't be ignored any longer. The red report in front of you has been vetted by several demolition specialists. Now, it concludes that the most logical delivery system for the terrorist to use would be an airborne attack. A separate report has been filed suggesting a train, despite the fact that the tunnels surrounding Parliament have been sealed shut.
 * Sutler: Who filed that report?
 * Heyer: Chief Inspector Finch.
 * Sutler: Do you have any evidence to support this conclusion, Mr Finch?
 * Finch: No, sir, just a feeling.
 * Sutler: If I am sure of anything, Inspector Finch, it is that this government will not survive if it is to be subject to your feelings. Mr Dascombe, what we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the entire InterLink! I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion! I want every man, woman, and child to understand how close we are to chaos! I WANT EVERYONE TO REMEMBER WHY THEY NEED US!

<hr width="50%" />
 * [As V, disguised as William Rookwood, is found by Finch]
 * V: [puts out a hand] That's close enough, inspector. [activates a debugger]
 * Finch: We're not wired.
 * V: I'm sorry, but a man in my position survives by taking every precaution.
 * Finch: You've information for us?
 * V: No, you already have the information. All the names and dates are inside your head. What you want, what you really need, is a story.
 * Finch: A story can be true or false.
 * V: I leave such judgments to you, inspector.
 * [Later on]
 * Finch: Can you prove any of this?
 * V: Why do you think I'm still alive?
 * Finch: Right. We'd like to take you into protective custody, Mr Rookwood.
 * V: Oh, I'm sure you would. But if you want that recording, you'll do what I tell you to do. Put Creedy under 24-hour surveillance. When I feel safe that he can't pick his nose without you knowing, I'll contact you again. Until then, cheerio.
 * Finch: Rookwood. Why didn't you come forward before? What were you waiting for?
 * V: Well, for you, inspector. I needed you.

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [two guards watch Creedy via CCTV, when the lights go out, V captures him and starts Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.5 playing]
 * Guard #1: What's he doing in the dark there?
 * Guard #2: Creepy Creedy. Not sure I want to know.
 * V: Sutler can no longer trust you, can he, Mr Creedy? And we both know why. After I destroy Parliament, his only chance will be to offer them someone else, some other piece of meat. And who will that be? You, Mr Creedy. A man as smart as you has probably considered this. A man as smart as you probably has a plan. That plan is the reason Sutler no longer trusts you. It's the reason you're being watched right now, why there are eyes and ears in every room of this house and a tap on every phone.
 * Creedy: Bollocks.
 * V: Oh, a man as smart as you, I think, knows otherwise.
 * Creedy: What do you want?
 * V: Sutler. Come now, Mr Creedy, you knew this was coming. You knew that one day, it'd be you or him. That's why Sutler's been kept underground for "security purposes". That's why there are several of your men close to Sutler. Men that can be counted on. All you have to do is say the word.
 * Creedy: What do I get out of this deal?
 * V: Me. [lifts a chalk up to Creedy] If you accept, put an X on your front door.
 * Creedy: [lifts his hand to take the chalk] Why should I trust you?
 * V: Because it's the only way you're going to stop me.
 * [Creedy takes the chalk]

<hr width="50%" />
 * Dominic: We've got Creedy pinned like a butterfly for weeks. Still no word; what's he waiting for?
 * ''[the phone rings, and Dominic answers it]
 * Dominic: Yeah? Inspector, it's for you.
 * Finch: [takes the phone] Yeah?
 * Captain Clark: Is that Chief Inspector Finch?
 * Finch: It is.
 * Captain Clark: This is Captain Clark of the 137th ward at Southend. We found him.
 * Finch: Found who?
 * Captain Clark: William Rookwood, the one you've been looking for. I saw your report a couple of weeks ago, thought I'd run it through our John Does. Sure enough, I hooked him; perfect dental match. He was a floater, a couple of fishermen picked him up. No ID, never solved. Until now, that is.
 * Finch: William Rookwood is dead?
 * Captain Clark: I'd say so. 20 years now.
 * [we then see a shot of Rookwood's face, revealed to be a mask used by V]
 * Finch: GOD DAMMIT!! That son of a bitch sat there and spoon-fed me that bullshit, and I ate it up!!
 * Dominic: So what do we do now, Inspector?
 * Finch: We do what we should've been doing. We find him!

<hr width="50%" />
 * Sutler: Every day, gentlemen. Every day that brings us closer to November. Every day that man remains free is one more failure! 347 days, gentlemen! 347 failures!
 * Creedy: Chancellor, we do not have the adequate force to...
 * Sutler: WE ARE BEING BURIED BENEATH THE AVALANCHE OF YOUR INADEQUACIES, MR CREEDY!

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Sutler: I want anyone caught with one of those masks arrested!
 * Convenience Store V: Give me the money! Give me the fucking money!
 * Dominic: We're under siege here. The whole city's gone mad.
 * Finch: That's exactly what he wants.
 * Dominic: What?
 * Convenience Store V: Anarchy in the UK! [fires shots into the air, then escapes with the money]
 * Finch: Chaos.
 * Sutler: Mr Creedy, I am holding you personally responsible for this situation.
 * [we soon go to a new scene, where Creedy is revealed to have accepted his earlier deal with V.]
 * Finch: The problem is that he knows us better than we know ourselves. That's why I went to Larkhill last night.
 * Dominic: That's outside quarantine.
 * Finch: I had to see it. There wasn't much left. But when I was there it was strange – I suddenly had this feeling that everything was connected. It was like I could see the whole thing; one long chain of events that stretched back to before Larkhill. I felt like I could see everything that had happened, and everything that was going to happen. It was like a perfect pattern, laid out in front of me, and I realised that we were all part of it, and all trapped by it.
 * Dominic: So do you know what's going to happen?
 * Finch: No. It was a feeling. But I can guess. With so much chaos, someone will do something stupid. And when they do, things will turn nasty.
 * [A young girl wearing one of V's Guy Fawkes mask is shown being shot and killed by a secret police officer. Angry people surround and attack him, undeterred by his badge or gun.]
 * Finch: And then, Sutler will be forced do the only thing he knows how to do. At which point, all V needs to do is keep his word. And then...
 * [V causes his completed dominoes to fall. During this, a martial-law like world is shown, with people attacking police and military vehicles.]

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Sutler: Tonight, I will speak directly to these people and make the situation perfectly clear to them. The security of this nation depends on complete and total compliance! Tonight, any protester, any instigator or agitator, WILL MADE EXAMPLE OF!
 * Dascombe: [clears throat] Chancellor, there is a contingency that has not been addressed.
 * Sutler: And what is that, Mr Dascombe?
 * Dascombe: Should the terrorist succeed...?
 * Sutler: He won't.
 * Dascombe: I understand that it is highly unlikely, but if he does...?
 * Sutler: If he does, and something happens to that building, the only thing that will change, the only difference that it will make, is that tomorrow morning, instead of a newspaper, I will be reading MR CREEDY'S RESIGNATION!

<hr width="50%"/>
 * Dominic: I went by Parliament. Never seen anything like it — tanks, anti-aircraft, infantry — it makes you wish that no-one would show up tonight. But if they do, what do you think will happen?
 * Finch: What usually happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns. Pull over here.
 * Dominic: We've been searching these tunnels for weeks. You really think we're going to find him now? [they pull up outside Charing Cross station. Finch gets out of the car.] Inspector? It's all gone wrong, hasn't it?

<hr width="50%" />
 * V: [confronting a helpless Sutler] At last, we finally meet. I have something for you, Chancellor. A farewell gift. For all the things you've done, for the things you might have done, and for the only thing you have left. [places a rose in Sutler's coat] Goodbye, Chancellor. Mr Creedy?
 * Creedy: [as Sutler whimpers and blubbers in terror] Disgusting. [executes Sutler with his revolver] Now that's done with. It's time to have a look at your face. Take off your mask.
 * V: No.
 * [Creedy nods and two Fingermen approach V; one tries to remove his mask, but V kills them both]
 * Creedy: Defiant to the end, huh? Oh, you won't cry like him, will you? You're not afraid of death. You're like me.
 * V: The only thing that you and I have in common, Mr Creedy, is we're both about to die.
 * Creedy: [scoffs] How do you imagine that's going to happen?
 * V: With my hands around your neck.
 * Creedy: Bollocks. What are you going to do, huh? We've swept this place. You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns!
 * V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hopes that when your guns are empty, I'm no longer standing. Because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.
 * Creedy: That's impossible! [Raises his revolver and thumbs back the hammer] Kill him.
 * [Creedy and his men open fire on V. After their guns are empty, with many rounds fired, V stand half-bowed, but then straightens and inhales deeply]
 * V: My turn.
 * [V swiftly kills all of Creedy's remaining men with his knives, while Creedy frantically reloads his revolver]
 * Creedy: [Starts shooting the approaching V] Die! Die! Why won't you die?! [His gun clicks empty] Why won't you die?
 * V: [Gasping] Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr Creedy. And ideas are bulletproof!
 * [V grabs Creedy by the throat, lifts him up and pins him to the fence, and breaks his neck. Dropping the corpse, he removes an armored breastplate, now full of bullet holes, that he had been wearing under his clothes. He staggers away, bleeding heavily.]

<hr width="50%"/>
 * [Evey and Finch stand watching Parliament erupt in explosions of fireworks while the 1812 Overture plays over the loudspeakers]
 * Finch: Who was he?
 * Evey: He was Edmond Dantès. And he was my father. And my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you, and me. He was all of us.

Quoted from other sources

 * These statements, popularized in the film, are actually quotes from other sources.

The fifth of November, The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason Why the gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.
 * Remember, Remember or Please to remember
 * Traditional English verse recited for Guy Fawkes Night

[skipping four of the original lines] Disdaining fortune with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution...
 * The multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon him...
 * William Shakespeare, in Macbeth 1.2.17-18

 * We are oft to blame in this. 'Tis too much proved that with devotion's visage and pious action we do sugar o'er the devil himself.'
 * William Shakespeare, in Hamlet 3.1.46-49

 * I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none.
 * William Shakespeare, in Macbeth 1.7.47-48

With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
 * And thus I clothe my naked villainy
 * William Shakespeare, in Richard III 1.3.336-38

For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent.
 * Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
 * William Shakespeare, in Twelfth Night 1.2.53-55

Quotes about V for Vendetta

 * There are ideas in this film. The most pointed is V's belief: "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." I am not sure V has it right; surely in the ideal state governments and their people should exist happily together. Fear in either direction must lead to violence. But V has a totalitarian state to overthrow, and only a year to do it in, and we watch as he improvises a revolution.
 * Roger Ebert, in Chicago Sun-Times (16 March 2006)

 * Brutal, audacious and very slippery, V for Vendetta is the ballsiest major studio release I've ever seen… Vendetta is as rousing, engaging and devious as only the best propaganda can be — a call to rebellion that dares to question our respect for authority and gives us a masked terrorist and his manipulated prodigy as our heroes. And unlike other political thrillers that seem content to simply wallow their dissatisfaction with the state of the world, Vendetta demands that we take personal responsibility for our actions and for the administrations that we allow to come into power... Vendetta is a thematic powderkeg... Straight up, this is as invigorating, challenging and moving a film as one can hope to expect, especially from a major studio (and the first). Don't miss the movie of the year.
 * Brian Buzz Juergens at freezedriedmovies.com

 * The dark and stylized V for Vendetta is visually exhilarating, provocative and disturbing. Set in a slightly futuristic world (London in 2020), Vendetta is an action thriller that also stimulates thought... Despite its disparate influences, Vendetta feels captivatingly original. The multilayered film can be appreciated strictly as an action thriller or for its deeper message about personal responsibility, political oppression and revolutionary change. One powerful theme centers on the notion that ideas live forever, their power undiminished even as those who espouse them die.
 * Claudia Puig at USA Today

 * It seemed to me the two more absolute extremes were anarchy and fascism. This was one of the things I objected to in the recent film, where it seems to be, from the script that I read, sort of recasting it as current American neo-conservatism vs. current American liberalism. There wasn't a mention of anarchy as far as I could see. The fascism had been completely defanged. I mean, I think that any references to racial purity had been excised, whereas actually, fascists are quite big on racial purity.
 * Alan Moore

Taglines

 * An uncompromising vision of the future from the creators of the Matrix trilogy.
 * People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
 * Remember, remember the 5th of November.
 * FREEDOM! FOREVER!
 * Strength through unity, unity through faith!
 * England prevails.
 * Ideas are bulletproof.

Cast

 * Natalie Portman – Evey Hammond
 * Hugo Weaving – V
 * Stephen Rea – Eric Finch
 * Stephen Fry – Gordon Dietrich
 * John Hurt – Chancellor Adam Sutler

title: V for Vendetta (film)


text:
User talk:63.144.93.66

Welcome to Wikiquote, the free compendium of quotations! You don't have to log in to read or edit articles on Wikiquote, but creating an account is quick, free and non-intrusive, requires you to provide no personal information, and gives you many benefits, including:
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And thanks for your help reverting the recent vandalism! ~ UDScott 18:01, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Let me add my thanks as well. It's good to have dedicated individuals watching out for vandalism. Essjay Talk • Contact 19:50, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:63.144.93.66


text:
John Sparrow Thompson

Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (November 10, 1845 – December 12, 1894) was a Canadian lawyer and judge who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Canada from December 5, 1892 to December 12, 1894 as well as Premier of Nova Scotia in 1882.

Quotes

 * These Yankee politicians are the lowest race of thieves in existence.
 * Statement made during sensitive diplomatic talks with the United States over a trade dispute
 * Donald Grant Creighton and P. B. Waite, John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician, the Old Chieftain (1998) p. 497

title: John Sparrow Thompson


text:
User talk:151.188.16.12

You have been temporarily blocked from editing for vandalising Wikiquote. If you wish to make useful contributions, you are welcome to come back after the block expires. Essjay Talk • Contact 19:49, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:151.188.16.12


text:
User talk:WDTSF~enwikiquote

WDTSF, a self-referencial acronym. Those who know what it stands for knows, those who don't are encouraged to find out by figuring it out themselves instead of being told. Most people with a fluency in English are likely to get the acrynom without too much assistance, however, sometimes it takes certain people longer than others to arrive at the answer, which is actually the question itself.

The people who discovered this acronym began a silent movement of pointless mass confusion in 1998. It began with a advertising campaign without a product code named "Operation: Poopy Pants" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where thousands of posters were printed bearing nothing but the letters WDTSF, white in a black box.

Over thousands of stickers were printed and given out for random distribution. There were 3 known designs: The original had nothing except the acronym, white text on black. The second generation had WDTSF approved and were designed to look like an official label so that when they were adhered in public on items such as parking metres and automatic hand-dryers in public washrooms, they were likely to be taken off by custodians since they looked like they looked more like an official label than a piece of advertising. The 3rd generation stickers had a more stylized LOGO and advertised the movement's website, however those were considered by the purists to be untrue to the spirit and philosophy of WDTSF.

There was one recorded "demonstration" of the WDTSF called The Pointless March. This took place downtown Toronto on a rainy day in 1999. WDTSF revolutionaries dressed in uniform black T-shirts bearing the acronym in bold white letters paraded with picket signs that read "Honk if your horn doesn't work", "This sign is not big enoug", "The reading of this sign is strictly prohibited" etc.

The Pointless March began in front of the Henry Moore sculpture on the corner of McCaul and Dundas and the revolutionaries proceeded a spontaneous route which included a circle around the Ontario Parliament building, Yonge street, and the party dispersed somewhere around Speakers Corner due to bad weather.

The WDTSF is still active today with various random projects of confusion around the world, the latest of which, include a full back cover "advertisment" in "That's Beijing" magazine, China, where a meaningless doodle in black and white were accompanied by the words "I don't understand it either."

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called WDTSF. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name WDTSF~enwikiquote that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:38, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:00, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:WDTSF~enwikiquote


text:
User talk:152.163.100.199

I restored the quotation you deleted from the page on Jesus, because it is relatively famous quote by a famous author, about Jesus. ~ Kalki 21:37, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:152.163.100.199


text:
Jerome

Saint Jerome (c. 347 – 30 September 420), full name Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. Jerome's edition, the Vulgate, is still the official biblical text of the Roman Catholic Church. He is canonized in all Christianity and recognized by the Vatican as a Doctor of the Church.

Quotes

 * Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the actual possessor, then by his predecessor.
 * The Cry for Justice (1915), p. 397

Letters

 * Amicum qui diu quaeritur, vix invenitur, difficile servatur.
 * A friend is long sought, hardly found, and with difficulty kept.
 * Letter 3

 * Caritas non potest conparari; dilectio pretium non habet.
 * Love is not to be purchased, and affection has no price.
 * Letter 3

 * Amicitia quae desinere potest vera numquam fuit.
 * The friendship that can cease has never been real.
 * Letter 3

 * Facilius enim neglegentia emendari potest quam amor nasci.
 * It is easier to mend neglect than to quicken love.
 * Letter 7

 * Libet, sarcina corporis abiecta, ad purum aetheris evolare fulgorem. Paupertatem times? sed beatos Christus pauperes appellat. Labore terreris? at nemo athleta sine sudore coronatur. De cibo cogitas? sed fides famem non timet. Super nudam metuis humum exesa ieiuniis membra collidere? sed Dominus tecum iacet. Squalidi capitis horret inculta caesaries? sed caput tuum Christus est. Infinita eremi vastitas te terret? sed tu paradisum mente deambula. Quotiescumque illuc cogitatione conscenderis, toties in eremo non eris.
 * Sweet it is to lay aside the weight of the body and to soar into the pure bright ether. Do you dread poverty? Christ calls the poor blessed. (Luke 6:20) Does toil frighten you? No athlete is crowned but in the sweat of his brow. Are you anxious as regards food? Faith fears no famine. Do you dread the bare ground for limbs wasted with fasting? The Lord lies there beside you. Do you recoil from an unwashed head and uncombed hair? Christ is your true head. Does the boundless solitude of the desert terrify you? In the spirit you may walk always in paradise. Do but turn your thoughts there and you will be no more in the desert.
 * Letter 14, 10; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.

 * Si rivus tenuiter fluit, non est alvei culpa, sed fontis.
 * If there is but little water in the stream, it is the fault, not of the channel, but of the source.
 * Letter 17

 * Cum subito raptus in spiritu....
 * Suddenly I was caught up in the spirit and dragged before the judgment seat of the Judge; and here the light was so bright, and those who stood around were so radiant, that I cast myself upon the ground and did not dare to look up. Asked who and what I was I replied "I am a Christian." But He who presided said: "Thou liest; thou art a follower of Cicero and not of Christ. For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also." Instantly I became dumb, and amid the strokes of the lash—for He had ordered me to be scourged—I was tortured more severely still by the fire of conscience, considering with myself that verse "In the grave, who shall give thee thanks?"
 * Letter 22 (to Eustochium), §30

 * Asino quippe lyra superflue canit.
 * It is idle to play the lyre for an ass.
 * Letter 27; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.

 * Nisi quod in se habet mordacis aliquid veritatis.
 * Everything must have in it a sharp seasoning of truth.
 * Letter 31

 * Ita se natura habet, ut amara sit veritas, blanda vitia existimentur.
 * Yet such is the order of nature. While truth is always bitter, pleasantness waits upon evildoing.
 * Letter 40

 * Et sicut viri fortes in controversiis solent facere, culpam praemio redimerem.
 * And had I taken the line—so often adopted by strong men in controversy—of justifying the means by the result.
 * Letter 48

 * Non confundant opera tua sermonem tuum: ne cum in Ecclesia loqueris, tacitus quilibet respondeat, cur ergo haec quae dicis, ipse non facis?
 * Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, "Why do you not practice what you preach?"
 * Letter 52

 * Nemo invito auditori libenter refert. Sagitta in lapidem nunquam figitur, interdum resiliens percutit dirigentem.
 * No one cares to speak to an unwilling listener. An arrow never lodges in a stone: often it recoils upon the sender of it.
 * Letter 52

 * Facile contemnitur clericus, qui saepe vocatus ad prandium, ire non recusat.
 * That clergyman soon becomes an object of contempt who being often asked out to dinner never refuses to go.
 * Letter 52

 * Negotiatorem clericum, et ex inope divitem, ex ignobili gloriosum quasi quandam pestem fuge.
 * A clergyman who engages in business, and who rises from poverty to wealth, and from obscurity to a high position, avoid as you would the plague.
 * Letter 52

 * Ne hoc quidem scire quod nescias.
 * It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance.
 * Letter 53

 * Bruta quoque animalia et vagae aves, in easdem pedicas retiaque non incidunt.
 * Even brute beasts and wandering birds do not fall into the same traps or nets twice.
 * Even brute beasts and flying birds do not fall into the same snares twice.
 * Letter 54

 * Interdum animus dominarum ex ancillarum habitu iudicatur.
 * Sometimes the character of the mistress is inferred from the dress of her maids.
 * Letter 54

 * Speculum mentis est facies, et taciti oculi cordis fatentur arcana.
 * The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.
 * Letter 54

 * Alius vulnus, nostra sit cautio.
 * The scars of others should teach us caution.
 * Letter 54

 * Plenus venter facile de ieiuniis disputat.
 * When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.
 * Letter 58

 * Grandes materias ingenia parva non sufferunt.
 * Small minds can never handle great themes.
 * Letter 60

 * O mors quae fratres dividis, et amore societos, crudelis ac dura dissocias.
 * O death that dividest brothers knit together in love, how cruel, how ruthless you are so to sunder them!
 * Letter 60; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.

 * Quotidie morimur, quotidie commutamur, et tamen aternos nos esse credimus.
 * Every day we are changing, every day we are dying, and yet we fancy ourselves eternal.
 * Letter 60; Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.

 * Difficulter eraditur, quod rudes animi praebiberunt. Lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum colorem revocet?
 * Early impressions are hard to eradicate from the mind. When once wool has been dyed purple, who can restore it to its previous whiteness?
 * Letter 107

 * Proclivis est enim malorum aemulatio, et quorum virtutes assequi nequeas, cito imitaris vitia.
 * We are always ready to imitate what is evil; and faults are quickly copied where virtues appear inattainable.
 * Leter 107

 * Let your daughter have first of all the book of Psalms for holiness of heart, and be instructed in the Proverbs of Solomon for her godly life.
 * Letter 107

 * The tired ox treads with a firmer step.
 * Letter 112

 * Athletes as a rule are stronger than their backers; yet the weaker presses the stronger to put forth all his efforts.
 * Letter 118

 * Audio religiosam habere te matrem, multorum annorum viduam, quae aluit, quae erudivit infantem et post studia Galliarum, quae vel florentissima sunt, misit Romam non parcens sumptibus et absentiam filii spe sustinens futurorum, ut ubertatem Gallici nitoremque sermonis gravitas Romana condiret nec calcaribus in te sed frenis uteretur, quod et in disertissimis viris Graeciae legimus, qui Asianum tumorem Attico siccabat sale et luxuriantes flagellis vineas falcibus reprimebant, ut eloquentiae toreularia non verborum pampinis, sed sensuum quasi uvarum expressionibus redundarent.
 * I am told that your mother is a religious woman, a widow of many years' standing; and that when you were a child she reared and taught you herself. Afterwards when you had spent some time in the flourishing schools of Gaul she sent you to Rome, sparing no expense and consoling herself for your absence by the thought of the future that lay before you. She hoped to see the exuberance and glitter of your Gallic eloquence toned down by Roman sobriety, for she saw that you required the rein more than the spur. So we are told of the greatest orators of Greece that they seasoned the bombast of Asia with the salt of Athens and pruned their vines when they grew too fast. For they wished to fill the wine-press of eloquence not with the tendrils of mere words but with the rich grape-juice of good sense.
 * Letter 125 (Ad Rusticum Monachum)

 * It is no fault of Christianity that a hypocrite falls into sin.
 * Letter 125

 * The charges we bring against others often come home to ourselves; we inveigh against faults which are as much ours as theirs; and so our eloquence ends by telling against ourselves.
 * Letter 125

 * Neither Britain, a province fertile in tyrants, nor the people of Ireland, knew Moses and the prophets.
 * Letter 133

 * A dreadful rumor reached us from the West. We heard that Rome was besieged, that the citizens were buying their safety with gold, and that when they had been thus despoiled they were again beleaguered, so as to lose not only their substance but their lives. ...The speaker's voice failed and sobs interrupted his utterance. The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken; nay, it fell by famine before it fell by the sword, and there were but few to be found to be made prisoner.
 * Letter to Lady Principia (412) bewailing the sack of Rome by the Visigoths on August 24, 410; as quoted by John Freely in Before Galileo: The Birth of Modern Science in Medieval Europe (2012)

Old Testament

 * Privilegia paucorum non faciunt legem.
 * The privileges of a few do not make common law.
 * Exposition on Jona

 * Ignoratio Scripturarum, ignoratio Christi est.
 * Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
 * Commentary on Isaiah, Prologue

 * They fill their houses through the plunder and losses of others, so that the saying of the philosophers may be fulfilled, 'Every rich man is unjust or the heir of an unjust one.' (Omnis dives aut iniquis aut iniqui haeres.)
 * Commentary on Jeremiah

New Testament

 * Non digne Graeca in Latinum transfero: aut Graecos lege (si ejusdem linguae habes scientiam); aut si tantum Latinus es, noli de gratuito munere judicare, et, ut vulgare proverbium est: equi dentes inspicere donati.
 * I translate Greek into Latin unworthily. Either read Greek works (if you have knowledge of the language) or, if you know only Latin, do not unnecessarily judge gifts and, as the common saying goes, look a gift horse in the mouth [lit. "teeth"].
 * On the Epistle to the Ephesians, prologue

Apology Against Rufinus

 * Before Arius arose in Alexandria as a demon of the south, things were said incautiously [regarding the Trinity] which cannot be defended against a malevolent criticism.
 * Book II, sec. 17

 * Innocence would be dead long ago if wickedness were always allied to power, and calumny could prevail in all that it seeks to accomplish.
 * Book II, sec. 24

 * To die is the lot of all, to commit homicide only of the weak man.
 * Book III, sec. 2

 * Pardon me for having praised Origen's zeal for Scriptural learning in my youthful days before I fully knew his heresies; and I will grant you (Rufinus) forgiveness for having written an Apology for his works when your head was grey.
 * Book III, sec. 9

 * In the case of Tertullian we praise his great talent, but we condemn his heresy. In that of Origen we admire his knowledge of the Scriptures, but nevertheless we do not accept his false doctrine. As to Didymus, however, we extol both his powers of memory, and the purity of his faith in the Trinity, while on the other point in which he erred in trusting to Origen we withdraw from him. The vices of our teachers are not to be imitated, their virtues are.
 * Book III, sec. 27

 * To sin is human, to lay snares is diabolical.
 * Book III, sec. 33

 * "When you have said what you like, you shall bear what you do not like."
 * Book III, sec. 42
 * Jerome quotes this as an anonymous "vulgar saying".

The Dialogue Against the Luciferians

 * Jerome presents this work as a transcription of a dialogue between an Orthodoxus (hardly a real name) and Helladius the Luciferian. The following quotes are taken only from words that Jerome ascribes to Orthodoxus:

 * To be deceived is the common lot of both layman and bishop.
 * The truth is, men are elected to the episcopate who come from the bosom of Plato and Aristophanes. How many can you find among them who are not fully instructed in these writers? All, whoever they may be, that are ordained at the present day from among the literate class make it their study not how to seek out the marrow of Scripture, but how to tickle the ears of the people with the flowers of rhetoric.
 * sec. 11

 * “According to your faith, be it done unto you,” says God. (Matt 9:29) I do not, indeed, like the sound of those words. For if it be done unto me according to my faith, I shall perish. And yet I certainly believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, and I believe in God the Holy Ghost. I believe in one God; nevertheless, I would not have it done unto me according to my faith. For the enemy often comes, and sows tares in the Lord's harvest. I do not mean to imply that anything is greater than the purity of heart which believes that mystery; but undoubted faith towards God it is hard indeed to find.
 * I could not pray, if I did not believe; but if I really believed, I should cleanse that heart of mine with which God is seen, I should beat my hands upon my breast, the tears would stream down my cheeks, my body would shudder, my face grow pale, I should lie at my Lord's feet, weep over them, and wipe them with my hair, I should cling to the cross and not let go my hold until I obtained mercy. But, as it is, frequently in my prayers I am either walking in the arcades, or calculating my interest, or am carried away by base thoughts, so as to be occupied with things the mere mention of which makes me blush.
 * sec. 15

 * It is not the sheep only who abide in the Church.
 * No one can take to himself the prerogative of Christ, no one before the day of judgment can pass judgment upon men. If the Church is already cleansed, what shall we reserve for the Lord?
 * sec. 22

 * Let them not flatter themselves if they think they have Scripture authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted Scripture, and the essence of the Scriptures is not the letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow the letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes and have two coats must not be received into the Church. (Matt 10:10)
 * sec. 28

De Viris Illustribus

 * De Viris Illustribus (On Illustrious Men) – full English version (trans. E. C. Richardson)

 * A quo et affixus cruci, martyrio coronatus est, capite ad terram verso, et in sublime pedibus elevatis: asserens se indignum qui sic crucifigeretur ut Dominus suus.
 * At [ Nero's ] hands [ Peter ] received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.
 * Chapter 1

 * Hic ergo quarto decimo Neronis anno, eodem die quo Petrus Romae, pro Christo capite truncatur, sepultusque est in via Ostiensi, anno post passionem Domini tricesimo septimo.
 * [ Paul ] then, in the fourteenth year of Nero on the same day with Peter, was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the twenty-seventh year after our Lord's passion.
 * Chapter 5

Adversus Jovinianum

 * Adversus Jovinianum (Against Jovinianus) – full English version (trans. W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley)

 * Just as divorce according to the Saviour's word was not permitted from the beginning, but on account of the hardness of our heart was a concession of Moses to the human race, so too the eating of flesh was unknown until the deluge. But after the deluge, like the quails given in the desert to the murmuring people, the poison of flesh-meat was offered to our teeth. … At the beginning of the human race we neither ate flesh, nor gave bills of divorce, nor suffered circumcision for a sign. Thus we reached the deluge. But after the deluge, together with the giving of the law which no one could fulfil, flesh was given for food, and divorce was allowed to hard-hearted men, and the knife of circumcision was applied, as though the hand of God had fashioned us with something superfluous. But once Christ has come in the end of time, and Omega passed into Alpha and turned the end into the beginning, we are no longer allowed divorce, nor are we circumcised, nor do we eat flesh.
 * Book I, 18

 * Diogenes maintains that tyrants do not bring about revolutions in cities, and foment wars civil or foreign for the sake of a simple diet of vegetables and fruits, but for costly meats and the delicacies of the table. And, strange to say, Epicurus, the defender of pleasure, in all his books speaks of nothing but vegetables and fruits; and he says that we ought to live on cheap food because the preparation of sumptuous banquets of flesh involves great care and suffering, and greater pains attend the search for such delicacies than pleasures the consumption of them. … Persons who feed on flesh want also gratifications not found in flesh. But they who adopt a simple diet do not look for flesh. … The soul greatly exults when you are content with little: you have the world beneath your feet, and can exchange all its power, its feasts, and its lusts, the objects for which men rake money together, for common food, and make up for them all with a sack-cloth shirt.
 * Book II, 11

 * Dicæarchus in his book of Antiquities, describing Greece, relates that under Saturn, that is in the Golden Age, when the ground brought forth all things abundantly, no one ate flesh, but every one lived on field produce and fruits which the earth bore of itself.
 * Book II, 13

 * Xenocrates the philosopher writes that at Athens out of all the laws of Triptolemus only three precepts remain in the temple of Ceres: respect to parents, reverence for the gods, and abstinence from flesh. Orpheus in his song utterly denounces the eating of flesh. I might speak of the frugality of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Antisthenes to our confusion: but it would be tedious, and would require a work to itself. At all events this is the Antisthenes who, after teaching rhetoric with renown, on hearing Socrates, is related to have said to his disciples, «Go, and seek a master, for I have now found one.» He immediately, sold what he had, divided the proceeds among the people, and kept nothing for himself but a small cloak. … His most famous follower was the great Diogenes, who was mightier than King Alexander in that he conquered human nature.
 * Book II, 14

title: Jerome


text:
User talk:87.74.27.22

Sonic the Hedgehog
Why does Sonic the Hedgehog needs clean-up? It's alphabetical. --anon

title: User talk:87.74.27.22


text:
Necessary Illusions

Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies (1989) is an analysis by Noam Chomsky of the function of "modern era" news media in the United States; in particular, in Chomsky's words, "the ways in which thought and understanding are shaped in the interest of domestic privilege." The book is derived from a series of five lectures given by Chomsky on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio in November 1988.

Sourced
South End Press, ISBN 0-89608-366-7

 * Concentration of ownership in the media is high and increasing. Furthermore, those who occupy managerial positions in the media, or gain status within them as commentators, belong to the same privileged elites, and might be expected to share the perceptions, aspirations and attitudes of their associates, reflecting their own class interests as well. Journalists entering the system are unlikely to make their way unless they conform to these ideological pressures, generally by internalizing these values; it is not easy to say one thing and believe another, and those who fail to conform will tend to be weeded out by familiar mechanisms.
 * My personal feeling is that citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self-defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to lay the basis for more meaningful democracy.
 * Chapter I: Democracy and the Media (p. 8)

 * In a three-minute stretch between commercials, or in seven hundred words, it is impossible to present unfamiliar thoughts or surprising conclusions with the argument and evidence required to afford them credibility. Regurgitation of welcome pieties faces no such problem.
 * Chapter I: Democracy and the Media (p. 10)

 * Debate cannot be stilled, and indeed, in a properly functioning system of propaganda, it should not be, because it has a system-reinforcing character if constrained within proper bounds. What is essential is to set the bounds firmly. Controversy may rage as long as it adheres to the presuppositions that define the consensus of elites, and it should furthermore be encouraged within these bounds, thus helping to establish these doctrines as the very condition of thinkable thought while reinforcing the belief that freedom reigns.
 * Chapter III: The Bounds of the Expressible (p. 48)

 * Perhaps it is worth stressing a point that should be obvious. If the media function as predicted by the propaganda model, then they must present a picture of the world that is tolerably close to reality, even if only a selective version. Investors have to make judgments based on the facts of the real world, and the same is true of state managers. Privileged and politically active elites, who rely on the media, must have some awareness of basic realities if they are to serve their own interests effectively and play their social roles. Often, these realities demonstrate the ineptness, incompetence, corruption, and other failings of the state managers and their policies. These realities are detectable, even emphasized, in the media, and would be even if their sole function were to provide services to the powerful. To appeal to these facts to show that the media do not attempt to "mobilize bias" is to betray a serious misunderstanding of social realities.
 * Appendix I, 1: The Propaganda Model: Some Methodological Considerations (p. 151)

 * Generally, the media tolerate or even welcome denunciation of their hostility to authority, for obvious self-serving reasons. But there are times when such attacks can become a real threat. To defend themselves, the media must turn — briefly — to critics of their conformity. If they are accused of being unpatriotic, or too harsh towards creations of the public relations industry of the Reagan variety, they may request — even feature — critiques of their subordination to the state and awe of powerful figures. Media spokespersons can then observe that they are being criticized from both sides, so it must be that they are right in the middle, doing their work properly. The argument might have some force if the "criticism from both sides" were actually evaluated. Such is not the case, however; to serve the purpose at hand, it is not enough that criticism of media subordination exists.
 * Appendix I, 2: On Critical Balance (p. 161)

 * It is supposed, beyond question, that what the United States does and stands for is right and good; if others fail to recognize this moral rectitude, plainly they are at fault. The naivete is not without a certain childish appeal — which quickly fades, however, when we recognize how it is converted into an instrument for inflicting suffering and pain.
 * Appendix IV, 4: The Media and International Opinion (p. 221)

 * The Times and other media were being spoon-fed material by the public relations specialists of the United Fruit Company, though, as its PR director Thomas McCann later wrote: "It is difficult to make a convincing case for manipulation of the press when the victims proved so eager for the experience."
 * Appendix V, 5: The Best Defense (p. 323)

 * It is not impossible that U.S. and Israeli intelligence actually believe that the Intifada was initiated by the PLO and is directed by it. There is ample evidence of the incapacity of intelligence, the national political police, or the political leadership to comprehend the reality of popular movements and popular struggles. The idea is simply too threatening, and cannot be faced or comprehended. It is also necessary to bear in mind the ideological fanaticism that often colors intelligence reports and the higher-level interpretation of them, also amply documented.
 * Notes: Appendix V, note 108 (p. 406)

title: Necessary Illusions


text:
Irrelevance

Irrelevance is the lack of relationship with the topic at hand; lack of importance.

Quotes

 * A few pen-and-ink sketches of scenery and character may not be irrelevant; as serving to mark, palpable contrasts between the past and present, country and town, nature and art, illiterate and literary society - man almost in a state of semi-barbarism, and man enlightened by art, science, and refinement.
 * (1850) Personal and literary memoir of the author. p. 27.

 * I feel that any form of so called psychotherapy is strongly contraindicated for addicts. The question "Why did you start using narcotics in the first place?" should never be asked. It is quite as irrelevant to treatment as it would be to ask a malarial patient why he went to a malarial area.
 * William S. Burroughs, quoted in: Lois A. Michel (1968) Way out: a thematic reader. p. 121.

 * A theory has only the alternative of being right or wrong. A model has a third possibility: it may be right, but irrelevant.
 * (1973: 618), quoted in: Robert Gibbons, John Roberts (2012) The Handbook of Organizational Economics p. 188.

 * A poor relation is the most irrelevant thing in nature, a piece of impertinent correspondence, an odious approximation, a haunting conscience, a preposterous shadow, lengthening in the noon-tide of our prosperity. He is known by his knock.
 * Charles Lamb (1838) Last essays of Elia. p. 10.

 * It's irrelevant who or what directed a movie, the important thing is that you either respond to it or you don't.
 * in: "Kathryn Bigelow discusses role of "seductive violence" in her films" in The Tech, Issue 13 : Friday, March 16, 1990.

title: Irrelevance