Deus Ex

(2000)

• "JC Denton: You mechs have copper wiring to reroute your fear of pain, but I've got nerves of steel"

• "Isaac: Beer is 15; wine is 120."
  "JC Denton: Can I ask you something?"
  "Isaac: What do you want to know?"
  "JC Denton: Despite all I’ve read about the Triads, I wasn’t prepared to see them operating in the open, on the streets, and wearing uniforms. Doesn’t the Chinese government care?"
  "Isaac: The Chinese leave Hong Kong alone. They barricade the roads to control trade to the mainland, but they know how business is done."
  "JC Denton: I would think the secret smuggling operations of the Triads would disturb the Chinese government."
  "Isaac: Maybe the Luminous Path, but China knows that the Red Arrow are business owners, entrepreneurs, community leaders, and that they protect the city from outside influences."
  "JC Denton: You said "outside influences." What does China fear?"
  "Isaac: China is the last sovereign country in the world. Authoritarian but willing - unlike U.N.-governed countries - to give its people the freedom to do what they want.
  "JC Denton: As long as they don’t break the law."
  "Isaac: Listen to me. This is real freedom, freedom to own property, make a profit, make your life. The West, so afraid of strong government, now has no government. Only financial power."
  "JC Denton: Our governments have limited power by design."
  "Isaac: Rhetoric- and you believe it! Don’t you know where those slogans come from?"
  "JC Denton: I give up."
  "Isaac: Well-paid researchers - how do you say it? - "think tanks," funded by big businesses. What is that? A "think tank"?"
  "JC Denton: Hardly as sinister as a dictator, like China’s Premier."
  "Isaac: It’s privately-funded propaganda. The Trilateral Commission in the United States for instance."
  "JC Denton: The separation of powers acknowledges the petty ambitions of individuals; that’s its strength."
  "Isaac: A system organized around the weakest qualities of individuals will produce these same qualities in its leaders."
  "JC Denton: Perhaps certain qualities are in inseparable part of human nature.
  "Isaac: The mark of the educated man is the suppression of these qualities in favor of better ones. The same is true of civilization."

• "Walton Simons: You take another step forward and here I am again, like your own reflection in a hall of mirrors."
  "JC Denton: That makes me one ugly son of a bitch."

• "UNATCO troop 1: Don't you know what a philanthropist is?"
  "UNATCO troop 2: Yeah, like Nietzche."
  "UNATCO troop 1: No, a philanthropist. Giving to charity."
  "UNATCO troop 2: Oh."

• "Metro Police: We have had trouble with impatient passengers who walk into the tunnels and get themselves electrocuted"

• "Bob Page: Your appointment to FEMA should be finalized within the week. I've already discussed the matter with the Senator."
  "Walton Simons : May I take it he was agreeable?"
  "Bob Page: He didn't really have a choice."
  Walton Simons : Has he been infected?"
  "Bob Page: Oh yes. Most certainly. When I mentioned we could put him on the priority list for the Ambrosia vaccine, he was so willing it was almost pathetic."
  "Walton Simons : This plague... the rioting is intensifying to the point where we may not be able to contain it."
  "Bob Page: Why contain it? Let it spill over the schools and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end they'll beg us to save them."
  "Walton Simons : I've received reports of armed attacks on shipments. There's not enough vaccine to go around, and the underclasses are starting to get desperate."
  "Bob Page: Of course they're desperate; they can smell their deaths, and the sound they'll make rattling their cages will serve as a warning to the rest."
  "Walton Simons : Mmh. I hope you're not underestimating the problem. Intelligence suggest they're behind the problems in Paris."
  "Bob Page: Bunch of pretentious old men playing at running the world. But the world left them behind long ago. We are the future."
  "Walton Simons : We have other problems."
  "Bob Page: UNATCO?"
  "Walton Simons : Formed by executive order after the strike on the Statue. I have someone in place though. I'm more concerned about Savage. He's relocated to Vandenberg."
  "Bob Page: Our electronic sentience is far in advance of theirs, as is our biochem corpus, and their 'ethical inflexibility' has allowed us to make progress in areas they refuse to consider."
  "Walton Simons : The augmentation project?"
  "Bob Page: Among others. But, I must admit, I've been somewhat disappointed with the performance of the primary unit."
  "Walton Simons : The secondary unit should be online soon. It's currently undergoing preparations and should be operational within six months. If necessary, the primary will be terminated."
  "Bob Page: We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again. A new age. Aquinas spoke of the mythical city on the hill, soon that city will be real and we will be crowned its kings. Or, better than kings... Gods!"

• "Dr. Jaime Reyes: JC! You escaped! Is that what this lockdown is all about?"
  "JC Denton: I forgot to give Manderley my resignation."

• "JC Denton: Tell me about the shipment and I’ll order the troops to pick you up as a prisoner instead of a corpse."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: Ask away, we already won this round."
  "JC Denton: Where are you taking it?"
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: We’re just giving ordinary people the same chance to survive as the bureaucrats in Washington."
  "JC Denton: You’ll have to unload in New York because the choppers would spot you at sea."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: I think the government made the plague on purpose to get rid of the population growth."
  "JC Denton: Just answer the question."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: Don’t believe me? It’s all in the numbers. For a hundred years, there’s been a conspiracy of plutocrats against ordinary people."
  "JC Denton: Do you have a single fact to back that up?"
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: Number one: In 1945, corporations paid 50 percent of federal taxes. Now they pay about 5 percent. Number two: in 1900, 90 percent of Americans were self-employed; now it’s about two percent."
  "JC Denton: So?"
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: It’s called consolidation. Strengthen governments and corporations, weaken individuals. With taxes, this can be done imperceptibly over time."
  "JC Denton: I guarantee you that the interrogation staff at UNATCO will not be as forbearing as I am."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: Yeah, the secret police. You’re just bullies for a completely illegitimate government in Washington."
  "JC Denton: We will locate that shipment one way or another."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: The entire executive branch is hand-picked. Nineteen of the last twenty-three U.S. presidents have been members of the Trilateral Commission. The Trilateral Commission is financed by the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. Don’t tell me -"
  "JC Denton: That’s a think-tank. Anyone can become a member."
  "NSF Terrorist Leader: But not everyone does. That’s why they call it the "secret government." You can’t fight ideas with bullets."

• "UNATCO Troop 1: Denton! Hey, it’s Denton!"
  "UNATCO Troop 2: You want these?"
  "JC Denton: What?"
  "UNATCO Troop 1: Give’m the grenades!"
  "UNATCO Troop 2: Look, I know he’s your brother, but-."
  "UNATCO Troop 1: Your brother gave us these things! Look at this, "irritation to all exposed mucous membranes" - what’s that gonna do?"
  "UNATCO Troop 2: Just tell Paul to gives us bullets next time."
  "UNATCO Troop 1: Here’s one: "Prolonged exposure can damage the bronchial pathways." Prolonged exposure? It’s like giving ‘em cigarettes or something."
  "UNATCO Troop 2: Look, do you want these things?"
  "JC Denton: Keep ‘em. Those things save lives."
  "UNATCO Troop 2: Terrorist lives, you mean. You’re just like your brother. If I had your abilities, people would be safe around here."

• "JC Denton: You've got 10 seconds to beat it before I add you to the list of NSF casualties."
  "Pimp: Easy, bro', just havin' us a conversation."
  "JC Denton: Five seconds."
  "Pimp: Girl's got a head full of marbles. I HAVE to yell or she'd don't hear me."
  "JC Denton: Three."
  "Pimp: She schitzes on me it's my ass, man!"
  "JC Denton: One."
  "Pimp: All right! I'm goin'. Jesus."

• JC Denton: "Yeah, well, take a good look at Manderley's dead body - consider that my resignation. I don't have time to write a letter.