Memorable Quotes from
The Matrix (1999)

Trinity: I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing... why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question, Neo. It's the question that drives us. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.
 

Morpheus: If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain
 

Morpheus: What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.
 

Neo: I thought it wasn't real
Morpheus: Your mind makes it real
Neo: If you're killed in the matrix, you die here?
Morpheus: The body cannot live without the mind
 

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
 

Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
[
Neo's eyes suddenly wander towards a woman in a red dress]
Morpheus
: Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?
Neo: I was...
Morpheus: [gestures with one hand] Look again.
[
the woman in the red dress is now Agent Smith, pointing a gun at Neo's head; Neo ducks]
Morpheus: Freeze it.
[
Everybody and everything besides Neo and Morpheus freezes in time]
Neo
: This... this isn't the Matrix?
Morpheus: No. It is another training program designed to teach you one thing: if you are not one of us, you are one of them.
 

Agent Smith: You're empty.
Neo: So are you.
 

Morpheus: Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
 

Agent Smith: We're willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start. All that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
Neo: Yeah. Well, that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger
[
He does]
Neo
: ... and you give me my phone call.
 

[Neo tries a drink made by Dozer and winces]
Cypher
: Good shit, huh? It's good for two things: degreasing engines and killing brain cells.
 

Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
 

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

Agent Jones: Only human.
 

Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
 

Morpheus: I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.
 

Morpheus: Free your mind.
[
Morpheus jumps from one building to another a long distance away]
Neo
: Whoa.
 

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: You've never used them before.
 

Morpheus: Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize just as I did that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
 

Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
 

Morpheus: Welcome to the real world.
 

Cypher: All I do is what he tells me to do. If I had to choose between that and the Matrix, I'd choose the Matrix.
Trinity: The Matrix isn't real.
Cypher: I disagree, Trinity. I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world. All I do is pull a plug here, but there... you have to watch Apoc die.
 

Oracle: I'd ask you to sit down, but, you're not going to anyway. And don't worry about the vase.
Neo: What vase?
[
Neo turns to look for a vase, and as he does, he knocks over a vase of flowers, which shatters on the floor]
Oracle
: That vase.
Neo: I'm sorry...
Oracle: I said don't worry about it. I'll get one of my kids to fix it.
Neo: How did you know?
Oracle: Ohh, what's really going to bake your noodle later on is, would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
 

Neo: What did she tell you?
Morpheus: That I would find the One.
 

Oracle: You're cuter than I thought. I can see why she likes you.
Neo: Who?
Oracle: Not too bright, though.
 

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

Cypher: I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?
 

Morpheus: The pill you took is part of a trace program. It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location.
Neo: What does that mean?
Cypher: It means buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye.
 

Agent Smith: Never send a human to do a machine's job.
 

Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?
Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
 

Oracle: OK, now I'm supposed to say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but..." then you say...
Neo: ..."but what?"
Oracle: But... you already know what I'm going to tell you.
Neo: I'm not The One.
Oracle: Sorry, kid. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something.
Neo: What?
Oracle: Your next life, maybe. Who knows? That's the way these things go.
 

Trinity: My name's Trinity.
Neo: *The* Trinity? Who cracked the IRS d-base?
Trinity: That was a long time ago.
Neo: Jesus...
Trinity: What?
Neo: I just thought... you were a guy.
Trinity: Most guys do.
 

Tank: So what do you need? Besides a miracle.
Neo: Guns. Lots of guns.
 

Trinity: Neo... nobody has ever done this before.
Neo: That's why it's going to work.
 

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

Rhineheart: You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously, you are mistaken.
 

Agent Smith: It seems that you've been living two lives. One life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a social security number, pay your taxes, and you... help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias "Neo" and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.
 

Morpheus: You've been living in a dream world, Neo.
 

Neo: I know kung fu.
Morpheus: [eyeing him, hand on chin] Show me.
 

Morpheus: How did I beat you?
Neo: You... you're too fast.
Morpheus: Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?
 

Lieutenant: I think we can handle one little girl. I sent two units, they're bringing her down now.
Agent Smith: No lieutenant, your men are already dead.
 

Agent Smith: Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call when you are unable to speak?
 

Trinity: Please Neo, you have to trust me.
Neo: Why?
Trinity: Because you have been down there Neo, you know that road, you know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be.
 

Morpheus: What is "real"? How do you define "real"?
 

Morpheus: Welcome to the desert of the real.
 

Neo: You ever have that feeling where you're not sure if you're awake or still dreaming?
Choi: All the time. It's called mescaline, it's the only way to fly.
 

Tank: Here you go, buddy; "Breakfast of Champions."
Mouse: If you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs.
Apoc: Yeah, or a bowl of snot.
Mouse: Do you know what it really reminds me of? Tasty Wheat. Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?
Switch: No, but technically, neither did you.
Mouse: That's exactly my point. Exactly. Because you have to wonder: how do the machines know what Tasty Wheat tasted like? Maybe they got it wrong. Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like oatmeal, or tuna fish. That makes you wonder about a lot of things. You take chicken, for example: maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything.
 

Neo: Mr. Wizard. Get me the hell out of here.
 

Agent Smith: I hate this place. This zoo. This prison. This reality, whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell, if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink and every time I do, I fear that I've somehow been infected by it.
 

Agent Smith: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.
 

Mouse: To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.
 

Cypher: You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize?
[
Takes a bite of steak]
Cypher
: Ignorance is bliss.
 

Morpheus: You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.
 

Cypher: I'm tired, Trinity. Tired of this war, tired of fighting... I'm tired of the ship, being cold, eating the same goddamn goop everyday...
 

Neo: Am I dead?
Morpheus: Far from it.
 

Neo: What are you doing?
Trinity: I'm going with you.
Neo: No you're not.
Trinity: No? Let me tell you what I believe. I believe that Morpheus means more to me than he does to you. I believe if you are really serious about rescuing him, you are going to need my help. And since I am the ranking officer on this ship, if you don't like it... I believe you can go to hell. Because you're not going anywhere else. Tank, load us up.
 

[first lines]
[
phone rings]
Cypher
: Yeah.
Trinity: Is everything in place?
Cypher: You weren't supposed to relieve me.
Trinity: I know, but I felt like taking a shift.
Cypher: You like him, don't you? You like watching him.
Trinity: Don't be ridiculous.
Cypher: We're gonna kill him. You understand that?
Trinity: Morpheus believes he is the one.
Cypher: Do you?
Trinity: It doesn't matter what I believe.
Cypher: You don't, do you?
Trinity: Did you hear that?
Cypher: Hear what?
Trinity: Are you sure this line is clean?
Cypher: Yeah, of course I'm sure.
Trinity: I better go.
 

Agent Brown: She got out.
Agent Smith: Doesn't matter.
Agent Brown: The informant is real.
Agent Smith: Yes.
Agent Jones: We have the name of their next target.
Agent Brown: The name is Neo.
Agent Smith: We'll need a search running.
Agent Jones: It has already begun.
 

Neo: What is happening to me?
Morpheus: You are the One, Neo. You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I have spent my entire life looking for you.
 

Choi: Hallelujah. You're my savior, man. My own personal Jesus Christ.
Neo: If you get caught using that...
Choi: I know. This never happened. You don't exist.
Neo: Right.
 

[Neo receives a cell phone in an overnight-mail envelope. As soon as he's holding it, it rings]
Neo
: Hello?
Morpheus: Hello, Neo. Do you know who this is?
Neo: Morpheus?
Morpheus: Yes. I've been looking for you, Neo. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, you and I have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo, and I don't know what they're going to do.
Neo: Who's coming for me?
Morpheus: Stand up and see for yourself.
Neo: What, right now?
Morpheus: Yes, now.
 

Switch: Our way... or the highway.
 

Trinity: Dodge this.
 

Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
 

Tank: Door on your left.
[
Neo goes right]
Tank
: Your other left.
 

Cypher: Neo. You scared the b'Jesus out of me.
 

Cypher: No. I don't believe it.
Tank: Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn.
 

Neo: Okey dokey... free my mind. Right, no problem, free my mind, free my mind, no problem, right...
 

Agent Smith: The great Morpheus. We meet at last.
Morpheus: And you are?
Agent Smith: A Smith. Agent Smith.
Morpheus: You all look the same to me.
 

Agent Smith: I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson.
 

Morpheus: I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air, yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
 

Neo: I used to eat there. Really good noodles.
 

Tank: We're supposed to start with these operation programs first. That's major boring shit. Let's do something a little more fun. How about... combat training.
Neo: Ju jitsu? I'm gonna learn Ju jitsu.
[
Tank winks and loads the program]
Neo
: Holy shit!
Tank: Hey Mikey, I think he likes it. How about some more?
Neo: Hell, yes. Hell yeah.
 

Cypher: All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead.
 

Oracle: Do you know what that means?
[
points to a banner]
Oracle
: It means know thy self. I wanna tell you a little secret, being the one is just like being in love. No one needs to tell you you are in love, you just know it, through and through.
 

Trinity: Neo, I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man... the man that I loved would be The One. So you see, you can't be dead. You can't be... because I love you. You hear me? I love you.
[
Neo's vital signs return]
Trinity
: Now get up!
 

Cypher: Jesus. What a mind-job.
 

Trinity: What's he doing?
Morpheus: He's beginning to believe.
 

Morpheus: To your left there is a window: open it... use the scaffold to get to the roof.
Neo: No way. No way. This is crazy.
Morpheus: There are two ways out of that building: one is that scaffold, the other is in their custody. You take a chance either way: I leave it to you.
 

Morpheus: Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?
 

[talking to the unconscious Morpheus]
Cypher
: If you'd told us the truth, we would've told you to shove that red pill right up your ass.
 

[Cypher has betrayed the crew and is pulling their plugs one by one]
Cypher
: By the way, if you have something terribly important to say to Switch, I'd suggest you say it now.
Trinity: Oh, please God...
Switch: Not like this. Not like this.
[
Cypher pulls her plug]
Cypher
: Too late!
 

Choi: It just sounds to me like you need to unplug, man.
 

Agent Smith: As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson.
 

Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
[
holds up a Duracell battery]
Neo
: No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.
Morpheus: I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.
 

Morpheus: We've done it, Trinity. We've found him.
Trinity: I hope you're right.
Morpheus: You don't have to hope. I *know* it.
 

Rhineheart: The time has come to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job.
 

Switch: The digital pimp at work.
 

Agent Smith: Dammit.
Agent Brown: The trace was completed.
Agent Jones: We have their position.
Agent Brown: Sentinels are standing by.
Agent Jones: Order the strike.
Agent Smith: They are not out yet.
 

[Neo walks through a metal detector in the lobby and is approached by a security guard after it goes off]
Security guard: Could you please remove any metallic items you may be carrying, keys, loose change...
[
Neo opens his trench coat to reveal dozens of guns underneath]
Security guard: Holy shit!
[
Neo knocks the guard down and shoots the other guards]
 

[after landing the Nebuchaunezzer to hide from the Sentinels]
Morpheus: How we doing Tank?
[
Tank types on the keyboard and the main power goes off]
Tank: Main power offline. EMP armed...
[
Tank opens the cover to the EMP switch]
Tank
: and ready.
Neo: EMP?
Trinity: Electro-Magnetic Pulse, disables any electrical system within the blast radius, only weapon we have against the machines.
Morpheus: Quiet.
 

Agent Smith: Find them and destroy them
 

[Agent Smith has shot Neo with several bullets]
Agent Smith: Check him.
[
Agent Brown feels Neo's pulse]
Agent Brown
: He's gone.
Agent Smith: Good bye, Mr Anderson.