Christopher Nolan > Quotes

“You musn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“Now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it...because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled.”
― Christopher J. J. Nolan

“Either you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.”
― Christopher J. Nolan, The Dark Knight

“But I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief, until the memory of your loved ones is just poison in your veins. And one day you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed, so you'd be spared your pain.”
― Christopher Nolan

“COBB: You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't know for sure. Yet it doesn't matter...
Mal looks at his across the railroad tracks. Replies-
MAL: Because you'll always be together.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“There's a point where we just let the music take over everything.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“The Joker: I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. Hmmm? You know... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan". But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds. Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair!”
― Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight

“Why do we Fall?
So we can learn to pick ourselves back up.”
― Christopher Nolan

“Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me!”
― Christopher Nolan , The Dark Knight Rises

“Don't talk like you're one of them! You're not... even if you'd like to be. To them you're just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out. Like a leper. See, their morals, their "code"... it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these uh, these "civilized people", they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.”
― Christopher Nolan

“You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't know for sure.

Yet it doesn't matter . . .

Because you'll always be together.”
― Christopher J. Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”
― Christopher J. J. Nolan

“Selina Kyle: There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”
― Christopher Nolan , The Dark Knight Rises

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
― Christopher J. Nolan, The Dark Knight

“She had locked something away,
something deep inside.

A truth that she had once known,
but chose to forget.

And she couldn't break free.

So I decided to search for it.

I went deep into the recess of her mind
and found that secret place.

And I broke in..”
― Christopher J. Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“The thing you fail to grasp is that people are not basically good. We are basically selfish. We shove and clamour and cry for adoration, and beat down everyone else to get it. Life is a competition of prattling peacocks enraptured in inane mating rituals. But for all our effacing and self-importance, we are all slaves to what we fear most. You have so very much to learn. Here. Let me teach you.”
― Christopher Nolan

“If you're going to perform inception, you need imagination.

You need the simplest version of the idea-the one that will grow naturally in the subject's mind. Subtle art.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“COBB: Our dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake we realize things were strange.

Ariadne gestures around them-

ARIADNE: But all the textures of real life-the stone, the fabric... cars... people... your mind can't create all this.

COBB: It does. Every time you dream. Let me ask you a question: You never remember the beginning of your dreams, do you? You just turn up in the middle of what's going on.

ARIADNE: I guess.

COBB: So... how did we end up at this restaurant?”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“Superheroes fill a gap in the pop culture psyche, similar to the role of Greek mythology. There isn't really anything else that does the job in modern terms. For me, Batman is the one that can most clearly be taken seriously. He's not from another planet, or filled with radioactive gunk. I mean, Superman is essentially a god, but Batman is more like Hercules: he's a human being, very flawed, and bridges the divide.”
― Christopher Nolan

“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)”
― Christopher Nolan

“I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze.”
― Christopher Nolan

“I never considered myself a lucky person. I'm the most extraordinary pessimist. I truly am.”
― Christopher Nolan

“I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)”
― Christopher Nolan

“Newton’s third law – the only way humans have ever figured out of getting somewhere is to leave something behind.”
― Christopher J. Nolan, Interstellar: The Complete Screenplay With Selected Storyboards

“COBB: What do you want from us?
SAITO: Inception.
Arthur raises his eyebrows. Cobb is poker-faced.
SAITO: Is it possible?
ARTHUR: Of course not.
SAITO: If you can steal an idea from someone's mind, why can't you plant one there instead?
ARTHUR: Okay, here's planting an idea: I say to you, "Don't think about elephants."
(Saito nods)
What are you thinking about?
SAITO: Elephants.
ARTHUR: Right. But it's not your idea because you know I gave it to you.
SAITO: You could plant it subconsciously-
ARTHUR: The subject's mind can always trace the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.
COBB: No, it isn't.
SAITO: Can you do it?
COBB: I won't do it.
SAITO: In exchange, I'll give you the information you were paid to steal.
COBB: Are you giving me a choice? Because I can find my own way to square things with Cobol.
SAITO: Then you do have a choice.
COBB: And I choose to leave.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“All you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them!”
― Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight

“I always thought the joy of reading a book is not knowing what happens next. (Leonard Shelby, Memento)”
― Christopher Nolan

“MAL: You killed me.
Cobb looks at Mal. Whispers-
COBB: I was trying to save you-I'm sorry.
Mal comes in close to Cobb. Looks him over.
MAL: You infected my mind. You betrayed me. But you can make amends. You can still keep your promise. We can still be together... right here. In our world. The world we built together.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“ARIADNE: Why are they looking at me?
COBB: Because you're changing things. My subconscious feels that someone else is creating the world. The more you change things, the quicker the projections converge on you.
ARIADNE: Converge?
COBB: They feel the foreign nature of the dreamer, and attack-like white blood cells fighting an infection.
ARIADNE: They're going to attack us?
COBB: Just you, actually.”
― Christopher Nolan, Inception: The Shooting Script

“Do you want to know why I use a knife? Guns are too quick. You can't savor all the... little emotions. In... you see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are. So in a way, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards?”
― Christopher Nolan The Dark Knight