The Matrix (1999)
Laurence Fishburne: Morpheus
Photos
Quotes
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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.
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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.
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Morpheus : What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.
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Morpheus : You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.
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Morpheus : I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hmm?
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.
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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?
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Morpheus : Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Morpheus : We've survived by hiding from them, by running from them. But they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors, they are holding all the keys. Which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them.
Neo : Someone?
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.
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Morpheus : [to Neo who is choosing the red pill] Remember... all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.
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[Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
Neo : Whoa. Déjà vu.
[Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
Trinity : What did you just say?
Neo : Nothing. Just had a little déjà vu.
Trinity : What did you see?
Cypher : What happened?
Neo : A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
Trinity : How much like it? Was it the same cat?
Neo : It might have been. I'm not sure.
Morpheus : Switch! Apoc!
Neo : What is it?
Trinity : A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.
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Morpheus : Don't think you are. Know you are!
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Morpheus : You've been living in a dream world, Neo.
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Morpheus : Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
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Morpheus : Welcome to the real world.
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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.
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Morpheus : What is "real"? How do you define "real"?
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Morpheus : I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo : No.
Morpheus : Why not?
Neo : 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus : 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 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?
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[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.
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[on the war that devastated the Real World]
Morpheus : We don't know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power. It was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.
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[after the truth of the Matrix has been revealed to Neo, he lies in his bunk with Morpheus in the room with him]
Neo : I can't go back, can I?
Morpheus : No. But if you could, would you really want to? I feel I owe you an apology. We have a rule: we never free a mind once it's reached a certain age. It's dangerous, the mind has trouble letting go. I've seen it before and I'm sorry. I did what I did because... I had to. When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died, the Oracle prophesized his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix looking for him. I did what I did because I believe that search is over.
[beat]
Morpheus : Get some rest. You're going to need it.
Neo : For what?
Morpheus : Your training.
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[Neo has just been revived after escaping from the machines]
Neo : Morpheus, what's happened to me? What is this place?
Morpheus : More important than 'Where?' is 'When?'
Neo : When?
Morpheus : You believe it's the year 1999 when in fact it's closer to 2199. I can't tell you exactly what year it is because we honestly don't know. There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you, Neo.
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Morpheus : Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.
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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
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Morpheus : [explaining 'agents'] Sentient programs. They can move in and out of any software still hardwired to their system.
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[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.
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Morpheus : What if I told you...
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Morpheus : I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it.
