Primer (film)

"Aaron, I can imagine no way in which this thing could be considered anywhere remotely close to safe. All I know is I spent six hours in there and Im still alive... You still want to do it?"

"You know what they do with engineers when they turn 40? They take them out and shoot them."

"I am trying, okay, I really am here."

"Are you hungry? I havent eaten since later this afternoon."

"Youre talking about making a bigger one."

"[narrating] Meticulous, yes. Methodical. Educated. They were these things. Nothing extreme. Like anyone, they varied. There were days of mistakes and laziness and infighting. And there were days, good days, when by anyones judgment, they would have to be considered clever. No one would say that what they were doing was complicated. It wouldnt even be considered new. Except maybe in the geological sense. They took from their surroundings what was needed, and made of it something more."

"Whats worse, thinking youre being paranoid or knowing you should be?"

"How many times would it take before he got it right? Three? Four? Twenty? Ive decided to believe that only one more would have done it. I can almost sleep at night, if theres only one more. Slowly and methodically, he reverse-engineered a perfect moment. He took from his surroundings what was needed, and made of it something more. And once the details had been successfully navigated, there was nothing left to do but wait for the conflict. Maybe the obligatory, last minute moral debate until the noise of the room escalates into panic and background screams, as the gunman walks in. And eventually, he must have got it perfect, and it must have been beautiful with all the praise and adoration he had coming. He had probably saved lives, after all. Who knows what would have happened if he hadnt been there?"

"If you always want what you cant have, what do you want when you can have anything?"

"What happens if it actually works?"

"[His first experience in the machine] Maybe it was the dramamine kicking in, but I remember this moment in the dark with the reverberation of the machine. It was maybe the most content Ive ever been."

"And I dont think theres ever been any reason to show you what Im capable of...but Im telling you this now. Go out there and do whatever it is you want. Theres no way in the world I can stop you, but dont come back here. And dont come near them. Any of them."