- [last lines]
- Klaatu: I am leaving soon, and you will forgive me if I speak bluntly. The universe grows smaller every day, and the threat of aggression by any group, anywhere, can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure. Now, this does not mean giving up any freedom, except the freedom to act irresponsibly. Your ancestors knew this when they made laws to govern themselves and hired policemen to enforce them. Now, we of the other planets have long accepted this principle. We have an organization for the mutual protection of all planets and for the complete elimination of aggression. The test of any such higher authority is, of course, the police force that supports it. For our policemen, we created a race of robots. Their function is to patrol the planets in spaceships like this one and preserve the peace. In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk. The result is, we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war, free to pursue more... profitable enterprises. Now, we do not pretend to have achieved perfection, but we do have a system, and it works. I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder. Your choice is simple: join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you. Gort, berenga.
- Reporter: Would you care to say a few words, Mr. Carpenter? I suppose you're just as scared as the rest of us.
- Klaatu: In a different way, perhaps. I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason. In fact, I would like...
- Reporter: [cutting him off abruptly] Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. Thank-thank you very much.
- [moves on to another spectator]
- Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.
- Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
- Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I am very sorry. I wish it were otherwise.
- Mrs. Crockett: You're a long way from home, aren't you, Mr. Carpenter?
- Klaatu: How did you know?
- Mrs. Crockett: Oh, I can tell a New England accent a mile away.
- George Barley: Why doesn't the government DO something? That's what I'd like to know.
- Mr. Krull: What can they do? They're only people just like us.
- George Barley: People my foot. They're democrats.
- Mr. Bleeker: Oh, Eleanore, did you call the electrician?
- Secretary: I tried, Mr. Bleeker, but the phone doesn't work either.
- Mr. Bleeker: Well, call the phone company.
- Secretary: But the phone doesn't work.
- Major White: I removed a bullet from that man's arm yesterday.
- Man in Outer Office #1: Well, what about it?
- Major White: I just examined the wound and it's completely healed
- Man in Outer Office #1: Well, what does he say bout it?
- Major White: Said he put some salve on it. Some stuff he had with him.
- Man in Outer Office #2: What're you gonna do with it?
- Major White: Take it downstair and have it analyzed -- then I don't know whether to just get drunk or give up the practice of medicine.
- Bobby Benson: [indicating grave marker during a visit to Arlington] That's my father. He was killed at Anzio.
- Klaatu: Did all those people die in wars?
- Bobby Benson: Most of 'em. Didn't you ever hear of the Arlington Cemetery?
- Klaatu: No, I'm afraid not.
- Bobby Benson: You don't seem to know much about anything, do you, Mr. Carpenter?
- Klaatu: Well, I'll tell you, Bobby, I've been away a long time. Very far away.
- Bobby Benson: Is it different where you've been? Don't they have places like this?
- Klaatu: Well, they have cemeteries, but not like this one. You see, they don't have any wars.
- Bobby Benson: Gee, that's a good idea.
- Klaatu: Well, perhaps before deciding on a course of action, you'd want to know more about the people here - to orient yourself in a strange environment.
- Mrs. Barley: There's nothing strange about Washington, Mr. Carpenter.
- Klaatu: A person from another planet might disagree with you.
- Mrs. Barley: Well, if you want my opinion, he comes from right here on Earth -- and you know where I mean.
- Mr. Krull: They wouldn't come in a spaceship. They'd come in airplanes.
- Mrs. Barley: I woudn't be too sure about that.
- Army physician: [about Klaatu's people] Life expectancy's a hundred and thirty.
- Medical Corps Major: Well, how does he explain that?
- Army physician: Says their medicine's that much more advanced. He was very nice about it, but he made me feel like a third class witch doctor.
- Klaatu: I don't want to resort to threats, Mr. Harley. I merely tell you that the future of your planet is at stake.
- Helen: Now, you didn't really see a spaceship, but you thought you did.
- Bobby Benson: I'd never call YOU a liar.
- Bobby Benson: Department of Commerce. She's a secretary. That man they call a secretary isn't at all. My mom's a REAL secretary.
- Klaatu: [after reading the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial] Those are great words.
- Klaatu: [turns to look at the statue of Lincoln] He must have been a great man.
- Bobby Benson: Well sure.
- Klaatu: [walking out of the memorial, then turning to look at Lincoln again] That's the kind of man I'd like to talk to.
- [Klaatu is revived by Gort after being fatally shot]
- Helen: I... I thought you were...
- Klaatu: I was.
- Helen: You mean... he has the power of life and death?
- Klaatu: No. That power is reserved to the Almighty Spirit. This technique, in some cases, can restore life for a limited period.
- Helen: But... how long?
- Klaatu: You mean how long will I live? That no one can tell.