- Dr. David Kibner: We came here from a dying world. We drift through the universe, from planet to planet, pushed on by the solar winds. We adapt and we survive. The function of life is survival.
- Matthew Bennell: [dials his phone] I'll get the police.
- Telephone Operator: [voice] Police.
- Matthew Bennell: Officer, I'd like to report four bodies in my backyard.
- Telephone Operator: Wait right there Mr. Bennell.
- Matthew Bennell: How do you know my name?
- Jack Bellicec: [Jack's eyes widen with fear] Hang up, Matthew.
- Matthew Bennell: [into the phone] I didn't tell you my name.
- Jack Bellicec: Hang up!
- Matthew Bennell: [hangs up the phone] I didn't tell them my name!
- Nancy Bellicec: That's because they're all part of it. They're all pods, all of them!
- Elizabeth Driscoll: I have seen these flowers all over. They are growing like parasites on other plants. All of a sudden. Where are they coming from?
- Nancy Bellicec: Outer space?
- Jack Bellicec: What are you talking about? A space flower?
- Nancy Bellicec: Well why not a space flower? Why do we always expect metal ships?
- Jack Bellicec: I've NEVER expected metal ships.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Yep, Boccardo's pills. He eats it like candy... or used to. Take some.
- Matthew Bennell: What are they?
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Speed. They'll keep us awake.
- Matthew Bennell: How many are you suppose to take?
- Elizabeth Driscoll: It says take one.
- Matthew Bennell: Take five.
- Dr. David Kibner: Face it, Bellicec, you got some friends who enjoy playing practical jokes.
- Jack Bellicec: I don't have any friends, Dr. Kibner.
- Dr. David Kibner: Then, some enemies.
- Matthew Bennell: [Elizabeth and Matthew are captured by snatchers in the Health Department office. Kibner gives them sedatives, so that they can be snatched while asleep] Listen, we're not the last humans left. There are people who will fight you. They will find out what you're doing here.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: They'll stop you.
- Dr. David Kibner: In an hour... you won't want them to. In an hour, you'll be one of us.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Matthew, we'll never be able to stop them!
- Matthew Bennell: Yes, we will.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: We can't! Look it, they control the whole city.
- Matthew Bennell: We'll find a way somehow.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Oh, Matthew, I can't go on! I wanna go to sleep. I can't stay awake any more.
- Matthew Bennell: You have to. You have to stay awake.
- Dr. David Kibner: Elizabeth, could you please tell me, in your opinion, what is going on?
- Elizabeth Driscoll: People are being duplicated. And once it happens to you, you're part of this... thing. It almost happened to me!
- Elizabeth Driscoll: I keep seeing these people, all recognizing each other. Something is passing between them all, some secret. It's a conspiracy, I know it.
- Matthew Bennell: There can't be a conspiracy!
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Matthew, I'm telling you something is going on here.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: [Matthew finds that she has fallen asleep and has become a pod] There's nothing to be afraid of. They were right. It's painless. It's good. Come. Sleep. Matthew.
- [Matthew begins to back away]
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Matthew. Matthew!
- Matthew Bennell: What is that supposed to be?
- Chef: It is cervelles en matelote.
- Matthew Bennell: In English, what would I be eating if I ate that?
- Chef: Ah. Calves' brain in red wine.
- Matthew Bennell: Red wine and what else?
- Restaurant Owner: Mais, c'est impossible. It's impossible. It's a secret, Mr Bennell.
- Matthew Bennell: You don't have any secrets from the Department of Health, Henri.
- Dr. David Kibner: It's like there's some kind of a hallucinatory flu going around. People seem to get over it in a day or two. All I can do is treat the symptoms.
- Matthew Bennell: [Bennell has just removed a small indistinct object from a stock pot with a pair of tweezers] What is that?
- Cook: A caper.
- Matthew Bennell: Nope.
- Restaurant Owner: You presume to tell me what is in the stock?
- Matthew Bennell: It's a rat turd.
- Restaurant Owner: A what?
- Matthew Bennell: A rat turd!
- Restaurant Owner: [sniffs the "caper"] A caper!
- Matthew Bennell: A rat turd.
- Restaurant Owner: [sniffs again, now angry] A CAPER!
- Matthew Bennell: If it's a caper, eat it.
- [the restaurateur sheepishly demurs]
- Jack Bellicec: The rest of the world is trying to change people for to fit the world. I'm trying to change the world to fit people.
- [while Matthew drives Elizabeth through the city, a crazed man runs up to their car]
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Look out!
- [Matthew slams on the brakes, but the man's head still strikes the already broken windshield. Unfazed, the man immediately proceeds to pound on the windshield for attention]
- Matthew Bennell: Oh, my God, oh my God! Lock the door! Lock the door!
- Running man: [panicked shouting] Help! They're coming! They're coming!
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Maybe we should help him.
- Running man: Help! Help! They're coming! They're coming! Listen to me! Listen!
- Matthew Bennell: No, he's smashed out of his skull.
- Elizabeth Driscoll: He's terrified.
- Running man: Help me! You're next! Please!
- [the man moves to the driver's window]
- Running man: Please! You're next! We're in danger!
- [he tries the door handle, but it's locked]
- Running man: Please, listen ot me! Something terrible! Please!
- [he looks over his shoulder, then back]
- Running man: You're nex- Here they are!
- [he starts to run off, but still shouts at them]
- Running man: They're already here! Help! You're next! They're coming! They're coming!
- [he runs around the corner as a crowd chases him]
- Matthew Bennell: He must have done something.
- [a horn sounds, brakes screech, a thud his heard, and Elizabeth gasps involuntarily]
- Matthew Bennell: [noting the approaching motorcycle with siren] The policeman will help.
- [They make the turn and see a throng of expressionless people standing silently over the man's dead body in the street. The policeman waves them by]
- Elizabeth Driscoll: Oh, my God! That poor man. What was he talking about?
- Matthew Bennell: I'll phone a witness report in when I get to the bookstore.
- Nancy Bellicec: Matthew? Matthew.
- Matthew Bennell: [turns around and sees Nancy walking towards him. He points at her and screams in the alien scream]
- Nancy Bellicec: No!
- Jack Bellicec: It's a big conspiracy.
- Matthew Bennell: What's a conspiracy?
- Jack Bellicec: Everything.
- Matthew Bennell: Do you want to go see my friend David Kibner?
- Elizabeth Driscoll: The psychiatrist?
- Matthew Bennell: Not like that. Talk to him. He would put things into perspective. -...
- Elizabeth Driscoll: I'm not crazy.
- Matthew Bennell: No, no, no. I'm serious. He would eliminate whether Geoffrey was having an affair, or had become gay. Whether he had a social disease, or had become a Republican. All the things that could have happened to have made you feel he had changed.