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Über-Morlock: We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories... And those that carry us forward, are dreams.
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Alexander Hartdegen: My question is why can't one change the past?
Vox: Because one cannot travel into the past.
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Vox: Can you even imagine what it's like to remember everything? I remember this six-year-old girl who asked me about dinosaurs 800,000 years ago. I remember the last book I recommended: Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe. And yes, I even remember you. "Time travel, practical application."
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Über-Morlock: Come a little closer, I don't bite.
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Teacher: Tommy, you stop what you're doing, or I will resequence your DNA, so help me.
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Über-Morlock: You built your time machine because of Emma's death. If she had lived, it would never have existed. So how could you use your machine to go back in time and save her? You are the inescapable result of your tragedy, just as I am the inescapable result of you. You have your answer. Now go.
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Über-Morlock: Who are you to question 800,000 years... of evolution?
Alexander Hartdegen: This is, this is a perversion of every natural law.
Über-Morlock: [grabs him by the throat] And what is time travel but your pathetic attempted to try to control the world around you? Your futile effort to have a question answered? You think I don't know you, Alexander? I can look inside your memories, your nightmares, your dreams. You're a man haunted by those two most terrible words: What if?
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David Philby: A professor from Columbia University should not be corresponding with a crazy German book keeper.
Alexander Hartdegen: He's a patent clerk, not a book keeper, and I think Mister Einstein needs all the support I can give him.
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Alexander Hartdegen: You're forgetting one thing. What if?
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David Philby: Nothing can change what happened.
Alexander Hartdegen: No, you're wrong. Because I will change it.
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Alexander Hartdegen: You were right, Philby. We did go too far.
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Alexander Hartdegen: I could come back a thousand times... and see her die a thousand ways.
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David Philby: [looking at a futuristic picture] I wonder if we'll ever go too far.
Alexander Hartdegen: With what?
David Philby: [pointing at the picture] With this. With all of this.
Alexander Hartdegen: No such thing.
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David Philby: I'm glad he's gone. Maybe he's finally found a place where he can be happy.
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Jogger: Hey.
Alexander Hartdegen: Hello.
Jogger: Nice suit. Very retro.
Alexander Hartdegen: Thank you.
Jogger: Bet that makes a hell of a cappuccino. That thing.
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Alexander Hartdegen: How did this happen?
Soldier #1: The moon. Come on, move it.
Alexander Hartdegen: That's impossible. What happened?
Soldier #1: What, you been living under a rock?
Alexander Hartdegen: Yes, I've been living under a rock! Now tell me...
Soldier #1: The demolitions for the lunar colony screwed up the orbit, okay? The moon's breaking up, all right? Now, come on.
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Vox: [an image of Vox appears] Welcome. How may I help you?
Vox: [Alexander Hartdegen looks behind Vox] Over here.
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Mara: Some things are better left unsaid.
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Mara: Why have you come here? Why have you traveled through time?
Alexander Hartdegen: To have a question answered.
Mara: A question?
Alexander Hartdegen: Yes. Why can't I change the past?
Mara: Why would you want to?
[a look of realization]
Mara: You've lost someone. Someone you loved very much.
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Über-Morlock: We weren't always like this. After the Moon fell from the sky, the Earth could no longer sustain the species. Some managed to stay above. The rest of us fled underground. Then centuries later when we tried to re-emerge into the Sun again, we couldn't. So, we bred ourselves into castes.
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Alexander Hartdegen: You were right, Philby. I did go too far.
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Alexander Hartdegen: Can you tell me what's happening here?
Vox: Well, my sources are no longer fully annotated and my information is somewhat anecdotal but, I believe what was once one race, is now two. One above. And one below. Two distinct species that have evolved.
Alexander Hartdegen: And how do those below survive?
Vox: That is the real question, isn't it?
Alexander Hartdegen: I don't believe it.
Vox: Well, if you don't like the answers, you should avoid asking the questions. Look at them. They have no knowledge of the past. No ambition for the future. So lucky.
Alexander Hartdegen: Why would you say something like that?
Vox: Can you even imagine what it's like to remember everything? I remember the six year old girl who asked me about dinosaurs eight hundred thousand years ago. I remember the last book I recommended. "Look Homeward, Angel" by Thomas Wolfe. And yes, I even remember you. Time Travel... practical application.
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Mrs. Watchit: [looking into the empty laboratory] Godspeed, my fine lad. Godspeed.
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Mrs. Watchit: Godspeed, my fine lad. Godspeed.
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Alexander Hartdegen: My proposal for utilizing solar power... rejected. My concepts for harnessing microenergy waves... rejected. The Dean suggests that I focus on something that might actually help mankind... like his study on the benefits of tobacco consumption!
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Vox: Live long and prosper.
["Star Trek" door sound effect]
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Kalen: "New Yorkers"? Are they friendly?
Alexander Hartdegen: Until you talk to them.
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Mara: You must do things to be safe where you come from. Or when you come from.
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Alexander Hartdegen: [reading from stone] One generation passeth away, and another cometh but the Earth abideth forever.
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Mara: What are you doing with it?
Alexander Hartdegen: Changing the future.
The Time Machine Quotes
Extended Reading
