The Exorcist Quotes
When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
Father Merrin: Especially important is the warning to avoid conversations with the demon. We may ask what is relevant but anything beyond that is dangerous. He is a liar. The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us. But he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. The attack is psychological, Damien, and powerful. So don't listen to him. Remember that - do not listen.
Psychiatrist: Is there someone inside you?
Regan MacNeil: Sometimes.
Psychiatrist: Who is it?
Regan MacNeil: I don't know.
Psychiatrist: Is it Captain Howdy?
Regan MacNeil: I don't know.
Psychiatrist: If I ask him to tell me, will you let him answer?
Regan MacNeil: No.
Psychiatrist: Why not?
Regan MacNeil: I'm afraid.
Regan MacNeil: Sometimes.
Psychiatrist: Who is it?
Regan MacNeil: I don't know.
Psychiatrist: Is it Captain Howdy?
Regan MacNeil: I don't know.
Psychiatrist: If I ask him to tell me, will you let him answer?
Regan MacNeil: No.
Psychiatrist: Why not?
Regan MacNeil: I'm afraid.
Father Damien Karras: [sees Father Merrin dead on Regan's bed and gently moves him on the floor]
Regan MacNeil: [looks at Karras and Merrrin]
Father Damien Karras: [beats with great force on Merrin's breast, checks whether he can hear Merrin's heartbeat]
Demon: [fakes crying]
Father Damien Karras: [enrages] You son of a bitch!
[beats Regan several times]
Demon: [roars]
Father Damien Karras: [almost strangles Regan] Take me! Come into me! God damn you! Take me! Take me!
Father Damien Karras: [feels the demon entering him]
Regan MacNeil: [freed from the demon, starts to cry]
Father Damien Karras: [falls down, is about to kill Regan, but screams:] NOOOOO!
[jumps out of the window and deadly rolls from the stairs near the house]
Regan MacNeil: [looks at Karras and Merrrin]
Father Damien Karras: [beats with great force on Merrin's breast, checks whether he can hear Merrin's heartbeat]
Demon: [fakes crying]
Father Damien Karras: [enrages] You son of a bitch!
[beats Regan several times]
Demon: [roars]
Father Damien Karras: [almost strangles Regan] Take me! Come into me! God damn you! Take me! Take me!
Father Damien Karras: [feels the demon entering him]
Regan MacNeil: [freed from the demon, starts to cry]
Father Damien Karras: [falls down, is about to kill Regan, but screams:] NOOOOO!
[jumps out of the window and deadly rolls from the stairs near the house]
Father Merrin: I cast you out! Unclean spirit!
Demon: Shove it up your ass, you faggot!
Father Merrin: In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is he who commands you! It is he who flung you from the gates of Heaven to the depths of Hell!
Demon: Fuck him!
Father Merrin: Be gone...
Demon: Fuck him, Karras! Fuck him!
Father Merrin: ...from this creature of God! Be gone! In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
Demon: Shove it up your ass, you faggot!
Father Merrin: In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is he who commands you! It is he who flung you from the gates of Heaven to the depths of Hell!
Demon: Fuck him!
Father Merrin: Be gone...
Demon: Fuck him, Karras! Fuck him!
Father Merrin: ...from this creature of God! Be gone! In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: It looks like a type of disorder that you rarely ever see any more, except in primitive cultures. We call it a somnambuliform possession. Quite frankly, we don't know much about it except that it starts with some conflict or guilt that eventually leads to the patient's delusion that his body's been invaded by an alien intelligence, a spirit if you will.
Chris MacNeil: Look, I'm telling you again and you'd better believe it: I'm not about to put her in a goddamn asylum! And I don't care what you call it! I'm not putting her away!
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: I'm sorry.
Chris MacNeil: You're sorry! Jesus Christ, 88 doctors and all you can tell me with all of your bullshit is...
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: There is one outside chance of a cure. I think of it as shock treatment. As I say, there is an outside chance...
Chris MacNeil: Will you just name it, for God's sake? What is it?
Male Doctor: Do you have any religious beliefs?
Chris MacNeil: No.
Female Doctor: What about your daughter?
Chris MacNeil: No, why?
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: Have you ever heard of exorcism? It's a stylized ritual in which rabbis or priests try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's pretty much discarded these days, except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of embarrassment. It has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession helped cause it. And just in the same way, this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
Chris MacNeil: Look, I'm telling you again and you'd better believe it: I'm not about to put her in a goddamn asylum! And I don't care what you call it! I'm not putting her away!
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: I'm sorry.
Chris MacNeil: You're sorry! Jesus Christ, 88 doctors and all you can tell me with all of your bullshit is...
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: There is one outside chance of a cure. I think of it as shock treatment. As I say, there is an outside chance...
Chris MacNeil: Will you just name it, for God's sake? What is it?
Male Doctor: Do you have any religious beliefs?
Chris MacNeil: No.
Female Doctor: What about your daughter?
Chris MacNeil: No, why?
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: Have you ever heard of exorcism? It's a stylized ritual in which rabbis or priests try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's pretty much discarded these days, except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of embarrassment. It has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession helped cause it. And just in the same way, this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
Chris MacNeil: [as the Ouija planchette pulls away] You really don't want me to play, huh?
Regan MacNeil: No, I do. Captain Howdy said no.
Chris MacNeil: Captain who?
Regan MacNeil: Captain Howdy.
Chris MacNeil: Who's Captain Howdy?
Regan MacNeil: You know, I make the questions and he does the answers.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, Captain Howdy...
Regan MacNeil: No, I do. Captain Howdy said no.
Chris MacNeil: Captain who?
Regan MacNeil: Captain Howdy.
Chris MacNeil: Who's Captain Howdy?
Regan MacNeil: You know, I make the questions and he does the answers.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, Captain Howdy...
Dr. Barringer, Clinic Director: There is one outside chance for a cure. I think of it as shock treatment - as I said, it's a very outside chance... Have you ever heard of exorcism? Well, it's a stylized ritual in which the rabbi or the priest try to drive out the so-called invading spirit. It's been pretty much discarded these days except by the Catholics who keep it in the closet as a sort of an embarrassment, but uh, it has worked. In fact, although not for the reasons they think, of course. It's purely a force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession is what helped cause it, so in that same way, a belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear.
Chris MacNeil: You're telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor? Is that it?
Chris MacNeil: You're telling me that I should take my daughter to a witch doctor? Is that it?
[2000 version]
Lt. Kinderman: You go to films, Father Dyer? You like them?
Father Dyer: Oh, sure.
Lt. Kinderman: I get passes. In fact I've got a pass for the Crest tomorrow night. You'd like to go?
Father Dyer: What's playing?
Lt. Kinderman: "Wuthering Heights".
Father Dyer: Who's in it?
Lt. Kinderman: Heathcliff, Jackie Gleason, and in the role of Catherine Earnshaw, Lucille Ball. You're happy?
Father Dyer: I've seen it.
Lt. Kinderman: Another one.
Lt. Kinderman: You go to films, Father Dyer? You like them?
Father Dyer: Oh, sure.
Lt. Kinderman: I get passes. In fact I've got a pass for the Crest tomorrow night. You'd like to go?
Father Dyer: What's playing?
Lt. Kinderman: "Wuthering Heights".
Father Dyer: Who's in it?
Lt. Kinderman: Heathcliff, Jackie Gleason, and in the role of Catherine Earnshaw, Lucille Ball. You're happy?
Father Dyer: I've seen it.
Lt. Kinderman: Another one.
Chris MacNeil: You show me Regan's double, same face, same voice, everything. And I'd know it wasn't Regan. I'd know in my gut. And I'm telling you that 'thing' upstairs isn't my daughter. Now, I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there's nothing wrong with my daughter, except in her mind. You tell me for a fact that an exorcism wouldn't do any good. You tell me that!
Father Damien Karras: It's my mother, Tom. She's alone. I never should have left her. At least in New York, I'd be near, I'd be closer.
Tom, President of University: Could see about a transfer, Damien.
Father Damien Karras: I need re-assignment, Tom. I want out of this job. It's wrong. It's no good.
Tom, President of University: You're the best we've got.
Father Damien Karras: Am I really? It's more than psychiatry, and you know that Tom. Some of their problems come down to faith, their vocation and meaning of their lives, and I can't cut it anymore. I need out. I'm unfit. I think I've lost my faith, Tom.
Tom, President of University: Could see about a transfer, Damien.
Father Damien Karras: I need re-assignment, Tom. I want out of this job. It's wrong. It's no good.
Tom, President of University: You're the best we've got.
Father Damien Karras: Am I really? It's more than psychiatry, and you know that Tom. Some of their problems come down to faith, their vocation and meaning of their lives, and I can't cut it anymore. I need out. I'm unfit. I think I've lost my faith, Tom.
Dr. Taney: Pathological states can induce abnormal strength. Accelerated motor performance. Now, for example, say a 90 pound woman sees her child pinned under the wheel of a truck. Runs out and lifts the wheels a half a foot up off the ground - you've heard the story - same thing here. Same principle, I mean.
Chris MacNeil: So what's wrong with her?
Dr. Klein: We still think the temporal lobe.
Chris MacNeil: Oh what are you talking about, for Chrissakes? Did you see her or not? She's acting like she's fucking out of her mind, psychotic, like a... split personality or...
Dr. Taney: There haven't been more than a hundred authentic cases of so-called split personality, Mrs. MacNeil. Now I know the temptation is to leap to psychiatry. But any reasonable psychiatrist would exhaust the somatic possibilities first.
Chris MacNeil: So, what's next?
Dr. Taney: A pneumoencephalogram, I would think. Pin down that lesion. It will involve another spinal.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, Christ.
Dr. Taney: What we missed in the EEG and the arteriograms could conceivably turn up there. At least, it would eliminate certain other possibilities.
Chris MacNeil: So what's wrong with her?
Dr. Klein: We still think the temporal lobe.
Chris MacNeil: Oh what are you talking about, for Chrissakes? Did you see her or not? She's acting like she's fucking out of her mind, psychotic, like a... split personality or...
Dr. Taney: There haven't been more than a hundred authentic cases of so-called split personality, Mrs. MacNeil. Now I know the temptation is to leap to psychiatry. But any reasonable psychiatrist would exhaust the somatic possibilities first.
Chris MacNeil: So, what's next?
Dr. Taney: A pneumoencephalogram, I would think. Pin down that lesion. It will involve another spinal.
Chris MacNeil: Oh, Christ.
Dr. Taney: What we missed in the EEG and the arteriograms could conceivably turn up there. At least, it would eliminate certain other possibilities.
Tom, President of University: [discussing the case, referring to Karras] Well, he does know the background. I doubt there's any danger in just having him assist. There should be a psychiatrist present, anyway.
Bishop Michael: What about the exorcist? Have you any ideas?
Tom, President of University: How about Lankester Merrin?
Bishop Michael: Merrin? Why, I'd a notion he was over in Iraq. I think I read he was working on a dig near Nineveh.
Tom, President of University: Yeah, you're right, Mike, but he's finished. He came back three or four months ago. He's at Woodstock now.
Bishop Michael: What's he doing there? Teaching?
Tom, President of University: No, he's working on another book.
Bishop Michael: Don't you think he's too old, Tom? How's his health?
Tom, President of University: He must be all right, he's still running around digging up tombs. Besides, he's had experience.
Bishop Michael: I didn't know that.
Tom, President of University: Ten, twelve years ago, I think, in Africa. The exorcism supposedly lasted several months. I heard it damn near killed him.
Bishop Michael: What about the exorcist? Have you any ideas?
Tom, President of University: How about Lankester Merrin?
Bishop Michael: Merrin? Why, I'd a notion he was over in Iraq. I think I read he was working on a dig near Nineveh.
Tom, President of University: Yeah, you're right, Mike, but he's finished. He came back three or four months ago. He's at Woodstock now.
Bishop Michael: What's he doing there? Teaching?
Tom, President of University: No, he's working on another book.
Bishop Michael: Don't you think he's too old, Tom? How's his health?
Tom, President of University: He must be all right, he's still running around digging up tombs. Besides, he's had experience.
Bishop Michael: I didn't know that.
Tom, President of University: Ten, twelve years ago, I think, in Africa. The exorcism supposedly lasted several months. I heard it damn near killed him.
