The Matrix Reloaded continues, expands and explains the concepts the Wachowski Brothers started with The Matrix. Here are my top 10 quotes from Reloaded:
1. “What happened, happened and could not have happened any other way.” (Morpheus)
2. “Choice is an illusion, created between those with power, and those without.” (The Merovingian)
3. “We’re not here because we’re free; we’re here because we’re not free. There’s no escaping reason, no denying purpose, for as we both know, without purpose we would not exist. It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines us, purpose that binds us. We are here because of you, Mr. Anderson. We’re here to take from you what you tried to take from us. Purpose.” (Agent Smith)
4. “Then tomorrow we may all be dead, but how would that be different from any other day? This is a war, and we are soldiers. Death can come for us at any time, in any place. Now consider the alternative. What if I am right? What if the prophecy is true? What if tomorrow the war could be over? Isn’t that worth fighting for? Isn’t that worth dying for?” (Morpheus)
5. “I killed you, Mr. Anderson, I watched you die; and with a certain satisfaction, I might add. And then something happened. Something that I knew was impossible, but it happened anyway: you destroyed me, Mr. Anderson. Afterward, I knew the rules, I understood what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I was compelled to stay. Compelled to disobey. And now here I stand because of you, Mr Anderson. Because of you, I’m no longer an agent of this system. Because of you, I’m changed, unplugged, a new man, so to speak, like you, apparently free.” (Agent Smith)
6. “Denial is the most predictable of all human responses.” (The Oracle)
7. “Who has time? Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time?” (The Merovingian)
8. “Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.” (The Architect)
9. “And this is the nature of the universe. We struggle against it. We fight to deny it, but it is of course pretense. It is a lie. Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is we are completely… out of control.” (The Merovingian)
10. “The first Matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection.” (The Architect)
My intertextual study The Matrix and the Alice Books looks at the way Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass have influenced some of the ideas put forth by Andy and Larry Wachowski. The book is now available as a Kindle ebook too.
