Watchmen

“What in my life, does not deserve celebrating?”

“I suppose I'd have had to catch the bullet, wouldn't I?”

“"Do it?" Dan, I'm not a Republic Serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.”

“I don't mind being the smartest man in the world, I just wish it wasn't this one.”

“Y'know, this must be how ordinary people feel. This must be how ordinary people feel around us.”

“Oh God, I probably sound so Devo right?”

“What happened to us? What happened to the American Dream?”

“Justice? Justice is coming to all of us. No matter what the hell we do.”

“Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.”

“I mean, what's so funny? What's so goddamned funny?”

“You people are a joke. You hear Moloch's back in town, you think "Oh, boy! Let's gang up and bust him!" You think that matters? You think that solves anything?”

“It don't matter squat because inside thirty years the nukes are gonna be flyin' like maybugs...and then Ozzy here is gonna be the smartest man on the cinder. Now, pardon me, but I got an appointment. See you in the funny papers.”

“A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there's no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts. Why should I be concerned?”

“They call me Dr. Manhattan. They explain the name has been chosen for the ominous associations it will raise in America's enemies. The marketing boys say I need a logo. If I'm to have a symbol it shall be one I respect. [draws a symbol of a hydrogen atom on his head]”

“Everything is preordained. Even my responses.”

“I am tired of Earth, these people. I'm tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives.”

“They claim their labors are to build a heaven, yet their heaven is populated with horrors. Perhaps the world is not made. Perhaps nothing is made. A clock without a craftsman. It's too late. Always has been, always will be...too late.”

“There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.”

“We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings.”

“In my opinion, the existence of life is a highly overrated phenomenon.”

“I want you to love me. I want you to love me because we're not dead. Here..take these off. I want to see you. I want to see you and taste you and smell you. Just because I can. Oh God, it's so damn good being alive.”

“(Examining Dan's Nite Owl II utility belt.) What else have you got in there? Chocolate rations? Boy Scout knife? Army-issue contraceptives?”

“I'm through thinking about my life, looking back at all my stupid memories. It's been a dumb life, and if there is a design, it's a dumb design!”

“My mother, she eroded my adolescence, chipping me into the shape she'd have been if she hadn't had me. She pushed me into adventuring, fussing over my career, trying to live her life through me.”

“I used to be a masked avenger too, remember … I mean, I'm used to going out at three in the morning and doing something stupid.”

“On Friday night, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why. Down there, somebody knows.”

“Soon there will be war. Millions will burn. Millions will perish in sickness and misery. Why does one death matter against so many? Because there is good and there is evil, and evil must be punished. Even in the face of Armageddon I shall not compromise in this. But there are so many deserving of retribution ... and there is so little time.”

“This city is dying of rabies. Is the best I can do to wipe random flecks of foam from its lips?”

“Why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders?”

“Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But Doctor... I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.”

“Give me smallest finger on man's hand. I'll produce information. Computer unnecessary.”

“[Recollecting a guard dog he killed to which a murderer had been feeding the dismembered body of a kidnap victim] Shock of impact ran along my arm. Jet of warmth spattered on chest, like hot faucet. It was Kovacs who said "Mother" then, muffled under latex. It was Kovacs who closed his eyes. It was Rorschach who opened them again.”

“None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me.”