Forrester Quotes in The War of the Worlds (1953)

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: I think we should try to make them understand we mean them no harm. They are living creatures out there.

Sylvia: But they're not human. Dr. Forrester says they're some kind of advanced civilization.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: If they're more advanced than us, they should be nearer the creator for that reason. No real attempt has been made to communicate with them, you know?

Sylvia: Let's go back inside, Uncle Matthew.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: I've done all I can in there. You go back. Sylvia, I like that Dr. Forrester, he's a good man.

Soldier: Who's that? What's he think he's doing?

Sylvia: Uncle! Uncle Matthew!

Major General Mann: It's too late now. He's too far away.

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Forrester: It's seen him!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

[Martians kill Uncle Matthew]

Sylvia: [scream]

Col. Ralph Heffner: Let'm have it!

Soldier: Fire!

Forrester: If they're mortal, they must have mortal weaknesses. They'll be stopped, somehow.

Forrester: [to a well-dressed looter] Did the mob grab the trucks ahead of me? Did you see anything?

Well-Dressed Looter: I don't know what you're talking about other trucks. These mobs have been fighting on every street corner.

Forrester: This is important! There was a school bus among the trucks ahead of me. A girl was driving it. Did they take that?

Well-Dressed Looter: I don't know! If they saw it, they took it. They grab anything on wheels. You can't buy a ride anymore for love or money!

Major General Mann: That skeleton beam must be what they used to wipe out the French cities.

Forrester: It neutralizes meson somehow. They're the atomic glue holding matter together. Cut across their lines of magnetic force and any object will simply cease to exist! Take my word for it, General, this type of defense is useless against that kind of power! You'd better let Washington know, fast!

Sylvia: [at site of first meteor landing] Did you see it come down?

Forrester: Yes, I was fishing up in the hills.

Sylvia: Well, you must have caught plenty with all that tackle!

Sheriff Bogany: What is that gizmo?

Forrester: I'd say that gizmo is a machine from another planet.

Forrester: Are they sure it's a meteor? It certainly didn't come down like one.

3rd forest ranger: That's right... it came down in kind of spurts, didn't it?

Forrester: [as mob attacks his truck] My instruments!

Forrester: Sylvia!

Forrester: Any news from abroad?

Major General Mann: Washington is in constant touch with the leaders of other nations. Apparently they're coming down all over. South America; Santiago has two cylinders. They're outside London. They're in Naples. We've got them between here and Fresno, outside Sacramento, two on Long Island.

Forrester: They're just coming down at random?

Major General Mann: No. According to information from foreign sources, they're working to some kind of a plan. Now what it may be isn't clear yet. Simply because once they begin to move, no more news comes out of that area.

Forrester: [lowering his binoculars] This is amazing!

Major General Mann: [handing binoculars to Dr. Forrester] Look at it will you!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: Beings from another world.

Major General Mann: Is that some kind of a flying machine?

Forrester: No, no. It's supported from the ground by rays, probably some form of magnetic flux, like invisible legs. This is amazing. They must keep the opposing poles in balance and lift the machine.

Col. Ralph Heffner: All command posts - stand by to fire!

Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins: But, Colonel! Shooting's no good!

Col. Ralph Heffner: It's always been a good persuader.

Jim 'Tex' Morgan: Hey them there alligators sure do look hungry.

Forrester: Well don't fall in, Tex. You might poison them. That'd be tragic.

Forrester: The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time.

Forrester: You're the man now, dog!

Jamal: Opens the letter

Forrester: Dear Jamal, Someone I once knew wrote that we walk away from our dreams afraid that we may fail or worse yet, afraid we may succeed. You need to know that while I knew so very early that you would realize your dreams, I never imagined I would once again realize my own. Seasons change young man, and while I may have waited until the winter of my life, to see the things I've seen this past year, there is no doubt I would have waited too long, had it not been for you.

Forrester: No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think!

Jamal: Did you ever enter a writin' contest?

Forrester: Yeah, once.

Jamal: Did you win?

Forrester: Well of course I won!

Jamal: You win like money or somethin'?

Forrester: No.

Jamal: Well, whadchu win?

Forrester: The Pulitzer.

Jamal: I was wondering if I could bring you more of my stuff. Or maybe I could write something else.

Forrester: How about 5,000 words on why you should stay the fuck out of my house!

Jamal: Man, fuck you William! You wanna know what the real bullshit is? How about you let me take on this one cause you're too damn scared to walk out that door and do something for somebody else. You're too damn scared, man! That's the only reason.

Forrester: [throws glass against wall and breaks it] You don't know a goddamn thing about reason; There are no reasons! Reasons why some of us live and why some of us don't! Fortunately for you, you have decades to figure that out!

Jamal: Yeah, and what's the reason in having a file cabinet full of writing and keeping the shit locked so nobody can read it? What is that man? I'm done with this shit.

Forrester: I have an homeland that I have not seen for too long.

Jamal: Oh, you mean Ireland?

Forrester: Scotland, for God's sakes!

Jamal: I'm messing with you, man.

Jamal: I ain't seen nothing change.

Forrester: You ain't seen nothing? What the hell kind of sentence is that?

Jamal: We've been talking about your book at school.

Forrester: People have been talking about it for years. They just haven't been saying anything.

Jamal: I think I got it down, though. I figure you were writing about how life never works out.

Forrester: Really? You had to read a book to figure that out?

Forrester: What's your name?

Jamal: Jamal Wallace.

Forrester: Sounds like some kind of marmalade. How old are you?

Jamal: I'm sixteen.

Forrester: Sixteen? And you're black. It's remarkable.

Jamal: "Remarkable"? It's remarkable that I'm black? What does me being black have to do with anything?

Forrester: You don't know what to do right now, do you? If you say what you really want to, I may not read any more of this. But if you let me run you down with this racist bullshit... what does that make you?

Jamal: I'm not playing this game, man.

Forrester: I say you are playing it. An expression is worth a thousand words. Perhaps in your case, just two.

Forrester: Whatever we write in this apartment stays in this apartment.

Forrester: *Punch* the keys, for God's sake!

Forrester: Let me ask you a question... those two foul shots at the end of the game... did you miss them, or did you *miss* them?

Jamal: Not exactly a soup question, now is it?

Forrester: My name is William Forrester.

[points to 'writers wall of fame' pictures]

Forrester: I'm that one.

Forrester: Writers write things to give readers something to read.

Forrester: Bolt the door, if you're coming in.

Jamal: Women will sleep with you if you write a book?

Forrester: Women will sleep with you if you write a bad book.

Forrester: In some cultures it's good luck to be wearing something inside-out.

Jamal: And you believe that?

Forrester: No, but it's like praying: what do you risk?