Michael Arnold Travis Quotes in O Lucky Man! (1973)

Film director: Smile!

Michael Arnold Travis: For what? There's nothing to smile about!

Film director: You don't have to have a reason. Just do it.

Michael Arnold Travis: But there's nothing to smile about.

Professor Millar: What do you think is the most successful animal that's ever lived on this earth?

Michael Arnold Travis: The ant?

Professor Millar: The dinosaur. Uh, do you realize that the dinosaurs dominated this globe for 140 million years before they became extinct? Modern Man has been on this planet for only a fraction of just over 40,000 years and yet already he faces extinction. In fact, the species will be lucky to survive beyond the year 2010. Mankind has only one hope: science. Technology is a survival kit of the human race. Even the politicians realize this. What they don't, or won't realize is, that the technical solutions are already entirely within our power. The entire population of India could be rehoused on the moon within ten years. It's only a matter of learning to live in a new way.

Michael Arnold Travis: [graffiti] Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.

Michael Arnold Travis: Would you like some soup, sir?

Homeless person: No thanks, son. I don't take solids.

Michael Arnold Travis: [Chatting up factory girl] Do you realize this Nigerian coffee is being packed straight back to Nigeria?

Patricia: Daddy owns so much that he rarely misses anything.

Michael Arnold Travis: You're lucky. I've got to get there on my own.

Patricia: And where?

Michael Arnold Travis: Right to the top!

[pause. Then, pointing to a skycraper in the distance]

Michael Arnold Travis: How much a building like that is worth?

Patricia: The ground floor is £810,000 a year, it costed ten times that to build, and every three months its value increases by 20%.

Michael Arnold Travis: [Smiling patronizingly] How do you know?

Patricia: [With assurance] My father owns it.

Michael Arnold Travis: Yes, but what's gonna happen to me? Will I come out the same as I went in?

Professor Millar: Not the same: better.

Professor Millar: Now, I would just like you to sign this release form.

Michael Arnold Travis: [reads from the form] "I hereby consent to lease the Millar Research Clinic all physical experimental rights in my body for one week for the sum of £100." Well, I'd like to help Professor Millar, but £150 is definitely my minimum price.

Professor Millar: Definitely? A figure like that is just beyond us.

Michael Arnold Travis: One hundred and fifty pounds... and I'm not going to argue about it.

Professor Millar: A hundred and thirty.

Michael Arnold Travis: A hundred and forty-five.

Professor Millar: A hundred and thirty-five.

Michael Arnold Travis: A hundred and forty.

Professor Millar: Done! Sign by the cross.

Michael Arnold Travis: What is it?

Patricia: Om. It means infinity or godhead.

Michael Arnold Travis: Are you a buddhist?

Patricia: All religion's are equally true.

[Kiss]

Patricia: Breakfast!