Peter Weyland Quotes in Prometheus (2012)

Peter Weyland: [from TED Talks viral video] 100,000 BC: stone tools. 4,000 BC: the wheel. 900 AD: gunpowder - bit of a game changer, that one. 19th century: eureka, the lightbulb! 20th century: the automobile, television, nuclear weapons, spacecrafts, Internet. 21st century: biotech, nanotech, fusion and fission and M theory - and THAT, was just the first decade! We are now three months into the year of our Lord, 2023. At this moment of our civilization, we can create cybernetic individuals, who in just a few short years will be completely indistinguishable from us. Which leads to an obvious conclusion: WE are the gods now.

Peter Weyland: There's nothing.

David: I know. Have a good journey, Mr. Weyland.

Meredith Vickers: If you're really going down there, you're going to die.

Peter Weyland: Very negative way of looking at things. Exactly why you should have stayed at home.

Meredith Vickers: Did you really think I was gonna sit in a boardroom for years arguing over who was in charge while you go look for some miracle on some godforsaken rock in the middle of space? A king has his reign, and then he dies. It's inevitable. That is natural order of things.

Peter Weyland: [from TED Talks viral video] T.E. Lawrence, eponymously of Arabia but very much an Englishman, favoured pinching a burning match between his fingers to put it out. When asked by his colleague William Potter to reveal his trick, how is it he effectively extinguished the flame without hurting himself whatsoever, Lawrence just smiled and said, "The trick, Potter, is not minding it hurts." The fire that danced at the end of that match was a gift from the Titan Prometheus, a gift that he stole from the gods. When Prometheus was caught and brought to justice for his theft, the gods, well, you might say they overreacted a little. The poor man was tied to a rock, as an eagle ripped through his belly and ate his liver over and over, day after day, ad infinitum. All because he gave us fire. Our first true piece of technology, fire...

Peter Weyland: [from TED Talks viral video] To those of you who know me: you will be aware by now that my ambition is unlimited. You know that I will settle for nothing short of greatness, or I will die trying. To those of you who do not yet know me: allow me to introduce myself. My name is Peter Weyland, and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to change the world.

Elizabeth Shaw: But you don't understand. You don't know. This place isn't what we thought it was. They aren't what we thought they were. I was wrong. We were so wrong. Charlie, Dr. Holloway's dead. We must leave.

Peter Weyland: And what would Charlie do now that we're so close to answering the most meaningful questions ever asked by mankind? Hm? How can you leave without knowing what they are? Or have you lost your faith, Shaw?

Peter Weyland: There's nothing to learn.

David: I understand, Mr. Weyland. Have a safe journey.

Peter Weyland: [as a holographic recording] Hello, friends. My name is Peter Weyland. I am your employer. I am recording this, 22 June, 2091. And if you're watching it, you have reached your destination. And I am long dead. May I rest in peace. There's a man sitting with you today. His name is David. And he is the closest thing to a son I will ever have. Unfortunately, he is not human. He will never grow old and he will never die. And yet he is unable to appreciate these remarkable gifts for that would require the one thing that David will never have. A soul. I have spent my entire lifetime contemplating the questions: Where do we come from? What is our purpose? What happens when we die? And I have finally found two people who convinced me they're on the verge of answering them. Doctors Holloway and Shaw, if you would please stand. As far as you're concerned, they're in charge. The Titan Prometheus wanted to give mankind equal footing with the gods and for that, he was cast from Olympus. Well, my friends, the time has finally come for his return. Doctors, please. The floor is yours.

[first lines]

Peter Weyland: How do you feel?

David: Alive.