The Terminator Quotes in The Terminator (1984)

Cleaning Man at Flophouse: [damaged skin on the Terminator is rotting from gangrene while looking through Sarah's address book] Hey, buddy. You got a dead cat in there, or what?

[the Terminator visualizes: 'POSSIBLE RESPONSE: YES/NO; OR WHAT?; GO AWAY; PLEASE COME BACK LATER; FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE; FUCK YOU']

The Terminator: Fuck you, asshole.

The Terminator: [while wearing sunglasses] I'm a friend of Sarah Connor. I was told she was here. Could I see her please?

Desk Sergeant: No, you can't see her she's making a statement.

The Terminator: Where is she?

Desk Sergeant: [uses his pencil to point to the bench] Look, it may take a while. Want to wait? There's a bench over there.

[points to bench]

The Terminator: [looks around, examining the structural integrity of the room, then looks back at him] I'll be back!

Punk Leader: [the Terminator arrives naked and encounters some punks, standing next to a telescope] Nice night for a walk, eh?

The Terminator: Nice night for a walk.

Punk: Wash day tomorrow? Nothing clean, right?

The Terminator: Nothing clean. Right.

Punk Leader: Hey, I think this guy's a couple cans short of a six-pack.

The Terminator: Your clothes... give them to me, now.

Punk Leader: [pulls out a knife] Fuck you, asshole!

The Terminator: [picking up guns at a gun shop, while looking at the guns on the gun rack behind the clerk] The 12-gauge auto-loader.

Pawn Shop Clerk: That's Italian. You can go pump or auto.

Pawn Shop Clerk: [hands the Terminator the pump action shotgun]

The Terminator: The .45 long slide, with laser sighting.

Pawn Shop Clerk: [hands the Terminator a .45 gun from the glass case in front of the clerk ] These are brand new; we just got them in. That's a good gun. Just touch the trigger, the beam comes on and you put the red dot where you want the bullet to go. You can't miss. Anything else?

The Terminator: Phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.

Pawn Shop Clerk: [annoyed] Hey, just what you see, pal!

The Terminator: [looks around] The Uzi nine millimeter.

Pawn Shop Clerk: You know your weapons, buddy. Any one of these is ideal for home defense. So uh, which will it be?

The Terminator: [pointing the 12-gage shotgun towards the door] All.

Pawn Shop Clerk: I may close early today. There's a 15-day wait on the hand guns but the rifles you can take right now.

[sees the Terminator load his 12-gage shotgun]

Pawn Shop Clerk: You can't do that.

The Terminator: [shoots the clerk] Wrong!

The Terminator: [to the passenger in the semi truck] Get out.

The Terminator: [in the voice of the police officer while looking for Reese and Sarah] This is 1-L19. Westbound on Olympic approaching Overland.

The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby.

John Connor: No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say "affirmative," or some shit like that. You say "no problemo." And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say "eat me." And if you want to shine them on it's "hasta la vista, baby."

The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby.

John Connor: Yeah but later, dickwad. And if someone gets upset you say, "chill out"! Or you can do combinations.

The Terminator: Chill out, dickwad.

John Connor: Great! See, you're getting it!

The Terminator: No problemo.

The Terminator: I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle.

Cigar Biker: You forgot to say please...

The Terminator: Come with me if you want to live!

The Terminator: Why do you cry?

John Connor: You mean people?

The Terminator: Yes.

John Connor: I don't know. We just cry. You know, when it hurts.

The Terminator: Pain causes it?

John Connor: No, it's when there's nothing wrong with you, but you hurt anyway. You get it?

The Terminator: No.

John Connor: Todd and Janelle are dicks, but I've gotta warn them. You got a quarter?

[the Terminator smashes into the coin bin and hands John a quarter]

Janelle Voight: [answers the phone] Hello?

John Connor: Janelle, it's me!

Janelle Voight: John?

John Connor: Yeah. Is everything all right? Are you guys okay?

Janelle Voight: Sure, honey, everything's okay. Are you all right?

John Connor: Yeah, I'm fine.

Janelle Voight: John, it's late. Honey, I was beginning to worry about you. If you hurry home, we can sit down and have dinner together. I'm making beef stew.

John Connor: [holds his hand over the phone] Something's wrong. She's never this nice.

Janelle Voight: John, where are you?

Todd Voight: [hearing Max barking outside] What the hell is that goddamn dog barking at?

Todd Voight: [shouting at Max] Hey! Shut up you worthless piece of shit!

John Connor: [to himself] The dog's really barking...

Todd Voight: Thought you were gonna tell the kid to get rid of that fucking mutt.

Janelle Voight: [uses her arm to kill Todd] John, honey, it's late. Please don't make me worry.

John Connor: [to Terminator, hand over the phone] Could it already be there?

Janelle Voight: Honey, are you okay?

The Terminator: [takes the phone from John and impersonates his voice] I'm right here. I'm fine.

Janelle Voight: Are you sure? Are you sure you're all right?

The Terminator: [to John; normal voice] What's the dog's name?

John Connor: Max.

The Terminator: [impersonating John's voice] Hey Janelle, what's wrong with Wolfie? I can hear him barking. Is he all right?

Janelle Voight: Wolfie's fine, honey. Wolfie's just fine. Where are you?

The Terminator: [hangs up the phone] Your foster parents are dead.

[the Terminator has promised not to kill anybody, but to get into the hospital he shoots the guard in the legs]

The Terminator: He'll live.

The Terminator: I'll take care of the police.

John Connor: Hey, wait! You swore!

The Terminator: [smiles] Trust me.

John Connor: You just can't go around killing people.

The Terminator: Why?

John Connor: What do you mean why? 'Cause you can't.

The Terminator: Why?

John Connor: Because you just can't, okay? Trust me on this.

The Terminator: I know now why you cry

[wipes a tear from John's face]

The Terminator: but it's something that I can never do

[the T-1000 has fallen into a vat of molten steel]

John Connor: Is it dead?

The Terminator: Terminated.

John Connor: We're not gonna make it, are we? People, I mean.

The Terminator: It's in your nature to destroy yourselves.

John Connor: Yeah. Major drag, huh?

John Connor: Are you ever afraid?

The Terminator: No.

John Connor: Not even of dying?

The Terminator: No.

John Connor: You don't feel any emotion about it one way or another?

The Terminator: No. I have to stay functional until my mission is complete. Then it doesn't matter.

John Connor: Yeah. I have to stay functional too. I'm "too important".

John Connor: We need to get my mother.

The Terminator: Negative. The T-1000's highest probability for success now will be to copy Sarah Connor and to wait for you to make contact with her.

John Connor: Great, but what happens to her?

The Terminator: Typically, the subject being copied is terminated.

John Connor: Shit! Why didn't you tell me? We gotta go right now!

The Terminator: Negative. She's not a mission priority.

John Connor: Fuck you! She's a priority to me!

The Terminator: [John starts to cry] What's wrong with your eyes?

John Connor: You know what you're doing?

The Terminator: I have detailed files on human anatomy.

Sarah Connor: I'll bet. Makes you a more efficient killer, right?

The Terminator: Correct.

John Connor: Can you learn stuff you haven't been programmed with so you could be... you know, more human? And not such a dork all the time?

The Terminator: My CPU is a neural-net processor; a learning computer. But Skynet presets the switch to read-only when we're sent out alone.

Sarah Connor: Doesn't want you doing too much thinking, huh?

The Terminator: No.

The Terminator: In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.

Sarah Connor: Skynet fights back.

The Terminator: Yes. It launches its missiles against the targets in Russia.

John Connor: Why attack Russia? Aren't they our friends now?

The Terminator: Because Skynet knows that the Russian counterattack will eliminate its enemies over here.

[One-armed and battered after confronting the T-1000]

The Terminator: I need a vacation.

The Terminator: I swear I will not kill anyone.

John Connor: Jesus, you were gonna kill that guy.

The Terminator: Of course; I'm a Terminator.

John Connor: Where are we going?

The Terminator: We have to get out of the city immediately and avoid the authorities.

John Connor: Listen, I need to stop my my house. I want to pick up some stuff before we leave.

The Terminator: Negative. The T-1000 will definitely try to reacquire you there.

John Connor: Are you sure?

The Terminator: I would.

John Connor: Does it hurt when you get shot?

The Terminator: I sense injuries. The data could be called "pain."

John Connor: So this other guy: he's a Terminator like you, right?

The Terminator: Not like me. A T-1000, advanced prototype.

John Connor: You mean more advanced than you are?

The Terminator: Yes. A mimetic polyalloy.

John Connor: What the hell does that mean?

The Terminator: Liquid metal.

[Dyson's personal code fails to access the computer room]

The Terminator: [raises a grenade launcher] Let me try mine.

The Terminator: Come with me if you want to live.

The Terminator: Stay here. I'll be back.

John Connor: You're not here to kill me. I figured out that for myself. So what's the deal?

The Terminator: My mission is to protect you.

John Connor: Yeah? Who sent you?

The Terminator: You did. Thirty-five years from now, you reprogrammed me to be your protector here, in this time.

John Connor: This is deep...

John Connor: Wait a minute here. You're telling me that this thing can imitate anything it touches?

The Terminator: Anything it samples by physical contact.

John Connor: Get real, like it could disguise itself as a pack of cigarettes?

The Terminator: No, only an object of equal size.

John Connor: Then why doesn't it become a bomb or a machine gun or something to get me?

The Terminator: The T-1000 can't form complex machines. Guns and explosives have chemicals in them. Moving parts. It doesn't work that way, but it can form solid metal shapes.

John Connor: Like what?

The Terminator: Knives and stabbing weapons.

Miles Dyson: Hi. Um, Carl. These are friends from out of town, I'm just gonna take them upstairs and show them around.

Gibbons: Now, c'mon Mr. Dyson, you know the rules if you want to bring visitors into the lab. I need written authorization...

The Terminator: [the Terminator and Sarah draw their guns] I insist.

Sarah Connor: [Gibbons is trying to push the alarm button] Don't even think about it.

John Connor: [they're travelling in an ancient truck with the T-1000 hot on their heels] Step on it!

The Terminator: [the truck is only going about 65] This is the vehicle's top speed.

John Connor: I could get out and run faster than this!

The Terminator: [to Sarah and John while he deals with an LA SWAT team] Stay here. I'll be back.

John Connor: Now don't take this the wrong way, but you're a Terminator, right?

The Terminator: Yes. Cyberdyne Systems, Model 101.

[John Connor wants to get some things from home]

The Terminator: Negative. The T-1000 will definitely try to reacquire you there.

John Connor: You sure?

The Terminator: I would.

The Terminator: My CPU is a neural-net processor; a learning computer. The more contact I have with humans, the more I learn.

Sarah Connor: [the T-1000 pursues John, Sarah, and the Terminator in a police helicopter] Chopper's coming in!

The Terminator: It's him.

The Terminator: Here, hold this.

[gives cop his minigun and takes the gas mask off the cop's head]