Cryptic Conversation/Quotes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


"Oma": If you are seeking an absolute truth, you will not find it. Only truth that applies to you.

Daniel: ...That is so extremely unhelpful.

Hybrid: The excited state decays by vibrational relaxation into the first excited singlet state. Yes, yes and merrily we go. Reduce atmospheric nitrogen by 0.03%. It is not much consolation that society will pick up the bits, leaving us at eight modern where punishment, rather than interdiction, is paramount. Please, cut the fuse. They will not harm their own. End of line. Limiting diffusions to two dimensions increases the number of evolutionary jumps within the species. Rise and measure the temple of the five. Transformation is the goal. They will not harm their own. Data-font synchronization complete.
Six: (later) The hybrid is clearly telling us something.

Cavil: The hybrid is always telling us something. They're supposed to maintain operations on each ship, not vomit metaphysics.
Battlestar Galactica, "Six Of One"


"I respond to three questions," stated the augur. "For twenty terces I phrase the answer in clear and actionable language; for ten I use the language of cant, which occasionally admits of ambiguity; for five, I speak a parable which you must interpret as you will; and for one terce, I babble in an unknown tongue."
The Dying Earth, by Jack Vance

Kosh: Then the willows must scuttle carefully.
Abbut: Does Saturn have rings?
Kosh: The talks are over for the day. We shall commence again tomorrow at the hour of longing.
Abbut: Suits me. [Exit Abbut.]
Talia: Ambassador! Ambassador Kosh!
Kosh: There is a question?
Talia: Yes. I've been scanning Mr. Abbut all day, and his mind is still just as empty as when we started. And these phrases that you keep speaking in, they don't make any sense.

Kosh: Ah, you seek meaning. Then listen to the music, not the song.
Babylon 5, Deathwalker

M'Ola: Will you consider one thing. Please. If it were your child or even you yourself, how would you feel if the doctor of Babylon 5 wanted to perform an unwelcome procedure on you?

Kosh: The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Babylon 5, Believers

Murray the Minstrel: Hey, boss, you sure know how to pick your medley leaders.
Cantus the Minstrel: I don't pick 'em. They pick themselves.
Murray: Yeah, but this one [Red Fraggle]? We could be here for days!
Cantus: She'll find her song, in time.
Murray: In time for tomorrow's medley?
Cantus: She has a long way to go, though the journey is short. The medley will not start without her.
(Exit Cantus. Murray turns to his fellow Minstrels)
Murray: Did he answer my question?
(One nods "yes", another shakes her head "no", the third just shrugs)

Murray: That's what I thought.
Fraggle Rock, "The Minstrels"

Informant: So, business?
Danny: Business.
Rusty: A doctor, who specializes in skin diseases, will dream he has fallen asleep in front of the television. Later, he will wake up in front of the television, but not remember his dream.
Informant: (speaking to Linus) Would you agree?
Linus: *thouroughly confused*
Danny: If all the animals along the equator were capable of flattery, then Thanksgiving and Halloween... would fall... on the same day.
Rusty: Mm.
Informant: Yeah.
Informant: When I was four years old, I watched my mother kill a spider... with a tea cozy. Years later, I realized it was not a spider - it was my Uncle Harold.
Linus: ...Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams.
Ryan: *Face Palm*
Linus: I am a traveler in both time and space, to be where I have been.
*Moments later, outside the restaurant*
Rusty: Kashmir?
Danny: Is that your idea of making a contribution?
Rusty: We hadn't even started. We ain't even got to the terms yet.
Danny: We came this close to losing that.
Linus: Hey, I don't even understand what happened in there. What did I say?
Danny: You called his niece a whore.
Rusty: A very cheap one.
Linus: What?
Danny: She's seven.