"Brandon, till this very moment, this world and the people in it have always been dark and incomprehensible to me. I’ve tried to clear my way with logic and superior intellect. And you’ve thrown my own words right back in my face, Brandon. You were right, too. If nothing else, a man should stand by his words. But you’ve given my words a meaning that I never dreamed of! And you’ve tried to twist them into a cold, logical excuse for your ugly murder! Well, they never were that Brandon, and you can't make them that. There must have been something deep inside you from the very start that let you do this thing, but there’s always been something deep inside me, that would never let me do it – and would never let me be a party to it now."

"You're quite a good chicken strangler as I recall!"

"The power to kill could be just as satisfying as the power to create."

"I've always wished for more artistic talent. Well, murder can be art, too."

"Good and evil, right and wrong were invented for the ordinary average man, the inferior man, because he needs them."

"Of course, he was a Harvard undergraduate. That might be grounds for justifiable homicide."

"Nobody commits a murder just for the experiment of committing it. Nobody except us."

"We killed for the sake of danger and for the sake of killing."

"The good Americans usually die young on the battlefield, don't they? Well, the Davids of the world merely occupy space, which is why he was the perfect victim for the perfect crime."

"If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the Devil… I mean, if he’s Satan himself, that might live up to our expectations. But… he’s not the Devil. He’s just a man."

"Richard Schiff – Mark Swarr (John Doe's Lawyer)"

"Richard Portnow – Dr. Beardsley"

"John C. McGinley – California"

"R. Lee Ermey – Police Captain"

"Kevin Spacey – John Doe"

"Gwyneth Paltrow – Tracy Mills"

"Morgan Freeman – Detective Lt. William Somerset"

"Brad Pitt – Detective David Mills"

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part."

"Let he who is without sin try to survive"

"Gluttony · Greed · Sloth · Envy · Wrath · Pride · Lust"

"If John Doe's head splits open and a UFO should fly out, I want you to have expected it."

"Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light."

"Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die."

"Become vengeance, David. Become... wrath."

"Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention."

"[from his journal] On the subway today, a man came up to me to start a conversation. He made small talk, a lonely man talking about the weather and other things. I tried to be pleasant and accommodating, but my head hurt from his banality. I almost didn't notice it had happened, but I suddenly threw up all over him. He was not pleased, and I couldn't stop laughing."

"[From one of his journals] What sick ridiculous puppets we are / and what gross little stage we dance on / What fun we have dancing and fucking / Not a care in the world / Not knowing that we are nothing / We are not what was intended"

"Fuckin' Dante. Goddamn poetry-writing faggot, piece of shit, fucker! [A cop knocks on the car window and delivers an envelope of CliffsNotes] Good work, officer! Thank you, Lord."

"Who knows. So many freaks out there doin' their little evil deeds they don't wanna do... "The voices made me do it. My dog made me do it. Jodie Foster told me to do it.""

"Beatrice Pearson - Doris Lowry"

"Force of Evil stands up under repeated viewings as one of the great films of the modern American cinema..."

"Paul McVey - Hobe Wheelock"

"Barry Kelley - Detective Egan"

"Stanley Prager - Wally"

"Paul Fix - Bill Ficco"

"Roy Roberts - Ben Tucker"

"Howland Chamberlain - Freddie Bauer"

"Marie Windsor - Edna Tucker"

"Thomas Gomez - Leo Morse"

"John Garfield - Joe Morse"

"What do you mean "gangsters"? It's business."