Most scenes together: Dr. Lao & Mike (4), Dr. Lao & Ed Cunningham (2)
Apollonius of Tyana Look at you now. Gloating over a victory that is a defeat. A defeat for all the ideals you once held so sacred.
They'll vote to sell.
Apollonius of Tyana And then what have you shown, but, your own greed and your own sick hunger for self destruction.
Apollonius of Tyana You were born with a great love of humanity, Clinton Stark. But this love soon turned to bitterness and contempt. Why? It's because in all your years, you've never been able to understand that perfection exists only as an ideal.
Who's interested in ideals? Get the money! That's what counts. Hold it out for the people, then grab at it. That's the truth! There's nothing in-between.
Apollonius of Tyana Oh, but there is. Life is sharing. You began with an extreme notion of man's good. His strength and his nobility. You ended with another extreme, equally false. The notion of man's evil. His weakness and his ignobility.
I was like you once, long time ago. I believed in the dignity of man. Decency. Humanity. But I was lucky. I found out the truth early, boy.
And what is the truth, Stark?
It's all very simple. There's no such thing as the dignity of man. Man is a base, pathetic and vulgar animal.
Merlin Tricks? Gadzooks, Madam, these are not tricks! I do magic. I — I create, I transpose, I transubstantiate, I break up, I recombine — but I never trick!
How old are you?
I believe I shall tell you. I am seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-two years old... this October.
Whew! That is old!
It is, rather.
Apollonius I only read futures, I don't evaluate them.
Apollonius Tomorrow will be like today, and the day after tomorrow will be like the day before yesterday. I see your remaining days as a tedious collection of hours full of useless vanities. You will think no new thoughts. You will forget what little you have known. Older you will become, but not wiser. Stiffer, but not more dignified. Childless you are, and childless you will remain. Of that suppleness you once commanded in your youth, of that strange simplicity which once attracted men to you, neither endures, nor shall you recapture them.
Mrs. Cassin You're a mean, ugly man!
Apollonius Mirrors are often ugly and mean. When you die, you will be buried and forgotten, and that is all. And for all the good or evil, creation or destruction, your living might have accomplished, you might just as well never have lived at all.
Dr. Lao (in snake form...with a face resembling Clint Stark's): I wouldn't care to trade with you.
Maybe not, but the point is, my scaly friend, that you are in a cage, while I'm free to walk about!
Oh, you have your cage, too. You test your bars just as often as I test mine, kiddo.
My specialty is wisdom. Do you know what wisdom is?
No sir.
Wise answer.
Hey! How come you speak perfect English all of a sudden?
Oh, it just comes and goes?
Now, come on, Doc! What kind of oriental hocus-pocus is going on around here? A circus with no wagons, no animals, no cages? A crazy old magician? What's it all about?
Mayor James Sargent He doesn't want to lose. Who does?
I do. Mayor Sargent, every time I bet on weakness, corruption, fallibility… I want to lose. But I always win.
Are you an acrobat?
What?
Mike, the whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel, there in your hand, every time you stop and think, "I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!" Every time such a thing happens, Mike, you are part of the Circus of Dr. Lao.
Mike, let me tell you something. The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. The way the sun goes down when you're tired, comes up when you want to be on the move. That's real magic. The way a leaf grows. The song of the birds. The way the desert looks at night, with the moon embracing it. Oh, my boy, that's… that's circus enough for anyone. Every time you watch a rainbow and feel wonder in your heart. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel, there in your hand. Every time you stop and think, "I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!" Every time such a thing happens, you're part of the Circus of Dr. Lao.
I don't understand.
Neither do I! [Jumps over Mike's head, and they begin to dance]
