Mr. Hand quotes from Dark City (1998)

Mr. Hand

Instincts are irrational, Mr. Wall. We must follow where they lead, yes?

Mr. Hand

There used to be a ferry when I was a boy, biggest thing you ever saw, lit up like a floating birthday cake.

Mr. Hand

On occasion the imprinting does not take. They behave erratically when they awaken. We find them wandering like lost children.

Mr. Hand

There's work to be done.

Mr. Hand

We fashioned this city on stolen memories: different eras, different pasts all rolled into one. Each night, we revise it, refine it, in order to learn.

Mr. Hand

You've seen what we are. We use your dead as vessels.

Mr. Book

Is it done?

Mr. Hand

Oh, yes, Mr. Book. I have John Murdoch in mind.

Dr. Daniel P. Schreber

I have a weak heart, you know.

Mr. Hand

Your weakness is not, we think, an affair of the heart.

Mr. Hand

We're very lucky, when you think about it.

Emma Murdoch

I'm sorry?

Mr. Hand

To be able to revisit those places which have meant so very much to us.

Emma Murdoch

I thought it was more that we were haunted by them.

Mr. Hand

Perhaps. But imagine a life alien to yours, in which your memories were not your own but those shared by every other of your kind. Imagine the torment of such an existence: no experiences to call your own. If it was all you knew, maybe it would be a comfort.

Emma Murdoch

What brings you here?

Mr. Hand

I met my wife at this place.

Emma Murdoch

It's where I first met my husband.

Mr. Hand

Small world.

Desk Sergeant

How can we help you, sir?

Mr. Hand

You can sleep!

Mr. Hand

I'm dying, John. Your imprint is not agreeable with my kind. But I wanted to know what it was like — how you feel.

John Murdoch

You know how I was supposed to feel. That person isn't me. Never was. You wanted to know what it was about us that made us human. Well, you're not going to find it...[taps head] in here. You went looking in the wrong place.