Jonathan You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now - and nothing can stand in your way!
Voiced by James Franciscus 
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973) · 14 quotes
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973) · 14 quotes
Most-quoted character in Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973): in 9 of its 14 quotes
A line from JonathanI only wish to share what I've learned - the very simple fact that it is right for a gull to fly!
More lines from Jonathan
4 quotes Jonathan Jonathan Listen, everybody! There's no limit to how high we can fly! We can dive for fish and never have to live on garbage again!
Jonathan Does my life end here? I can't believe that. I wasn't born to drown in this ocean. I can die here, or I can force myself to fly. It's in me. It's... in me! I've got to try. I've got to get back home.
Jonathan At last I can stop thinking for once in my life. Just stop thinking and fly towards the lights in the dark.
Scenes with Jonathan
4 scenes
Father/Mother
Son, this may not be the best life, but it's all we know.
Jonathan There's got to be more to life than fighting for fish heads.
Mother Son, we looked everywhere for you the last few days.
Father The elders in the flock are talking about you.
Mother They know you fly off on your own, where we never fly. They don't understand it. They will not allow it.
Jonathan Not allow me to learn? Why?
Mother Oh, I can understand your dreams, Jonathan. We all dream of better things when we're young. I'm afraid... for you. I'm afraid of what you're doing.
Father Maybe this isn't the best life, but it's all we know. Winter's coming. The flock must stay together to survive. We were meant to live the way we live, accept it. Take your place. Will you try, son?
Mother If you don't, we will have all lived for nothing.
Jonathan We weren't meant to live this way. I know you're wrong. But... I'll try.
Jonathan Fletcher, it's time to go.
Fletcher Time to go where, Jonathan?
Jonathan Back to the flock. We have a gift to give.
Fletcher But we're not ready. We're not welcome. Jonathan, we're outcasts. We can't force ourselves where we're not welcome, can we? And it's the law of the flock!
Jonathan We're free to go where we wish and to be what we are.
Fletcher Why should we bother with the flock? Seagulls are the laziest, dirtiest, most vicious--
Jonathan Suspicious, clumsiest. A seagull hardly knows how to walk. But don't you see, Fletcher? A seagull wasn't made to walk. He was made to fly, and when he learns to fly, he's the purest, loveliest, most graceful creature alive. True for you, true for me, true for all the flock. We can soar free across the sky, but how often we don't want to. That's the gift we can give, to help those who want to learn find what they love to do.
Fletcher [Jonathan and Fletcher escape being killed by an angry mob of seagulls]
They wanted to kill us! How did we get away?
Jonathan Like everything else, Fletcher, practice.
Fletcher I don't understand. The flock was gonna kill us. Our own flock! Why? Remember what you said about loving the flock enough to return to them and help them live? They wanted us dead! They're a mob! They're killers! How can you love them?
Jonathan You don't love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the good in every one of them and help them see it in themselves. That's what we mean by love. It's fun... when you get the idea of it. I remember a fierce young bird, for instance. Fletcher Lynd Seagull, his name. Just been made outcast, ready to fight the flock to the death, getting a start on building his own bitter hell out on the far cliffs. And here he is today, building his own heaven instead and leading the whole flock in that direction.
Fletcher Me? Leading? You're the instructor here. You can't leave us.
Jonathan Don't you think there might be other flocks, other Fletchers that need an instructor now more than this one?
Fletcher But me, Jon? I'm just a plain seagull, and you're...
Jonathan Oh, yes, yes, yes, I know. The only Son of the Great Gull, I suppose. Fletcher, you don't need me anymore. All the younger ones in the flock and some of the others too are ready to follow you now. All you need is to keep finding the real, unlimited Fletcher Seagull. He's your instructor. And don't let them spread silly rumors about me or try to make me some sort of a god, will you, Fletcher? I'm a seagull. I like to fly, maybe.
Fletcher Jonathan.
Jonathan We both have learned what we were meant to learn in our time together, Fletcher. That the way to find perfection and love is within us. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know. Use it, Fletcher. Teach it, show it forth. And you'll know the way to fly.
