[examining the back of the Declaration]
So if this things in invisible ink, how do we look at it?
Throw it in the oven.
Abigail, Ben: NO!
Riley Poole
Justin Bartha · 35 quotes
Benjamin Franklin Gates
Nicolas Cage · 33 quotes
Abigail Chase
Diane Kruger · 15 quotes
Agent Sadusky
Harvey Keitel · 7 quotes
Patrick Gates
Jon Voight · 7 quotes
Shaw
David Dayan Fisher · 6 quotes
Most scenes together: Benjamin Franklin Gates & Riley Poole (15), Benjamin Franklin Gates & Abigail Chase (10), Riley Poole & Abigail Chase (6)
National Treasure quotes
Page 3 of 5Agent Dawes, do you have a visual? Do you see Gates in the water?
Agent Dawes Sir? It's the Hudson. Nothing is visible.
Smart fish.
Ian. Ian, I've got them. They're heading toward City Hall.
OK, I'm on my way.
Prison.
Albuquerque. See I can do it too. Snorkel.
That's where the map is. Like he said, "Fifty-five in iron pen." "Iron pen" is a prison.
Ben Gates
Or it could be, since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink, the "pen" is... just a pen. But then why not say a pen, why say iron pen.
Because it's a prison.
They're headed for the breezeway on the north side.
I'll be right there.
John Adams Gates
[In 1974 John Adams Gates tells the story of a mysterious treasure to a young Ben Gates]
OK, here we go. It was 1832, on a night much like this. Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of a secret society known as the Masons, and... he knew he was dying. He woke up his stable boy in the middle of the night and ordered him to take him to the White House to see Andrew Jackson because it was very urgent that he speak to the President.
Young Ben Gates
Did he talk to him?
John Adams Gates
No. He never got the chance. The President wasn't there that night, but Charles Carroll had a secret. So he took into his confidence the one person he could: my grandfather's grandfather, Thomas Gates.
Young Ben Gates
What was his secret?
John Adams Gates
A treasure! A treasure beyond all imagining. A treasure that had been fought over for centuries by tyrants, pharaohs, emperors, warlords. And every time it changed hands, it grew larger. And then, suddenly, [snaps his fingers] it vanished. It didn't reappear for more than a thousand years when knights from the First Crusade found hidden vaults beneath the Temple of Solomon. You see, the knights who found the vaults believed that the treasure was too great for any one man, not even a king. They brought the treasure back to Europe and took the name... the Knights Templar. Over the next century, they smuggled it out of Europe and formed a new brotherhood known as the Freemasons, in honor of the builders of the Great Temple. War followed. By the time of the American Revolution, the treasure had been hidden again. By then, the Masons came to include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere. They knew they had to make sure the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British, so they devised a series of clues and maps to its location. Over time the clues were lost or forgotten, until only one remained. And that was the secret that Charles Carroll entrusted to young Thomas Gates.
Charles Carroll
Charlotte.
Young Ben Gates
Who's Charlotte?
John Adams Gates
Oh, not even Mr. Carroll knew that. Now, look here, Ben. The Freemasons among our Founding Fathers left us clues [takes out one-dollar bill] like these. The unfinished pyramid, the all-seeing eye. Symbols of the Knights Templar, guardians of the treasure. They are speaking to us through these.
You mean laughing at us. You know what that dollar represents: the entire Gates family fortune. Six generations of fools... chasing after fool's gold.
John Adams Gates
It's not about the money, Patrick. It's never been about the money!
Come on, son. Time to go. You can say your goodbyes.
Ben
[Abigail is freaking out, thinking that Ian has the Declaration]
They don't have it.
Ben
[Pulls the Declaration out to show her]
See, now can you please stop shouting?
Verdammt! Give me that!
Ben
You know something? You're shouting again.
I'm pretty sure she was swearing, too.
Ben
Well, I probably deserved that.
Just give me the Declaration!
Ben
You're still shouting. And it's really starting to annoy. You would do well, Dr. Chase, to be a bit more civilized in this instance.
If that's the real Declaration, what did they get?
Ben
A souvenir. I thought it might be a good idea to have a duplicate, turns out I was right. Actually, I had to pay for the real one and the duplicate, so you owe me $35, plus tax.
Genius.
Butcher Lady [Abigail is hiding from Shaw behind a meat counter]
If you're not a steak, you don't belong here.
I'm just trying to hide from my ex-husband.
Butcher Lady [sees Shaw]
Who, Baldie?
Yeah.
Butcher Lady Honey, stay as long as you like.
Butcher Lady [to Shaw]
Do you want something?
[ignores her]
Butcher Lady Do you want something?
Shut up.
Butcher Lady [leaves] [to Abigail]
I see why you left him.
Agent Hendricks Um...
This isn't a day for "Um."
Agent Hendricks We received a tip several days ago that someone was going to steal the Declaration of Independence.
Agent Hendricks Uh, there was no file opened. We didn't find the information credible.
Ben
You did? What?
A map.
Ben
A map? But where does it lead to?
You'll figure it out.
Powell [they find a giant underground staircase]
How do a bunch of people with hand tools build all this?
Ben
The same way the built the pyramids, the Great Wall of China.
Yeah... the aliens helped them.
[convincing Abigail to give the document to him]
Why don't you just pass me that document? Then we can all go home.
Ben, the, uh, the mean D-declaration lady is behind you.