Sam Daniels What're you gonna be doing at CDC?
Working BL-4. Same as you.
Sam Daniels My job.
Well, I like to think of it as my job.
Played by Dustin Hoffman 
Outbreak (1995) · 29 quotes
Outbreak (1995) · 29 quotes
Most-quoted character in Outbreak (1995): in 20 of its 29 quotes
Most scenes with: Casey Schuler (5), Robby Keough (4), Maj. Salt (4)
Scenes with Sam Daniels
20 scenes Sam Daniels Sam Daniels Sam Daniels What have I ever done to make your life miserable, sir?
You got up this morning, didn't you?
Sam Daniels [Sam and Casey caution eager new team member Major Salt.]
It's just one of those panics that puts us all in danger.
And he's under direct orders not to die out there. And that's one set of orders he's actually planning on following.
Sam Daniels [Sam looks over Casey's shoulder as he dictates the Motaba Valley outbreak report.]
"Alarmingly high fatality. All localized within a three-mile radius... incubation period short... appears contained." Alarming! Casey, you didn't put "alarming".
It's an adverb, Sam. It's a lazy tool of a weak mind.
Sam Daniels You know, fear gets a bad rap, Salt. I don't want anybody working with me who isn't scared. Okay?
Well then I'm you're man, sir.
I hate this bug.
Sam Daniels Come on, Casey. You have to love its simplicity. It's one-billionth our size and it's beating us.
So, what do you wanna do — take it to dinner?
Sam Daniels No.
What, then?
Sam Daniels Kill it.
Sam Daniels [Sam tries unsuccessfully to get Robby to issue a CDC alert.]
Once in your life, take a chance!
You know what, Sam? I did. I married you.
Sam Daniels Nobody gets sick within 24 hours, we're in the clear!
This doesn't sound like you.
Sam Daniels What?
Imagining the best-case scenario.
Sam Daniels Why not? I still think there's hope for us.
[Gen. Ford refuses to send Col. Daniels to Cedar Creek.]
Now, I'm your boss; I have my boss. Is that clear to you?!
Sam Daniels Yeah. Get your boss on the phone! Call up McClintock! Tell him to put me on a plane before the two of you kill a lot of people!
Colonel, I'm gonna suggest that you shut up now before you say something else you're gonna be sorry for. And don't forget who you're talking to!
Sam Daniels Well, tell me who I'm talking to, 'cause I don't know who I'm talking to anymore, Billy. Am I talking to USAMRIID? The Pentagon? The CIA? **** McClintock? Dugway?
Sam Daniels [Airport dispatch Sergeant Wolf tries to call General Ford to confirm Daniels' change to Cedar Creek.]
You call the tower right now, and you tell 'em to change my flight plans. Put your finger on the phone! Put your finger on the phone.
Sgt. Wolf
This could mean my stripes, sir.
Sam Daniels It'll mean your ass if you don't put your finger on the phone. Finger the phone. Finger it.
Sam Daniels I know what I told you, but now I'm telling you, we're facing a new strain.
What?
Sam Daniels It spreads like flu.
Impossible.
Sam Daniels Fine! Go to the hospital, check it out yourself. Go without a mask, you'll see more clearly.
Sam Daniels How many? 'Bout a billion.
Ooh... now I'm only as smart as you.
Sam Daniels Heh-heh. What can we give him to kill his sense of humor?
Sgt. Meyer
Sir, my pilot's... taking a leak.
Sam Daniels A leak? No shit!
Sam Daniels [Daniels and Salt barge through a crowded line at a Federal export clearance office.]
Colonel Daniels, from USAMRIID. I'm sorry.
George
Yes, and I'm George from Sioux City, Iowa. Back of the line, Colonel.
Sam Daniels We got a terrible epidemic. We're from Cedar Creek, George. [to the crowd] We're from Cedar Creek, California!
CEDAR CREEK, SITE OF THE VIRAL INFECTION!
Sam Daniels [Everyone backs away. George looks worried.]
George, you heard about this virus — need we say more? Okay, we need all the bills of lading from ships arriving from Africa [clasps George's hands] in the last three months. George!
George
[nervously]
Uh-huh... huh?
Sam Daniels Shall I cough on you, George?
. . .
The Tae Kuk has set out to sea already, sir.
Sam Daniels So what?
How're we gonna locate it?
Mrs. Pananides
I got a friend in the Coast Guard. I can make a call, easy.
Sam Daniels How close a friend?
Mrs. Pananides
Closer than his wife would like.
You want me to fly you out to sea... drop you onto a freighter? Sir, with all due respect, that is idiotic.
Sam Daniels Idiotic? Lemme ask you a question. Are we fugitives from the law?
Right.
Sam Daniels Idiocy is our only option.
. . .
Sam Daniels Just don't get negative on me.
Affirmative.
. . .
Sam Daniels That's it! Thank you, Mrs.— what's her name?
Pananides!
Sam Daniels Thank you, ma'am.
With all due respect, Col. Daniels, if you do not follow us to Travis Air Force Base, I will blow you out of the sky!
Sam Daniels General, with all due respect, **** you, sir.
Sam Daniels [Daniels tries to stop the oncoming bomber plane.]
Ohh, Christ, guys, if you think I'm lying, drop the bomb. If you think I'm crazy, drop the bomb. But don't drop the bomb just because you're following orders!
[Sam and Robby talk as she's recovering from the disease.]
It's a pretty unique experience.
Sam Daniels Sorta like living with me.
Mm-hmm.
Sam Daniels Would you go through it again?
Maybe. Now that I have the antibodies.
[showing them the progression of the virus on a computer]
Okay, sirs, here we go. These pictures were taken over a period of eight hours. Normal, healthy kidney cells before they met the virus. In the space of an hour, a single virus has invaded, multiplied and killed the cell. And in just two hours, its offspring have invaded cells here, and here. Continually multiplying.
Jesus Christ, five hours? It infects the cell, replicates, and kills this fast? These numbers can't be right, Ebola takes days to do this damage.
Sirs, the numbers are correct. I wish to God they weren't. One goes in, millions come out. Every cell is dead. Now we see them individually, searching for the next victim until there's nothing left to kill.
Mark this day, Salt. We could spend our whole careers waiting to see a new virus.
I hate this bug.
Sam Daniels Come on, Casey. You have to love its simplicity. It's one-billionth our size and it's beating us.
So, what do you wanna do — take it to dinner?
Sam
No.
What, then?
Sam
Kill it.
Sam Daniels Sir, I sent you the fax six hours ago...
Sam, I am not going to issue an alert.
Sam
I don't wanna bust up your party, sir, but you gotta issue an alert.
You said it was contained!
Sam
I said containment was probable. You should be monitoring the airports, you gotta...
Sam! Do you remember 1989?
Sam
Yeah.
You found two lousy cases of Congo fever in Nairobi and we put a note to every American kid's lunchbox. You remember that?
Sam
Yeah, I was wrong.
You were wrong.
Sam
Uh-huh.
What about 1992? Lassa fever?
Sam
I was wrong. Yup.
Wrong again. But you're right about this?
Sam
No, I could be wrong about this...
Yet you waltz into my party smelling like dirty socks, snatch me away from Senator Rosales, whom I need not remind you, Sam, is head of the Senate Arms Services subcommittee which is in charge of our **** budget.
Sam
Forget Ebola. Forget Lassa. This bug kills so fast, Billy. You could be dead in...
Keep your voice down. Now, that is exactly my point, Sam.
Sam
What?
It is the very lethality of this virus which is working for us here. These unfortunate people don't live long enough to spread the goddamn thing around. So you're right, it is contained.
Sam
I hope so.
Other characters in Outbreak
More Dustin Hoffman characters
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Captain James Hook
Lenny Bruce
Enrico Salvatore 'Ratso' Rizzo
Carl Bernstein
Tucker
Raymond
Ted Kramer