William Somerset [In mock appreciation]
It's impressive to see a man feeding off his emotions.
Played by Morgan Freeman 
Se7en (1995) · 54 quotes
Se7en (1995) · 54 quotes
2nd most-quoted character in Se7en (1995): in 23 of its 54 quotes
Most scenes with: David Mills (11), John Doe (3)
California, tell your people to stay away. Stay away now, don't ... don't come in here. Whatever you hear, stay away! John Doe has the upper hand! John Doe has the upper hand!
More lines from William Somerset
8 quotes William Somerset William Somerset This isn't going to have a happy ending.
William Somerset If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the devil – I mean, if he's Satan himself – that might live up to our expectations. But he's not the devil. He's just a man.
William Somerset But you got to be a ... a hero. You want to be a champion. Well, let me tell you, people don't want a champion. They want to eat cheeseburgers, play the lotto and watch television.
William Somerset [At the library]
Gentlemen, gentlemen. I'll never understand. All these books. A world of knowledge at your fingertips. And what do you do? Play poker all night.
William Somerset If John Doe's head splits open and a UFO should fly out, I want you to have expected it.
William Somerset [Last lines]
Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.
William Somerset David, if you kill him, he will win.
Scenes with William Somerset
14 scenes William Somerset This guy's methodical, exacting, and worst of all, patient.
He's a nut-bag! Just because the ****er's got a library card doesn't make him Yoda!
Yeah, a landlord's dream: a paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
William Somerset Who pays the rent on time.
William Somerset I just don't think I can continue to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was virtue.
You're no different. You're no better.
William Somerset I didn't say I was different or better. I'm not. Hell, I sympathize; I sympathize completely. Apathy is the solution. I mean, it's easier to lose yourself in drugs than it is to cope with life. It's easier to steal what you want than it is to earn it. It's easier to beat a child than it is to raise it. Hell, love costs: it takes effort and work.
William Somerset Dead dog.
I didn't do that.
She begged for her life.
William Somerset Shut up ...
She begged for her life and ...
William Somerset Shut up!
She begged for her life and the life of the baby inside her.
William Somerset Shut up! [Punches him]
Oh ... [smiles] he didn't know.
Don't ask me to pity those people. I don't mourn them any more than I do the thousands that died at Sodom and Gomorrah.
William Somerset Is that to say, John, that what you were doing was God's good work?
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Police Captain (to Mills): What do you think?
I'm in.
It has to be both of you.
William Somerset If he were to claim insanity, this conversation is admissible. The fact that he's blackmailing us with his plea ...
And my client reminds you, two more are dead. The press would have a field day if they found out the police didn't seem too concerned about finding them, giving them a proper burial.
William Somerset If there really are two more dead.
William Somerset We'll just talk to him.
Uh-huh. Yeah. "Excuse me, sir. Are you, by any chance, a serial killer?" Okay.
William Somerset You do the talking. Put that silver tongue of yours to work.
Have you been talking to my wife?
Now, I wasn't standing around guarding the Taco Bell, alright? I worked homicide for 5 years.
Somerset Not here.
I understand that.
Somerset Well, over the next 7 days, Detective, you'll do me the favor of remembering that.
Somerset You meant what you said to Mrs. Gould, didn't you? About catching this guy?
Yeah.
Somerset Hm. I wish I still thought the way you do.
Why don't you tell me what the hell it is you think we're doing, then?
Somerset Picking up the pieces. We're collecting all the evidence, taking all the pictures and samples, writing everything down, noting the time things happen.
That's all?
Somerset That's all. Putting everything into neat little piles and filing it away on the off chance it will ever be needed in the courtroom. Picking up diamonds on a deserted island, saving them in case we get rescued.
Somerset Even the most promising clues usually only lead to others. So many corpses roll away un-revenged.
Don't try to tell me you didn't get that rush tonight. I saw you. We're getting somewhere.
Somerset Why don't you tell me what's really bothering you, Tracy?
Tracy David and I are gonna have a baby.
Somerset [baffled]
Oh, Tracy... I don't think I'm the one to talk to about this...
Tracy I hate this city.
Somerset [A slightly uncomfortable moment passes]
I had a relationship once. It was very much like a marriage. We got pregnant. This was long time ago. [sighs] I remember getting up one morning and going to work. Just another day like any other, except it was the first day after I knew about … pregnancy. And I felt this fear for the first time ever. I remember thinking, "How can I bring a child into a world like this? How can a person grow up with all this around them?" I told her I didn't want to have it, and over the next few weeks, I wore her down.
Tracy I want to have children.
Somerset I can tell you now that I know … I mean, I'm positive … that I made the right decision. But there's not a day that passes that I don't wish that I had made a different choice. If you don't keep the baby – I mean, if that's your decision – don't ever tell him that you were pregnant. But if you choose to have this baby, you spoil that kid every chance you get. [Tracy starts crying] That's about all the advice I can give you, Tracy.
Dr. Beardsley Even if his brain were not mush, which it is, he chewed off his own tongue long ago.
Somerset Uh... Doc, is there absolutely no chance that he might survive?
Dr. Beardsley Detective, he'd die of shock right now if you were to shine a flashlight in his eyes. He's experienced about as much pain and suffering as anyone I've encountered, give or take... and he still has hell to look forward to. Good night.
Somerset Victor's landlord said there was an envelope of cash in the office mailbox the first of every month. Quote: "I never heard a single complaint from the tenant in apartment 306, and nobody ever complained about him. He's the best tenant I've ever had." End quote.
Yeah, a landlord's dream: a paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
Somerset Who pays the rent on time.
I'm sick of all this waiting!
Somerset This is the job.
Why aren't we out there, huh? Why we gotta sit here, rotting, waiting until the lunatic does it again?
Somerset It's dismissive to call him a lunatic. Don't make that mistake.
Come on, he's insane. Look, right now he's probably dancing around in his grandmother's panties, yeah, rubbing himself in peanut butter. Ooh. How's that?
Somerset I don't think so.
His luck will run out.
Somerset He's not depending on luck. We walked into that apartment exactly one year after he tied Victor to the bed. One year to the date. He wanted us to.
Don't know that for sure.
Somerset Oh yes, we do. This note he left, his first words to us: "Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light."
**** him. So what?
Somerset He's right so far. Imagine the will it takes to keep a man bound for a full year, to sever his hand and use it to plant fingerprints, to insert tubes into his genitals. This guy's methodical, exacting, and worst of all, patient.
He's a nut-bag! Just because the ****er's got a library card doesn't make him Yoda.
[Mills and Somerset are reading through the FBI results]
Modern Homicide Investigation, In Cold Blood, Of Human Bondage … bondage?
Somerset Not what you think it is.
Okay. The Marquis de-Shaday …
Somerset It's the Marquis de Sade.
Whatever. The Writings of Saint Thomas Aqua-something.
Somerset Saint Thomas Aquinas? There it is. He wrote about the seven deadly sins. Is that it?
Yeah.
Somerset Let's try it.
Jonathan Doe?
Somerset Whatever.
