Rorschach/Walter Kovacs quotes

View Quote Rorschach's journal, October 12th 1985. Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city's afraid of me. I've seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood. And when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The ac****ulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up around their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll whisper "No." Now the whole world stands on the brink staring down into bloody hell. All those liberals, and intellectuals, and smooth-talkers; and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say. Beneath me, this awful city, it screams like an abattoir full of ****ed children. And the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences.

View Quote Hurm. [repeated line]

View Quote [As the Owlship careens out of control] Daniel... Do not wish to interfere with operation of ship, but perhaps you should pull up sharply...

View Quote [discovering that the victim of murder was The Comedian] Tonight, a comedian died in New York. Somebody knows why... somebody knows.

View Quote Rorschach's journal, October 13th 1985. 8:30pm. Meeting with Dreiberg left bad taste in mouth; a flabby failure sits whimpering in his basement. Why are so few of us left active, healthy, and without personality disorders? The First Nite Owl runs an autorepair shop. The first Silk Spectre is a bloated, aging whore dying in a California rest resort. Dollar Bill got his cape stuck on a revolving door where he got gunned down. Silhouette... murdered, a victim of her own indecent lifestyle. Mothman is in an asylum in Maine. Even Adrian Veidt. Possible homosexual? Must investigate further. Only two names remain on my list. Both share private quarters at Rockefeller Military Research Center. I shall go to them. I shall go tell the indestructible man that someone plans to murder him.

View Quote Took a lot of effort to get in here to see you. I'm not leaving... [teleported away by Dr. Manhattan] ...until I've had my say.

View Quote Edward Blake, The Comedian, born 1918, buried in the rain. Murdered. Is that what happens to us? No time for friends? Only our enemies leave roses. Violent lives ending violently. Blake understood. Humans are savage in nature. No matter how much you try to dress it up, to disguise it. Blake saw society's true face. Chose to be a parody of it, a joke. I heard a joke once. Man goes to doctor, says he's depressed. Life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. The great clown, Pagliacci, is in town. Go see him. That should pick you up". Man bursts into tears. "But doctor", he says, "I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains.

View Quote Men get arrested. Dogs get put down.

View Quote God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her. Destiny didn't feed her to those dogs. If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew; God doesn't make the world this way, we do.

View Quote None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with me!

View Quote [on being unmasked] MY FACE! GIVE ME BACK MY FACE!

View Quote [on the whereabouts of his mask] WHERE'S MY FACE?!

View Quote Your turn, doctor. Tell me! [He slides his mask back down over his face] What do YOU see?

View Quote [to Nite Owl II in Veidt's office] Ancient Pharaohs looked forward to the end of the world. Believed cadavers would rise to reclaim hearts from golden jars. Hurm. Must currently be holding breath in anticipation.

View Quote Never compromise. Not even in the face of Armageddon.

View Quote [to Dr. Manhattan] Suddenly you discover humanity. Convenient. [takes off mask] If you had cared from the start, none of this would have happened.

View Quote [Final line to Dr. Manhattan who's about to kill him] Of course, you must protect Veidt's new utopia. What's one more body amongst the foundations? Well, what are you waiting for? Do it. DO IT!

View Quote [Final line of the film] Rorschach's journal. October 12, 1985. Tonight, a comedian died in New York.