- Murray: I believe, Jack, there are two kinds of people in the world. Killers and diers. Most of us are diers. We don't have the dispositions, the rage, what it takes to be a killer. But think how exciting it is, in theory, to kill a person. If he dies, you cannot. To kill him is to gain life-credit. Who knows? Maybe violence is a form of rebirth. And maybe you can kill death.
- Jack: You don't believe in Heaven? A nun?
- Sister Hermann Marie: If you don't, why should I?
- Jack: If you did, maybe we would.
- Sister Hermann Marie: If I did, maybe you would not have to. Someone must appear to believe.
- Wilder: The real issue is the radiation that surrounds us every day. Your radio, your TV, your microwave oven, the powerlines outside your door. Forget toxic clouds. It's the electrical and magnetic fields. Industry would collapse if the true results of any of these investigations were released. If they release the findings, there'd be billions of dollars in lawsuits.
- Jack: That's a little extreme.
- Wilder: What's extreme, what I said or what'd happen?
- [first lines]
- Murray: [showing his class a variety of Hollywood crashes] Okay, roll film. Don't think of a car crash in a movie as a violent act. No, these collisions are part of a long tradition of American optimism. A reaffirmation of traditional values and beliefs. A celebration.
- Murray: Think of these crashes like you would Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. On these days, we don't mourn the dead or rejoice in miracles. No, these are days of secular optimism. Of self-celebration.
- Murray: Each crash is meant to be better than the last. There's a constant upgrading of tools, skills, a meeting of challenges. An American film director says, "I want this flatbed truck to do a double mid-air somersault that produces an orange ball of fire in a 36-foot diameter." The movie breaks away from complicated human passions to show us something elemental, something loud and fiery and head-on.
- Murray: Watch any car crash in any American movie. It is a high-spirited moment, like old-fashioned stunt flying, or walking on wings. The people who stage these crashes are able to capture a light-heartedness, a carefree enjoyment that car crashes in foreign movies can never approach.
- Murray: You might say, "But what about all the blood and glass? The screeching rubber, the crushed bodies, the severed limbs? What kind of optimism is this?" Look past the violence I say. There is a wonderful brimming spirit of innocence and fun.