Laurence Fishburne Monologues

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

Neo, sooner or later you're going to realize just as I did that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.

What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind.

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hmm?

I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.

I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?

No. It is another training program designed to teach you one thing: if you are not one of us, you are one of them.

Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?

The pill you took is part of a trace program. It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location.

We've survived by hiding from them, by running from them. But they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors, they are holding all the keys. Which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them.

I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall; men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air; yet, their strength, and their speed, are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong, or as fast, as *you* can be.

Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.

I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind - driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

You are the One, Neo. You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I have spent my entire life looking for you.

You've been living in a dream world, Neo.

What is "real"? How do you define "real"?

Welcome to the real world.

To your left there is a window: open it... use the scaffold to get to the roof.

There are two ways out of that building: one is that scaffold, the other is in their custody. You take a chance either way: I leave it to you.

Hello, Neo. Do you know who this is?

Yes. I've been looking for you, Neo. I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but unfortunately, you and I have run out of time. They're coming for you, Neo, and I don't know what they're going to do.

Stand up and see for yourself.

We don't know who struck first, us or them. But we do know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power. It was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun.

No. But if you could, would you really want to? I feel I owe you an apology. We have a rule: we never free a mind once it's reached a certain age. It's dangerous, the mind has trouble letting go. I've seen it before and I'm sorry. I did what I did because... I had to. When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died, the Oracle prophesized his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix looking for him. I did what I did because I believe that search is over.

Get some rest. You're going to need it.

Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more.

What are you waiting for? You're faster than this. Don't think you are, know you are... Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me

You believe it's the year 1999 when in fact it's closer to 2199. I can't tell you exactly what year it is because we honestly don't know. There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you, Neo.

Sentient programs. They can move in and out of any software still hardwired to their system.

Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak Of one that loved not wisely but too well; Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand, Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes, Albeit unused to the melting mood, Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum. Set you down this; And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk Beat a Venetian and traduced the state, I took by the throat the circumcised dog, And smote him, thus.

Arise black vengeance from thy hollow cell. Yield up, O love, thy crown and hearted throne to tyrannous hate. Now by yond marble heaven, in the due reverence of a sacred vow, I here engage my words.

I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this; Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

How many times do I have I told you, if a girl says she's on the pill, you use somethin anyway. Pill ain't goin' to keep your dick from falling off. I don't know why you insist on learning things the hard way, but you gon' learn. Oh yeah, you gon' learn. Pick up that hair.

I know every time you turn on the TV, that's what you see. Black people, sellin' the rock, pushin' the rock, pushin' the rock. Yeah, I know. But that wasn't a problem as long as it was here. It wasn't a problem until it was in Iowa, on Wall Street, where there are hardly any black people.

Oh, you bad, now, huh? You bad. You gotta shoot somebody now, huh? Well, here I am. Come on, shoot me. You bad, right? Look, I'm sorry about your friend. My heart goes out to his family, but that's their problem. You my son. You my problem. I want you to give me the gun.

I see. You want to end up like little Chris in a wheelchair? Right? No, no, you want to end up like Doughboy, huh? No? Give me the motherfucking gun, Tre! You're my only son, and I'm not gonna lose you to no bullshit, you hear? I love you, man. Go clean yourself up. Go on.

Would you two knuckleheads come on. I want you all to take a look at that sign up there. See what it says: cash for your home. Do you know what that is?

What are you all? Amos and Andy? Are you Stepin and he's Fetchit? I'm talking about he message. What it stands for. It's called gentrification. It's what happens when the property value of a certain area is brought down. You listening? You bring the property value down. They can buy the land at a lower price, then they move all the people out, raise the property value and sell it at a profit. Now, what we need to do is keep everything in our neighborhood, everything - black. Black owned with black money. Just like the Jews, the Italians, the Mexicans and the Koreans do.