Jack Bristow quotes from Alias

Jack

What you think you know, you don't know.

Sydney

Then you explain it to me.

Jack

You don't have clearance.

Sydney

Clearance?!

Jack

Yes.

Sydney

To be told how my mother died??

Jack

There are rules, Sydney.

Sydney

Then you break them!

Jack

Think about what you're saying. Acting cavalier about breaking the rules. Think about the last time you did something like that. I'm not a perfect man. I know that. But I am smart enough not to draw simple conclusions and then act upon them. I would think if anyone had learned that lesson it would have been you.

Vaughn

[On the possibility that the SD-6 dead drop is a trap] Sydney's life is worth the risk!

Jack

Not to Sydney! Taking them down is what gets her up in the morning, or did you think it was those meetings she has with you?

Jack

Shephard killed Danny. I'm sure you know that already.

Sydney

If I didn't, thanks for breaking it to me gently.

Jack

Lie detector test.

Sydney

I studied the C.I.A. instruction book on how to take a successful LDT.

Jack

This isn't like that. This test monitors variations in blood flow in the brain. It's very difficult to deceive. Tell your handler Vaughn he needs to prepare you for this. If he can't, he'll get someone who can.

Jack

I need you to tell me what's happening!

You didn't hear this from me. [Pause] While Sydney and Russek were in Geneva, a transmission was recorded from her location and it was not one of ours.

Jack

You think it was Sydney?

This is not the first indication that she might be working for someone else.

Sydney

It took me a second to realize what you were doing.

Jack

I was blinking as fast as I could.

Sydney

I know. I was like, "Hard on your light"?

Jack

Guard on your right.

Sydney

Well, I figured it out. I was just never very good at Morse code.

Sydney

Dad, can I ask you something? When you started with SD-6, you knew that they were a mercenary group and they had no connection with the C.I.A. But I didn't. When I joined, I thought I was going to be saving the world and not making it more dangerous.

Jack

What's the question?

Sydney

Why didn't you say something? I mean, you could have told me what I was really doing -- damage instead of good -- but you kept quiet.

Jack

[Sighs] Revealing the truth about what you were doing would have required revealing the truth about what I was doing.

Jack

I know how this feels.

Sydney

Not exactly. You've had a lot longer to make sense of this than I have.

Jack

There was a time when this was news to me, too. Your mother was sent to the United States to steal secrets from a ranking officer of the C.I.A. How she and I happened to meet, how she supposedly fell in love, I thought it was all true. But it was just a set-up.

Sydney

Dad, wait. You are not doing this.

Jack

Of course I am.

Sydney

No, you're not. You're going to have to crawl through a maze of airshafts, get to Marshall's office, get the scrambler, get to the vault room and scramble the code all in under ten minutes. I mean, no offense, but Dad, I am doing this.

Jack

When you asked me the other day about school, I couldn't help you. I... I'm out of practice when it comes to, uh... personal matters.

Sydney

Dad, I'm in no rush.

Jack

Believing your mother was a professor may have influenced you somewhat, but the decision to go back to school was yours and I'd trust that. I think that, uh, if you stick with it... you could become the kind of teacher your students will always remember.

Sydney

Thank you.

Will

Sydney tells me you're doing analysis for the bank.

Jack

Strategy. Investment strategy. Arvin made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Oh, that sounds like my husband!

Vaughn

You're saying that Sydney could be held long enough to blow her cover with SD-6?

Jack

Under directive 81A, they could conceivably hold her without trial or charges for the rest of her life.

And how would you define a "normal" family?

Jack

I suppose it's one in which the family members aren't under order to lie to each other.

Jack

You're going to tell your contact you want a meeting. A meeting to take place at your contact's discretion.

Will

Why would he lead me to you knowing that you'd want to flush him out?

Jack

He only told you my name so you would realize that my threat to you was a bluff. That I would never hurt Sydney, even if you continue your investigation. He didn't expect you'd have the guts to contact me.

Will

Oh, well, I'll assume that's a compliment.

Jack

If you're not comfortable with me, we can waive our business for the night and say good-bye.

Sark

Are you comfortable? Do you feel comfortable trading priceless documents for a low-grade reporter?

Jack

You should read Tippin's stuff. It's not so bad.