Jason Gideon quotes from Criminal Minds

Gideon

Dale Turner mused, "Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future."

Gideon

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "In order to learn the important lessons in life, one must each day surmount to fear." [NOTE: This quote is often disputed as to whether or not Emerson said it. Dale Carnegie's books and articles have confusingly credited the saying to Emerson, Elbert Hubbard, and Napoleon Bonaparte. Therefore, the originator remains unknown.]

Gideon

Aristotle said, "Evil brings men together."

Gideon

Condemned murderer Perry Smith said of his victims, the Clutter family, "I didn't have anything against them, and they never did anything wrong to me, the way other people have all my life. Maybe they're just the ones who have to pay for it."

Gideon

"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate." Socrates

Gideon

"Our life is made by the death of others." Leonardo da Vinci

Gideon

Robert Kennedy once said, "Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live."

Gideon

[to Reid] I have been playing at this job, in one way or another, for almost 30 years. I've felt lost; I've felt great. I have felt scared... sick... insane. I don't know... I guess the day this job stops gnawing at your soul and... hands, your hands stop feeling cold, maybe that's the time to leave.

Gideon

"One man's wilderness is another man's theme park." Author unknown

Gideon

"I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, my enemies for their good intellects." Oscar Wilde

Gideon

[writing the first lines of his letter in voiceover] I knew it would be you who came to the cabin to check on me. You must be frightened. I apologize for that. I never meant to cause you any pain. And I also never envisioned writing this letter. I've searched for a satisfactory explanation for what I'm doing. All I've come up with is, "A profiler needs to have solid footing." I don't think I do anymore. The world confuses me, the cruelty, indifference, tragedy. When my dear friend Sarah was murdered, it tore a hole in me. And I truly believe the way to hand the pain was to get back to our work as quickly as possible. Get on to helping somebody else. I thought I could handle Sarah's murder. Work through it. Remember the very first case we had after? It was on a college campus.

Gideon

[writing the conclusion of his letter in voiceover] And that was the last domino — the death of that girl. Hotch being suspended over something that was my fault. I said at the beginning of this letter that I knew it would be you to come up here. I'm so sorry the explanation couldn't be better. And I am so sorry that it doesn't make more sense. But I've already told you. I just don't understand any of it anymore. I'm sorry.

Gideon

Anyone recognize these faces?

Victims of the Footpath Killer.

Gideon

That's what Virginia newspapers are calling him. We refer to him as the Unknown Subject or Unsub. I told Virginia P.D. they're looking for a white male in his twenties, who owns an American made truck in disrepair. Works a menial job. I told 'em, when you find him, don't be surprised if he speaks with a severe stutter.

Not to sound skeptical, but come on... a stutter?

Gideon

Where'd the murders occur? Hiking paths. Isolated. If I'm a killer who has to use an immediate application of overpowering force, even out in the middle of nowhere, I lack confidence. I can't charm them into my car like Ted Bundy did. I can't because I am ashamed of something.

Hotch

This is Special Agent Gideon, Special Agent Morgan, our expert on obsessional crimes, Special agent Reid.

Gideon

Dr. Reid.

Hotch

Dr. Reid, our expert on, well, everything.

Morgan

Reid, are you good with this? We've got a woman who's only got a few hours left to live, an incomplete profile and a Unit Chief on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Gideon

[Gideon comes in from behind him] They don't call them nervous breakdowns anymore.

Reid

It's called a "Major Depressive Episode."

Morgan

I know, Reid.