John Locke quotes from Lost

Ben Linus

Rabbit today?

John Locke

We're running out of chickens.

Ben Linus

[poking at his food suspiciously] This didn't have a number on it, did it?

John Locke

Miles offered his loyalty in exchange for the money. But as I haven't seen a bank on the island, I didn't think it worth mentioning.

Somethin' funny?

Miles Straume

Linus will find a way to get it.

And how will he do that?

Miles Straume

He wants to survive. And considering a week ago you had a gun to his head, and tonight he's eating pound cake... I'd say he's a guy who gets what he wants.

Hurley

We're all gonna die.

Sawyer

Calm down, Chicken Little. Sky ain't falling just yet.

Hurley

This is exactly what he wants. To fight amongst ourselves. You're making a big mistake, dude.

Locke

It's his to make, Hugo. Let's get on with it.

Sawyer

Right. [pauses] I'm attacking Siberia. [The camera zooms out revealing that they are playing Risk. Sawyer and Hurley roll the dice, and Sawyer wins.] Sorry.

Hurley

Can't believe you're just giving him Australia. Australia's the key to the whole game.

Sawyer

Says you.

Locke

[to Ben] What did you do?!

Hurley

You just called that thing?!

Locke

You ever wonder what happened to the Dharma Initiative, Hugo? There must have been at least a hundred of 'em living on this island. Manning the stations, building those homes, making all that ranch dressing that you like. And then, one day, they're all gone, they just disappear. You wanna know where we're going? [Walks over to the pit that contains the bodies of the Dharma Initiative] We're going to see them.

Hurley

What happened to them?

Locke

[Jerks his head at Ben] He did.

Locke

It should be about two hundred yards this way.

Ben

You sure it's gonna be there, John?

Locke

I'm sorry?

Ben

The cabin. What if its moved, again?

Locke

It hasn't moved, because I was told this is where it would be.

Ben

I was told a lot of things too. That I was chosen, that I was special. I end up with a tumor on my spine and my daughter's blood all over my hands.

Locke

I'm sorry those things happened to you, Ben.

Ben

Those things had to happen to me. That was my destiny. But you'll understand soon enough that there are consequences to being chosen. Because destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.

I'm not making any sense, am I?

John Locke

No.

That's probably because I've been dead for 12 years.

I'm gonna tell you something--something I wish someone had told me at your age. You might not want to be that guy in the labs surrounded by test tubes and beakers, but that's who you are, John. You can't be the prom king. You can't be the quarterback. You can't be a superhero.

John Locke

Don't tell me what I can't do.

Locke

I'm sorry Ben, but maybe I've missed the part where you explain what I'm supposed to do with the armed men inside.

Ben

I'm gonna take care of 'em.

Locke

And how the hell are you gonna do that?

Ben

How many time I have to tell you, John? I always have a plan.

Jack

What did you want to talk to me about, John?

Locke

I want you to reconsider leaving the island, Jack. I would like you to stay.

Jack

You'd like me to stay.

Locke

Yeah. That's right.

Jack

You threw a knife into the back of an unarmed woman, you led half of our people across the island and got most of them killed.

Locke

Well Jack, you put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones.

Locke

Jack, you're not supposed to go home.

Jack

And what am I supposed to do?! Oh, I think I remember- what was it that you said on the way out to the hatch? That crashing here was our destiny.

Locke

You know, Jack, you know that you're here for a reason! You know it. And if you leave this place, that knowledge is gonna eat you alive from the inside out... until you decide to come back.

Jack

Goodbye John.

Locke

You're gonna have to lie.

Jack

Excuse me?

Locke

If you have to go, then you have to lie about everything, everything that happened since we got to the island. It's the only way to protect it.

Jack

It's an island, John. No one needs to protect it.

Locke

It's not an island. It's a place where miracles happen. And- and if you don't believe that Jack, if you can't believe that, just wait 'til you see what I'm about to do.

Jack

There's no such thing as miracles.

Locke

Well... we'll just have to see which one of us is right.

Locke

Jacob told me what we had to do. You don't get to make all the decisions--

Ben

He told you what to do, but he didn't tell you how because he wants me to suffer the consequences.

Locke

What consequences?

Ben

Whoever moves the island can never come back. So I'd like you to get on the elevator, John, and go back up. Richard and my people will be waiting 2 miles east of the Orchid.

Locke

Waiting for me?

Ben

Ready, willing and able to share what they know. And then they will follow your every word. Good-bye, John. I'm sorry I made your life so miserable. [Ben shakes Locke's hand for the last time and leaves]

Locke

What do I tell 'em to do?

Ben

You'll find your way, John. You always do.

Martin Keamy

I know you're down here, Ben. Crouching in the dark, just waiting to take a shot at me.

Pierre Chang

[as Dr. Edgar Halliwax, on video] This... is "the vault"...

Martin Keamy

Well, you better aim for the head, Ben! Not like your boyfriend who shot me in the back like a coward!

Pierre Chang

...to avoid leaving inorganic materials inside...

Martin Keamy

This body armor's, um, been known to take a bullet or two in its time. But before you take your shot, Ben, let me tell you about this. [revealing a device strapped to his arm] See that? I took out a bit of a--a life insurance policy, Ben. It's a heart rate monitor, and it's connected to a radio transmitter. W--we call it a "dead man's trigger", Ben. If my heart stops beating...it sends a little signal to the 500 pounds of C-4 that I've got hardwired out there on the freighter that'd kill a lot of innocent people, Ben. If you think I'm bluffing, need I remind you of, uh... how your daughter looked as she bled out? Face-down in the grass?

Martin Keamy

Who the hell are you?

John Locke

My name is John Locke, and I have no... conflict with you. And neither do the people on that boat. So... why don't you put your knife down? We can talk about this.

Martin Keamy

Well, John Locke... I've never really been one for talk.

Ben Linus

You killed my daughter. You killed my daughter!

John Locke

Ben! Ben! Ben, stop! No, no! Stop!

John Locke

Ben, what did you do?

John Locke

You just killed everybody on that boat.

Ben Linus

[beat] So?

Locke

What is this?

Richard

It's a compass.

Locke

What does it do?

Richard

It points north, John. Look, I wish I had time to be more sensitive about this because it's a lot to swallow, but you need to know it in order to do what you gotta do. So I'm just gonna say it, okay? The only way to save the island, John, is to get your people back here. The ones who left.

Locke

Jack, Kate? But the chopper was headed for the boat. The boat...

Richard

No, they're fine, John, and they're already home, so you have to convince them to come back.

Locke

How... How am I supposed to do that?

Richard

You're gonna have to die, John.

John Locke

You and I both know when we were before the flash, James. So who was it you saw? Charlie? Shannon? Yourself?

And how is it that you knew when we were, Johnny Boy? That light in the sky — it was from the Hatch, wasn't it?

John Locke

The night that Boone died... I went out there and started pounding on it as hard as I could. I was... confused... scared. Babbling like an idiot, asking, why was all this happening to me?

Did you get an answer?

John Locke

Light came on, shot up into the sky. At the time, I thought it meant something.

Did it?

John Locke

No. It was just a light.

So why'd you turn us around then? Don't you wanna go back there?

John Locke

Why would I wanna do that?

So you could tell yourself to do things different, save yourself a world of pain.

John Locke

No, I needed that pain — to get to where I am now.