Elliot Alderson quotes from Mr. Robot

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] I didn't do anything harmful my first time; just looked around. But I felt so powerful. Eleven years old and in complete control of the Washington Township Public Library. Today is different. I hack the world.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Every relationship is a power struggle. Some of us need to be controlled.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] People always told me growing up that it's never about the destination, it's about the journey. But what if the destination is you? What if it's always been you?

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Control can sometimes be an illusion, but sometimes you need illusion to gain control. Fantasy is an easy way to give meaning to the world, to cloak our harsh reality in escapist comfort. After all, isn't that why we surround ourselves with so many screens? So we can avoid seeing? So we can avoid each other? So we can avoid truth.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] For me, there's no such thing as normalcy. My dead father appears and disappears at will. I talk to you, an invisible friend. I'd ask if you're normal, but you never talk back.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Is this the future I was fighting for? The system is hung, frozen in limbo. Did we lose the fight? Maybe wars aren't meant to be won, maybe they're meant to be continuous.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] How am I supposed to protect the ones I care about when every step I take puts them in greater danger. This was my plan, and I hid in a cage while everyone else took all the risk.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Angela's right. We can't beat them, but we don't have to lose to them either. Maybe there's a way to stop them from winning. Mr. Robot, the ever present silent observer, watching me at all times, even when I can't see him, listening in on our conversations. He's always a step ahead of me...cause he is me. Maybe he's the key to this. Maybe he's always been the key to this. What if I could be the silent observer?

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] It's one thing to question your mind; it's another to question your eyes and ears. But, then again, isn't it all the same? Our senses just mediocre inputs to our brain? Sure, we rely on them, trust they accurately portray the real world around us, but what if the haunting truth is they can't? That what we perceive isn't the real world at all, but just our mind's best guess? That all we really have is a garbled reality, a truly fuzzy picture we will never make out?

Elliot Alderson

[to Tyrell] You're only seeing what's in front of you. You're not seeing what's above you.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] It's times like these I wish I had a mute button for life.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Darlene’s right. I can’t trust them. This was too easy. But at least I stopped them. For now. I can go home knowing that. But was she right about me? Am I sticking my head in the sand? Did my revolution just bury our minds instead of freeing them? Encrypting Evil Corp’s data was meant to empower us, but instead, it left us powerless, scaring us into even more submission. Five/Nine didn’t get rid of the invisible hand. It turned it into a fist that punched us in the dick. And, like a botnet, the fear I created is spreading so fast, it’s practically airborne. It’s swallowed us whole, digested us, and now we’re stuck in its asshole, waiting to be dumped out. And while we’re here, they are having their way with us. They’ve packaged our fight into product, turned our dissent into intellectual property, televising our revolution with commercial breaks. They’ve backdoored into our minds and robbed our truth, refurbished the facts, then marked up the price. This is what they do. This is what they’re good at. This is their greatest trick. Lobotomizing us into their virtual reality horror show. And this all started because I tried to hide from society. Remember? [Fuck society.] Yeah, I fucked society all right. I reset it to zero and if I don’t do anything about it, it’ll continue to grow in this malignant way. And that’s what I’m afraid of the most. This dark future I set in motion. Who knows what could come from this… What if, instead of fighting back, we cave? Give away our privacy for security. Exchange dignity for safety. Trade in revolution for repression. What if we choose weakness over strength? They’ll even have us build our own prison. This is what they wanted all along. For us to buy in on our worst selves. And I just made it easier for them. I didn’t start a revolution; I just made us docile enough for their slaughtering. And I can stand here and blame Evil Corp and every other conglomerate out there for taking advantage of us. Blame the FBI, NSA, CIA for letting them get away with this. Blame all the world’s leaders for aiding and abetting them. Blame Adam Smith for inventing modern-day capitalism in the first fucking place. Blame money for dividing us. Blame us for letting it. But none of that’s true. The truth is, I’m the one to blame. I’m the problem. This was my fault. All of it. I did this.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] But this doesn't mean I'm selling out, I'm just growing up. Signing up for a 401k, choosing an HMO plan with a good deductible, sign up for Trunk Club. Pop a few Zoloft. Join in on the live-action cartoon of 2D emotions that everyone else is in. I finally see the fatal exception error of my ways, and I know what to do now. I'm gonna fix the world I broke and put it back better than it was before.

Elliot Alderson

[narrating] Maybe I fucked up an already fucked up world, but I'm fixing it now. Hitting undo. And friend, it feels great.

Elliot Alderson

That's the thing about deletion. It's not always permanent. There are many reasons you want to recover a file you just deleted. When you have that moment of panic, where it hits you, where that thing you thought had no value suddenly becomes important. Where you suddenly find your purpose for it... maybe there are still things left for me to do.