A character in The Prisoner
Number Two
The Prisoner · 91 quotes
2nd most-quoted character in The Prisoner: in 41 of its 91 quotes
Most scenes with: Number Six (30)
Elections? In this place?
Of course--we make our choice every 12 months. Every citizen has a choice. Are you going to run?
Like blazes, the first chance I get.
I meant run for office.
Whose?
Mine, for instance.
You have a very delicate sense of humor.
Naturally. Humor is the very essence of a democratic society.
What physically happens if I win?!
You're the boss.
Number One's the boss.
Join me. [They enter Number Six's house] If you win Number One will no longer be a mystery to you, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I'll introduce you properly and see how you feel after assessing the madding crowd.
Good people, it is my pleasure to present to you the one and only Number Six!
Rah!
I am not a number. I am a person.
[Crowd laughs]
In some place, at some time, all of you held positions of a secret nature, and had knowledge that was invaluable to an enemy. Like me, you are here to have that knowledge protected or extracted.
That's the stuff to give them.
Unlike me, many of you have accepted the situation of your imprisonment and will die here like rotten cabbages.
Keep going. They love it.
The rest of you have gone over to the side of our keepers. Which is which? How many of each? Who's standing beside you now? I intend to discover who are the prisoners and who are the warders. I shall be running for office in this election.
Allow me to introduce .. The General. All the professor's own work; he gave birth to it and loves it with a passionate love, probably hates it even more. That mass of circuits, my dear fellow, is as revolutionary as nuclear fission. No more wastage in schools: there's no more tedious learning by rote. A brilliantly devised course, delivered by a leading teacher, subliminally learned, checked, and corrected by an infallible authority. And what have we got?
A row of cabbages!
Indeed - knowledgeable cabbages.
[after Number Six stumped the machine, causing it to self destruct] What was the question?
It's insoluble, to man or machine.
What was it?
W - H - Y - Question mark.
"Why?"
"Why?"
I have a choice?
Of course. You can do as you want.
As long as it's what you want.
As long as it is what the majority wants. We're democratic. In some ways.
No game is worth playing if you can't win. That's not very English, I know.
Are you ... English?
I'm sad, Number Six. I thought you were beginning to...
Give in?
Be happy. Everything you want is here.
Everything's elsewhere.
What were you looking at?
A light.
A star.
A boat.
An insect.
A plane.
A flying fish.
Somebody who belongs to my world.
This is your world. I am your world. If you insist on living a dream you may be taken for mad.
I like my dream.
Then you are mad.
Our legal system is unusual.
No jury.
Three judges decide here.
As in the French Revolution.
They cut through the dead wood, didn't they?
Don't tell me you care?
Well, of course. We want you to be happy.
Fine. Just, umm... give me a one-way ticket home.
Won't you ever give up?
What do you think?
[about Number Six] Is he in for treatment?
Not yet.
Pity... interesting subject. I should like to know his breaking point.
Well, you could make that your life's ambition.
We have things to discuss.
About the girl you murdered?
Oh, never mind the girl. I want to talk about you.
You're wasting your time. Others have tried.
Amateurs.
You're professional. A professional sadist?
You are too strong. We'll see. "Du musst amboss oder hammer sein."
"You must be anvil or hammer."
I see you know your Goethe.
And you see me as the anvil?
Precisely. I am going to hammer you.
I know who you are.
I'm Number Six.
No. D6.
D6?
Sent here by our masters to spy on me.
Sorry, I don't follow.
Oh yes. I've been on to you from the beginning. You didn't fool me.
Perhaps you fooled yourself?
What do you mean?
Just supposing for argument's sake that I was planted here?
By XO4.
XO4? Very well, by XO4. What would have been your first duty as a loyal citizen? Not to interfere. But you did interfere. You have admitted it yourself. There is a word for that. Sabotage.
No!
Who are you working for, Number Two?
For us, for us!
That is not the way it's going to sound to XO4.
I swear to you...
You could be working for the enemy or you could be a blunderer who's lost his head. Either way you've failed.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Prisoner pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
