Jack Harkness quotes from Torchwood

Jack, Carys is out of her cell!

Owen

Cheeky bitch took my swipe card.

Jack

I'll deal with it. Tell Owen he needs to work on those abs a bit harder.

Owen

I was taking some readings, you know, keeping an eye on her, and bang!

You got away lightly. Be thankful she was only interested your swipe card.

Gwen

Are you alright now, or are you still feeling a bit of a cock?

Jack

So what's our next move?

Owen

Stop the entire city of Cardiff from shagging?

Gwen

Hmm... put bromide in the water supply.

Jack

No, too hit and miss.

Owen

Yeah, and the water company got really pissed off last time we did that...

Jack

This kid, Bernie. Where does he live?

Splott.

Owen

Splott?!

Ianto

I believe estate agents pronounce it "Sploe".

Gwen

What? I have to do that again?!

Jack

Someone does! Any volunteers? [throws the ghost device at Owen]

Owen

Woah!

Gwen

We don't know what it is, what it does.

Jack

Nope.

Gwen

Jack, this could be dangerous.

Jack

Yeah.

Owen

Uh, I don't mean to be picky, but I think I can spot some flaws in this plan...

Jack

I'm sorry! I thought you were the guys who gave up looking for a nineteen year old kid this morning! I figured maybe you were up for something more exciting!

Gwen

What about a rota? Different people on different days?

Jack

We're a secret organization hunting alien technology from an underground base, and you want a rota for who drives.

Gwen

...Just trying to help.

Ianto

I'm going back in to save her. Anybody tries to stop me, I'll shoot them.

Gwen

Ianto, put the gun down.

Jack

You make a threat like that, you better be prepared to follow it through. See? You disobey me now, I really will shoot you.

Ianto

Get off me.

Jack

You want to go back in there? You go in to finish the job. If she's still alive, you execute her.

Ianto

No way.

Jack

You brought this down on us. You hid her. You hid yourself from us. Now it's time for you to stand as part of the team.

Gwen

Jack.

Jack

The girl you loved has gone. Your loyalty is to us now.

Ianto

You can't order me to do that.

Jack

You execute her, or I'll execute you both!

Ianto

I won't do it. You can't make me. You like to think you're a hero, but you're the biggest monster of all.

Ianto

I'm not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that, Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?

Jack

You need to figure out who's side you're on here, because if you don't know, you're not gonna make it out of this alive.

Jack

[pointing his gun at Ianto] Did you know that thing was down there?

Ianto

I put her there.

Jack

[enraged] You hid a Cyberman within Torchwood?! And you didn't tell us?! What else are you keeping from us?!

Ianto

[scathingly] Like you care. I clear up your shit, no questions asked, and that's the way you like it. When did you last ask me anything about my life? [pause] Her name's Lisa. She's my girlfriend.

Gwen

Why didn't you tell us? We could have helped you.

Ianto

Torchwood exists to destroy alien threats. Why would I tell you about her?

Owen

[angry] A little loyalty, perhaps?

Ianto

My loyalty's to her. She worked for Torchwood. She was caught up in the battle. I owe it to Lisa, we owe it to her, to find a cure.

Jack

Ianto, you have to believe me, there is no cure. There never will be. Those who are converted stay that way. Your girlfriend will not be the exception.

Ianto

You can't know that for sure!

Jack

Look, you need to know what's happening here. Because this is where these things start, small decisions that become mass slaughter. These creatures regain a foothold by exploiting human weakness. Then they take a base, rebuild their forces, and before you know it, the Cyber race is spreading out across the universe, erasing worlds, assimilating populations, all because of the tiny beginnings here. We need to stop her together!

Ianto

You're not listening to me. The conversion was never completed.

Jack

She already tried to kill Gwen. You think she's gonna stop there? There is no turning back for her now.

Ianto

I'm not giving up on her. I love her. Can you understand that, Jack? Haven't you ever loved anyone?

Jack

...You need to figure out whose side you're on here, because if you don't know, you're not going to make it out of this alive.

Jack

You shouldn't be here.

Ianto

Neither should you.

Jack

What you got?

Ianto

Funny sort of weather patterns.

Jack

She calls them fairies; I don't.

Gwen

What do you call them?

Jack

Never really had a proper name.

Gwen

Why not?

Jack

Something from the dawn of time, how could you possibly put a name to that?

Gwen

Are we talking alien?

Jack

Worse.

Gwen

How come?

Jack

Because they're part of us. Part of our world, yet we know nothing about them. So we pretend to know what they look like. We see them as happy, we imagine they have tiny little wings and are bathed in moonlight.

Gwen

But they're not?

Jack

No. Think dangerous. Think something you can only half-see, like a glimpse, like something out of the corner of your eye. With a touch of myth, a touch of the spirit world, a touch of reality all jumbled together, old moments and memories that are frozen in amongst it. Like debris, spinning around a ring planet, tossing, turning, whirling... backwards and forwards through time.

Ianto

I blame it on magic mushrooms.

Jack

What you do in private is none of our business.

Gwen

It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it? It was you.

Jack

We once made a vow... that we'd be with each other till we died.

Jack

you need to know something. A long time ago, I was pretty good at torture. I had quite a reputation as the go-to guy. My job demanded, at the time, see. So I know where to apply the tiniest amount of pressure to a wound like yours...

stop, you're going to kill me!

Jack

it's in your power to make me stop. Just tell me what I need to know! 'Cause in ten seconds, I'm going to find a sharp object.

Jack

Seventeen disappearances within the last five months. Police are clueless.

Owen

Now there's a surprise! [to Gwen] No offence, PC Cooper.

Why couldn't I read your mind?

Jack

I don't know. But I could feel you scrabbling around in there. [grins]

I got nothing. It's like you were, I don't know...dead. [Jack's grin fades]