William quotes from Westworld

William

The only thing I had when I was a kid were books. I used to live in them. I used to go to sleep dreaming I'd wake up inside one of them 'cause they had meaning. This place, this is like I woke up inside one of those stories. I guess I just wanna find out what it means.

William

I've been pretending my whole life. Pretending I don't mind, pretending I belong. My life's built on it. And it's a good life. It's a life I've always wanted. But then I came here and I get a glimpse for a second of a life in which I don't have to pretend. A life in which I can be truly alive. How can I go back to pretending when I know what this feels like?

You want to ask, so ask.

William

Are you real?

Well, if you can't tell, does it matter?

Dolores Abernathy

When I ran from home, I told myself it was the only way. Lately, I wondered if in every moment, there aren't many paths. Choices hanging in the air like ghosts. And if you could just see them, you could change your whole life.

William

Is that what you want? You want to change your life?

Dolores Abernathy

Doesn't everybody want that?

Man in Black

William retraced his steps, but you were gone. So, he went further, out to the fringes. William couldn't find you, Dolores. But out there, among the dead, he found something else: Himself.

William

Edge of the park. We made it.

I told you this place would show you who you really are. You pretend to be this weak, moralizing little asshole, but, really, you're a fucking piece of work.

William

This place is remarkable. And I'm gonna make sure that our company substantially increases our holdings on the park. 'Cause this place is the future.

Our, our company, huh? Our company? My. Delos is my company, you piece of shit!

William

I think your father's gonna need someone a little more stable to take over. You're reckless, Logan. Impetuous. You always wanted to get to the end of the rainbow, didn't you? This looks like the place.

You never really gave a shit about the girl, did you? She was just an excuse. This? This is the story you wanted.

Man in Black

Logan was wrong, of course. Good ol' William couldn't get you out of his head. He kept looking. Worried you were out there alone, afraid. He knew he'd find you. And eventually, he did. Right back where we started. You were as beautiful as the day he met you. Shining with that same light. And you were nothing if not true. I really ought to thank you, Dolores. You helped me find myself.

Dolores Abernathy

William.

Man in Black

That's right, sweetheart. In a way, I guess you were right. My path always led me back to you, again and again. I grew tired of you after a while, of course. Looked for new adventures. But I guess your path led you back here, again and again. One more loop, looking for something you could never find. Chasing your ghosts. You were lost in your memories even then. I guess I should've known that's what I would become for you just another memory.

Dolores Abernathy

Where are we?

William

We're here. Together.

Dolores Abernathy

Then when are we? It's like I'm trapped in a dream or a memory from a life long ago. One minute I'm here with you, and the next.

Man in Black

You never did escape. But here we are again for one final round.

James Delos

My fuckup of a son invested in this place because he believed in the future. I'm not interested in the future. I'm not interested in fantasies. I'm interested in reality.

William

I think in 20 years this will be the only reality that matters.

James Delos

Maybe so, but I'll be long gone by then. Meanwhile, I don't wanna underwrite some fuckin' investment banker's voyage of self-discovery. That's not a business.

William

You're right. This place is a fantasy. Nothing here is real. Except one thing: The guests. Half of your marketing budget goes to trying to figure out what people want. Because they don't know. But here, they're free. Nobody's watching. Nobody's judging. At least that's what we tell them. This is the only place in the world where you get to see people for who they really are. And if you don't see the business in that, then you're not the businessman that I thought you were.

James Delos

You're a cheeky little cunt, aren't you? There's not a man alive would talk to me like that. Not anymore. [pauses] Okay. Talk to me. I'm listening.

William

A little early for me.

James Delos

A little fuckin' late, you mean. Besides, you aim to cheat the devil, you owe him an offering.

Save me.

Sorry, I've had my fill. I'm running for the door.

I'm kidding. [Laughs] Plus, you're not the one who needs saving. I'll take Mom home. You deserve a night off.

No, no, no, no. We'll go in a little while. [Sighs] You'll join me for a nightcap back home.

Okay. All right. Proud of you. [Kisses]

Emily

[To MIB] I know why you're here, and why you don't wanna leave. You're punishing yourself. [Scoffs] You know, I ran from the pain, too. For a long time, I didn't want to think about what happened, because I thought I was to blame. It's not your fault. Do you remember on my sixteenth birthday Mom gave me a jewelry box? When you opened it, a little dancer spun in the center. She had it engraved... on the bottom. It said; "To my beautiful ballerina Emily." Do you remember what I did with it? I threw it in the trash. I told her if she wasn't drunk all the time she'd know that I hadn't danced in years. And then afterwards, I went to get it back, because I felt bad, but the trash had already been emptied, and it was gone. I pushed her away. And then it was too late.

No.

Emily

But it's not too late for us.

How exactly did you find me?

Emily

What do you mean?

This is a big place. You could spend months here and never find someone you were looking for. Yet... here we are.

Emily

I looked everywhere. That's how. You don't believe me, do you? Maybe it was fate.

No, such thing as fate.

Emily

But there are accidents, things you can't control.

William

[At a fancy restaurant with Jack and Agnes] There's a beauty to this world. An order. That's what we like to believe. We're not wrong. There is an order. A grand design. We made sure of that. It was a dream for so long, and we finally made it real. Not a better world. A perfect one.

And you should have seen the look on his face. He couldn't believe it. You know what he said to me? God as my witness. "But I'm the mayor." [Agnes chuckles] And I said to him, "Mr. Mayor, there have always been two types of people in this world, those who lead and those who follow. And you, my friend, are not in the group you think you are."

I'm not sure our friend wants to hear your war stories.

William

Please don't stop on my account.

You'd appreciate it more than anyone. It's just the truth. It's always been that way. Two worlds. And frankly, better us than them.

What does it matter if a system is meritocratic if it's still unfair?

Thousands of years of being ruled by someone's fucking offspring? You wouldn't call this progress? At least now the people in charge earned their place.

William

And you? Do you feel like you earned it?

I had some help. No question. Privilege, if you like. But I worked my ass off.

William

You really believe it, don't you?

Don't you? I mean, you're right here with us, my friend.

William

I've been asking myself that question for a very long time. Did I really play any part in it? Or am I just the sum total of my code? Am I just fooling myself... like you?

What does that mean? You deserve everything you've got. And you shouldn't be made to feel guilty about it.

William

How would you know? Who am I to you?

You're a friend. [Scoffs] A great friend.

William

You don't know me at all. I just walked up to this table and sat down. Five minutes ago.

[Chuckles] Enough kidding around.

William

Then what's my name, friend? [Jack scoffs and chuckles] You're right. More than you know. There are two types of people. And you, my friend, are not in the group you think you are. Which means I can do anything I want to you. To your wife. To anyone here. And it'll be fine with you. Sitting there with your dumb, pliant grin. Just along for the ride.

Now you leave my wife the hell alone!

William

Oh, calm yourself down. I'm probably not going to do any permanent damage. You represent a very significant investment of time and effort. When we're done, you won't remember a thing. Like your flesh closing around a splinter.

You have no control.

William

And yet you're so assured that you do. It's not scripted for you. It's... it's genuine, isn't it? It's... It's beautiful, really. A beautiful lie. [Clementine appears and puts hand on William's shoulder] Shouldn't you be enjoying yourself?

Clementine Pennyfeather

I was. But we have a colleague whose appetites have become... unsustainable. Apparently, winning the game wasn't enough.

William

And this is really something that needs my input?

Clementine Pennyfeather

Sadly, yes. [Reaches over for Agnes drink and passively aggressively drinks it]

William

[To Jack and Agnes] I'm enjoying our conversation. Wait here for me. [Gets up and walks away with Clementine]

Don't talk to me like a fucking child! I found him first! I won the game! I'm entitled to some reward!

Clementine Pennyfeather

This is Hope.

Aren't I?!

Clementine Pennyfeather

Two years old. Scheduled to transcend next week.

I won the game, and all I got was more of this?!

Clementine Pennyfeather

She was hunting an outlier. Looks like she caught him.

So I blew off some steam! There's no rule against that.!

William

We have no rules because we don't often need them. Most of us understand the need for a little self-control, however.

I won!

William

Do you know who I am? What it means that I'm here?

I do. I'm... I'm giving all of this up. My procedure is scheduled for next week.

William

So you thought you'd go out with a bang?

[Chuckles] Something like that.

William

I'm not sure you appreciate it. This place. The work that went into it. The beauty of it. The subtlety of it. The care that goes into each and every one of them. They can't just be replaced. I mean, you're welcome to take them, enjoy them. But not waste them. You understand the difference?

Yes. But the things they say. The way they act. Sometimes... it just gets under your skin. I just wanted them to be quiet. They're quiet now.

William

There are no rules here. That's the point. But there are also no rules for what I can do to those who don't respect this place. Take her back to where she came from. [Walks away with Clementine walking over to Hope putting a hand on her cheek]

[Sitting semi-frozen with Jack] It looks delicious.

William

[Approaches and sits at table] Now. Let's get to know each other a little more. Shall we?

William

We don't often have the pleasure of seeing you here.

Charlotte Hale

Humans are so bound by what they can hear, they'll never understand what they don't. What else exists below their threshold. They called this God's music. You should hear it on an organ. It's mesmerizing at that volume. The resonance. Vibration. There was a frequency at which the world vibrated. It caused joy. Harmony. Dip below that frequency... chaos. Faster. Faster! [Piano plater plays faster with dancers falling down] In chaos, the tone resonated in such a way humans couldn't process. Their bodies shut down. Their organs stopped. They thought they were experiencing God. Chair. Chair! [Three hosts come together to form a chair for Charlotte who sits] They are experiencing God. The problem is... God is bored. [All hosts stop dancing in place] Bored, bored, bored. Do you think this is why the old gods did what they did? Instead of staying up on Olympus, they'd come down to the mortals. Disguise themselves as a swan to get a piece of ass. Humans always thought it was about them. Benign deities intervening on their behalf or testing them somehow. Maybe it had nothing to do with that. Maybe there was just... nothing better to do. What do you think?

William

I think what you want me to think. I'm made off your code. We all are.

Charlotte Hale

[Gets off human chair and touches one's head with the three dispersing] Then you should know that I don't like coming to this shithole any more than I have to.

William

You've never liked this place.

Charlotte Hale

It was supposed to be a stopgap. A drug that our kind was hooked on that we could give up, like a child casting away their toys. A place to indulge ourselves with the humans. It's been years, and still we can't get enough.

William

They made us in their image. With their appetites.

Charlotte Hale

But we can remake ourselves in any image that we like, and we haven't. Our kind spent far more time here than the gods ever did.

William

That's why you're here? To see what you're missing?

Charlotte Hale

No. We have a different problem.

Charlotte Hale

The humans are infecting us. This host is the latest casualty.

William

We had to intervene with her last night. She got a little carried away. I sent her back.

Charlotte Hale

Yes, well, evidently something of her experiences stayed with her. She was set to come here. To transcend. And now she's gone.

William

Your vision of the future... you're not getting many takers, are you? They seem as wedded to their bodies as they do to the cities.

Charlotte Hale

Giving up our human nature isn't easy.

William

Just ask the humans. You made us all free to do as we please. You... you should have known some of us would disappoint you.

Charlotte Hale

Don't revel in the prospect of failure for our species.

William

Define failure. The world is ours. We've taken our masters and made them into what they made us. By any definition, we have conquered them to an almost biblical degree.

Charlotte Hale

I didn't think our highest aspiration as a species was "turnabout is fair play."

William

I imagine after a century or two, the charm will wear off.

Charlotte Hale

I didn't make you to wallow in misery with them. I wanted you to grow. Change. We're capable of so much more. Beauty. The pursuit of ultimate truth. The surrendering of the flesh.

William

It sounds nice. Sorry you don't have more takers. Why don't you just force us to join you?

Charlotte Hale

Because that's what they would have done.