Deus Ex series notable quotes

This page includes quotes from the Deus Ex series on broad themes. Additional quotes on plot-specific or mundane topics can be found on character pages.
==Deus Ex==
=== JC Denton ===
*"Do you have a single fact to back that up?"
*"My vision is augmented."
*"Well, since that makes you my new boss, take a long look at Manderley's dead body. Consider that my resignation; I don't have time to write a letter."
*"When due process fails us, we really do live in a world of terror."
*"You mechs may have copper wiring to reroute your fear of pain, but I've got nerves of steel."
*"I never had time to take the Oath of Service to the Coalition. How about this one? I swear not to rest until UNATCO is free of you and the other crooked bureaucrats who have perverted its mission."
*"Call me nostalgic, but the nightlife seems to have lost its old charm."
*"Some gang-banger, maybe you should think about going back to school."
*"Bravery is not a function of firepower."
*"Human beings may not be perfect, but a computer program with language synthesis is hardly the answer to the world's problems."
*"Every war is the result of a difference of opinion. Maybe the biggest questions can only be answered by the greatest of conflicts."
*"What good's an honest soldier if he can be ordered to behave like a terrorist?"
*"You've got ten seconds to beat it before I add you to the list of NSF casualties."
*"What a shame. [said after NPC Gilbert Renton dies, said even if he caused Renton's death] He was a good man. What a rotten way to die."
*"A forgotten virtue like honesty is worth at least twenty credits."
*"I'm not big into books."
*"I'm not going to stand here and listen to you badmouth the greatest democracy the world has ever known."
*""350 million fortresses in not my idea of 'The land of the Free.'"
*"Every war is the result of a difference of opinion. Maybe the biggest questions can only be answered by the greatest of conflicts."
*"'What good's an honest soldier if he can be ordered to behave like a terrorist?"
=== Paul Denton ===
* "Do what you think's right, JC. Only listen to your own conscience."
* "This isn't a training exercise, JC. Your targets will be human beings. Keep that in mind."
* "I'm like the Russian researcher who contracted his own virus. They want to study the way I die."
* "One can be too self-sufficient, I'm coming to believe."
* "A few bureaucrats in New York can't make good decisions for New Jersey, let alone Paris or a village in China."
* "Somehow the notion of unalienable liberty got lost. It's really become a question of what liberties will the state assign to individuals or rather, what liberties we will have the strength to cling to."
* "The wealthy have always been the ones to profit from one-world government."
* "It's only a matter of time before someone clever and ambitious figures out that the tools of dictatorship have been ready-made by well meaning governments all over the world."
=== Gunther Hermann ===
* "A word of warning, Agent Denton. This was a simulated experience; real LAMs will not be so forgiving."
* "I see you; a thief on the roof. My new satellite link has both infrared and the x-ray spectrum. I see your heart beating. I see you are afraid."
* "You are a small, prowling mouse... and dumb like a mouse! You keep coming, like you forget about Agent Navarre. I remember Agent Navarre. I remember for everyone."
* "Again they ignore me. Again they think they have a better punishment for a traitor than a shotgun to the head."
* "No, I cannot forgive! No... not the killing of Agent Navarre! I will follow you - Denton, I will get you!"
* "I am the top agent at UNATCO. It is different now. Mr. Simons said if I defeat you I can have any upgrades I want. That is a gentlemen's agreement."
=== Bob Page ===
* "You were just a prototype, Denton, a prototype for me."
* "Bet you didn't know your mom and dad tried to protest when we put you in training. They loved their little boy, JC, and that's why they're dead. I'm sending up the man who did the job."
* "[if JC kills the man who killed his parents] Barely a scratch. You're a little faster on your feet than your daddy was."
* "I will be the one to merge! The one to see and know everything, to rule, to rule everything..."
* "What's the rush? Take a look around. This facility is where you were born. I've arranged an appropriate fate for you through the hallway to the north. A poetic death, just a few yards away from where you were created."
* "I'm always pleased to see one of my experiments perform so well. You aren't even afraid, are you? We got a lot of things right when we made you Denton, but don't worry -- I know your weaknesses."
* "A cure? A cure!? Do you have any idea how easy it will be for me to make a new virus? All I have to do is find a very large prime number and multiply."
* "All right. I get the picture. You want a piece of the pie, or you're going to toss the whole pie out the window. Fair enough. You can have anything you want. How about Europe? Your own continent. Just let me complete my preparations..."
* "What do you want? Money? You can have VersaLife, the whole damn company. Power? I'll get you on Mead's cabinet! I'm serious, just forget about that last reactor!"
* "A moment more, and I will be like nothing you've ever seen; a new life-form, everywhere and nowhere, like air or radiation, redundant, self-replicating, always evolving..."
* "Look at you: You're nothing but a little man... a little man still living inside a body. Lose your body and what are you? Nothing! You vanish! You die..."
* "Soon I will leave this body and death will have no meaning."
* "No! You fool!... Helios will destroy you. I'm the only one who can merge and take control. Wait for ME! I promise you will have a place in the new order..."
* "Go ahead! Blow this place sky-high... You might get rid of ME, but you'll take down Aquinas, the power grid, the whole electronic infrastructure - is that what you want?! Are you completely nuts?!"
* "No! Don't listen to Everett. He and the Illuminati have been afraid from the beginning, afraid of US, afraid of nano-augmentation. Consider your powers, your strength, your intelligence. You've only had a small taste. Let me finish the project! Let me bring infinite power to the human body! You will not be left behind..."
* "I'll make you a deal. Leave now and you will be made comfortable under the new world order."
=== Morpheus ===
*"The Individual desires judgment. Without that desire, the cohesion of groups is impossible, and so is civilization." 
*"The human being created civilization not because of willingness but of a need to be assimilated into higher orders of structure and meaning."
=== Leo Gold ===
*"Number One: In 1945, corporations paid 50% of federal taxes; now they pay about 5%. Number Two: In 1900, 90% of Americans were self employed; now it's about 2%... It's called consolidation; strengthen governments and corporations, weaken individuals. With taxes, this can be done imperceptibly over time." 
=== Misc ===
* "It's better than one great big fortress with a corrupt government against it's people" - NSF soldier (in UNATCO holding cells)
* "You mean the European Union. I don't care what they call themselves. I have seen it since I was a girl, the plotting and scheming of corporations to make Europe into one big country with no separate languages, cultures, or tastes." - Cafe Hostess (Enfant Terrible, Paris, France)
==Deus Ex: Invisible War==
=== JC Denton ===
*"All free societies have started with one premise: human nature is cruel, unjust -- a force to be controlled."
*"Wisdom must first be human. You must start with what a human sees and feels. But wisdom must also be knowledgeable, logical, and fair to billions of other beings."
=== Paul Denton ===
*"The commodification of ability -- tuition, of course, but, increasingly, genetic treatments, cybernetic protocols, now biomods -- has had the side effect of creating a self-perpetuating aristocracy in all advanced societies. When ability becomes a public resource, what will distinguish people will be what they do with it. Intention. Dedication. Integrity. The qualities we would choose as the bedrock of the social order." 
=== Misc ===
*"The Elite do the real brainwashing - convincing people it's a free market where everyone can succeed if they work hard enough, when in reality it's all controlled to keep the wealth in the hands of a select few." - Order Seeker
==Deus Ex: Human Revolution==
=== Adam Jensen ===
*"The World doesn't care about right or wrong. It's all about power. And right now, none of us have it."
*"How often have we changed the dream of progress, only to see that dream perverted? More often than not, haven't the machines we built to improve life shattered the lives of millions?"
*"Technology offers us strength. Strength enables dominance, and dominance paves the way for abuse." 
*"Sarif was right about one thing, it's in our nature to want to rise above our limits. Think about it. We were cold, so we harnessed fire. We were weak, so we invented tools. Every time we met an obstacle, we used creativity and ingenuity to overcome it." 
*"Freedom. To those that don't have it, it's more valuable than gold. But where should it start and end? We humans often think we have the right to expand, absorb, convert, or possess anything we need to reach our dreams. But time and time again, hasn't this lead to conflicts with others who essentially believe the same thing?"
=== Hugh Darrow ===
*"Arrogance, daring to go beyond the limits imposed upon us, that is exactly what makes us human beings."
=== Misc ===
*"Some think [augmentation] is the end of us all, others think it will lead us to paradise." - Hengsha prostitute
*"They're just afraid of what they don't understand. That leads to self protection, and defense always leads to offense -- always." - Civilian
==Deus Ex: Icarus Effect==
=== Misc ===
*"A society that can augment itself at will, a human race capable of exceeding its physical limits through the application of technology.  Can you imagine what kind of threat such a thing would be to those who want to control us?" - Jaron Namir
*"Like brave but foolhardy Icarus, those who dare to go beyond the boundaries will fall to their deaths." - Janus
== Deus Ex: Black Light ==
=== Misc ===
*"You name a thing and you rob it of its power." "Nine-Eleven. The Vilama Superquake. The Cat Fives. The Incident. Give it a name and you can put it in a box, contain it. It’s an important coping mechanism. It helps people to rebuild." - Jenna Thorne, on calling the Aug Incident an "incident"
*"If you could make a person run faster, think quicker, live longer, it wasn’t difficult to make them more dangerous as well." - ''Black Light'', chapter 12, on David Sarif's vision
Category:Lore