John Hurt: Priest

Quotes 

• Priest : What is the point in forcing me to agree with your views?

  The Confessor : I am forcing you to be honest. I want you to dig deep down in your heart, Father, and be honest with yourself. Have you ever thought someone deserved to die?

  [getting no response] 

  The Confessor : Father, I'm gonna ask you one last time. Have you *ever* thought someone deserved to die? Say it!

  Priest : Yes. God forgive me. There have been people that I felt deserved to die.

  The Confessor : There have even been people that you wished would die because you saw them harm others, isn't that right?

  Priest : Yes.

  The Confessor : That's not evil, Father. That's being human.

  Priest : What is your point?

  The Confessor : My point is that there is darkness in all of us.

• Priest : What on Earth makes you think that I would watch you kill someone?

  The Confessor : I could make you watch.

  Priest : But why would you subject me to that?

  The Confessor : Have you ever seen anyone die, Father?

  Priest : Well, yes, of course. I've administered the last rites several times and I've sat with the family members to give them comfort.

  The Confessor : Have you ever thought that some of those people deserve to die more than others?

  Priest : No.

  The Confessor : You've never thought someone deserved to die?

  Priest : No.

  The Confessor : Lie to me again, Father, and I will walk out of this confessional and I will kill everyone in your church, and there will be *nothing* you can say to stop me this time.

• Priest : What makes you imagine that I could ever understand someone like you? Yes, I am a man, and as such, I have made certain judgments in my life, and I have had thoughts that are against God's teaching, but I have never intentionally caused harm to another.

  The Confessor : Well, that's just simply not true.

  Priest : How would you know?

  The Confessor : You'd have to be a saint. Are you a saint? Do you honestly expect me to believe that over the course of your entire life, you have never harmed another human being?

  Priest : We're not here to talk about me.

  The Confessor : We're here to talk about whatever I want to talk about.

• Priest : Tell me why this person you're going to kill tonight must die.

  The Confessor : Because he deserves to die.

  Priest : You're being paid for it?

  The Confessor : Hmm. I'm getting a kind of reward.

  Priest : But you could choose not to do it.

  The Confessor : Yes, I suppose so.

  Priest : Then why?

  The Confessor : If you knew this man, Father, like I do... the pain and suffering he caused.

  Priest : You think I'd give you my blessing?

  The Confessor : No. I'm sure you think I should let him be judged by God in the afterlife.

  Priest : Of course.

  The Confessor : What if there is no afterlife? What if everything that you believe in is wrong? Then this man gets away with everything that he's done without ever being punished.

  Priest : It is not for you to decide who lives or dies.

  The Confessor : No, Father. That's where you're so very wrong.

• Priest : A thought is not a deed. I am not the cause of their deaths.

  The Confessor : I could also say that a thought is a wish, and a wish is a prayer. By that accord, you called upon God to take another life.

  Priest : No.

  The Confessor : No? Are you saying that God doesn't hear all of our thoughts, our wishes, our prayers?

  Priest : Oh, yes, he does.

  The Confessor : So what's the difference between me pulling the trigger to take a life and you asking God to do it for you?

  Priest : A thought is not always a prayer, and a prayer is not always answered, but I really don't understand the purpose of this conversation.

  The Confessor : The purpose of this conversation is that you and I both agree that certain people deserve to die.

  Priest : I have never said that.

  The Confessor : No, you just thought it.

  Priest : Why is that important to you?

  The Confessor : Because I want you to understand me, and in order to do that, we need to start from a point of mutual agreement.