About one year ago, I started my blog with a commentary on the Twelve Monkeys series streaming on Hulu. I also posted a short podcast reflecting on religious themes in Twelve Monkeys. I began streaming the series near the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, an apt time to watch an epic sci-fi story about a small group of heroes who travel through time to undo the large-scale effects of a global pandemic. Since then, I have continued to post blogs on conferences, lecture series, books I’m reading, and more cinema reflections. So, I am celebrating with this post that includes some of my favorite quotes from the series that started it all: Twelve Monkeys.
There are two major categories of my favorite Twelve Monkeys quotes from the series: Jennifer Goines quotes and Not-Jennifer-Goines quotes. Enjoy!
Jennifer Goines Quotes
Jennifer Goines: You have no idea how exhausting it is being crazy.
Jennifer Goines: Hallucinations don’t come with an on/off switch.
Jennifer Goines: Turns out my condition can be managed when my doctor isn’t being paid by my father to keep me locked up in an institution.
Jennifer Goines: There are many endings, but the right one is the one you choose.
Jennifer Goines to Cassandra Railly: Maybe every version of me thinks you’re kind of a bitch.
Jennifer Goines (quoting Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure): Strange things are afoot at the Circle K! (episode Emergence) and Be excellent to each other. (episode Memory of Tomorrow).
Jennifer Goines (quoting Ghostbusters): Dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria!
Jennifer Goines (Quoting Groundhog Day): Okay, campers, rise and shine! Don’t forget your booties because it’s cold out there today! (episode Lullaby).
Jennifer Goines: You have no idea how exhausting it is being crazy.
Jennifer Goines: This year the Dodo, next year the Unicorn.
Jennifer Goines: I didn’t see either of you two yesterday-today.
Jennifer Goines: What’s the natural predator of the monkey? Hyena!
Jennifer Goines: Blooblah. Bloopityblah. That’s all I hear when your face hole opens.
Jennifer Goines: Hello Egg. I’m chicken.
Jennifer Goines: Time to give the world back to its rightful owners: The animals!
Jennifer Goines: I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t the kid whose mother tried to kill her. It’s kind of a defining moment in one’s life, you know.
Jennifer Goines: When I was a kid, I used to keep a diary. All the rules I wanted to break and all the wacky shenanigans I needed for success. But, I always, always got caught. Everywhere I’d go she’d turn up, Mommy Not-so Dearest. Hmpf. How did she know? My diary. Turns out, I was writing about the future in the past tense. Hashtag primary problems.
Jennifer Goines: Today is the day. One that ends at the beginning, and begins at the end.
Jennifer Goines: Maybe time won’t let you kill Jones. Maybe time likes time travel.
Jennifer Goines: Death is like, everything. It’s a time clock that makes us better. Makes us love harder. I don’t know, I think it’s like maybe what makes us human.
Not-Jennifer-Goines Quotes
Deacon (for all the Trekkies out there): I am not a goddamn red shirt! I have a purpose!
Pallid Man: You know insanity and rationality might be on opposite sides of the animal, but lately, doctor, the snake is eating its own tail. And if you were to ask HIM, he would tell you that 99.9% of all species that have ever existed are now extinct; the natural order.
Dr. Katarina Jones: We are echoes here, following ourselves, hoping that the fear in front of ourselves is smaller than we are.
Adam Wexler: Maybe a plague is precisely what the world needs. The liars die out, the living forget the lies. Society’s great reset switch.
José Ramse: It took time travel, to create time travel. That’s how it works. There are no straight lines brother.
James Cole: I was sent back in time to kill a man. It was supposed to fix everything, it didn’t. So I killed more people, nothing changed. And then I save someone. Someone who should have died and that is what changed things. It’s the only thing that’s ever made any difference.
José Ramse: I gave you the enemy of your enemy gift wrapped in a bow. Can I see my friend now?
Athan: Chased through time by sentimentalists.
James Cole: Sit down, you little shit.
Deacon: You want to pull people together, you put them through hell. You want to pull them apart, you give them a secret.
Deacon: Why don’t we have a drink and talk about killing Ramse? Just like the old days.
Agent Gale: Nefarious characters seem to coalesce around you like bum hairs in a drain.
James Cole: I saw the report. Unredacted. The only reason it mentions Titan is because you two said it. You created your own clue, genius. You’re chasing your own tail.
José Ramse: Listen, you believe in the past. I believe in the future. It is what it is.
Dr. David Eckland: Only the Germans would invent a card game where the rules change halfway through. Where I come from, we just call it cheating.
If you want to read more of my reflections about the 12 Monkeys Series, you could start with “Streaming the Apocalypse.” If you are interested in other sci-fi, take a look at Sci-Fi Topics.
Dr. Erica Mongé-Greer, holding a PhD in Divinity from the University of Aberdeen, is a distinguished researcher and educator specializing in Biblical Ethics, Mythopoeia, and Resistance Theory. Her work focuses on justice in ancient religious texts, notably reinterpreting Psalm 82’s ethics in the Hebrew Bible, with her findings currently under peer review.
In addition to her academic research, Dr. Mongé-Greer is an experienced University instructor, having taught various biblical studies courses. Her teaching philosophy integrates theoretical discussions with practical insights, promoting an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.
Her ongoing projects include a book on religious themes in the series Battlestar Galactica and further research in biblical ethics, showcasing her dedication to interdisciplinary studies that blend religion with contemporary issues.