The Discovery (I) (2017)

Robert Redford: Thomas

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lacey : Please don't lose faith in me.

  Thomas : "Faith" Oh, God. I have such contempt for that word. Show me someone who relies on faith and I'll show you someone who's given up control over whatever it is they believe.

• [first lines] 

  Interviewer : Dr. Harber, before we're live, I just wanted to say thank you for choosing me.

  Thomas : [warming up his voice]  Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

  Interviewer : The rich history you have with other journalists...

  Thomas : I chose you precisely because we don't have a history. Now, don't fuck it up.

  Producer : Fifteen seconds...

• Thomas : [to the assembled group]  We're programmed to process our experiences as having a beginning and an end, when, in reality... doesn't exist. It's just one long, drawn-out middle.

• Thomas : When you see a train leave the station... do you need to know where it's going to understand that you saw it leave?

  Interviewer : It's a tough pill to swallow.

  Thomas : At one point, so was the Earth being round.

• Thomas : Do you accept the fact that time is a nonlinear illusion created by man?

  Isla : Pass. I don't know what that means.

  Thomas : There are no right or wrong answers to this questionnaire.

  Isla : Then why do you bother giving it?

  Thomas : That's a good response.

• Thomas : And what aspect of regaining normalcy after losing someone... was the most difficult.

  Isla : Inanimate objects, maybe? Like...

  Isla : My coffee table. I've had it for years and I've probably looked at it a million time, but after he...

  Isla : Familiar objects just became distorted and unfamiliar. I started to hate my ceiling fan, me cereal bowl, me tea kettle.

• Isla : I don't really like talking about myself like this.

  Thomas : You don't have to like it. We think about ourselves every day. Everything is from own perspective. So, as much as you may not want to indulge yourself in looking at your most inner thoughts, they're there. Make no mistake. They are there.