William Somerset: This isn't going to have a happy ending.

David Mills: You're no messiah. You're a movie of the week. You're a fucking t-shirt, at best.

David Mills: I've been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you're insane? Maybe you're just sitting around, reading "Guns and Ammo", masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, "Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!"? Yeah. Do you guys do that?

[William Somerset looks at an object in the road.]
David Mills: What do you got?
William Somerset: Dead dog.
John Doe: I didn't do that.

William Somerset: Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part.

John Doe: It seems that envy is my sin.

David Mills: Honestly, have you ever seen anything like this?
William Somerset: No.

John Doe: Become vengance, David. Become wrath.

William Somerset: If we catch John Doe and he turns out to be the devil, I mean if he's Satan himself, that might live up to our expectations, but he's not the devil. He's just a man.

John Doe: On the subway today, a man came up to me to start a conversation. He made small talk, a lonely man talking about the weather and other things. I tried to be pleasant and accommodating, but my head hurt from his banality. I almost didn't notice it had happened, but I suddenly threw up all over him. He was not pleased, and I couldn't stop laughing.

John Doe: Don't ask me to pity those people. I don't mourn them any more than I do the thousands that died at Sodom and Gomorrah.
William Somerset: Is that to say, John, that what you were doing was God's good work?
John Doe: The Lord works in mysterious ways.

William Somerset: If John Doe's head splits open and a UFO should fly out, I want you to have expected it.

California: Somebody call somebody.

David Mills: Get out of the FUCKING HALL, please!

David Mills: He's fuckin' with us!
[Mills bends over a desk]
David Mills: See this? This is us.

David Mills: I seem to remember breaking down your door.
John Doe: Yes. And I seem to remember breaking your face.

Police Captain: [Answering phone that interrupted his conversation] This is not even my desk!
[Hangs up]
Police Captain: .

William Somerset: [As SWAT prepare to breach and clear] They love this.

William Somerset: [discovering what's inside the package] Tell your people to stay away now, stay away! JOHN DOE HAS GOT THE UPPER HAND!!

John Doe: It's more comfortable for you to label me as insane.
David Mills: It's VERY comfortable.

John Doe: We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trival. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. And what I've done is going to be puzzled over, and studied, and followed... forever.

David Mills: Wait, I thought all you did was kill innocent people.
John Doe: Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny? An obese man... a disgusting man who could barely stand up; a man who if you saw him on the street, you'd point him out to your friends so that they could join you in mocking him; a man, who if you saw him while you were eating, you wouldn't be able to finish your meal. After him, I picked the lawyer and I know you both must have been secretly thanking me for that one. This is a man who dedicated his life to making money by lying with every breath that he could muster to keeping murderers and rapists on the streets!
David Mills: Murderers?
John Doe: A woman...
David Mills: Murderers, John, like yourself?
John Doe: [interrupts] A woman... so ugly on the inside she couldn't bear to go on living if she couldn't be beautiful on the outside. A drug dealer, a drug dealing pederast, actually! And let's not forget the disease-spreading whore! Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face. But that's the point. We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial. We tolerate it morning, noon, and night. Well, not anymore. I'm setting the example. What I've done is going to be puzzled over and studied and followed... forever.

David Mills: Do you like what you do for a living? These things you see?
Man in Massage Parlour Booth: No, I don't. But that's life.

William Somerset: Anyone who spends a significant amount of time with me finds me disagreeable.

David Mills: Yeah, a landlord's dream: a paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
William Somerset: Who pays the rent on time.

William Somerset: I just don't think I can continue to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was virtue.
David Mills: You're no different. You're no better.
William Somerset: I didn't say I was different or better. I'm not. Hell, I sympathize; I sympathize completely. Apathy is the solution. I mean, it's easier to lose yourself in drugs than it is to cope with life. It's easier to steal what you want than it is to earn it. It's easier to beat a child than it is to raise it. Hell, love costs: it takes effort and work.

David Mills: Fuckin' Dante... poetry-writing faggot! Piece of shit, motherfucker!

Dr. Beardsley: He's experienced about as much pain and suffering as anyone I've encountered, give or take, and he still has Hell to look forward to.

David Mills: Wait a minute... I thought all you did was kill innocent people.
John Doe: Innocent? Is that supposed to be funny?

John Doe: Realize detective, the only reason that I'm here right now is that I wanted to be.
David Mills: No, no, we would have got you eventually.
John Doe: Oh really? So, what were you doing? Biding your time? Toying with me? Allowing five innocent people to die until you felt like springing your trap? Tell me, what was the indisputable evidence you were going to use on me right before I walked up to you and put my hands in the air?

John Doe: What sick ridiculous puppets we are / and what gross little stage we dance on / What fun we have dancing and fucking / Not a care in the world / Not knowing that we are nothing / We are not what was intended.

John Doe: Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention.

William Somerset: This guy's methodical, exacting, and worst of all, patient.
David Mills: He's a nut-bag! Just because the fucker's got a library card doesn't make him Yoda!

William Somerset: It's impressive to see a man feeding off his emotions.

David Mills: C'mon, he's insane. Look. Right now he's probably dancing around in his grandma's panties, yeah, rubbing himself in peanut butter.

David Mills: I don't think you're quitting because you believe these things you say. I don't. I think you want to believe them, because you're quitting. And you want me to agree with you, and you want me to say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. It's all fucked up. It's a fucking mess. We should all go live in a fucking log cabin." But I won't. I don't agree with you. I do not. I can't.