Contact quotes

As a man of faith, I am bound by a different covenant than Dr. Arroway. But our goal is one and the same: the pursuit of truth. I for one believe her.

What I'm asking is... are we happier? Is the world fundamentally a better place because of science and technology? We shop at home, we surf the Web, and at the same time we feel emptier, lonelier, and more cut off from each other than at any other time in…

Michael Kitz: Your having sent this announcement all over the world may well constitute a breach of national security. Ellie Arroway: This isn't a person-to-person call. You can't possibly think that a civilization sending this kind of message would intend it…

First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

Senator: You come to us with no evidence, no record, no artifacts. Only a story that, to put it mildly, strains credibility... Are you really going to sit there and tell us that we should just take this all on faith? Ellie Arroway: Is it possible that it…

I'm not against technology, doctor. I'm against the men who deify it at the expense of human truth.

Committee member: If you should meet these Vegans and were permitted only one question to ask of them what would it be? Ellie Arroway: I suppose it would be: How did you do it? How did you evolve, how did you survive this technological adolescence without…

Executive: We must confess that your proposal seems less like science and more like science fiction. Ellie Arroway: Science fiction. You're right, it's crazy. In fact, it's even worse than that, it's nuts. You wanna hear something really nutty? I heard of a…

Some celestial event. No - no words. No words to describe it. Poetry! They should have sent a poet. So beautiful. So beautiful... I had no idea.

Mathematics is the only true universal language.

Ellie Arroway: Dad, do you think there's people on other planets? Ted Arroway: I don't know, Sparks. But I guess I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space.

We pose no threat to them. It would be like us going out of our way to destroy a few microbes on an ant hill in Africa.

You're an interesting species, an interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness…

Palmer Joss: By doing this, you're willing to give your life, you're willing to die for it. Why? Ellie Arroway: For as long as I can remember, I've been searching for something, some reason why we're here. What are we doing here? Who are we? If this is a…