River

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
Sex is an itch to scratch. Love is an itch so far down your back that you can never scratch it with your own hand.

John River:
Madness can bring its own kind of clarity.

John River:
Love. I've been trying to remember what that feels like, to be in love. It's been a while. For whatever reason, it has passed me by. The closest I got felt like food poisoning. In books, and films, and plays, it's always so compelling, so complex. There should be more than one word for love. I've seen love that kills, and I've seen love that redeems. I've seen love that believes in the guilty, and love that saves the bereaved. What we will do for love. Die for it even.

Thomas Cream:
I have always thought a country should be judged on how it treats its insane, rather than its sane; the stranger on our shores rather than those already home.

Rosa Fallows:
River?

John River:
Your questions. Yes I've taken medication before. No I've never disclosed this. Yes, Stevie helped me control my condition. No I've never been formally diagnosed. Yes, I'm aware this is a breach of police protocol. And when was the last time I spoke to a friend? I don't have any. The only one I have... had is dead, so... I'm a good officer. But in this world that's not enough. In this world, you have to be able to nod and smile and drink a pint, and say, "How was your day?" In this world no one can be different or strange or damaged. Or they lock you up.

John River:
From the fortune cookie that River opens: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go where there is no path and leave a trail."

Ira King:
My wife told me that she fancied Adam Sandler a couple of days ago. I mean, you think you know someone, and then...

John River:
If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
You're jealous.

John River:
I'm not jealous. This isn't jealousy. I'm just trying to find out the truth. I'm trying to find out who did this to you. Who you ARE!

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
Is it so surprising that I might have had a boyfriend?

John River:
You have your arms around him. You're smiling and you have your arms around him.

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
Didn't you ever wonder?

John River:
You didn't tell. I didn't ask.

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
And you weren't ever curious?

John River:
[Scoffs] The thought that... The thought that someone... And that he then... And he then... That he could be the person that did this to you... If it was sex you wanted...

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
Then what? And you would have given it to me? If that had been true, then we would have... We would have...

John River:
We're born alone. We die alone.

Jackie 'Stevie' Stevenson:
You always say that, but there's more to that quote, you know. I couldn't take my clothes off with the lights on. How was I ever going to take my clothes off for a man? For just any man? Sex is an itch you just scratch. But love... That's the itch so far down your back, you can't ever reach it with your own hand.

Thomas Cream:
"My grandmother gave me warm chocolate, and bread, and wrapped me in a towel, and I sat there, warm and tired, and she sang to me." Such sentimentality, inspector. Such reinvention, sir. Such a blatant disregard of the facts. But the truth is you sat there on her knee, while your mother... your mother just left you. You were a burden to your grandmother until the day she died. You weren't wanted there. What did your grandmother call you? Idiot? Mutterer? Babbler? A fairy tale you've told yourself to calm you in the dark. They're all lies, sir. All lies. All lies. ALL LIES!

John River:
There was a playground near my grandmother's house. No children. Not for miles. I used to think it was just for me. And I would see this old man looking down at me from his flat. And he would wave at me and I would wave back. So one day I said to myself, I'll go and knock on his door. I'll speak to him. I was a very nervous boy. But still I walked over to his block of flats and knocked on the door. No one in. I walked back home across the playground and there I saw him, lying in the snow. I didn't know what had happened, but he was dead. And I ran so fast. To Mr. Ahlgren's house. That's what everyone did. And he said, "I'm a policeman. You're alright now." And he took me home. but what I could see that he could not... the old man came home with me and stayed. And talked to me. And I wasn't alone anymore.

John River:
There should be more than one work for love. I've seen love that kills and I've seen love that redeems. I've seen love that believes in the guilty and love that saves the bereaved. What we will do for love. Die for it even.