Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal Lecter:
First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?

Clarice Starling:
He kills women...

Hannibal Lecter:
No! That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing?

Clarice Starling:
Anger, social resentment, sexual frustration...

Hannibal Lecter:
No, he covets. That's his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? Make an effort to answer.

Clarice Starling:
No. We just...

Hannibal Lecter:
No. Precisely. We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes move over the things you want?

Miggs:
I can smell your c*nt.

Hannibal Lecter:
Now then, tell me. What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?

Clarice Starling:
He said, "I can smell your c*nt."

Hannibal Lecter:
I see. I myself cannot. You use Evian skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, but not today.

Murray:
Is it true what they're sayin', he's some kinda vampire?

Clarice Starling:
They don't have a name for what he is.

Clarice Starling:
They don't have a name for what he is.

Ardelia Mapp:
Is this Lecter's handwriting? "Clarice, doesn't this random scattering of sites seem desperately random - like the elaborations of a bad liar? Ta, Hannibal Lecter."

Clarice Starling:
"Desperately random." What does he mean?

Ardelia Mapp:
Not random at all, maybe. Like there's some pattern here...?

Clarice Starling:
But there is no pattern or the computers would've nailed it. They're even found in random order.

Ardelia Mapp:
Random because of the one girl. The one he weighted down.

Clarice Starling:
Oh, Fredrica Bimmel, from... Belvedere, Ohio. First girl taken, third body found. Why?

Ardelia Mapp:
'Cause she didn't drift. He weighted her down.

Clarice Starling:
What did Lecter say about..."First principles"?

Ardelia Mapp:
Simplicity...

Clarice Starling:
What does this guy do, he "covets". How do we first start to covet?

Ardelia Mapp:
"We covet what we see -"

Clarice Starling:
" - every day."

Ardelia Mapp:
Hot damn, Clarice.

Clarice Starling:
He knew her.

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.'

Catherine Martin:
Mister... my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're askin' for, they pay it.

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
Yes, it will, Precious, won't it? It will get the hose!

Catherine Martin:
Okay... okay... okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won't - I won't press charges I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman... I guess you already know that.

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
Now it places the lotion in the basket.

Catherine Martin:
Please! Please I wanna go home! I wanna go home please!

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
It places the lotion in the basket.

Catherine Martin:
I wanna see my mommy! Please I wanna see my...

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
Put the f***ing lotion in the basket!

Clarice Starling:
If you didn't kill him, then who did, sir?

Hannibal Lecter:
Who can say. Best thing for him, really. His therapy was going nowhere.

Jack Crawford:
Believe me, you don't want Hannibal Lecter inside your head.

Hannibal Lecter:
You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed? Pure West Virginia. What's your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamb? You know how quickly the boys found you... all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars... while you could only dream of getting out... getting anywhere... getting all the way to the FBI.

Clarice Starling:
You see a lot don't you doctor. Why don't you turn that high-powered perception at yourself and tell us what you see, or, maybe you're afraid to.

Hannibal Lecter:
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Hannibal Lecter:
I do wish we could chat longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner. Bye.

Hannibal Lecter:
Jack Crawford is helping your career isn't he? Apparently he likes you and you like him too.

Clarice Starling:
I never thought about it.

Hannibal Lecter:
Do you think that Jack Crawford wants you sexually? True, he is much older but do you think he visualizes scenarios, exchanges, f***ing you?

Clarice Starling:
That doesn't interest me Doctor and frankly, it's, it's the sort of thing that Miggs would say.

Hannibal Lecter:
Not anymore.

Hannibal Lecter:
Tell me, Senator: did you nurse Catherine yourself?

Senator Ruth Martin:
What?

Hannibal Lecter:
Did you breast-feed her?

Sen. Martin's Aide:
Now wait a minute...

Senator Ruth Martin:
Yes, I did.

Hannibal Lecter:
Toughened your nipples, didn't it?

Sen. Martin's Aide:
You son of a b*tch!

Hannibal Lecter:
Amputate a man's leg and he can still feel it tickling. Tell me, mum, when your little girl is on the slab, where will it tickle you?

Senator Ruth Martin:
Take this... *thing* back to Baltimore!

Hannibal Lecter:
Five foot ten, strongly built, about a hundred and eighty pounds; hair blonde, eyes pale blue. He'd be about thirty-five now. He said he lived in Philadelphia, but he may have lied. That's all I can remember, mum, but if I think of any more, I will let you know. Oh, and Senator, just one more thing: love your suit!

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it's told.

Catherine Martin:
Please mister, let me go! My family will give you anything you want!

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Hannibal Lecter:
Tell me, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

Hannibal Lecter:
You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs.

Clarice Starling:
Yes.

Hannibal Lecter:
And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs.

Clarice Starling:
I don't know. I don't know.

Hannibal Lecter:
Thank you, Clarice. Thank you.

Clarice Starling:
Tell me his name, Doctor.

Hannibal Lecter:
Dr. Chilton, I presume. I think you know each other.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Okay. Let's go.

Clarice Starling:
It's your turn, Doctor.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Out!

Clarice Starling:
Tell me his name!

Boyle:
I'm sorry, ma'am. We've got orders. We have to put you on a plane. Come on, now.

Hannibal Lecter:
Brave Clarice. You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won't you?

Clarice Starling:
Tell me his name, Doctor!

Hannibal Lecter:
Clarice, your case file. Goodbye, Clarice.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
What you are doing, Miss Starling is coming into my hospital to conduct an interview, and refusing to share information with me, for the third time.

Clarice Starling:
Sir, I told you, this is just a routine follow-up on the Raspail case.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
He is my patient. I have rights.

Clarice Starling:
I understand that, Sir.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Look, I am not just some turn-key, Miss Starling.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
I am going to show you why we insist on such precautions. On the evening of July 8th, 1981, he complained of chest pains and was taken to the dispensary. His mouthpiece and restraints were removed for an EKG. When the nurse leaned over him, he did this to her.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
The doctors managed to reset her jaw more or less. Saved one of her eyes. His pulse never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue.

Hannibal Lecter:
Why do you think he removes their skins, Agent Starling?

Hannibal Lecter:
Thrall me with your acumen.

Clarice Starling:
It excites him. Most serial killers keep some sort of trophies from their victims.

Hannibal Lecter:
I didn't.

Clarice Starling:
No. No, you ate yours.

Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb:
YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT PAIN IS!

Hannibal Lecter:
Good evening, Clarice.

Jack Crawford:
I remember you from my seminar at UVA. You grilled me pretty hard, as I recall, on the bureau's civil rights record in the Hoover years. I gave you an A.

Clarice Starling:
A-minus, Sir.

Hannibal Lecter:
All good things to those who wait.

Jack Crawford:
Just do your job, but never forget what he is.

Clarice Starling:
And what is that?

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Oh, he's a monster. Pure psychopath. So rare to capture one alive. From a research point of view, Lecter is our most prized asset.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Oh my, does he hate us. Thinks I'm his nemesis.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
You still think you're going to walk on some beach and see the birdies? I don't think so. I called Senator Ruth Martin. She never heard of any deal with you. They scammed you, Hannibal.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Crawford is very clever, isn't he, using you?

Clarice Starling:
What do you mean, sir?

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
A pretty young woman to turn him on. I don't believe Lecter's even seen a woman in eight years. And oh, are you ever his taste. So to speak.

Hannibal Lecter:
People will say we're in love.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
You know, we get a lot of detectives here, but I must say I can't ever remember one as attractive.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
We've tried to study him, of course, but he's much too sophisticated for the standard tests.

Hannibal Lecter:
Fly, fly, fly, Clarice. Fly, fly, fly.

Hannibal Lecter:
Ready when you are, Sergeant Pembry.

Dr. Frederick Chilton:
Do not touch the glass. Do not approach the glass. You pass him nothing but soft paper - no pencils, no pens. No paper clips or staples in his paper. Use the sliding food carrier only, no exceptions. If he attempts to pass you anything, do not accept it. Do you understand?

Clarice Starling:
Did you do those drawings, Doctor?

Hannibal Lecter:
Ah. That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. You know Florence?

Clarice Starling:
All that detail just from memory?

Hannibal Lecter:
Memory, Agent Starling, is what I have instead of a view.

I have a predisposition for an appetite!