Batman Begins2005

Ducard:
Amusing, but pointless. None of these people have long to live. Your antics at the asylum have forced my hand.

Bruce Wayne:
So Crane was working for you.

Ducard:
His toxin is derived from the organic compound found in our blue flowers. He was able to weaponize it.

Wayne:
He's not a member of the League of Shadows?

Ducard:
Of course not. He thought our plan was to hold the city to ransom.

Wayne:
But really, you are going to release Crane's poison on the entire city.

Ducard:
Then watch Gotham tear itself apart through fear.

Wayne:
You're going to destroy millions of lives.

Ducard:
Only a cynical man would call what these people have "lives," Wayne. Crime. Despair. This was not how man was supposed to live. The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome, loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.

Wayne:
Gotham isn't beyond saving. Give me more time. There are good people here.

Ducard:
You are defending a city so corrupt, we have infiltrated every level of its infrastructure. When I found you in that jail, you were lost. But I believed in you. I took away your fear, and showed you a path. You were my greatest student. It should be you standing by my side, saving the world.

Wayne:
I'll be standing where I belong: between you, and the people of Gotham.

Ducard:
No one can save Gotham. [nods to henchmen, who begin vandalizing the house and set it on fire] When a forest grows too wild, a purging fire is inevitable and natural. Tomorrow, the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself. The movement back to harmony will be unstoppable this time.

Wayne:
You've attacked Gotham before?

Ducard:
Of course. Over the ages, our weapons have grown more sophisticated. With Gotham, we tried a new one - economics. But we underestimated certain of Gotham's citizens. Such as your parents. Gunned down by one of the very people they were trying to help. Create enough hunger, and everyone becomes a criminal. Their deaths galvanized the city into saving itself, and Gotham has limped on ever since. We are back to finish the job. And this time, no misguided idealists will get in the way. Like your father, you lack the courage to do all that is necessary. If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.