Alien Quotes
"Dreaming professionally, so that one’s dreams can be recorded and played back for the entertainment of others, is a much more demanding proposition."
"A professional dreamer is simultaneously the most organized of all artists and the most spontaneous."
"It was in the warehouse of the mind that her filing system went awry."
"Captain of two ships Dallas was: the interstellar tug Nostromo, and his body."
"His dreams were translucent, formless shadows compared to those of Dallas."
"Parker’s dreams were not offensive, but they were less pastoral than Kane’s."
"Jones was a large yellow tom of uncertain parentage and independent mien."
"Seven quiet dreamers in search of a nightmare."
"If it did dream, such musings must have been brief and fleeting, since it never slept."
"A deep-space crew can’t do anything in the freezers but sleep and dream."
"He’d no more part with the antique facial fuzz than he would with any other part of his anatomy."
"Mankind had willingly placed himself in this position, trusting in little tin gods like the Nostromo to provide him with the breath of life when he could not do so for himself."
"He was as verbal as the machines he serviced, which was to say not at all."
"The unjustified distress call went unanswered and unchallenged."
"Dallas was doing side twists, elbows parallel to the floor, hands together in front of his sternum."
"A fusion engine could not produce plastics, for example."
"The modern worlds could exist without power sooner than they could without plastics."
"Jones the cat purred in harmony with the stars."
"That’s no place for amateurs to fool around, no sir!"
"Kane looked hurt. ‘That’s a damn slander, Parker. I’m just slower than the rest of you, that’s all.’"
"‘Same thing.’ Brett was checking a weak service light on his own freezer compartment."
"The navigator flipped the switch. Static and hissing sounds filled the bridge."
"‘What the hell is it?’ Ripley looked as though she’d just seen something dead on her lunch plate."
"The instruments were pleased by the reappearance of their organic counterparts and were anxious to display their talents at first opportunity."
"She tried several panels, her expression of disgust growing deeper as unacceptable readings came back."
"The tug struck an invisibility. Invisible to the eye, not to her instruments."
"‘Approaching point of origin.’ Lambert studied a gauge."
"They made their way to their respective stations, settled behind consoles with the ease and familiarity of old friends greeting one another after a long time apart."
"Maybe the trouble’s just our orientation, not that of the stars."
"‘That’s not our system,’ Ripley observed numbly, giving voice to the obvious."
"Looks okay so far. Give us something to stare at."
"‘Nine hundred metres and dropping!’ Ripley watched her console."
"The lights went out and they fumbled for hand beams."
"I don’t see any lights or signs of life. No movement of any kind except this damn dust."
"‘How’s it going?’ a voice wanted to know over the intercom."
"Never seen anything like it. Hang on a minute."
"It’s putting out so much power I can’t get any acceptable reading whatsoever."
"Curiosity, after all, was what had driven mankind out from his isolated, unimportant world and across the gulf between the stars."
"To have come this far and not explore the alien’s innards was unthinkable."
"Humanity still knew very little of the universe, had explored a fraction of one corner."
"It was exciting and intellectually gratifying to speculate on what might lie waiting in the black gulfs when one was behind the business end of a telescope."
"The prime consideration of science is the protection and betterment of human life."
"Rule makers always draw up their precious rules and regulations in safety and comfort, not out in the field, where those same absolutes are supposed to be applied."
"The trick was to remove the ruined garbage without interrupting other critical functions or damaging still more delicate portions of the ship’s drive."
"The combination of the way those cells are aligned with what they’re composed of adds up to something that defies all the rules of standard biology."
"I don’t have the knowledge to cope properly, and it makes me feel helpless."
"If you know less than everything, you always feel inadequate."
"You mean, alone with that? I’m a scientist. Things like that heighten my curiosity, not my pulse rate."
"The acidic fluid is probably absorbed into the dead cells and has been rendered inert."
"I’ll settle for having my executive officer back again."
"We need a complete hospital in here, not just this little autodoc."
"It’s a damn sight better than doing nothing."
"I don’t care what the Company manuals say, it still tastes of recycling."
"Can’t you envision what would happen? We laser it, oh, half a dozen times before it tears us all to pieces."
"The only plan that stands a chance of working is the one we had before."
"I think it’s time the science department brought us up to date on our visitor."
"We know so little about it. We should be prepared for anything."
"The next form it assumes could conceivably be even larger and more powerful."
"We aren’t driving that thing anywhere with those."
"If you’ve got something to say, say it. I’m getting sick of these constant, coy insinuations."
"We’re not sure it’s ever been on the defensive."
"Of course, as soon as they found and killed the alien, the mental problems would vanish. Wouldn’t they?"
"The problem’s not leadership, Ash. It’s loyalty."
"You idiots! You still don’t realize what you’re dealing with."
"It wasn’t personal on the Company’s part. Just the luck of the draw."
"What do you think’s going to happen when the ship arrives, assuming we’re all dead?"