The Oxford Murders (2008)

John Hurt: Arthur Seldom

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Quotes 

• Arthur Seldom : The only perfect crime that exists is not the one that remains unsolved, but the one which is solved with the wrong culprit

• Arthur Seldom : There is no way of finding a single absolute truth, an irrefutable argument which might help answer the questions of mankind. Philosophy, therefore, is dead, because whereof we cannot speak, thereof we must be silent.

• Martin : I believe in the number pi.

  Arthur Seldom : I'm sorry, I didn't understand you. Uh, what was it you said you believed in?

  Martin : In the number pi, in the golden section, the Fibonacci series. The essence of nature is mathematical. There is a hidden meaning beneath reality. Things are organized following a model, a scheme, a logical series. Even the tiny snowflake includes a numerical basis in its structure, therefore, if we manage to discover the secret meaning of numbers, we will know the secret meaning of reality.

• Arthur Seldom : Since man is incapable of reconciling mind and matter, he tends to confer some sort of entity on ideas because he cannot bear the notion that the purely abstract only exists in our brain. "The beauty and harmony of a snowflake" - how sweet. "The butterfly that flutters his wings and causes a hurricane on the other side of the world" - we've been hearing about that damn butterfly for decades, but who has been able to predict a single hurricane? Nobody! Tell me something. Where is the beauty and harmony in cancer? What makes a cell suddenly decide to turn itself into a killer, metastasis and destroy the rest of the cells in a healthy body? Does anybody know? No! Because we'd rather think of snowflakes and butterflies than of pain, war, or that book. Why? Because we need to think that life has meaning, that everything is governed by logic and not by mere chance. If I write 2 then 4 then 6, then we feel good because we know that next comes 8. We can foresee it. We are not in the hands of destiny. Unfortunately, however, this has nothing to do with truth. Don't you agree? This is only fear. Sad... but there you go.

• [last lines] 

  Arthur Seldom : "The butterfly that flutters it's wings and causes a hurricane on the other side of the world." Sound familiar? Are you that butterfly, Martin?

• Arthur Seldom : We have an absolute truth! Everything is fake.

• Arthur Seldom : Poor old Guy Fawkes was ahead of his time. He tried to blow up the parliament, the king, lords, & the whole bloody government inside. Since then, every November the 5th we've had this civilized celebration where we burn his image... though nowadays I'd be hard pushed to tell you whether it's to commemorate his failure, or his brilliant idea.

• Arthur Seldom : Any formulation is valid in the series because we can always find a rule that justifies it.

• Arthur Seldom : Miss Scarlet is now an electron, okay? And you're looking at her through a keyhole or a particle accelerator - as you wish - and every time you look at her, Miss Scarlet will have changed her appearance or her position because the very fact that you observe her alters her atomic state. How about that?

  Martin : Don't try to confuse me with tricks.

• Lorna : You're like two kids fighting over a ball.

  Arthur Seldom : And you're the ball?

  Lorna : No, I'm the nurse who's going to spank your bottoms if you don't shut up.

• Arthur Seldom : [exasperated whisper]  I don't know anything.

• Arthur Seldom : Of all the vast mountains of knowledge that as of yet you have not scaled, Martin, this slope is one of the most slippery. Be careful.

• Arthur Seldom : I hope my failure has at least taught you something.