"There is no such thing as a simple miracle."
Awakenings - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
The human spirit is more powerful than any drug.
— Dr. Malcolm Sayer
Context:
Delivered during Sayer's closing address to the hospital donors after the effects of L-Dopa have worn off.
Meaning:
This is the thematic heart of the film, asserting that while medicine may fail, the inherent value and resilience of the individual remain intact and must be nourished.
Read the newspaper. What does it say? All bad... People have forgotten what it is to be alive.
— Leonard Lowe
Context:
Leonard calls Sayer in the middle of the night, overwhelmed by the joy of his awakening and the beauty of existence.
Meaning:
A critique of the modern world, where healthy people take their freedom and simple joys for granted while focusing only on negativity.
I'm not a thing, I'm a person.
— Leonard Lowe
Context:
Leonard demands his right to walk outside the hospital without an escort, frustrated by the institutional controls on his life.
Meaning:
A powerful assertion of human dignity against a medical system that often views long-term patients as mere biological objects or "vegetables."
It's given to and taken away from all of us.
— Eleanor Costello
Context:
Eleanor comforts a grieving Sayer after Leonard begins to regress, reminding him that the transience of life applies to everyone.
Meaning:
Reflects the universal nature of the human condition—the fragility of life and the inevitability of loss, suggesting that the patients' tragedy is a concentrated version of the human experience.