"Television will never be the same."
Network - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
— Howard Beale
Context:
Beale tells his audience to go to their windows and scream this into the night as a protest against the general decay of life.
Meaning:
The central rallying cry of the film. It represents the raw, unguided anger of the public, which is ironically immediately turned into a marketable catchphrase.
Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park!
— Howard Beale
Context:
Delivered during his show as he tries to explain to the viewers that they are the "real thing" and the tube is the "illusion."
Meaning:
Beale’s attempt to warn the audience that the medium itself is a deception designed to kill boredom and prevent thinking.
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!
— Arthur Jensen
Context:
Jensen berates Beale in a dark boardroom after Beale’s broadcast successfully blocked a corporate merger with Arab interests.
Meaning:
This quote reframes the world not as a collection of nations but as a business entity, establishing that economics is the only true law.
I'm not sure she's capable of any real feelings. She's television generation. She learned life from Bugs Bunny.
— Max Schumacher
Context:
Max describes Diana to his wife, explaining the terrifying emotional void within the woman he is having an affair with.
Meaning:
A critique of how media consumption stunts emotional development and replaces real experience with scripted tropes.