This is a collection of quotes from the 1999 movie The Matrix.

1. “You take the blue pill… the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill… you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

Ah, the Alice line. Utterly iconic, and a wonderful way of presenting what is a simple choice on the surface. The blue pill would have ended the movie, and the franchise, right then and there, but it is the red pill that holds the answers to Neo’s questions after all. That reflection of the pills and Neo’s hand reaching for the red in Morpheus’ oh-so ’90s shades is also just perfect.

2.”I can only show you the door, you’re the one that has to walk through it” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

Although this moment has become notorious for the visible camera spotted in the doorknob reflection, it’s also a great line from Morpheus that sets up the second half of the film. Although he doesn’t know it yet, what Neo’s about to hear doesn’t really matter, it’s about Neo finding his own path unburdened by the prophecy, and Morpheus here is just alluding to that.

3.”I know kung-fu” – Neo (The Matrix)

This quote could have easily topped the list of the best Matrix quotes, because it really has transcended beyond the original movie. Not only has this exact moment spawned a thousand memes, but it’s even referenced in the fourth Matrix movie, with Neo teasing: “I still know kung-fu”.

4. “There is no spoon” – Spoon Boy (The Matrix)

Listed as nothing more than Spoon Boy in the credits, this young lad has gone down in history as delivering one of the best Matrix quotes of all time. Using his mind to bend a series of spoons in a manner that would make Uri Geller blush, the young ‘potential’ asks Neo if he’s able to do the same, before reminding him that the key to it is realizing that in the Matrix, nothing even spoons actually exist.

5. “Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize just as I did that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

Neo has spent the majority of the first film believing that Morpheus got it wrong. After speaking to The Oracle, Neo acts with the idea that he isn’t The One because that’s what she told him, but then repeatedly does the impossible including rescuing Morpheus from the Agents. It’s after this that Morpheus explains that the Oracle just told him what he needed to hear, to allow Neo to find the path and walk it by choice.

6. “Goodbye, Mr. Anderson” – Agent Smith (The Matrix)

Just the way Hugo Weaving says “Miiiister Aaaaanderson” as Agent Smith is iconic on its own, but it’s in this moment where you think all is lost that it feels almost cruel. Neo is seemingly dead, shot multiple times by Agent Smith, and for a minute he believes he has one. However, the prophecy comes true…

7. “You have to let it all go, Neo – fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind!” Morpheus (The Matrix)

Leaping from one skyscraper to another without falling to your death… easy right? For Morpheus, yes, but for Neo it’s time to learn. Neo’s mind might be free from the Matrix now, and yet there’s still a long way to go before he can understand how to bend the Matrix’s rules to his will. Despite the hopeful onlookers, it turns out everyone falls the first time – even The One.

8. “Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

As Neo learns what is really left of the ‘real world’, Morpheus gives an amazing speech about the co-dependency of machines and humans. When the sun burnt out it was thought that the machines wouldn’t survive without their power source… before they realized that humans could provide a source of energy. Human dependency on machines was completely flipped on its head. Thus, this now-iconic line.

9. “Remember… all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

As Neo reaches for the red pill to find out what the Matrix is, Morpheus utters a caution that he’s only offering the truth – knowing full well that the real world isn’t exactly an easy place to exist. Thankfully, Neo takes the pill regardless.

10. “What was said was for you, and you alone” – Morpheus (The Matrix)

Morpheus’ slightly smug smirk as Neo emerges from his conversation with the Oracle says it all. He doesn’t need to know what she said to Neo, because Morpheus is already convinced Neo’s something special.

11. “Never send a human to do a machine’s job” – Agent Smith (The Matrix)

After the Agents kidnap Morpheus with the intention of hacking into his mind to find the access code for Zion, there’s a certain fear that they’re running out of time. With Cypher having failed to terminate Morpheus’ crew, Agents Smith, Brown, and Jones gather to talk, with Smith uttering this brilliant line.

12. “Do you think that’s air you’re breathing now?”- Morpheus (The Matrix)

After Neo absorbs all the knowledge he needs to use kung-fu, Morpheus challenges him to a fight. But after Neo fails to land a hit on Morpheus, he questions his new protege, asking Neo whether he really thinks physical strength and prowess matter in a simulation. It’s that moment where he asks Neo whether he thinks he’s actually breathing air, with the little pause and the quizzical ‘hmm’ that follows, that makes this line such a beautiful head-scratcher.