Quantum

"The Governor paused and looked reflectively over at Bond. He said : ‘You’re not married, but I think it’s the same with all relationships between A Man and A Woman. 

They can survive anything so long as some kind of basic Humanity exists between the two people. 

When all Kindness has gone, when one person obviously and sincerely doesn’t care if the other is Alive or Dead, then it’s just no good. That particular insult to The Ego – worse, to The Instinct of Self-Preservation – can never be forgiven. I’ve noticed this in hundreds of marriages. I’ve seen flagrant infidelities patched up, I’ve seen crimes and even murder forgiven by the other party, let alone bankruptcy and every other form of social crime. Incurable disease, blindness, disaster – all these can be overcome. 

But never The Death of Common Humanity in one of the partners. I’ve thought about this and I’ve invented a rather high-sounding title for this basic factor in Human Relations. 

I have called it 

‘The Law of The Quantum of Solace.’

Bond said: ‘That’s a splendid name for it. It’s certainly impressive enough. 

And of course I see what you mean, I should say you’re absolutely right. Quantum of Solace – the amount of comfort. 

Yes, I suppose you could say that all Love and Friendship is based in The End on that. Human beings are very insecure. When the other person not only makes you feel insecure but actually seems to want to destroy you, it’s obviously The End. The Quantum of Solace stands at zero. You’ve got to get away to Save Yourself.’

The Governor paused. ‘Pretty extraordinary, really. A Man like Masters, kindly, sensitive, who wouldn’t normally hurt a fly. And here he was performing one of the cruellest actions I can recall in all my experience. It was My Law operating.’ 

The Governor smiled thinly. ‘Whatever her sins, if she had given him that Quantum of Solace he could never have behaved to her as he did. As it was, she had awakened in him a bestial Cruelty – a Cruelty that perhaps lies deeply hidden in all of us and that only a threat to our existence can bring to The Surface. Masters wanted to make the girl suffer, not as much as he had suffered because that was impossible, but as much as he could possibly contrive. And that false gesture with the motor-car and the radio-gramophone was a fiendishly brilliant bit of delayed action to remind her, even when he was gone, how much he hated her, how much he wanted still to hurt her.’ 

Bond said: ‘It must have been a shattering experience. 

It’s extraordinary how much people can hurt each other. 

I’m beginning to feel rather sorry for The Girl. [ You would. I feel sorry for Masters. ]

What happened to her in The End – and to him, for the matter of that?’ 

The Governor got to his feet and looked at his watch. ‘Good heavens, it’s nearly midnight. And I’ve been keeping the staff up all this time,’ he smiled, ‘as well as you.’ 

He walked across to the fireplace and rang a bell. 

A Negro butler appeared. The Governor apologised for keeping him up and told him to lock up and turn the light out. 

Bond was on his feet. 

The Governor turned to him. ‘Come along and I’ll tell you the rest. I’ll walk through the garden with you and see that the sentry lets you out.’ 

They walked slowly through the long rooms and down the broad steps to the garden. It was a beautiful night under a full moon that raced over their heads through the thin high clouds. 

The Governor said: ‘Masters went on in The Service, but somehow he never lived up to his good start. After the Bermuda business something seemed to go out of him. 

Part of him had been killed by the experience. He was a maimed man. Mostly her fault, of course, but I guess that what he did to her lived on with him and perhaps haunted him. 

He was good at his work, but he had somehow lost the human touch and he gradually dried up. Of course he never married again and in the end he got shunted off into the ground nuts scheme, and when that was a failure he retired and went to live in Nigeria – back to the only people in the world who had shown him any kindness – back to where it had all started from. 

Bit tragic, really, when I remember what he was like when we were young.’

Sir James Bond, 007 (Emeritus.)

M. :

They used to say, 

A Good Spy is A Pure Spy, 

Inside and Out. 

Roses, Tanagra figurines 

and Debussy —

He plays Debussy every afternoon 

from sunset until it's too dark 

to read the music. 

Stands on his head a lot, 

eats Royal Jelly. 

Lets his intestines down 

and washes them by hand…. 

Something he learned during 

his sojourn in Tibet. 

Ransome, CIA :

M, what gives? 

M. :

I forgot to mention 

The Lions.

Ransome, CIA :

Lions and more lions.

We're surrounded by Lions!

Smernov, KGB :

I did not come all the way here 

to be devoured by 

Symbols of Monarchy! 

Ransome, CIA :

I warn you, M, if 

This is A Trap... 

M. :

Calm yourselves, gentlemen. 

It's no Trap, I assure you. 

The Lions are only curious —

He has few visitors. 

Ransome, CIA :

That I can believe….

M. :

A veritable Eden, 

is it not, gentlemen? 

Ransome, CIA :

Eden without an Eve 

is an absurdity. 

Smernov, KGB :

A Good Spy is a Pure Spy. 

M. :

Not Good. Great. 

The Greatest Spy in History, gentlemen. 

The True, One and Only, 

Original James Bond.

LOYAL RETAINER :

The Gentlemen are here, 

Sir James.

Sir James Bond :

Thank you.

M. :

My Dear Bond.

Sir James Bond :

My Dear M. 

Ransome, CIA :

Ransome, CIA, Sir James —

Sir James Bond :

J-Junior cipher c-clerk 

in m-my day, weren't you, 

Ransome? 

Ransome, CIA :

Yes, sir. JCC, class G, 

SIC to SCCT. 

CIA, Washington DC. 

Smernov, KGB :

Smernov, KGB, 

Sir James. 

Sir James Bond :

Ah, yes. L-Labour camp inspector. 

Ikon GPU, Siberian sector. 

I remember Your ch-Chap Lenin very well :

First-class organiser,

Second-class mind. 

Le Grand, 

Deuxième-Bureau :

Le Grand, Sir James. 

Deuxième-Bureau. 

Sir James Bond :

Promoted at last from 

The Vice Detail? 

M. :

How incredibly well you look, James. 

Sir James Bond :

Time, My Dear M, 

Does Not Exist 

within These Walls.

Ransome, CIA :

…..they ain't for Real.

M. :

Yes, a far cry from 

our embattled world. 

Sir James Bond :

In My Day, Spying was 

an alternative to War. 

The Spy was a member of a select and immaculate priesthood, vocationally d-devoted, sublimely disinterested. 

Hardly a description of that sexual acrobat who leaves a t-trail of beautiful dead women like blown roses behind him.

M. :

You mean...

Sir James Bond :

You know very well who I mean.

 That b-bounder to whom 

you gave My Name 

and Number —

M. :

My Dear James, 

when you left us 

we were a small service, 

under-financed, 

ludicrously ill-equipped. 

It was essential that 

Your Legend be maintained —

Without a James Bond : 007, 

No-one would have respected us. 

Sir James Bond :

Him and his wretched g-gadgets. 

M. :

We must make use of the 

weapons of our time. 

Sir James Bond :

So I observe. 

You, Ransome, with your 

trick carnation that 

s-spits cyanide. 

You ought to be ashamed. 

Ransome, CIA :

…..The Russians started it. 

Sir James Bond :

And you, Smernov, 

with an armoury concealed 

in your grotesque boots. 

Listen to them tinkle. 

And you, Le Grand, with 

a different deadly poison 

in each of your fly buttons. 

And you, M, with your 

flame-throwing 

fountain pens —

Y-Y-You're joke-shop 

spies, gentlemen. 

M. :

We are in the last half of 

the 20th century, Sir James —

Even you have to face it. 

Sir James Bond :

Why should I, when I can 

face that? Look, at My Garden :

Out There, there is A Black Rose —

Not Dark Red, but Black. 

As a Raven's Wing at Midnight. 

I would not exchange one single petal 

for anything Your World has to offer, including 

an Aston M-Martin 

with lethal accessories. 

Smernov, KGB :

You have only contempt for 

the proletariat, Sir James. 

This we know. 

Ransome, CIA :

If I didn't know better, 

I'd say you'd lost your 

Faith in Democracy. 

Sir James Bond :

You can Break The Glass, 

but you can't hold back 

The Weather. 

M. :

Things are Bad. 

I've lost agents in the last fortnight - 

seven killed, four missing.

Sir James Bond :

Is My Namesake among them? 

M. :

He may well be tomorrow. 

Eight of ours were given The Works — 

Two in The Pentagon.

Smernov, KGB :

KGB is depleted. 

….I cannot disclose exact figures. 

M. :

The Enemy has penetrated our most secret inner circles.

He reads Our Very Mind.

For all we know, 

He has his eye on us right now. 

Sir James Bond :

Are you quite sure he is not 

one or m-more of you? 

Ransome, CIA :

No, no.

Le Grand, 

Deuxième-Bureau :

Absolutely sure. 

Smernov, KGB :

Until This Danger is passed, 

we must stand united 

in the defence of all spies, 

great or small, 

regardless of nationality. 

Sir James Bond :

Calamity makes strange b-bedfellows, 

but why, in the strength 

of Your Unity, do you disturb 

A Gentleman in his Retirement? 

M. :

We need 

Your Inspirational Leadership. 

Le Grand, 

Deuxième-Bureau :

Please give us 

The Benefit of 

Your Incomparable 

Powers of Deduction.

Ransome, CIA :

For all Freedom-Loving Peoples —

For the glorious Socialist Revolution. 

(Date T.B.C,)

Sir James Bond :

If I may interrupt 

this flow of clichés, 

it is now that time of day 

I have set apart for Debussy…

Can this be The Man Who Won 

a Victoria Cross at Mafeking? 

The Hero of the Ashanti Uprising? 

Smernov, KGB :

What genius to be wasted 

in The Service of 

a crumbling Empire….

Ransome, CIA :

Why, at the height of his powers, 

did Bond decide to retire? 

M. :

Mata Hari, My Dear Friend.

Ransome, CIA :

What's the connection?

M. :

The Woman in His Life.

Ransome, CIA :

I don't get it.

M. :

It was his painful duty 

to lure her across 

the Spanish frontier into France, 

where we stood her 

in front of a firing squad. 

He really loved 

that woman. 

Well, James? 

Sir James Bond :

I'm sorry, old man, 

but what you ask is 

quite impossible. 

M. :

Perhaps this will change 

Your Decision. 

( M. hands over a Warrant bound with The Royal Seal. )

Sir James Bond :

My Record speaks My Loyalty. 

But no, not even 

for her, McTarry. 

M. :

Sorry, James. 

( M. lights his cigar. )

There's McTarry's signal. 

Stand by. 

Zero. 

On. 

Fire! 

Fire! Up !

The Authority —

A MAN IN BLACK :

Authority to Control.

Control —

PUSSY :

Go ahead. 

The Authority —

The MAN in BLACK :

Proceed with Smersh Plan B —

Sir James Bond is back, 

with his morals, his vows, 

and his celibate image. 

We must destroy that image. 

Riverbank to Control.

Control —

PUSSY :

Go ahead.

The Target has just entered Scotland.

M's Castle to Control.

Control — PUSSY 

M's name is ‘McTarry’. Use it. 

Plan B in operation :

McTarry Castle completely occupied, with only one change —

Agent Mimi is now M's Widow. 

Control — PUSSY :

Agent Mimi impersonating 

Lady Fiona? 

Well, she has the best Scots accent.

St. Andrew's Cross

 

 

Peter O'Toole Cameo  in CASINO ROYALE  1967 / Peter Sellers

 

...I mean, can you blame him, really..?

The Leper

Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame!

“And how did little Tim behave?” 

asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, 

and Bob had hugged His Daughter to his heart’s content.

“As Good as Gold,” said Bob, “and better. 

Somehow he gets Thoughtful, 

sitting by himself so much, 

and Thinks the Strangest Things 

you ever heard. 

He told me, coming home, 

that he hoped The People saw him in The Church, because he was A Cripple, 

and it might be pleasant to them 

to remember upon Christmas Day, 

who made lame beggars walk, 

and blind men see.”

Kingdom of Heaven - King Baldwin IV

The King :

Come forward.

I am glad to meet 

Godfrey's Son.

He was one of 

My Greatest Teachers.

He was there when, 

playing with the other boys, 

my arm was cut.

And it was he, 

not My Father's Physicians,

who noticed that I felt no pain.

He wept when he gave 

My Father the news...

  

That I am 

A Leper.

The Saracens say 

that This Disease

is God's Vengeance against

The Vanity of 

Our Kingdom.

As wretched as I am... 

these Arabs believe that 

the chastisement that 

awaits me in Hell...

is far more Severe 

and Lasting.

  

If that's True, 

I call it Unfair.

  

(He brings him over to his Chess Board)

The King :

Come. Sit.

Do you play? 

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

No.

  The King :

The Whole World is in Chess.

Any move can be 

The Death of You.

Do anything except 

remain where you started,

and You can't be sure 

of Your End.

Were you sure of 

Your End, once?

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

I was. 

The King :

What was it?

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

To be buried a hundred yards 

from where I was born.

  

The King :

And now?

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

Now I sit in Jerusalem 

and look upon A King.

  The King :

When I was 16 

I won A Great Victory.

I felt, in that moment,

I would live to be 100.

Now, I know I shall not see 30.

None of us know 

our end, really...

or what hand will 

guide us there.

A King may move A Man.

A Father may claim A Son.

That Man can also move himself.

And only then 

Does That Man Truly 

Begin His Own Game.

Remember, howsoever 

You are Played, 

or By Whom, 

Your Soul is in 

Your Keeping alone,

even though those who presume to play you 

be Kings or Men of Power.

When You Stand Before God, 

You Cannot Say,

"But I was told by Others 

to do thus", 

or that “Virtue was

not convenient at the time.”

  

This will not suffice.

Remember That.

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

I will.

The King :

You know what this is?

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

A Fortification. 

The King :

What do you think of it?

Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

…..

The King :

You disapprove.

Well, how would 

you improve it?

  Sir Balian, 

Baron of Ibelin :

A Cross. Or better, 

A Star, like this : —

That way no part of The Fortress may be approached, 

without being exposed to fire from another part.

  The King :

Yes, I like this : Your Walls are more

difficult to address — Very Good.

You will go to 

Your Father's House at Ibelin, 

Your House, now —

And then from there 

You Will Protect 

The Pilgrim Road.

Safeguard in particular

the Jews and the Muslims.

All are welcome in Jerusalem.

Not only because it's expedient,

but because it is right.

Protect The Helpless.

And then maybe one day,

when I am helpless,

You Will Come and 

Protect Me.

Baldwin IV (1161 – 16 March 1185), called the Leper, or The Leper King, reigned as King of Jerusalem from 1174 until his death. Baldwin IV was the sixth King of Jerusalem, and he came to power in a critical point in the history of the crusader states. 

He was intelligent and a magnificent military estretega. Strong, brave and indomitable spirit. In his nine years he contracted leprosy. He was crowned king when he was only thirteen. And at sixteen defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. After years of illness, died at his twenty-four years.

This scene was cut from the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven, 

but restored for the director's cut. 

Baldwin IV speaks with Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem.

Egon

"I think the thing that made me feel best was when we sort of got the stamp of approval from Psychologists and Educators in America, who felt that 

Ghostbusters was a GOOD THING 

for Kids to PLAY -- 

they found that this was Certified and Documented 

in a major article in The Chicago Tribune.

Teachers said that they liked 

kids playing Ghostbusters 

because it was NON-COMPETITIVE, 

there were NO "Good Guys" 

and "Bad Guys", 

it wasn't a War Game, 

it wasn't Cowboys against Indians 

or Americans against Russians, 

it was PEOPLE, TOGETHER, 

against The Unknown.

Also, for little children, 

it seems to have a -- 

it gives them CONFIDENCE, 

right at the age when they're most afraid of The Supernatural, 

which is apparently from 5 to 7 -- 

along comes the cartoon show, and kids identifying with The Ghostbusters, 

feeling they can actually 

DEFEND THEMSELVES 

against The Supernatural, so --

I guess a lot of kids 

wrap themselves in their Ghostbuster toys 

and costumes at night, 

and go to sleep, 

and sleep WELL -- "

[ I know *I* did.]

-- Harold.

He was Right all along…

Our Grandfather — He was right here, he BUILT this….

He was standing guard, even when  no-one believed him.

He Sacrificed EVERYTHING —

• His Life….

• His Friends….

• Us…

Whatever You Do is Evil for Somebody.

Whatever You Do 

is Evil for somebody.

— Joseph Campbell

BILL MOYERS: 

What do you make of this, that in all of these stories the principal actors are pointing to Someone Else as the initiator of the fall?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Yeah, but it turns out to be Snake. And Snake in both of these stories is the symbol of Life throwing off the past and continuing to live.

BILL MOYERS: 

Why?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

The Power of Life, 

because the snake sheds its skin, just as the moon sheds its shadow. 

The snake in most cultures is positive. 

Even the most poisonous thing, in India, the cobra, is a sacred animal. 

And the serpent, Naga, The Serpent King, Nagaraga, is the next thing to the Buddha, because the serpent represents the power of life in the field of time to throw off death, and the Buddha represents the power of life in the field of eternity to be eternally alive.

Now, I saw a fantastic thing of a Burmese priestess, a snake priestess, who had to bring rain to her people by calling A King Cobra from his den and kissing him three times on the nose. There was the cobra, the giver of life, the giver of rain, which is of life, as the divine positive, not negative, figure.

BILL MOYERS: 

The Christian stories turn it around, because the serpent was the seducer.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Well, what that amounts to 

is a refusal to affirm life. 

Life is evil in this view. 

Every natural impulse is sinful 

unless you’ve been 

baptised or circumcised, 

in this tradition that 

we’ve inherited. 

For Heaven’s sakes!

BILL MOYERS: 

By having been The Tempter, 

women have paid a great price, 

because in mythology, some of this mythology, they are the ones who led to the downfall.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Of course they did. 

I mean, they represent Life. 

Man doesn’t enter life 

except by woman, 

and so it is woman 

who brings us into the world of polarities and pair of opposites and suffering and all. But I think it’s a really childish attitude, to say “no” to life with all its pain, you know, to say this is something that should not have been.

Schopenhauer, in one of his marvelous chapters, I think it’s in The World as Will and Idea, says: “Life is something that should not have been. It is in its very essence and character, a terrible thing to consider, this business of living by killing and eating.” I mean, it’s in sin in terms of all ethical judgments all the time.

BILL MOYERS: 

As Zorba says, you know, “Trouble? Life is Trouble. 

Only death is no trouble.”

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

That’s it. And when people 

say to me, you know, 

“Do you have optimism 

about The World?

You know, how terrible it is, 

I said, yes, just say, 

“It’s great! Just 

the way it is.”

BILL MOYERS: 

But doesn’t that lead to a rather passive attitude in the face of evil, in the face of Wrong?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

You participate in it. 

Whatever you do is evil for somebody.

BILL MOYERS: But explain that for the audience.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Well, when I was in India, there was a man whose name was Sri Krishnamenon and his mystical name was Atmananda and he was in Trivandrum, and I went to Trivandrum, and I had the wonderful privilege of sitting face to face with him as I’m sitting here with you. And the first question, first thing he said to me is, “Do you have a question?” Because the teacher there always answers questions, he doesn’t tell you what anything, he answers. And I said, “Yes, I have a question.” I said, “Since in Hindu thinking all the universe is divine, is a manifestation of divinity itself, how can we say ‘no’ to anything in the world, how can we say ‘no’ to brutality, to stupidity, to vulgarity, to thoughtlessness?” And he said, “For you and me, we must say yes.”

Well, I had learned from my friends who were students of his, that that happened to have been the first question he asked his guru, and we had a wonderful talk for about an hour there on this theme, of the affirmation of the world. And it confirmed me in a feeling that I have had, that who are we to judge? And it seems to me that this is one of the great teachings of Jesus.

BILL MOYERS: 

Well, I see now what you mean in one respect; 

in some classic Christian doctrine The World is to be despised, 

Life is to be redeemed in The Hereafter, 

it is Heaven where our rewards come, 

and if you affirm 

That Which You Deplore, 

as you say, you’re affirming The World, 

which is our 

Eternity of The Moment.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

That’s what I would say. 

Eternity isn’t some later time; 

Eternity isn’t a long time; 

Eternity has nothing to do with Time. 

Eternity is that dimension 

of Here and Now which 

thinking in Time cuts out.

BILL MOYERS: 

This is it.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

This is it.

BILL MOYERS: 

This is my …

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

If you don’t get it here, 

you won’t get it anywhere, and 

The Experience of Eternity 

right here and now 

is The Function of Life.

There’s a wonderful formula that the Buddhists have for the Boddhisattva. The Bodhisattva, the one whose being, satra, is illumination, bodhi, who realizes his identity with eternity, and at the same time his participation in time. 

And the attitude is not 

to withdraw from The World 

when you realize how horrible it is, 

but to realise that this horror is simply the foreground of a wonder, 

and come back and 

participate in it. 

“All life is sorrowful,” is the first Buddhist saying, and it is. 

It wouldn’t be Life if there were not temporality involved, 

which is sorrow, loss, loss, loss.

BILL MOYERS: 

That’s a pessimistic note.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Well, I mean, you got to 

say “Yes.” to it and say 

“It’s great this way.”

I mean, this is 

The Way God intended it.

BILL MOYERS: 

You don’t really believe that?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Well, this is the way it is, and I don’t believe anybody intended it, but this is the way it is. 

And Joyce’s wonderful line, you know, 

“History is a nightmare from which I’m trying to awake.” 

And the way to awake from it is not to be afraid and to recognize, as I did in my conversation with that Hindu guru or teacher that I told you of, that all of this as it is, is as it has to be, and it is a manifestation of the eternal presence in the world. The end of things always is painful; pain is part of there being a world at all.

BILL MOYERS: 

But if one accepted that isn’t the ultimate conclusion, to say, well, 

‘I won’t try to reform any laws or fight any battles.’

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

I didn’t say that.

BILL MOYERS: 

Isn’t that the logical conclusion one could draw, though, 

the philosophy of nihilism?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Well, that’s not the necessary thing to draw :

You could say, “I will participate in this row, 

and I will join the army, 

and I will go to war.”

BILL MOYERS: 

I’ll do The Best I can on Earth.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

I will participate in The Game. It’s a wonderful, wonderful opera, except that it hurts. 

And that wonderful Irish saying, you know, 

“Is this a private fight, 

or can anybody get into it?” 

This is the way Life is, 

and The Hero is the one who can participate in it decently, 

in The Way of Nature, 

not in the way of personal rancor,

 revenge or anything of the kind.

Let me tell you one story here, of a samurai warrior, a Japanese warrior, 

who had the duty to avenge the murder of his overlord. 

And he actually, after some time, 

found and cornered the man 

who had murdered his overlord. 

And he was about to deal with him with his samurai sword, 

when this man in the corner, 

in the passion of terror, 

spat in his face. 

And The Samurai 

Sheathed The Sword and Walked Away. 

Why did he do that?

BILL MOYERS: 

Why?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

Because he was made angry, and if he had killed that man then, it would have been a personal act, of another kind of act, and that’s not what he had come to do.