Dead Man (1995)

Gary Farmer: Nobody

Photos 

Quotes 

• William Blake : What is your name?

  Nobody : My name is Nobody.

  William Blake : Excuse me?

  Nobody : My name is Exaybachay. He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing.

  William Blake : He who talks... I thought you said your name was Nobody.

  Nobody : I preferred to be called Nobody.

• William Blake : What should we do?

  Nobody : The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn from the crow.

• Nobody : That weapon will replace your tongue. You will learn to speak through it. And your poetry will now be written with blood.

• [last lines] 

  [Nobody has put wounded William Blake in a canoe, and is about to push him out to sea] 

  William Blake : Hello.

  Nobody : I prepared your canoe with cedarboughs. It's time for you to leave now, William Blake. Time for you to go back where you came from.

  William Blake : You mean Cleveland?

  Nobody : Back to the place where all the spirits came from, and where all the spirits return. This world will no longer concern you.

  William Blake : [shows Nobody a reel of tobacco]  Found some tobacco.

  Nobody : That tobacco is for your voyage... William Blake.

  William Blake : Nobody... I don't smoke.

  [pushes William Blake's canoe out. He waves and says goodbye to Blake in a different language] 

  William Blake : [watches from the canoe as Cole Wilson sneaks up behind Nobody. The two shoot each other to death. As William drifts further out, he falls in a deep forever-lasting sleep] 

• Nobody : I was then taken east, in a cage. I was taken to Toronto. Then Philadelphia. And then to New York. And each time I arrived at another city, somehow the white men had moved all their people there ahead of me. Each new city contained the same white people as the last, and I could not understand how a whole city of people could be moved so quickly.

• Nobody : The vision of Christ that thou dost see, is my vision's greatest enemy.

• Nobody : Stupid fucking white man. Do you have any tobacco?

  William Blake : I don't smoke.

• William Blake : Do you still have my eyeglasses?

  Nobody : No, I traded them. Do you have any tobacco?

  William Blake : No, I traded it.

  Nobody : For what?

  William Blake : I'm not telling.

  Nobody : Liar.

  William Blake : Thief.

• Nobody : Is your name really William Blake?

  William Blake : Yes.

  Nobody : Every night and every morn', Some to misery are born, Every morn' and every night, Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.

  William Blake : I really - don't understand.

  Nobody : But I understand, William Blake. You were a poet - and a painter! And now, you are a killer of white men.

• Nobody : [seeing William touching his chest wound]  Leave that alone stupid white man.

  William Blake : [as Nobody grints and attends to his wound]  Am I going to die?

  Nobody : The circle of life has no ending.

  [Hr grunts as he attends him] 

  William Blake : Why are you helping me?

  Nobody : A bird told me.

  William Blake : A bird told you?

  Nobody : A small magical bird with bright blue feathers

  [He pauses] 

  Nobody : I was following him in your forest, hoping to acquire one of his indigo feathers... and then I lost him... and then I found him again. He was perched on your chest tasting your blood. He looked at me. Then he flew directly west in a straight line - his small beak red with your blood.

• Nobody : Did you kill the white man who killed you?

  William Blake : I'm not dead. Am I?

• Nobody : You are being followed, William Blake.

  William Blake : Are you sure? How do you know?

  Nobody : Often the evil stench of white man precedes him.

• Nobody : What name were you given at birth, stupid white man?

  William Blake : Blake. William Blake.

  Nobody : Is this a lie? Or a white man's trick?

  William Blake : No, I'm William Blake.

  Nobody : Then you are a dead man!

• [Waking Blake up in the morning] 

  Nobody : Don't let the sun burn a hole in your ass, William Blake. Rise now, and drive your cart and plough over the bones of the dead!

• Nobody : Things which are alike, in nature, grow to look alike.

• William Blake : I feel very weak. I'm hungry.

  Nobody : Quest for vision is a great blessing, William Blake. To do so, one must go without food and water. All the sacred spirits recognize those who fast. It's good to prepare for a journey in this way.

• Nobody : It is strange that you do not remember any of your poetry, William Blake.

• Nobody : I saw many sad things as I made my way back to the lands of my people. Once they realized who I was, the stories of my adventures angered them. They called me a liar. Exaybachay: He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing. They ridiculed me. My own people. And I was left to wander the earth alone. I am Nobody.

• Nobody : I have just ingested the food of the Great Spirit and Father Peyote.

  William Blake : Do you think I could have a little bite of it?

  Nobody : It's not for use even for William Blake. The flowers of the medicine give you sacred visions that are not for you right now.

• Nobody : I will take you to the bridge made of waters. The mirror. Then you will be taken up to the next level of the world. The place where William Blake is from. Where his spirit belongs. I must make sure that you pass back through the mirror at the place - where the sea meets the sky.

• William Blake : I seem to have misplaced my eyeglasses. I can't see clearly.

  Nobody : Perhaps you will see more clearly without them.

  William Blake : You're a very strange man. Very strange.

• Nobody : The round stones beneath the earth - have spoken through the fire.

  William Blake : What?

  Nobody : Things which are alike, in nature, grow to look alike, and the speaking stones have lain a long time lookin' at the sun.

  William Blake : The speaking stones?

  Nobody : Some believe they descend with the lightning, but I believe they are on the ground and are projected downward by the bolt.

• Nobody : William Blake, you go to them.

  William Blake : What? Alone? Why don't we just go around them?

  Nobody : No! You go. It's a test.

  William Blake : I don't know those people, and they don't look very friendly. What if they kill me?

  Nobody : Nobody will observe.

• Nobody : You cannot stop the clouds by the building of a ship.

  William Blake : What? What did you say? You know, I've had it up to here with this Indian malarkey. I haven't understood a single word you've said since I met you, not one single word.

  Nobody : Are you sure you have no tobacco?

• Nobody : I guess the best advice, just not to take any damn advice.