- Mulder: [voiceover] They said the birds refused to sing and the thermometer fell suddenly as if God Himself had His breath stolen away. No one there dared speak aloud, as much in shame as in sorrow. They uncovered the bodies one by one. The eyes of the dead were closed as if waiting for permission to open them. Were they still dreaming of ice cream and monkey bars? Of birthday cake and no future but the afternoon? Or had their innocence been taken along with their lives buried in the cold earth so long ago? These fates seemed too cruel, even for God to allow. Or are the tragic young born again when the world's not looking? I want to believe so badly; in a truth beyond our own hidden and obscured from all but the most sensitive eyes...
- Mulder: [voiceover] In the endless procession of souls... in what cannot and will not be destroyed. I want to believe we are unaware of God's eternal recompense and sadness. That we cannot see His truth. That that which is born still lives and cannot be buried in the cold earth. But only waits to be born again at God's behest... where in ancient starlight we lay in repose.
- Mulder: He's okay. It's okay.
- Harold Piller: My son? You saw my son?
- Mulder: He's dead. They're all dead, Harold. Your son, Amber Lynn, and my sister.
- Harold Piller: No.
- Mulder: Harold, you see so much, but you refuse to see him. You refuse to let him go. But you have to let him go now, Harold. He's protected. He's in a better place. They're all in a better place. We both have to let go, Harold.
- Mulder: [from sister's diary] I hope someday he reads this, and knows I wish I could see his face for real.
- Cigarette Smoking Man: I like to make myself useful.
- Scully: You can start by putting out that cigarette.
- Cigarette Smoking Man: Got it all figured out, don't you, Agent Scully?
- Scully: All but why you can't just come to the door and knock.
- Cigarette Smoking Man: I did that. No one answered.
- Scully: You're sick.
- Cigarette Smoking Man: I had an operation.
- Scully: What do you want?
- Cigarette Smoking Man: I want you to stop looking.
- Scully: You've wanted that since 1973 when you ordered an end to the search for Agent Mulder's sister. Your initials are on that document.
- Cigarette Smoking Man: Yes, I signed that order because I knew then what I know now. No one is going to find her.
- Scully: Why not?
- Cigarette Smoking Man: Because I believe she's dead. No reason to believe otherwise.
- Scully: You're a liar. If you knew that she was dead why didn't you say something earlier? Why now?
- Cigarette Smoking Man: There was so much to protect before... It's all gone now.
- Scully: So you just let Mulder believe that she was alive for all these years?
- Cigarette Smoking Man: Out of kindness, Agent Scully. Allow him his ignorance... It's what gives him hope.