Scene One: The Sweaty-toothed Madman
Scene Two: The World's First Unmanned Flying Deskset
Keating: "We
don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry
because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled
with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble
pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love,
these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!...
of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless--of
cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer.
That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play
goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on
and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
Keating: "O Captain, my Captain. Who knows where that comes from? Anybody? Not a clue? It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can either call me Mr. Keating, or if you're slightly more daring, O Captain my Captain." [.au sound clip (324 k)]
Keating: "Now I'd like you to step forward over here. They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? --- Carpe --- hear it? --- Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."
Neil Perry: "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life, and not when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived." [.au sound clip (165 k)]