Moonbase 3 (TV Series)

Outsiders (1973)

John Hallam: Dr. Peter Conway

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Quotes 

• Peter Conway : I adored my father. He showed me the world. And it was so full and rich and exciting. He made me use my eyes, and see things for what they really are.

  Dr. Helen Smith : Was he a religious man?

  Peter Conway : Yes, I suppose in his way he was. "The Kingdom of Heaven". He had it about him all his life, he took it with him everywhere he went, and he shared it with everyone he met.

  Dr. Helen Smith : How did you become attracted to science? And of all things, metallurgy.

  Peter Conway : Ibsen.

  Dr. Helen Smith : Ibsen?

  Peter Conway : Yes; you remember that play, where Borkman said he wanted to free all the unborn metals of the earth and put them to the service of man? Well, it made sense then.

  Dr. Helen Smith : Then? Doesn't it now?

  Peter Conway : Some of the time. Most of the time, even. When the work's going well. There's poetry and music in science too, you know.

  Dr. Helen Smith : Yes, I know.

  Peter Conway : Then there are other times. Times when I feel I don't want to go on in the brave new world of cold scientific progress. Times when I want the moss on the wall. I want the foolish meandering alleys of beautiful old cities that everyone's so keen to pull down. I can see that a tap for water is a great convenience, but something went out of the world when we stopped going to the communal well.

  Dr. Helen Smith : You really are a romantic, aren't you?

  Peter Conway : Is that bad?

  Dr. Helen Smith : On the contrary: I like it.

  Peter Conway : Oh, Helen. there has to be more than just scientific truth. Spinoza tried to prove the existence of God by theorem: A=B. B=2. A=2. 2+2=4. QED: God exists. I think it's the funniest book I've ever read. Truth can be intuitive. The existence of whatever cannot be seen, cannot be measured. Can only be sensed. You see, I didn't even know what to call it. Mozart knew all about it.

  Dr. Helen Smith : Make love, not science.

• Peter Conway : It is the coming of a new age in which I have no place. The new truths are not my truths. I think I am the perennial dodo. I belong to a thing like Athens, a mother of a mode of life which shall renew the youth of the world. A thing like Nazareth. Change is a delusion. It is of new things that Men tire, of fashions and proposals and improvements. 'Tis the old things that are forever young. I have no place here. It is time to leave.