Evey Hammond: I don't want you to die.
V: That is the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me.
V: But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty you need only look into a mirror.
Delia Surridge: Oppenheimer was able to change more than the course of a war. He changed the entire course of human history. Is it wrong to hold on to that kind of hope?
V: I have not come for what you hoped to do. I've come for what you did.
V: Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for the interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comfort of everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereupon important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well, certainly, there are those who are more responsible then others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. They were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More then four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more then words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.
Evey Hammond: You're getting back at them for what they did to you?
V: What they did to me was monstrous.
Evey Hammond: And they created a monster.
V: I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence.
V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V.
Evey Hammond: Are you like a crazy person?
V: I'm quite sure they will say so.
V: Would you like to dance?
Evey Hammond: Now?! On the eve of your revolution?
V: A revolution without dancing...is a revolution not worth having!
Creedy: Die! Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. There is an idea, Mr. Creedy - and ideas are bulletproof.
Evey Hammond: Who...who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what. And what I am, is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking on the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
V: Remember, remember, the fifth of November, The gunpowder treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.
V: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
BTN News Poppet: Now, this is only an initial report, but at this time, it's believed that during this heroic raid, the terrorist was shot and killed.
Little girl: Bollocks.
Evey Hammond: Are you a Muslim?
Gordon Deitrich: No. I'm in television.
Creedy: We have guns!
V: No, what you have are bullets.
V: When all your bullets are gone, I better not be standing, because you'll all be dead before you reload.
Answer: Nothing is ever revealed about V's history before Larkhill so we don't know why he was there. As for the roses, in the original comic book, in order to keep him compliant during his time in captivity, V was allowed to tend a small garden while his health was monitored. It was during that time that he first grew the Scarlet Carson roses and also surreptitiously obtained the chemicals that he would use to destroy Larkhill and make his escape. Whether this can be considered consistent with the film storyline is an open question - certainly nothing in the film actively appears to contradict it.
Tailkinker ★