If you enjoy sci-fi movies about time travel and changing the world for the better, then these Tenet quotes might inspire you.
This sci-fi movie was released in 2020 and directed by Christopher Nolan. Tenet revolves around an unnamed agent known as The Protagonist. In the movie, he learns how to manipulate time in order to avert an attack that threatens to destroy the present world.
He was in charge of looking into inverted weapons of war, which are thought to be from the future and sent back in time to change or erase the past. It’s intense, thrilling, and will definitely keep you on your toes. But, aside from all the action-packed scenes, Tenet is a way for us to just stop and reflect on the time we have on our hands.
It’s a movie that explores deeper insights into how the world works and how our actions now will affect our future. If you want to know more about this topic, or even if you’re simply a fan of sci-fi movies, these Tenet quotes should be on your must-read list!
Start reading here.
And don’t forget to check out these Inception quotes and Interstellar quotes.
Best Tenet Quotes
1. “One man’s probability of death is another man’s possibility for a life.” – Sator
2. “Time isn’t the problem, it’s getting out alive that’s the problem.” – Neil
3. “Lying is the Standard Operational Procedure.” – The Protagonist
4. “The detritus of a coming war. Even the dead need allies.” – Barbara
5. “We’re being attacked by the future. And we’re fighting over time.” – Priya
6. “But can we change things if we do it differently?” – The Protagonist
7. “Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.” – Barbara
8. “Each generation looks after its own survival.” – The Protagonist
9. “I told you, you have to start looking differently at the world.” – The Protagonist
10. “What’s happened, happened, it’s an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world, it’s not an excuse for doing nothing.” – Neil
11. “It’s the bomb that didn’t go off. The danger no one knew was real. That’s the bomb with the real power to change the world.” – Neil
12. “We all feel like we would run into the burning building, but until you can feel the heat you will never know.” – Fay
13. “I’ve been thinking, we’re their ancestors. If they destroy us, won’t that destroy them?” – The Protagonist
14. “You don’t negotiate with a tiger. You watch the tiger until it turns on you and reveals its true fucking nature.” – Sator
Famous Tenet Quotes
15. “For me, I think this is the end of a beautiful friendship.” – Neil
16. “Our clients use us because we have no priority above their property.” – Gallery Director
17. “Bold I’m fine with. I thought you were gonna say nuts.” – Mahir
18. “All I have for you is a word: Tenet. It’ll open the right doors, some of the wrong ones too.” – Fay
19. “A chance to save my child, you don’t know what that means to a mother.” – Kat
20. “I’m not the man they send to negotiate. Or the man they send to make deals. But I’m the man people talk to.” – The Protagonist
21. “What’s happened, happened. I get it now. But it’s harder to take things on trust from people speaking half-truths.” – The Protagonist
22. “This reversing the flow of time—doesn’t us being here now, mean it never happened? Could we stop them?” – The Protagonist
23. “One of these bullets is like us, traveling forwards through time. The other ones going backward. Can you tell which is which?” – Barbara
24. “I realized I wasn’t working for you. We’ve both been working for me. I’m the Protagonist.” – The Protagonist
Also read: Jumper Quotes, The Martian Quotes
Deep Tenet Quotes That Will Make You Think
25. “Fighting fire with fire is a treacherous business.” – Priya
26. “You were a part of this before we even met.” – The Protagonist
27. “You are not shooting the bullet, you are catching it.” – Barbara
28. “I made a bargain with the devil. Money for time. We sold our future.” – Sator
29. “You have a future in the past. Years ago for me, years from now for you.” – Neil
30. “From your point of view, you caught it. But from the bullet’s point of view, you dropped it.” – Barbara
31. “But you’re not angry enough. Because anger scars over into despair. I look in your eyes—I see despair.” – Sator
32. “There’s a cold war. Cold as ice. To even know its true nature is to lose.” – Fay
33. “In a parallel world’s theory, we can’t know the relationship between consciousness and multiple realities.” – Neil
34. “You don’t work for us. You’re dead. Your duty transcends national interests. This is about survival.” – Fay
Tenet Quotes to Push You to Save the World
35. “We just saved the world, can’t leave anything to chance.” – Neil
36. “Do you think you are the only one capable of saving the world?” – Kat
37. “Ours, my friend. We’re the people saving the world from what might have been.” – Neil
38. “Save the world and then we will balance the books.” – Sir Michael Crosby
Tenet Quotes for Everyone Who’s Curious About the Movie
39. “You went back in time and killed your own grandfather. How could you’ve been born to commit the act?” – Neil
40. Neil: “What the hell happened here?”
The Protagonist: “It hasn’t happened yet.”
41. Sator: “This is where our worlds collide. How would you like to die?”
The Protagonist: “Old.”
Sator: “You chose the wrong profession.”
42. The Protagonist: “You wanna crash a plane?”
Neil: “Well, not from the air. Don’t be so dramatic.”
The Protagonist: “Well, how big a plane?”
Neil: “That part is a little dramatic.”
43. The Protagonist: “Well to do what I do, I need some idea of the threat we face.”
Barbara: “As I understand it, we are trying to prevent World War III.”
44. Barbara: “No small talk. Nothing that will reveal who we are or what we do.”
The Protagonist: “I thought I was here to find out what we do?”
Barbara: “I don’t care for ‘what,’ you’re here for ‘how.’ ‘What,’ is your department. None of my business.”
Interesting Tenet Quotes That Will Help You Learn the Workings of the World
45. “Look, no offense, but in this world where someone is claiming to be a billionaire, Brooks Brothers won’t cut it.” – Sir Michael Crosby
46. “Everyone assumes terrorism, but no one’s died so swift extradition then lost in the system. It’ll barely make the news.” – Mahir
47. The Protagonist: “I’ll manage. You British don’t have a monopoly on snobbery, you know.”
Sir Michael Crosby: “Well, not a monopoly. More of a controlling interest.”
Short Tenet Quotes to Revisit Your Favorite Scenes
48. “Policy is to suppress.” – Neil
49. “I’ll see you at the beginning, friend.” – Neil
50. “And there are no friends at dusk.” – Mumbai Contact
51. “You are inverted, the world is not.” – Wheeler
52. “We live in a twilight world.” – The Protagonist
53. “His ignorance is our only protection.” – The Protagonist
54. “That test you passed? Not everybody does.” – Fay
Tenet Quotes That Show How the Future Is Connected With the Past
55. “Someone manufacturing them in the future. And they’re streaming back to us.” – Barbara
56. “But there are some people in the future who want to continue the algorithm’s journey into the past. You see, Tenet wasn’t founded in the past, it will be founded in the future.” – Priya
57. The Protagonist: “He can communicate with the future?”
Priya: “We all do, don’t we. Email, credit cards, texts. Anything that goes into the records speaks directly to the future. The question is, can the future speak back?”
More Tenet Quotes for You to Enjoy
58. “Now that we know what to look for, we’re finding more and more inverted material.” – Barbara
59. “Even a nuclear weapon could only affect our future. An inverted weapon can affect our past also.” – Barbara
60. “An inverted bullet passing through your body would be devastating. Not pretty.” – Barbara
Did These Tenet Quotes Inspire You to Live a Better Life So That Future Generations Will Not Suffer?
John David Washington plays The Protagonist—a man who works for a secret organization called Tenet. As an agent, his primary mission is to stop future generations from destroying the present world and erasing the past.
Tenet is a great movie to watch, not just for sci-fi enthusiasts, but also those looking for a movie with profound life lessons. As we see the interactions between the past and the future, we’re reminded that even our smallest actions can cause a domino effect on the world, especially our future.
It serves as a reminder that one should constantly be aware of the actions and decisions one makes. We all live in the same world, and even if we don’t know it right now, we might be affecting someone on the other side of the planet.
With that, we hope that these Tenet quotes were able to encourage you to think about the difference you can make—now and for future generations. Remember that we all have the power to change the world, so make sure to use it for good!
Which of these Tenet quotes motivated you to create a better future? Join the discussion below!
