From: The Exorcist (1973)
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: Father Merrin
The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the 1973 supernatural horror film, The Exorcist. The film is about a young girl experiencing demonic possession and the attempts to try to exorcise the spirits dwelling in her by two priests. The Exorcist became the first horror movie to become nominated for Best Picture for the Academy Awards the next year.
The quote comes during the start of the third act. Father Merrin and Father Karras (played by Max von Sydow and Jason Miller, respectively) prepare for the exorcism. Father Merrin, being someone who has performed exorcisms before, tries to give advice to Father Karras in order to prepare him as the latter is also having a crisis of faith during this time. He then delivers the quote.
Geek wisdom: An outright blatant lie is never believable. But a lie with some truth mixed in can sound convincing. It can be really hard to discern which part of a statement is actually truth and which part is a lie. That’s why it’s important, especially in this age when the spread of misinformation is rampant, to stay vigilant and, as much as possible, don’t just regurgitate what you read because you believe it to be true or you want it to be true. Do a check and then double check.
