- [the first words ever spoken by a human to the apes]
- George Taylor: Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
- [last lines]
- George Taylor: Oh my God. I'm back. I'm home. All the time, it was... We finally really did it.
- [screaming]
- George Taylor: You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!
- Dr. Zaius: You are right, I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand and hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself.
- George Taylor: A planet where apes evolved from men? There's got to be an answer.
- Dr. Zaius: Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.
- Cornelius: [reading from the sacred scrolls of the apes] Beware the beast Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death.
- [Taylor ties up Dr. Zaius]
- Dr. Zira: Taylor! Don't treat him that way!
- George Taylor: Why not?
- Dr. Zira: It's humiliating!
- George Taylor: The way you humiliated me? All of you? YOU led me around on a LEASH!
- Cornelius: That was different. We thought you were inferior.
- George Taylor: Now you know better.
- Honorious: Tell us, why are all apes created equal?
- George Taylor: Some apes, it seems, are more equal than others.
- [first lines]
- George Taylor: And that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic, in the hands of the computers. I have tucked my crew in for the long sleep and I'll be joining them soon. In less than an hour, we'll finish our sixth month out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space - by our time, that is. According to Dr. Haslein's theory of time, in a vehicle travelling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it, while we've aged hardly at all. Maybe so. This much is probably true - the men who sent us on this journey are long since dead and gone. You who are reading me now are a different breed - I hope a better one. I leave the 20th century with no regrets. But one more thing - if anybody's listening, that is. Nothing scientific. It's purely personal. But seen from out here everything seems different. Time bends. Space is boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely. That's about it. Tell me, though. Does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother? Keep his neighbor's children starving?
- George Taylor: I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be.
- [brandishing a rifle]
- George Taylor: Don't try to follow me. I'm pretty handy with this.
- Dr. Zaius: Of that I'm sure. All my life I've awaited your coming and dreaded it.
- George Taylor: Imagine me needing someone. Back on Earth I never did. Oh, there were women. Lots of women. Lots of love-making but no love. You see, that was the kind of world we'd made. So I left, because there was no one to hold me there.
- [to Dr. Zaius after he finds a lobotomized Landon]
- George Taylor: You did it. You cut up his brain, you bloody baboon!
- Dr. Zaius: I see you've brought the female of your species. I didn't realize that man could be monogamous.
- George Taylor: On this planet, it's easy.
- George Taylor: There's your Minister of Science; honor-bound to expand the frontiers of knowledge...
- Dr. Zira: Taylor, please!
- George Taylor: ...except that he's also chief Defender of the Faith!
- Dr. Zaius: There is no contradiction between faith and science... true science!
- George Taylor: Are you willing to put that statement to the test?
- Cornelius: Taylor, I would much rather...
- George Taylor: Take it easy... you saved me from this fanatic, maybe I can return the favor!
- Dr. Zaius: Dr. Zira, I must caution you. Experimental brain surgery on these creatures is one thing, and I'm all in favor of it. But your behavior studies are another matter. To suggest that we can learn anything about the simian nature from a study of man is sheer nonsense. Why, man is a nuisance. He eats up his food supply in the forest, then migrates to our green belts and ravages our crops. The sooner he is exterminated, the better. It's a question of simian survival.
- George Taylor: If this is the best they've got around here, in six months we'll be running this planet.
- Cornelius: Well Taylor, we're all fugitives now.
- George Taylor: Do you have any weapons, any guns?
- Cornelius: The best, but we won't need them.
- George Taylor: I'm glad to hear it. I want one anyway.
- Dr. Zaius: Ah, yes - the young ape with a shovel. I hear you're planning another archeological expedition. Cornelius, a friendly word of warning - as you dig for artifacts, be sure you don't bury your reputation.
- [after seeing Taylor shave off his beard]
- Lucius: Why did you do that? Scrape off your hair?
- George Taylor: In my world, when I left it, only kids your age wore beards.
- Julius: [Julius stops hosing Taylor briefly] Shut, up you freak!
- George Taylor: Julius, you...
- Julius: [He turns on the hose again] I said shut up!
- Landon: [Reflecting on Stewart's death and Taylor's reaction to it] You don't seem too cut up about it...
- George Taylor: It's too late for a wake. She's been dead nearly a year.
- Leader of the hunt: I don't understand these animal psychologists. What is Dr. Zira trying to prove?
- Dr. Zaius: That man can be domesticated.
- [the hunt leader begins to laugh in disbelief]
- Dr. Zaius: Have you forgotten your scripture, the thirteenth scroll? "And Proteus brought the upright beast into the garden and chained him to a tree and the children did make sport of him."
- Dodge: [On deciding where to continue next] Which direction?
- George Taylor: That way...
- Dodge: Any particular reason?
- George Taylor: [sarcastically] None at all...
- George Taylor: [to Nova] Did I tell you about Stewart? Now there was a lovely girl.
- George Taylor: The most precious cargo we'd brought along, she was... to be the new Eve.
- George Taylor: With our hot and eager help, of course.
- George Taylor: Probably just as well she didn't make it this far.