Every once in a while, there are real gems in the narration of Oz by Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau) that I really enjoy. Here a selection of truths and just awesome narration, not dialogue though, that would be way too much. The bold ones are the best, imho.
Words. Words are weapons. I'd rather have a Mach 10 anytime. Some inmates say that violence is the worst thing we gotta face. For me, the worst thing is the great yawn. How do you fill day after dull ass day? We got these routines that are supposed to give our lives order and meaning. But I'm here to testify that I'm less afraid of getting shanked in my back than the routine. Cause the routine, man, the routine'll kill you.
(101 The Routine)
Sex and death. They're different but the same. To reach that final moment, that climax, you gotta give up control of your body, of your soul. And love? Well, if sex is sweet and death is bitter, love is both. Love will always and forever break your heart.
(102 Visits, Conjugal or Otherwise)
There's some pain that you don't share. Some pain like your fingerprints that's all yours. All alone.
(103 God's Chillin')
And God said let there be light! And there was light. But that's easy for God to say. He was God. But for the rest of us, finding the light takes time. A lifetime.
(103 God's Chillin')
In Oz, sometimes the things you can't touch are more real than the things you can. For instance, fear, hatred, loneliness, are more real to me than a shank. And a soul, every day, can grow into something you can almost hold. How fucked up is that? In a shithole like this, to first and finally see the face of God.
(103 God's Chillin')
It's rare when you say goodbye to someone that you know it's the last time. You can try to say whatever it is you should've said before or you can just hold on tight. Just hold on, hoping the moment will last you a lifetime.
(104 Capital P)
Secrets. We all got secrets. Mostly our secrets are tied to our addictions, our obsessions. You like that bourbon too much? You get off eating chicks with dicks. You gotta do it in hiding. You say you somebody but you really somebody else. Only things that matter to us most, do we keep a secret. And sometimes, those secrets will kill you.
(105 Straight Life)
You take a drug, right. The chemicals, they rush through your body, rush through your brain. And the sensations, you want the sensations again and again and again. But let me tell you, you can also get addicted to grief, to guilt, to hate. Cause when you feel dead inside, even bad sensations make you feel like you're alive.
(105 Straight Life)
I ain't saying drugs are good. But when your past is past and your present sucks and your future holds nothing but broken promises and dead dreams, the drugs'll kill the pain. Listen up, America. You ain't ever gonna get rid of drugs until you cure pain.
(105 Straight Life)
You wanna kill a man? Stick a shank in his chest. You wanna torture a man? Feed his loneliness. Fiend him from friendship, from peace, he will search everywhere. And when he realizes he won't find it, he will destroy himself.
(107 Plan B)
If you listen to the poets, they'll tell you that a big, bad event in someone's life changes them. If you lose the woman you love or your legs, you suddenly find a kind of beauty inside yourself. That's what they say, the poets. Truth is, you don't. After a big, bad event, you only become more of the person you already were. It's after a big, bad event that you find out the real person you always were inside.
(107 Plan B)
So, there used to be this tribe, the Aztecs, who believed that the universe is created by violence. Every year, in what was their version of Christmas, they would cut out someone's heart and offer it up to the gods. These people were convinced that without this sacrifice, the sun would fall from the sky and the world would come to an end. Then the Spaniards landed and wiped the Aztecs off the face of the earth. Turns out they was right; the world did come to an end.
(202 Ancient Tribes)
So here's the funny part: the Spaniards actually exterminated the Aztecs by accident. Yeah, they had the horses and the cannons, but they also brought over smallpox. It was the disease that finally finished the job, a disease the Spanish gave the Aztecs without even knowing. In Oz, we do what we can to survive. But ultimately, it doesn't matter. Life always gets in the way.
(202 Ancient Tribes)
Bad men have their impact too. But you gotta be really bad. Ivan the Terrible. Jack the Ripper. Adolf Hitler. Yeah, old Adolf was an evil fuck. And let's face it. Evil is the only thing that has survived intact these past thousand years.
(203 Great Men)
Now, you'd think a doctor or two would be on the top of the list of the greatest person of the millennium. I mean, doctors do research, discover diseases. But no one's gonna see Dr. Epstein-Barr, Dr. Norman-Barre, Dr. Down, and Dr. Alzheimer on any list. 'Cause for all their hard work, hearing their names fills us with dread. Their names make us sick.
(203 Great Men)
Yo, imagine being remembered for a thousand years. The things you did when you was alive reaching across time and touching the lives of people not yet born. That's a dream. That's why people write books, start religions, find cures, run for President. But me? I don't wanna be a great man. I don't care if I'm remembered for the next thousand years. All I ask is, if we pass on the street, notice me.
(203 Great Men)
Some people say the Bible is the greatest story ever told. Uh-uh. The best story is: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. Yeah, boy meets girl.
(204 Losing Your Appeal)
Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl. And that's the best part, right? After all that shit that's come before, the two lovers finally stare into each other's eyes and bang, the story ends. Only, what happens after boy gets down with girl? Well, he starts to get at her, she starts to get to him, boy makes girl crazy and vice versa.
(204 Losing Your Appeal)
Boy meets girl. Boy gets laid. What makes us want to fuck somebody? Is it the color of their eyes, the shape of their legs, the spike of their heels? Or is what the poets tell us, that there's something deeper. A shared loss, a longing to find someone who knows the depth of our sadness. Some people search their whole lives for that someone. Some find them, some don't. Some fool themselves into believing they're in love. And in Oz, most times, the illusion is better than the reality.
(204 Losing Your Appeal)
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