Our list of the best quotes from Netflix drama limited television series, developed by Shawn Levy Steven Knight, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Anthony Doerr. Set during the height of World War II, All the Light We Cannot See follows the lives of two teenagers, Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti), a blind French girl, and Werner Pfennig (Louis Hofmann), a German boy forced to join to fight for the Nazis, who share a secret connection that will become a beacon of hope in the darkest of times.
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1. Episode 1
'The most important light of all is the light we cannot see.' - Etienne LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Marie-Laure: Papa? Uncle Etienne? If you can hear me, please come home. The bombs are falling now, and I think the Americans have come to free us at last.
Marie-Laure: And, Papa, you said you would be gone for six days, it’s been more than a year. But wherever in the world you are, if you can hear me, I love you.
'If nature still has secrets, we should consider that any species of monster is possibly out there in the darkness and in the depths.' - Marie-Laure (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Marie-Laure: “The great depths of the ocean are unknown to us. Soundings cannot reach them. What passes in those remote depths, what beings live, or can live twelve, or fifteen miles beneath the surface of the waters, we do not know.”
Marie-Laure: “Either, we do know all the varieties of beings which people our planet, or we do not. If we do not know them all, if nature has still secrets in the deeps for us, nothing is more comfortable to reason than to admit the existence of fishes, or cetaceans of other kinds. If, on the contrary, we do know all living kinds, we must necessarily seek for the animal in question amongst those marine beings already classed. If we do not know them all, if nature still has secrets, we should consider that any species of monster is possibly out there in the darkness and in the depths.”
'Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.' - Werner (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Frank Volkheimer: We are about to die, Werner, and you are listening to the f***ing radio.
Frank Volkheimer: Listening to foreign broadcasts is punishable by death.
Werner: Yeah, so what? Ten seconds, a hundred, we’re both dead anyway.
Werner: Now, when it’s too late, the frequency comes alive and I hear a girl reading a book. And I will never know who she is.
Marie-Laure: I know that broadcasting could get me killed, but I will not be silenced. Papa, Uncle Etienne, I pray that you are safe and that tomorrow morning we can break bread together as we once did. And to everyone else, I hope you will tune in again tomorrow. If there is a tomorrow.
Reinhold von Rumpel: Then this is it. The beginning of the end.
Reinhold von Rumpel: I am here in this ill-fated city, to find someone who I believe has something that I want. A girl. A blind girl, who I know is in Saint-Malo. Who I know is in Saint-Malo. When I arrived here, I told you I would give you the time it takes for me to eat a dozen oysters and drink a bottle of wine. Now, the wine is gone, the oysters eaten. You have ten more seconds to give me the address of Marie-Laure LeBlanc. The blind girl that the whole town must know, but who no one can recall!
French Restaurant Owner: Go to hell.
Reinhold von Rumpel: My friend, don’t be ridiculous. It is quite plain we are in hell already.
Young Marie-Laure: I thought this wasn’t school.
Daniel LeBlanc: Everything’s school.
Young Marie-Laure: Not for you.
Daniel LeBlanc: Especially for me.
Daniel LeBlanc: You see, Marie, the world’s still the world whether you can see or not. Your fingers are your eyes. You have ten fingers, and most people only have two eyes, so you’re five times better off because five times two is…
Young Marie-Laure: Ten.
Daniel LeBlanc: [referring to the Sea of Flames] The legend’s from a time when people believed many things that weren’t true. It says that whoever touches the stone is also cursed.
Young Marie-Laure: What is the curse?
Daniel LeBlanc: The curse is that if you touch the stone whoever you love will suffer a terrible misfortune. But if you possess the stone, you yourself will never die. So, as you can see, immediately, from those two physically impossible things, the legend is simply nonsense.
Marie-Laure: He said the light you get from a piece of coal is actually sunlight. The point is, light lasts forever. For a billion years inside a piece of coal. But darkness, the professor said…
Werner, Marie-Laure: Darkness lasts not even for one second when you turn on the light.
Sandrina: I wake, I work, I sleep.
Marie-Laure: Papa, I imagine you somewhere with only my voice for company. I cannot leave you alone. I promised I would speak to you always. And I will. I’ll talk to you, give you a reason to hope.
Werner: You either die like a lion or you go over like a glass of spilt milk. Isn’t that what they taught us at the Institute?
Schmidt: [to Werner, as he points his gun at him] I’m a glass of spilt milk. But I’m not an idiot. I have a secret. You have a secret.
Werner: There was a professor. He told us facts. Facts when everyone else was giving us opinions. He used to say, “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.” And I have tried to do that. But most of what I’ve seen I would sooner forget.
Werner: Maybe someone else who used to listen to him, just like me. Someone from our generation who thought if you open up the frequency, and talk reason, and sense, and literature to people the way the professor used to do, then maybe the insanity of this old man’s war might come to an end.
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Marie] This war, this madness, all these lives, they mean nothing to me. I just want to live. And I believe you can help me.
2. Episode 2
'Things don't really change, no matter how much time passes.' - Etienne LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Reinhold von Rumpel: I need you. But, Marie, there is no escape from me. The tide is rising, and only I can get you to safety, because only I have the light.
Marie-Laure: People who only use their eyes find it difficult.
Reinhold von Rumpel: Marie, there’s something you should know. It is your father’s fault you went blind. The Sea of Flames is blessed, but it’s also cursed. The loved ones of its owner are struck with terrible afflictions. Your darkness was a gift from your precious Papa.
'In life, you must never hide who you are. But in war, being unseen can keep you alive.' - Daniel LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Captain Mueller: A girl is broadcasting. The code is directing the bombs. But you already knew that, didn’t you, Pfennig? And when Schmidt found out, you killed him. Hmm? Why? Gun. You’re a spy.
Werner: No.
Captain Mueller: Then explain!
Werner: I did it to protect a memory. A place of hope. The only one the Reich could not destroy.
Herr Seidler: Yes, truth and beautiful things, all forbidden, Werner Pfennig. Your ears have consumed forbidden words, so your mind is in itself, forbidden. Now, we know what you’ve been doing, and you know the punishment for it is death. So, here’s my proposition. You fix my wife’s radio, or you die.
'The tyrant is a child of pride who drinks from his sickening cup of recklessness and vanity until from his high crest, he plummets headlong to the dust of hope.' - Etienne LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Marie-Laure: So, can you explain to me why a whole city is running away with nowhere to run to? Can you explain why the Jews are running the fastest? Can you explain why one country wants to own another?
Daniel LeBlanc: I cannot. I can’t explain any of it.
Marie-Laure: On the radio, they say the Nazis hate anyone who’s different, and they hate anyone who speaks the truth. Listen to me. Listen. I’m different. I know I am. I know you’ve tried to protect me, but I’m different. You speak the truth.
Daniel LeBlanc: Yes. And I’ll stay silent to keep you safe. The only different thing about you is that you’re willing to carry a heavy weight at your side in order to hear the truth, which is one of the many extraordinary things about you, Marie. In life, you must never hide who you are. But in war, being unseen can keep you alive.
'Times are dark right now, but trust always that light does prevail.' - Etienne LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Marie-Laure: We need to understand the madness in this world. I’ll carry my own burden.
Daniel LeBlanc: No. It’s not your burden to carry alone.
Marie-Laure: There are no trains. No one’s going to give us a ride because kindness is dead, and all the people of the world have become evil at the same time.
Daniel LeBlanc: Not all the people.
Etienne LeBlanc: I’d like to start tonight’s broadcast with some words which, wherever you are, you might find timely. They were written a long, long time ago by a Greek playwright named Sophocles. But I think the words prove that things don’t really change, no matter how much time passes. Here is what he wrote, “The tyrant is a child of pride who drinks from his sickening cup of recklessness and vanity until from his high crest, he plummets headlong to the dust of hope.” I know that times are dark right now, children, but trust always that light does prevail.
Werner: For one hour of the day, I want to listen to kindness and reason.
Frau Elena: Werner, you’re not being taken away. You have been chosen because you’re so clever. They’ll say that you’re too little. That you came from nowhere. That you shouldn’t dream big. But I believe in you. And I know you’ll do something great.
Jutta: You will stay the same, Werner Pfennig. Even though you’re often annoying. You must not change.
Werner: You’re hurting me again.
Jutta: Do not let them impress you. Do not let them convince you. Keep the inside of your soul the same, okay? Like one of your silly radio stations. Keep the frequency the same.
Werner: I promise.
Werner: Where are you taking me?
Herr Seidler: To a place where they will turn the boy into a man, and the man into a soldier.
Herr Seidler: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
Dr. Heinrich: [to Werner] But know this. The boy you are now will soon be dead, replaced by something more than human.
Marie-Laure: Papa, I pray that the signal from this radio is reaching you wherever you are, because I will never, never give up hope. Not ever. All my love.
Captain Mueller: It’s time to meet your friend.
Werner: Whoever you are, please forgive me.
3. Episode 3
Captain Mueller: [to Werner, referring to Marie] If she has accomplices, you will die first. If she is alone, it will be you who has the pleasure of killing her.
Etienne LeBlanc: You just shot your commanding officer.
Werner: It’s a long story.
'I say, “Isn't the world a beautiful place?” And then you ask, “So why are we destroying it?”' - Etienne LeBlanc, Marie-Laure (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Werner: So, her name is Marie.
Etienne LeBlanc: I don’t want to hear her name in a German mouth. So I don’t know who the f*** you are, but I do want to hear your long story.
Madame Manec: [referring to Marie] I hope you tell her every day how pretty she is.
Daniel LeBlanc: Aunt Manec, she’s blind, not deaf.
Madame Manec: I will be her mirror on the wall, and it will be me who tells her when she stops being pretty, and starts being beautiful.
'If you lock a tiger in a metal box, it will look like a metal box.' - Daniel LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Etienne LeBlanc: Anyway, I imagine the air is heavy with the presence of me.
Daniel LeBlanc: Well, I only smell lilac.
Etienne LeBlanc: That’s my cologne. My last remaining absurdity.
Daniel LeBlanc: What do you listen to all day?
Etienne LeBlanc: Oh, you know, the world talking to itself like an angry lunatic.
Madame Manec: [referring to Etienne] The things he saw in the war, he is now unable to not see. He sees them when he closes his eyes, especially when there is loud noise or unexpected things. Cars and seagulls screaming. So, for twenty years, almost since the day he came back from the war, he has stayed here, inside this house.
Madame Manec: [referring to Etienne] I talk to him about fresh air and light. But do you know what the silly man says?
Marie-Laure: What?
Madame Manec: He says the most important light in the world is all the light you cannot see.
German Officer: Do not think! Do not stop to think! You have been given an order, and you will do it joyfully! Thought destroys action! Friedrich Nietzsche states we are not required to consider our actions! We must simply do, and do, and do!
German Officer: The lion is not free to become a lamb! The strong are not free to be weak! The strong devour the weak!
Werner: The things that I’ve seen, they haunt me.
Werner: I have done bad things. Many bad things.
Etienne LeBlanc: I have done bad things too.
Sandrina: You never explained, what interest do you have in this little blind girl who beat you up so badly?
Reinhold von Rumpel: She’s not so little. B**ch almost broke my skull.
Reinhold von Rumpel: He has a daughter who’s blind? Then perhaps Daniel LeBlanc, man of science, should review his dismissal of the superstition.
Marie-Laure: Papa, if you’re listening, I was almost killed last night over a piece of rock. I don’t know how long I have until that German finds me again. But until he does, I will remain here, where it all began. After all the bombs, all the smoke, I still smell lilacs.
Etienne LeBlanc: The smell of lilacs brings back happier times when I was a young man and something of a dandy. You know what a dandy is?
Marie-Laure: No.
Etienne LeBlanc: Good.
Marie-Laure: What’s the microphone for?
Etienne LeBlanc: The microphone is connected to this, the transmitter, and I sometimes use it to add my voice to the babble of voices.
Marie-Laure: What do you say when you speak?
Etienne LeBlanc: I say, “Isn’t the world a beautiful place?”
Marie-Laure: And then you ask, “So why are we destroying it?” Isn’t that what you say?
Etienne LeBlanc: Sometimes when I speak, the words choose themselves.
Marie-Laure: Can I call you just Etienne? Because Great Uncle Etienne makes you sound like you’re some sort of emperor.
Etienne LeBlanc: An emperor I am, but just in this attic room.
Etienne LeBlanc: Your father said he wanted to take you to the ocean.
Marie-Laure: Won’t you come with us?
Etienne LeBlanc: No.
Marie-Laure: Why not? It’s because you see things that aren’t there, don’t you? Things you can’t forget.
Marie-Laure: You are the professor.
Etienne LeBlanc: Well, that’s absurd. Do I look like a professor?
Marie-Laure: I don’t know what you look like, but I do know voices as if they were faces. You are the professor.
Etienne LeBlanc: I was never really sure that there was anyone even listening.
Marie-Laure: I was always listening. I think many of us were.
Etienne LeBlanc: Well, the professor’s gone. I packed him away. And now I use my radio for more important things.
Marie-Laure: What could be more important than everything you said to us?
Daniel LeBlanc: So what do you think of the ocean?
Marie-Laure: Sounds like someone breathing in their sleep.
Daniel LeBlanc: I always felt it was like the world catching its breath over and over again.
Marie-Laure: Catching its breath. I like that.
Marie-Laure: Madame Manec said that Uncle Etienne was a war hero, but he doesn’t seem like a war hero to me.
Daniel LeBlanc: Well, if you lock a tiger in a metal box, it will look like a metal box.
Daniel LeBlanc: Etienne, there’s some things I haven’t told you.
Etienne LeBlanc: What things?
Daniel LeBlanc: Some secrets are better kept secret. I don’t expect you to understand.
Etienne LeBlanc: You are not the only one with secrets.
Marie-Laure: I know, Papa. We must not seem afraid.
Daniel LeBlanc: No, we must not.
Marie-Laure: Because we’re not afraid.
Daniel LeBlanc: No, we’re not.
Gestapo German Officer: [as he looks at Marie] You have great skill. And terrible misfortune.
Daniel LeBlanc: It’s not a misfortune. It’s a blessing.
Etienne LeBlanc: I think you know the reason I don’t go out.
Marie-Laure: But there is no reason in it. The past is done and gone. I thought you believed in science.
Etienne LeBlanc: Marie, why don’t you just imagine that I am like one of these oysters? I’m stuck inside my shell.
Marie-Laure: But you’re not an oyster, Etienne. Whoever heard of an oyster wearing lilac cologne, riding on a motorbike with girls screaming?
Daniel LeBlanc: There. You’ve done it. You’ve made him very upset.
Marie-Laure: Perhaps someone must.
Etienne LeBlanc: [to Marie] Keep asking me to come with you. And one day, if it’s you that’s asking, I just might.
Madame Manec: Women keep secrets far better than men, my dear.
Daniel LeBlanc: If I’d known what you were doing here, I would never have brought this trouble here to you. If you want us to leave, we’ll leave.
Madame Manec: During time of war, Daniel, priorities are altered. You are family, you are blood, and blood is forever.
Daniel LeBlanc: I must leave to throw them off the trail, to keep you safe. Now, Marie, I have a train to catch. Etienne will let you use the radio. Speak to me and wherever I am, I will listen and I will be with you.
Marie-Laure: I will. I’ll continue to speak to you no matter how long you’re gone. And I will be with you.
Etienne LeBlanc: [to Werner] I have wasted half my life hiding from my fears. Now, you must be fearless!
4. Episode 4
'Everything has a voice. You just have to listen.' - Marie-Laure (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Reinhold von Rumpel: I have finally found you! Marie? There’s nowhere left to run. I know you are up there, Marie. There is no escape. I’m weak and I’m slow, but my need is great. I’m coming for you, Marie.
Etienne LeBlanc: It’s a good place for this.
Werner: For what?
Etienne LeBlanc: The last lesson you will learn from the professor. It’s that when your soul is leaving this Earth, you know it. You can see your whole life laid out in moments.
'When your soul is leaving this Earth, you know it. You can see your whole life laid out in moments.' - Etienne LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Marie-Laure: Do you think, Madame Manec, that in heaven we really will see God face-to-face?
Madame Manec: We might.
Marie-Laure: What if you’re blind?
Madame Manec: I’d expect, if God wants us to see something, we’ll see it.
Madame Manec: [to Etienne] Don’t you want to be alive before you die?
'Death will come for you. But if you love someone, love is what outlasts it.' - Daniel LeBlanc (All the Light We Cannot See) Share on X
Etienne LeBlanc: I once said to you that if it was you that was asking, I might one day come with you. So, please, ask me again.
Marie-Laure: Uncle Etienne, will you come with me into the world?
Etienne LeBlanc: Yes. Yes, I will.
Marie-Laure: Papa said that you were once a tiger.
Etienne LeBlanc: A tiger. Yes, a tiger I once was.
Marie-Laure: And will be again. You will be again.
Etienne LeBlanc: [referring to Manec] It was her heart. She waited until she knew I could take her place. She never gave up on me, even after I gave up on myself. We will finish what you started. We will finish your work. I promise. We will finish it.
Reinhold von Rumpel: Enough is enough, Marie! At last, I have found you. Today. This moment. This is where it ends.
Etienne LeBlanc: Marie won’t be safe. You go to her, and you protect her until the Americans come.
Werner: I will.
Etienne LeBlanc: When you see Marie, tell her that a tiger is happier dead than in a cage. She set me free. Tell her thank you.
Etienne LeBlanc: You’re a good boy, Werner Pfennig. You’re a good boy. Don’t let this war break you. You’ll protect her.
Werner: I promise.
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Daniel] Never stop walking. Never hesitate.
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Danie] Your bravery is of no concern to me. In war, bravery is like leaves on a tree, abundant, useless. Blown away.
Reinhold von Rumpel: If you don’t tell me where it is, I will shoot you. Through the head, here in this room, before nightfall.
Daniel LeBlanc: But then I’m already dead. And you cannot threaten a dead man.
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Daniel] You don’t believe in idiotic things, like cursed diamonds. Even though your possession of the particular stone led to your daughter living her life in darkness. So, as a rational man, I don’t believe you would give up your life for a simple piece of rock. But you would give up your life for her. That means the diamond is with your daughter. If I find your daughter, I will find the stone.
Daniel LeBlanc: [to Von Rumpel] You believe the Sea of Flames will give you eternal life? I’m sorry. Death will come for you. But if you love someone, love is what outlasts it. Which is why my daughter lives in light, not darkness.
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Daniel] I’ve learned, in many such situations, that pain is stronger than loyalty and patriotism. But the question of this afternoon is, is pain stronger than love?
Reinhold von Rumpel: [to Marie] That was the question. Is pain stronger than love? You want to know the answer to that question? The answer’s no.
Marie-Laure: Papa, you are not gone, until I am gone.
Marie-Laure: I will not go, until he is gone. I am not alone.
Reinhold von Rumpel: You may have a gun, Marie. But what you don’t have is eyes. And soon, you won’t have ears either.
Marie-Laure: We are not going to die today.
Marie-Laure: Even if I’m deafened, I’ll still hear your voice.
Marie-Laure: Who are you?
Werner: My name is Werner. I’m a German soldier, but I’m your friend. Your Uncle Etienne was my professor too!
Reinhold von Rumpel: Your story is irrelevant, you traitor! And rest assured, it will die with you very soon.
Marie-Laure: [after she shoots and kills Von Rumpel] You’re a German soldier.
Werner: I’m not anything anymore. Except alive. Thanks to you.
Werner: My dear sister, Jutta, I don’t know if you’re listening, but if you are, then know that I am alive, and that I’m still on the same frequency in my head. I’m in France. I will try to come home. And when I get back, I will tell you everything. There are so many things. But the most important thing, I met the professor. I really did. He saved my life. And I’m sitting in his chair. With a girl who has the most beautiful eyes. I have to go. All my love.
Werner: If you’re caught with me, you will be shot as a collaborator. But we will meet again.
Marie-Laure: Where?
Werner: At shortwave 13.10. If you broadcast, I will be listening. And when the war is over, if you want me to come, I will come.
Marie-Laure: You might change your mind.
Werner: I won’t. I won’t.
Marie-Laure: Then be sure to listen.
Werner: I will. I will as I always have.