The Reluctant Fundamentalist Quotes

Changez: You picked a side after 9/11; I didn't have to. It was picked for me.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Nazmi Kemal: Have you heard of the janissaries?
Changez: No.
Nazmi Kemal: They were Christian boys, captured by the Ottomans at an early age. They were educated to forget their own culture and trained to be soldiers in their army. Then, as fanatical Muslims, they were set loose on the Christian countries from which they were taken.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Changez: [about watching the events of 9/11 unfold]In that moment, I should have felt sorrow or anger, but all I felt was awe. What audacity. The ruthlessness of the act was surpassed only by its genius. And David had struck Goliath. I'm sorry if my reaction to the attacks has offended you, Bobby. I hope you see that I'm not celebrating at the death of 3,000 innocents, just as you would not celebrate the death of 100,000 in Baghdad or Kabul, for that matter. But before conscience kicks in, have you never felt a split-second of pleasure at arrogance brought low?
Bobby Lincoln: And you ask me why they're harrassing your family. Let's just cut the bullshit, okay? You believe in violence as a tool for social change. You teach a course in violent revolution at Lahore University. Your lectures are full of anti-American rhetoric.
Changez: [cut to him teaching]We will wipe the blood of the invaders from our swords!
Bobby Lincoln: If that weren't enough, you were spotted at an Asal Mujahideen meeting with Mustafa Fazil, a known cell leader.
Changez: [cut to said meeting]I think I can help.
Mustafa Fazil: I knew you would.
Bobby Lincoln: Last night, Anse Rainier was kidnapped. And this morning, your class was canceled. If you're just an innocent bystander, Changez, why were you hiding? Only guilty people hide.
Changez: Your candor is appreciated, Bobby, but your conclusions are wrong.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Changez: I was just coming to see you.
Jim Cross: Interesting message you left me. You're not letting him go? What the hell does that mean?
Changez: It means that I'm not going to fire Nazmi Kemal. In fact, I'm not going to do any more evaluations. I'm quitting the firm, Jim.
Jim Cross: You accepted the position of associate less than three months ago. You leave now, you'll be giving up all hope of ever doing this kind of work again anywhere. You'd be commiting professional suicide.
Changez: I know I've let you down, Jim, and I'm deeply sorry for that. But I have to tell you that I'm through.
Jim Cross: You're telling me? You don't tell me!
Changez: Can we be civil, Jim?
Jim Cross: You think you're the only person who's experienced injustice firsthand? Throw a rock out there anywhere in this city and it'll land on the grave of someone who's seen worse than you. Now, maybe you're having some kind of breakdown. I will see to it that you will get some rest after this is done. But you will treat my committment to you with the respect that it deserves!
Changez: And to myself, as well. I have a committment to myself.
Jim Cross: Do you want to be an insurance salesman, Changez? With a mortgage and a migraine? Is that the life you envision for yourself?
Changez: As opposed to what? I have to live in truth. You taught me, Jim.
Jim Cross: You put your fucking shoes on and you go down to that office and you do the job you were hired to do!
Changez: It's not my job anymore.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Wainwright: [Changez is quitting the firm]Is this about me beating you in basketball?
Changez: You're going to be a great analyst, Wainwright.
Wainwright: What are you gonna be?

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Changez: [having learned Bobby is working with the CIA]Did you go to them or did they come to you?
Bobby Lincoln: Look, Changez...
Changez: Don't insult me. You wanna have a dialogue, let's have a dialogue. Did you go to them or did they come to you?
Bobby Lincoln: They came to me.
Changez: How does that happen? How do you go from writing so passionately against intervention in this region to this?
Bobby Lincoln: You wanna know how it happened? I'll tell you. In 2001, while you were busy getting rich in New York City, I was in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. A friend introduced me to Ahmad Shah Massoud. I spent a week interviewing him. He was opening schools for girls, talking about democracy, resisting the Taliban. I know he had blood on his hands, but he stood for something, meant something to people, and that's why I thought we didn't need to be there. Massoud never got the chance to read my book. Six months after it came out, he was killed by a bomb hidden in a video camera. Two days after that, the same guys that killed him took down the towers. And that's when I realized I'd been wrong. We did need to be here. So I picked a side.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Changez: Pretend I'm him.

Movie: The Reluctant Fundamentalist