Infernal Affairs Quotes

Boo-Boo Pennyroyal did not like her male and female slaves to mingle. In the operas that she adored, young people brought together in tragic circumstances were forever falling in love with each other and then throwing themselves off things (cliffs, mostly, but sometimes battlements, or rooftops, or the brinks of volcanoes). Boo-Boo was fond of her slaves, and it pained her to think of them plummeting in pairs off the edges of Cloud 9, so she nipped all tragic love affairs firmly in the bud by forbidding the girls and boys to speak to one another. Of course, young people being what they were, girls sometimes fell in love with other girls, or boys with boys, but that never happened in the operas, so Boo-Boo didn't notice.

When she had arranged her household affairs, she came to the library and bade me follow her. Then, with the mirror still swinging against her knees, she led me through the garden and the wilderness down to a misty wood. It being autumn, the trees were tinted gloriously in dusky bars of colouring. The rowan, with his amber leaves and scarlet berries, stood before the brown black-spotted sycamore; the silver beech flaunted his golden coins against my poverty; firs, green and fawn-hued, slumbered in hazy gossamer. No bird carolled, although the sun was hot. Marina noted the absence of sound, and without prelude of any kind began to sing from the ballad of the Witch Mother: about the nine enchanted knots, and the trouble-comb in the lady's knotted hair, and the master-kid that ran beneath her couch. Every drop of my blood froze in dread, for whilst she sang her face took on the majesty of one who traffics with infernal powers. As the shade of the trees fell over her, and we passed intermittently out of the light, I saw that her eyes glittered like rings of sapphires. ("The Basilisk")

Life’s first relationship was not to walk hand-in-hand with joy and playfulness, but with anxiety and a most ancient species of paranoia. Its first affair was not with security, but uncertainty. Its first marriage was to intimidation and fear, and from that turbulence it found its defiance, long before it stumbled upon anything resembling affinity.

Ain't good to talk too much about infernal affairs if you can avoid it. Tends to make certain things stand up and pay attention.

After another clash erupted between striking workers and Chicago police at the Reaper Works in May of 1886, anarchist groups organized a rally at the city’s Haymarket Square as a memorial for the strikers killed by the police. Two thousand workers gathered to hear speeches by anarchist leaders August Spies and Albert Parsons. When the police moved in to break up the rally, an unseen assailant tossed a dynamite bomb at the officers, killing one immediately and maiming several others. Gunfire erupted; by the time the mêlée ended, seven officers were dead, along with at least four protestors. As many as a hundred others were injured in the riot. The Haymarket Affair sparked an immediate crackdown against the radical groups; Parsons and Spies were both arrested, along with six others, and accused of being accessories to the murder of the officer killed by the bomb. During the trial, key evidence was supplied by the lead Pinkerton undercover agent, Andrew C. Johnson, who claimed firsthand knowledge of the anarchists’ murderous plot. In response, Albert Parsons denounced the Pinkertons as “a private army…at the command and control of those who grind the faces of the poor, who keep wages down to the starvation point.” In the end, the jury sided with Johnson, and all eight were condemned to death. Four of them—including both Spies and Parsons—were executed, despite the fact that no evidence ever directly connected them to the infernal machine that had exploded during the rally. A fifth condemned prisoner committed suicide the night before the executions, detonating a dynamite blasting cap with his teeth in his prison cell.

Nafsu, Kehati-hatian dalam Suasana Tepat untuk Bercinta (Shades of "In the Mood for Love, 2046, Lust, Caution, Infernal Affairs, Chungking Express, Hero & Neo-Noir.") Tony, setiap kali kau melintas di layar, dunia berhenti bernapas seolah kamera Wong Kar-wai telah mengikat denyut bumi pada nadi kecil di bawah matamu. Tapi aku hendak menulis tentang hal lain— tentang kota-kota yang menua atau tentang tubuh manusia yang gagal memahami keinginan— lalu kau muncul begitu saja, seperti bisikan neon yang memaksa ingatan mundur ke jalan-jalan sempit Hong Kong pada menit yang tak pernah diputar ulang. Bagaimana mungkin kau memikul begitu banyak kesepian, Tony? Kesepian yang licin seperti hujan, dan setajam bilah yang pernah kau selundupkan ke balik lengah sejarah. Setiap peran yang kaumasuki bukanlah karakter— melainkan lorong psikis yang kau bongkar dengan tangan hening. Chow Mo-Wan, yang menyembunyikan rahasia di lubang kuil Angkor Wat, Masih berjalan di belakangmu seperti bayangan yang tak rela mati. Aku ingin bicara denganmu, Leung bukan sebagai penulis, bukan sebagai penonton, tetapi sebagai seseorang yang tahu bagaimana rasanya menjadi rahasia yang tidak ingin disembunyikan. Aku membawa segelas bir, angin malam, dan suara klakson yang patah. Di meja kecil itu, kau hanya menatap; seolah seluruh sejarah ketidaksetiaan sedang berusaha menulis ulang dirinya sendiri di balik tajam sorot matamu. Chiu-wai, aku tak lupa bagaimana kau mencabik tubuh gadis itu dalam Lust, Caution: bukan dengan jemarimu, tetapi dengan kehampaan yang mematuhi logikanya sendiri. Aku benci padamu— sekaligus iri pada dingin pisau itu, pada caramu memegang nafsu sebagai alat penyiksaan. Mr. Yee, kau bilang: "Satu sudah mati. Separuh otaknya hilang. Saya mengenali yang lainnya." Dan aku tahu, bahkan tanpa kamera, kau tetap akan tersenyum dengan keanggunan seorang pembunuh yang terlalu elegan untuk merasa bersalah. Namun ketika kau berlari menembus lampu-lampu jalan raya untuk menyelamatkan sekelebat hidup yang terlihat rapuh, seolah kematian pun ragu menelanmu. Adegan itu indah— indah karena dunia sesaat lupa bahwa kau tidak pernah benar-benar ingin hidup. Kau tahu, Tony, aku masih mengikutimu ke kedai mie yang tua itu. Aku memilih kursi paling belakang, mendengar sumpit menemukan mangkukmu seperti dentang jam yang menunda takdir. Kau berbicara lewat telepon kepada perempuan yang bukan istrimu dan tanpa sadar menghidupkan kembali dosa-dosa yang lupa kau kubur. Aku melihatmu di meja mahyong. Aku tahu ekspresi wajah pemain curang. Dan kau, Leung— kau bukan Dewa Judi Ko Chun, meski dunia ingin percaya bahwa keberuntunganmu datang dari langit, bukan dari kehancuran batin yang luar biasa detail. Aku seharusnya membunuhmu waktu itu, waktu kau telanjang dan tertidur bersama istriku dalam mimpi yang kau curi. Tubuh kalian basah, sunyi, dan terlalu jujur. Tapi aku tidak jadi melakukannya. Bukan karena kau tak layak mati— melainkan karena aku ingin melihat apa yang tersisa dari cahaya ketika ia melewati matamu. Apa itu keberanian, Tony? Apa itu kehati-hatian? Apa itu keinginan yang terus mengintai di balik sutra, kain, dan rahasia? Kau tak akan bisa menjawab. Kau hanya bisa hidup dalam kilau film yang selalu menunda tamat, karena realitas terlalu sempit untuk menampung duka yang kau bawa. Dan aku, aku akan terus membuntutimu dari film ke film, dari kehidupan ke kehidupan, menunggu saat kau sadar bahwa yang kukagumi bukanlah dirimu— tetapi kehancuranmu yang tak pernah berakhir. (2024 - 2025)