John Teller Quotes

True freedom requires sacrifice and pain. Most human beings only think they want freedom. In truth, they yearn for the bondage of social order, rigid laws, materialism. The only freedom man really wants is the freedom to be comfortable.[voiceover]

The older I get, the more I realize that age doesn’t bring wisdom. It only brings weary.[voiceover]

The true outlaw finds the balance between the passion in his heart and the reason in his mind. The solution is always an equal mix of might and right.[voiceover]

Self-awareness doesn’t reveal my indiscretions; exhaustion does.[voiceover]

My grief and introspection terrifies them, drives Gemma mad, and Clay’s pity has moved into profound loathing. I see my best friend and my wife growing closer and closer. I have no jealousy, truly. I feel nothing, not even fear. And I know I should be afraid.[voiceover]

Most of us were not violent by nature. We all had our problems with authority, but none of us were sociopaths. We came to realize that when you move your life off the social grid, you give up the safety that society provides. On the fringe, blood and bullets are the rule of law, and if you’re a man with convictions, violence is inevitable.[voiceover]

Inside the club, there had to be truth. Our word was our honor. But outside, it was all about deception. Lies were our defense, our default. To survive, you had to master the art of perjury. The lie and the truth had to feel the same. But once you learned that skill, nobody knows the truth, in or outside the club. Especially you.[voiceover]

I realized that in my downward spiral of hopelessness, I was actually falling into the huge hole created by my absence of basic human graces. The most obvious was forgiveness. If I was wronged by anyone, in or out of the club, I had to be compensated, money or blood. There was no turning the other cheek. When relationships become a ledger of profit and loss, you have no friends, no loved ones, just pluses and minuses. You are absolutely alone.[voiceover]

I never made a conscious decision to have the club become one thing or another. It just happened before my eyes. Each savage event was a catalyst for the next. And by the time the violence reached epic proportion, I couldn’t see it. Blood was every color.[voiceover]

I found myself lost in my own club. I trusted few, feared most. Nomad offered escape and exile. I didn’t know if leaving would cure or kill this thing we created. I didn’t know if it was an act of strength or cowardice. I didn’t know, so I stayed. I stayed because, in the end, the only way I could hold this up was to suffer under the weight of it.[voiceover]

Every day it becomes more clear that I don’t belong here. I’m certain now that Clay and Gemma are together. They barely try to hide it from me. Gemma hates my apathy. She hates all of me. Her chill is terrifying. I know my days are numbered, Mo, and when these letters stop, you can be certain that my death will come at the hands of my wife and best friend. At least my sweet Thomas will never suffer my life. I miss him so much. I only pray that Jackson finds a different path. He already reminds me so much of myself.[voiceover]

Einstein said that any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. But it takes a touch of genius and lots of courage to move something in the opposite direction. I’m realizing that my touch of genius and my courage are coming too little, too late. And I fear that for SAMCRO, there may be no opposite direction.[voiceover]