An enormous, radioactively mutated lizard runs rampant in Manhattan.

Admiral William Stenz: This alpha predator of yours, doctor, do you really think he has a chance?
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: The arrogance of men is thinking nature is in our control and not the other way around. Let them fight.
[from trailer]
J. Robert Oppenheimer: We knew the world would not be the same. A few people cried; most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu takes on his multi-armed form and says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."
Admiral William Stenz: Gentlemen, you are being sent in by a HALO jump. Now, I realize not all of you have had hands-on experience. Frankly, none of us have ever faced a situation quite like this one before. I would not be asking any one of you to take this leap if I did not have complete faith in your ability to succeed. Your courage will never be more needed than it is today.
Joe Brody: You're not fooling anybody when you say what happened 15 years ago was a natural disaster. Not an earthquake, it wasn't a typhoon. Okay? So stop... Look, I'm tired of talking to you about this. I want my son. I wanna see my son. I wanna know that he's all right. This guy, this guy knows. He knows where he is. Musuko wa dokoda? I want my son. And I want my bag and discs. And I wanna talk to somebody in charge, not you. No, not you. I'm done talking to you. All right? You're looking at me right now, like I'm in a fish tank, right? That's fine. Because I know what happened here. And you keep telling everybody that this place is a death zone, but it's not! You're lying. Because what's really happening is that your hiding something out there. I'm right, aren't I? My wife died here! Something killed my wife. And I've a right to know! I deserve answers!
Joe Brody: See? There it is again! That is not a transformer malfunction, that is an electromagnetic pulse! And it effects everything from miles and miles, and it is happening again! This is what caused everything to happen in the first place! Can't you see that? And it's gonna send us back to the Stone Age! You have no idea what's coming.
Ford Brody: Can we kill it?
Sam Brody: [sees Godzilla on TV] Mommy, look. Dinosaurs.
Admiral William Stenz: [on mobilizing warheads] I know you don't agree with this. But my first priority is to safeguard our citizens.
[Serizawa shows Admiral Stenz a watch]
Admiral William Stenz: It's stopped.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: Yes. Eight-fifteen in the morning, August 6 1945.
Admiral William Stenz: Hiroshima.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: It was my father's.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: In 1954, the first time that a nuclear submarine ever reached the lower depths, it awakened something.
Vivienne Graham: The Americans first thought that it was the Russians. The Russians thought that it was them. All those nuclear tests in the '50s...? Not tests.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: They were trying to kill it. Him. An ancient alpha predator.
Vivienne Graham: Millions of years older than mankind. From an age when the Earth was ten times more radioactive than today. This animals and others like it consumed this radiation as a food source. As the levels on the surface naturally subsided these creatures adapted to live deeper in the oceans. Furter underground. Absorbing radiation from the planet's core. The organization we work for, Monarch, was established in the wake of this discovery. A multinational coalition formed in secrecy to search for him. Study him. Learn everything we could.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: We call him... Gojira.
Vivienne Graham: The top of the primordial ecosystem. A god, for all intents and purposes.
Ford Brody: A monster.
[last words]
Joe Brody: [to Ford] Go home to your family. You keep them safe. Okay? Whatever it takes.
Joe Brody: I have to go back to our house. I need my old disks, if they're still there. I need the data to be able to prove a baseline here that this isn't a fantasy, that I'm not what you think I am. I'm gonna find the truth and end this. Whatever it takes.
Ford Brody: Why can't you just let it rest?
Joe Brody: Because I sent her down there, son.
Admiral William Stenz: This is our needle in a haystack, people. M.U.TO. Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism. It is, however, no longer terrestrial. It is airborne. Now, the world still thinks this was an earthquake and it would be preferable that that remain so. Before we lost sight of it, it was heading East across the Pacific and had emitted enough EMP disruption to create havoc with our radar and satellite feeds and reduce us, for the moment, to a strictly visual pursuit. I emphasize "for the moment," because we will get on our game and we will find this thing. It is imperative that we do so.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: That's a lot of fish.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: Nature has an order. A power to restore balance. I believe he is that power.
Elle Brody: [as Ford leaves for Japan] You know you're only gonna be gone for a few days, right? And then you are gonna come back to me.
Ford Brody: Yeah. Yeah.
Elle Brody: It's not the end of the world.
Admiral William Stenz: Doctor, what do you mean by "hunting"? You think it's chasing this M.U.TO.?
Admiral William Stenz: But if the M.U.TO. is his prey... The signal shows a call. Why call up a predator?
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: No, it didn't. I think Godzilla was only listening. The M.U.TO. was calling something else.
[from trailer]
Joe Brody: I'm not crazy.
[first lines]
Boyd: Dr. Serizawa? Jerry Boyd. I'm warning you, it's a mess. It's just a total mess. Monarch set me in this morning. Took a look around but I told them we need you.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: What do we do now?
Philippe Roaché: Running would be a good idea.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: Gojira may be the answer. I believe he's here to restore balance. He can defeat them.
Admiral William Stenz: And what? We just stand by and watch? I'm sorry, doctor. I can't take that risk.
Sergeant Tre Morales: I guess we're monster hunters now.
[Nick was unsuccessful in conning the Guard, but Philippe was]
Tunnel Guard: Alright. Move on.
Philippe Roaché: [to Guard, sounding like Elvis] Thank you. Thank you very much.
Philippe Roaché: [to Nick] Elvis Presley movies. He was The King.
Philippe Roaché: [holding up a doughnut] No croissant?
Jean-Luc: No, monsieur.
Philippe Roaché: [slurps drink, groans] You call this coffee?
Jean-Luc: I call this America.
Apache Pilots: [after accidentally hitting the Chrysler Building with a missile] Oh! Damn, uh! That's a negative impact, sir! I repeat, that's a negative impact!
Mayor Ebert: Negative impact? That's the goddamned Chrysler Building!
Sergeant O'Neal: We need... bigger guns.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: [Repeated line after someone mispronounces his name] It's Tatopoulos.
Joe Brody: I have to go! I came back here and I wasted six years staring through that barbed wire, thinking it was a military mistake or some horrible design flaw that they were covering up. One day... I met a guy who runs a cargo boat offshore. Every day he goes right past the reactor site. So he places a couple frequency monitors on bouys for me. Two weeks ago... I check this thing like every other day just for the kick in the teeth. Two weeks ago, I'm tuning in and, oh, my God... there it is. Whatever "it" is, that's in there. Whatever it is they're guarding so carefully... started talking again. And I mean talking.
Ford Brody: Let me take you home. Come home with me. I got a little boy who's desperate to see his grandpa.
Audrey Timmonds: Wait, I don't get it... If he's the first of his kind, how can he be pregnant? Doesn't he need a mate?
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Not if he reproduces asexually.
Audrey Timmonds: Where's the fun in that?
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: I've always wanted to join the French Foreign Legion.
Mayor Ebert: What the hell's the matter with you people?
[shouts]
Mayor Ebert: You've caused more damage than that goddamn thing did!
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: This thing is much too big to be some lost dinosaur.
Philippe Roaché: I am Philippe Roaché, DGSE - Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: It sounds big.
Philippe Roaché: French Secret Service.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Oh.
Lucy Palotti: He is scum! As far as he's concerned, you're just a pair of breasts that talk.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Hey, there's an image.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Oh! Oh you gotta be kidding me man, we're in his mouth! We're IN HIS MOUTH!
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: The radiation isn't an anomaly, it's the clue.
[looking at a fossil]
Vivienne Graham: Oh, my God. Is it possible? Is it him?
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: No. This is much older.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: What's with the chewing gum?
Philippe Roaché: It makes us look more American.
[watching the other MUTO wreck havoc on the news]
Vivienne Graham: It's almost 300 feet. It's much bigger than the other one.
Admiral William Stenz: This one doesn't have any wings.
Vivienne Graham: A different sex?
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: ...A female.
Vivienne Graham: THAT'S who he's been talking to.
Dr. Ichiro Serizawa: It must be a mating call. The female remained dormant until the male matured.
Vivienne Graham: Now they're seeking radiation... to reproduce!
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Where did you find this guy?
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: He's from France.
Sergeant O'Neal: I can't believe it, uh... he did all of this and... we did nothing to him.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Ah, that's not true. We fed him.
Audrey Timmonds: How close did you get to the thing?
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: ...I got pretty close.
Charles Caiman, WIDF Anchor: Ladies and Gentlemen, we New Yorkers like to believe we've seen it all... what you're going to see right now will shock you beyond belief. This is, uh, footage we have that indicates that there is a *dinosaur* loose in Manhattan.
[Animal appears on TV]
Lucy Palotti: That's my husband! That's my husband! Oh, my... I'm gonna kill him!
[jumps, whoops]
[Caiman is complaining to his superiors via cell phone]
Charles Caiman, WIDF Anchor: I am grateful for the fact that we are getting a new set. I know that represents a commitment on the part of management. Here's what I don't understand: why we're the only station in town that doesn't have the Korean grocery hold-up as our lead. I mean, what's our lead? Rain, again! It's stupid. I know, the pressure's at the parties you go to is that we're the classy station. I'm sorry, I just don't give a rat's ass about a war in some country whose name I can't even pronounce. How about a real story?
[Caiman's secretary looks behind him and sees Godzilla walk past the window]
Caiman's Secretary: Sir? I think your story just walked by the window.
[Caiman turns around just as Godzilla disappears from view. He turns back, only to miss Godzilla's tail sweep over the windows]
Charles Caiman, WIDF Anchor: What?
[Caiman resumes talking on his phone]
Charles Caiman, WIDF Anchor: Maybe we can get the Korean grocer's hospital.
Colonel Hicks: Well, don't tell me what it isn't; tell me what the hell it is.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Well, what do we know? Uh, it was first sighted off the French Polynesian Pacific. That area has been exposed to dozens of nuclear tests over the past 30 years.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Wrong floor.
[Animal is about to sneak out of his apartment]
Audrey Timmonds: What are you doing?
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Can't let Lucy know. She'll hurt me.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: You gonna be all right?
Lucy Palotti: Yeah, Audrey's gonna spend the night with us.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Cool. A threesome. That's excellent. I'm a little tired.
Victor 'Animal' Palotti: Uh, you better step on it, Mr. French.
[about breaking up with Nick]
Audrey Timmonds: It's been eight years. Some people change.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: Most people don't.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: [after Godzilla discovers one of his dead offspring] He looks angry.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: He's not some monster trying to evade you. He's just an animal. If you find what he wants, then he'll come to you.
Ed, WIDF Engineer: There's no Ranger game on tonight.
Philippe Roaché: Okay, party's over. Time to leave.
[shoots out the window]
Philippe Roaché: Anyone care to join me?
Homeless Guy: Hey, Joe! Gonna catch one of them little fish in the East River?
Old Fisherman: I hope so.But you never know.I mean, today could be my lucky day.
Homeless Guy: The only thing you'll catch is a cold.
Dr. Niko Tatopoulus: This is not good! This is not good!
Philippe Roaché: What did you, see old man?
Japanese Tanker Cook: Gojira. Gojira.