
Prot: Let me tell you something, Mark. You humans, most of you, subscribe to this policy of an eye for an eye, a life for a life, which is known throughout the universe for its... stupidity. Even your Buddha and your Christ had quite a different vision, but nobody's paid much attention to them, not even the Buddhists or the Christians. You humans. Sometimes its hard to imagine how
you've made it this far.

Dr. Mark Powell: What if I were to tell you that according to a man who lived on our planet, named Einstein, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light?
Prot: I would say that you misread Einstein, Dr. Powell. May I call you Mark? You see Mark, what Einstein actually said was that nothing can accelerate to the speed of light because its mass
would become infinite. Einstein said nothing about entities already traveling at the speed of light or faster, at tachyon speeds.

Dr. Mark Powell: Uh, how is it that being a visitor from space, that you, uh, you look so much like me or, or anyone else from Earth?
Prot: Why is a soap bubble round?
Dr. Mark Powell: "Why is a soap bubble round?"
Prot: You know, for an educated person, Mark, you repeat things quite a bit. Are you aware of
that? A soap bubble is round because it is the most energy-efficient configuration. Similarly, on your planet I look like you. On K-PAX I look like a K-PAXian.
Dr. Mark Powell: Prot, why did you want to come to our planet?
Prot: Well, I've been here many times before. But what brought me here first? I don't know. Pure curiosity, I guess. I'd never
been to a Class BA-3 planet before.
Dr. Mark Powell: Class BA-3?
Prot: Early stage of evolution. Future uncertain.


Dr. Mark Powell: Could you tell me a bit about your boyhood on K-PAX? Where were you born? You were, uh, born, right? K-Paxians have babies?
Prot: Oh, yes. Much like on Earth, but unlike you humans, the reproductive process is, uh, quite unpleasant for us.
Dr. Mark Powell: Could you compare the effect to something that I might
understand. Like a toothache...?
Prot: It's more like having your nuts in a vise, except we feel it all over. And to make matters worse, the sensation is associated with something like your nausea accompanied by a very bad smell. The moment of climax is like being kicked in the stomach and then falling into a pool of mot droppings.
Dr. Mark Powell:
Mot droppings?
Prot: A mot is a being much like your skunk only far more potent.
Dr. Mark Powell: Uh, if it's such a terrible experience, uh, how do you reproduce?
Prot: As carefully as possible.

Prot: You know what I've learned about your planet? There's enough life on Earth to fill 50 planets. Plants, animals, people, fungi, viruses, all jostling to find their place, bouncing off each other, feeding off each other. Connected.
Dr. Mark Powell: You don't have that kind of connection on K-PAX?
Prot: Nobody wants, nobody needs.
On K-PAX, when I'm gone, nobody misses me. There would be no reason to. And yet I sense that when I leave here... I will be missed. Yes. Strange feeling.

Dr. Mark Powell: I'd like to begin by asking you... if you know why you're here.
Prot: Of course. You think I'm crazy.
Dr. Mark Powell: I prefer the term "ill". Do you think you are... ill?
Prot: A little homesick, perhaps.
Dr. Mark Powell: Really? Where is home?
Prot: K-PAX.
Dr. Mark Powell: K-PAX?
Prot: Capital "K," hyphen, capitals "P-A-X." K-PAX is a planet. But don't worry. I'm not going to leap out of your chest.
Dr. Mark Powell: I'm not worried. It's just that I'm only familiar with nine planets.
Prot: Well, actually, there are ten, but
that doesn't matter. I'm not from your solar system. K-PAX is about 1,000 of your light-years away from here in what you would call your constellation Lyra.

Dr. Chakraborty: He most definitely has a sensitivity to white light, but I think it's his range that you'll find interesting.
Dr. Mark Powell: What am I looking at?
Dr. Chakraborty: Uh, he can detect light at a wavelength of up to 300 to 400 angstroms. Ultraviolet. Of course, Prot's explanation is that due to his planet's peculiar
quality of light caused by its two suns, K-PAXians are used to light conditions much like our twilight most of the time.
Dr. Mark Powell: Whoa, w-wait, wait a minute. Uh, Chuck, I didn't think human beings could see ultraviolet light.
Dr. Chakraborty: We can't.

Dr. Mark Powell: It's one thing to take an interest in your fellow patients. It's quite another to make you think that you can cure them.
Prot: You seem overly upset, Mark. To borrow a phrase from Navarro: You need to chill. For your information: All beings have the capacity to cure themselves, Mark. This is something we've known on K-PAX for millions of
years.
Dr. Mark Powell: Listen to me: On this planet: I'm a doctor, you're a patient.
Prot: Doctor, patient: Curious human distinction.
Dr. Mark Powell: It's not your job to cure Howie, or Ernie, or anyone else, it's mine
Prot: Then, why haven't you cured them, yet?
Prot: Oh, by
the way, here are the answers to the questions you asked me. I hope they meet your satisfaction.

Prot: [after Mark gives him his pen] A much more efficient writing tool.

Claudia Villars: [after Prot has disappeared] Patients do not escape from this institution. They don't escape. I'm going to have a great time explaining this to the state board. I've got psychotics on the fourth floor packing up their sneakers because they all think they're going off to K-PAX. Find him.