Scully: Snakes.
Mulder: Lots and lots of snakes. Very pissed off ones, from the look of it.
Scully: Maybe it's symbolic. I mean, serpents and religion have gone hand in hand. They've represented the temptation of Eve -- Original Sin. They've been feared and hated throughout history as they've been thought to embody Satan -- to serve Evil itself.
Mulder: Maybe these ones actually do.
Scully: These particular serpents actually were serving Evil? Are you going to type that on our travel request?
Scully: Snake handling. I didn't learn that in catechism class.
Mulder: That's funny. I knew a couple of Catholic schoolgirls who were expert at it.
Mulder: Where's the light switch?
Scully: The nearest one? Probably ten miles from here.
Scully: Rattlesnakes and medieval visions of damnation. Well, I for one, feel a whole lot closer to God.
Mulder: I don't know, Scully. When you . . . when you get right down to it is snake handling any harder to buy into than communion wafers or transubstantiation . . .?
Scully: Or believing in flying saucers, for that matter.
(Mulder finds a hinged box with a wire mesh screen.)
Mulder: Uh-oh, Scully. What do you think O'Connor keeps in here?
Scully: Something slithery?
Mulder: (shaking the box) It's all right. It's empty.
Scully: Why is it empty?
Mulder: Reverend, do something about these snakes, please.
Reverend O'Connor: You got nothing to fear if you're righteous people.
Mulder: Just in case we're not, we could use a little righteous help here.
Scully: Tennessee. Snakes. Thank you, Mulder. Thank you so much.
O'Connor: Your FBI partner could've learned something about herself if you hadn't stopped me. Some powerful good news, maybe.
Mulder: I'd say it's good news for you that she's not here right now . . . considering what you tried to do to her.
O'Connor: (looking at Mulder) Educated man . . . too smart to know any better.
Mulder: Smart enough to know you're a murderer.
O'Connor: Satan is near, and you don't even have eyes. You're just proud and fancy-free.
Mulder: No one quite passes muster with you, huh?
O'Connor: You think because you're educated you're better than most? You ain't. (He points to his heart.) Unless you're smart down here the Devil's going to make a fool of you and you ain't even going to know it.
Mulder: I don't know, Scully. Sometimes a little intolerance can be a welcome thing. Clear-cut right and wrong, black and white, no shades of gray. You know, in a society where hard and fast rules are harder and harder to come by, I think some people would appreciate that.
Scully: You're saying that you, Fox Mulder, would welcome someone telling you what to believe?
Mulder: I'm just saying that somebody offering you all the answers . . . could be a very powerful thing.
O'Connor: I told you, boy. You still don't know which side you're on. Be smart down here. (he touches Mulder's chest. Mulder stares at him.)
Mulder: They won't find him. People think the devil has horns and a tail. They're not used to looking for some kindly man who tells you what you want to hear.
Scully: He's just a man, Mulder. Just like O'Connor.
Mulder: Not like O'Connor. If this was some kind of test looks like I failed.
Scully: I'd say if it was, you passed with flying colors. You're alive, aren't you?
Mulder: (smiling at her) Proud and fancy-free.
7x08 7x10
