David Mills: You're no messiah. You're a movie of the week. You're a fucking t-shirt, at best.
David Mills: I've been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you are, do you know that you're insane? Maybe you're just sitting around, reading "Guns and Ammo", masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, "Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!"? Yeah. Do you guys do that?
John Doe: Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention.
William Somerset: This guy's methodical, exacting, and worst of all, patient.
David Mills: He's a nut-bag! Just because the fucker's got a library card doesn't make him Yoda!
John Doe: Realize detective, the only reason that I'm here right now is that I wanted to be.
David Mills: No, no, we would have got you eventually.
John Doe: Oh really? So, what were you doing? Biding your time? Toying with me? Allowing five innocent people to die until you felt like springing your trap? Tell me, what was the indisputable evidence you were going to use on me right before I walked up to you and put my hands in the air?
Dr. Beardsley: He's experienced about as much pain and suffering as anyone I've encountered, give or take, and he still has Hell to look forward to.
David Mills: Yeah, a landlord's dream: a paralyzed tenant with no tongue.
William Somerset: Who pays the rent on time.
William Somerset: David, if you kill him, he will win.
John Doe: It's more comfortable for you to label me as insane.
David Mills: It's VERY comfortable.
William Somerset: Ernest Hemingway once wrote that the Earth is a fine place and is worth fighting for. I agree with the second part.
Answer: He never technically comes back to life. Apparently, he digressed into a coma like state, at some point he becomes startled and brain activity comes back on some sort of primitive defense level. From what the doctor says later on, there's no chance at all he'll survive, he's basically just a bundle of reflexes.
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