First Doctor
This page is a collection of quotations from the era of the first official incarnation of the Doctor from the BBC science fiction television programme Doctor Who, during which the role of the First Doctor was played by William Hartnell. As Doctor Who stories in other media (such as books, audio plays, etc) are the subject of intense debate as regarding their place in the series' overall canon, these quotations are taken entirely from episodes broadcast on television.
He begins climbing stairs (leading into the warehouse) which appear to be unstable.
A part of the wall of the warehouse is in such a state of decay that Ian falls through it, and is left hanging far above the ground clinging to some scaffolding. He manages to swing himself back up into the building, with the help of the Doctor. They are both panting.
Barbara and Susan have just been led to the Dalek resistance group
Barbara nods.
The Doctor has managed to break himself, Ian and Jack out of a Dalek prison cell
[The Doctor muttering to himself over his notes]
[The Doctor talking to "Koquillion"]
The scene where they broke the fourth wall
Recurring Phrases
- The First Doctor’s catchphrase: Mm? What's that, my boy?
- What the First Doctor calls Ian Chesterton: Chesterfield / Charlton / Chatterton / Chatterhouse / Chartow
- Susan's catchphrase: Oh, grandfather!
An Unearthly Child [1.1]
- The Doctor: Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet - without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day....
- The Doctor: If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?
The Daleks [1.2]
- Ian: We'd better keep an eye on him. He seems to have a knack of getting himself into trouble.
- Thal leader: There is no indignity in being afraid to die, but there is a terrible shame in being afraid to live.
The Edge of Destruction [1.3]
- The Doctor: (Talking to Ian) You know I really believe I have underestimated that young lady in the past, Chartow.
- The Doctor: As we learn about each other, so we learn about ourselves.
Marco Polo [1.4]
- The Doctor: We're always in trouble! Isn't this extraordinary - it follows us everywhere!
- Marco Polo: On my travels to Cathay, Ian, I have come to believe many things I'd previously doubted. For instance, when I was a boy in Venice, they told me that in Cathay there was a stone that burned. I did not believe, but there is such a stone: I have seen it. And if stone burns, why not a caravan that flies? Birds fly; I have even seen fish that fly. You are asking me to believe that your caravan can defy the passage of the sun? Move not merely from one place to another, but from today into tomorrow, today to yesterday? No Ian, that I cannot believe.
The Keys of Marinus [1.5]
[Looking at a dead calm sea]- Barbara: Is it frozen?
- The Doctor: No, impossible at this temperature. Besides, it's too warm.
- The Doctor: I don't believe that man was made to be controlled by machines. Machines can make laws, but they can not preserve justice. Only human beings can do that.
The Aztecs [1.6]
- The Doctor: You can't rewrite history. Not one line!
- The Doctor: I made some cocoa and got engaged.
- Ian: Oh, so I'm going to die, am I?
The Sensorites [1.7]
- The Doctor: It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure.
- The Second Elder: These creatures, these Earth-people, are loud and ugly! Why could we not have left them in the desert or in the mountains?
The Reign of Terror [1.8]
- Road Works Overseer: I suppose you think you're very clever.
- The Doctor: Well, without any undue modesty, yes!
- The Doctor: Our lives are important - at least to us - and as we see, so we learn... Our destiny is in the stars, so let's go and search for it.
The Dalek Invasion Of Earth [2.2]
The Doctor and Ian are about to explore an abandoned warehouse.- The Doctor: Let's take a snoop.
He begins climbing stairs (leading into the warehouse) which appear to be unstable.
- Ian: Careful, Doctor!
- The Doctor: I'm not a half-wit.
A part of the wall of the warehouse is in such a state of decay that Ian falls through it, and is left hanging far above the ground clinging to some scaffolding. He manages to swing himself back up into the building, with the help of the Doctor. They are both panting.
- Ian: Nobody can get through that way.
- The Doctor: Except you!
Barbara and Susan have just been led to the Dalek resistance group
- Professor Dortmun: Two more pairs of hands! Good.
- David Campbell: [Pointing to Barbara.] She says she can cook!
- Professor Dortmun: Can you?
Barbara nods.
- David Campbell: [Addressing Susan] And what do YOU do?
- Susan: I eat.
- Dalek: I warn you! Resistance is useless!
- The Doctor: Resistance is useless? Surely you don't expect ALL the people to welcome you with open arms?
- Dalek: We have already conquered Earth!
- The Doctor: Conquered the Earth? You poor, pathetic creatures, don't you realise? Before you attempt to conquer the Earth you will have to destroy ALL living matter!
- Professor Dortmun: Obey motorised dustbins?! We'll see!
The Doctor has managed to break himself, Ian and Jack out of a Dalek prison cell
- Ian: Doctor, you're a genius!
- The Doctor: Yes, there are very few of us left. Now let's get out of here, and be crafty!
- The Doctor: During all the years I've been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me. You are still my grandchild and always will be. But now, you're a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David you will be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do. Believe me my dear, your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye Susan. Goodbye my dear. [He dematerialises the Tardis, which vanishes, David and Susan, leave, Susan dropping her key onto the floor]
The Rescue [2.3]
[Ian and Barbara are perplexed about the Doctor deciding to take a nap rather than explore]- Barbara: Well, maybe we're going to see a new side to the Doctor.
- Ian: Yeah, well he isn't getting any younger, is he? You know, it's the first time he's been asleep during a landing. Barbara, I've got an idea he's getting a bit... [Ian mimes being old and senile, and Barbara laughs. The Doctor suddenly pokes his head out of the TARDIS doors]
- The Doctor: Remember, I can hear what you're saying.
[The Doctor muttering to himself over his notes]
- The Doctor: My writing gets worse and worse. Dear, dear, dear, dear, dear.
[The Doctor talking to "Koquillion"]
- The Doctor: This used to be the people's Hall of Judgement. Fitting, in the present circumstances, don't you think?
- The Doctor: You destroyed a whole planet just to save your own skin. You're insane!
The Web Planet [2.5]
- [Having come across a wall blocking their path]
- Hetra: A silent wall! We must make mouths in it with our weapons, then it will speak more light.
- [The Tardis has been dragged away by the Zarbi]
- The Doctor: My ship...my TARDIS...
The Crusade [2.6]
- Vicki: Why have I got to keep pretending I'm a boy? Why can't I be a girl again?
- [About the Doctor.]
- Princess Joanna: There's something new in you, yet something older than the sky.
The Time Meddler [2.9]
- [Viki and the Doctor talking about Barbara and Ian, who had just left in the previous episode]
- Viki: Well they weren't getting any younger, were they?
- The Doctor: Lucky, my dear, that they aren't around to hear you say that. Hm, gracious me, if you think they're old, what do you think of me?
- [The Doctor introducing a few rules to new companion Steven Taylor]
- The Doctor: Now, my boy, there are two things you can do. One: Sit there until you get your breath back, and two: Don't call me Doc! Now do I make myself clear?
- [The Doctor gives an irritated introduction of the TARDIS to new companion Steven Taylor]
- The Doctor: That is the dematerializing control. And that, over yonder, is the horizontal hold. Up there is the scanner, those are the doors, that is a chair with a panda on it. Sheer poetry, dear boy! Now please stop bothering me.
- The Doctor: What do you think of that, now, eh? A Viking helmet.
- Steven Taylor: Maybe.
- The Doctor: What do you mean, "maybe"? What do you think it is, a space helmet for a cow?
The Daleks' Master Plan [3.4]
- [ The Doctor bristles when a policeman asks if he is a British citizen.]
- The Doctor: Your ideas are too narrow, too crippled. I am a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot!
The scene where they broke the fourth wall
- The Doctor: Here's a toast, a happy Christmas to all of us.
- Steven: The same to you, Doctor, Sara.
- The Doctor: And incidentally, a happy Christmas to all of you at home!
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve [3.5]
- The Doctor: "My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're too small to realise its final pattern. Therefore don't try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe." [Steven leaves the TARDIS] "Steven... Even after all this time, he cannot understand. I dare not change the course of history. Well, at least I taught him to take some precautions; he did remember to look at the scanner before he opened the doors. And now, they're all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton - Chesterton - they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home. Back to my own planet. But I can't... I can't..."
The Smugglers [4.1]
- [ To Ben and Polly. ]
- The Doctor : How dare you follow me into the TARDIS! The distractions... I really thought I was going to be alone again.
The Tenth Planet [4.2]
- Polly: Don't you care?!
- Cyberman: Care? No. Why should I care?
- Polly: Because they're people and they are going to die!
- Cyberman: I do not understand you; there are people dying all over your world, and you do not care about them.
- [The First Doctor's last words.]
- The Doctor: Ah, yes! Thank you. It's good. Keep warm.
Other Appearances
NOTE: The following serials occurred after the First Doctor's era had officially ended (in the eras of the Third Doctor and the Fifth Doctor respectively) and thus are not technically part of this Doctor's era. As they are all quotes involving the First Doctor, however, they are included here for the sake of completeness.The Three Doctors [10.1]
- [Upon encountering his second and third incarnations]
- The Doctor: So you're my replacements — a dandy and a clown!
The Five Doctors [20.7]
- The First Doctor: One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.
- [To the Fifth Doctor’s companions]
- The First Doctor: I am the Doctor! The original, you might say!
- [Having fooled Borusa into accepting Rassilon's offer of immortality, thus condemning him to eternity as a living statue]
- The First Doctor: I suddenly realised what the old proverb meant: "To lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose." It was all part of Rassilon's trap to find out who wanted immortality and put him out of the way. He knew very well that immortality was a curse. Not a blessing.
- [To the Fifth Doctor]
- The First Doctor: You did quite well. Quite well. Hm. It's reassuring to know that my future is in safe hands.