20 ‘True Detective’ Quotes from the Enigmatic Rust Cohle

"True Detective" aired its first season on HBO in 2014, and one of the most memorable characters on the show was Detective Rust Cohle, a man known for his deep, usually bleak, and sometimes confusing musings.

"True Detective" was led by a star-studded cast that portrayed a number of complex characters, particularly Rust Cohle. The detective made a lasting impression on viewers as quite the introspective individual whose observations were often bleak.

Although he considered himself a realist, he knew the world generally perceived him as a pessimist. Those who spent enough time with Cohle, however, eventually got to understand some fraction of why he was the way he was. For a little glimpse into his personality, here's a short collection of quotes for you.

A photo of Rust Cohle with the quote, "I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware; nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law." | Source: Facebook/TrueDetective

True Detective Quotes: Rust Cohle's Life Observations

"Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at." — Rust Cohle

"The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door." — Rust Cohle

"To realize that all your life—you know, all your love, all your hate, all your memory, all your pain—it was all the same thing. It was all the same dream, a dream that you had inside a locked room, a dream about being a person. And like a lot of dreams there's a monster at the end of it." — Rust Cohle

"In eternity, where there is no time, nothing can grow. Nothing can become. Nothing changes. So death created time to grow the things it would kill." — Rust Cohle

A photo of Rust Cohle with the quote, "This is a world where nothing is solved. Someone once told me, time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again." | Source: Facebook/TrueDetective

"I'd consider myself a realist, all right? But in philosophical terms, I'm what's called a pessimist." — Rust Cohle

"There is no such thing as forgiveness, people just have short memories." — Rust Cohle

"This is a world where nothing is solved. Someone once told me, time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again." — Rust Cohle

"You know, people that give me advice, I reckon they're talking to themselves." — Rust Cohle

A photo of Rust Cohle with the quote, "I know who I am. And after all these years, there’s a victory in that." | Source: Facebokk/TrueDetective

"I don't sleep, I just dream." — Rust Cohle

"I know who I am. And after all these years, there’s a victory in that." — Rust Cohle.

"Just gotta look a man in his eyes. It's all there. Everybody wears their hunger and their haunt you know? Just gotta be honest about what can go on up here. The locked room." — Rust Cohle

"This place is like someone's memory of a town, and the memory is fading." — Rust Cohle

A photo of Rust Cohle with the quote, "I don't sleep, I just dream." | Source: Facebook/TrueDetective

True Detective Quotes: Rust Cohle's Interactions with Other Characters

"Rust: As sentient meat, however illusory our identities are, we craft those identities by making value judgments. Everybody judges all the time. Now, you got a problem with that, you're living wrong.

Marty: What's scented meat?" — "True Detective"

"Martin: I mean can you imagine if people didn't believe? All the things they'd get up to?

Rust: Exact same thing they do now, just out in the open." — "True Detective"

"You got demons little man. And I don't like your face. Makes me want to do things to it...I see you again and I'm puttin you down. There's a shadow on you son." — Dewall Ledoux, "True Detective"

"Martin: You wonder ever if you're a bad man?

Rust: No I don't wonder Marty. The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door." — "True Detective"

"Martin: You know the real difference between you and me?

Martin: The difference is that I know the difference between an idea and a fact. You are incapable of admitting doubt. Now that sounds like denial to me.

Rust: I doubt that." — "True Detective"

A photo of Rust Cohle with the quote, "People incapable of guilt, usually do have a good time." | Source: Facebook/TrueDetective

Despite the usual brooding thoughts Cohle often shares with his partners or himself, he leaves little room for some positivity. He is portrayed by longtime actor Matthew McConaughey who leads the show's cast alongside Woody Harrelson.

If this collection of quotes has piqued your interest in crime shows, then you might enjoy reading a more comic take on the genre. Read some of Jake Peralta's quotes from the comedy hit "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."