No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.

[Todd has been encouraged to improvise a poem.]

Keating: Say the first thing that pops into your head, even if it's total gibberish. Go on, go on.

Todd: Uh, uh, a sweaty-toothed madman.

Keating:Good God, boy, there's a poet in you, after all. There, close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close 'em. Now, describe what you see.

[Keating puts his hands over Todd's eyes and they begin to slowly spin around.]

Todd: I close my eyes...and his image floats beside me.

Keating: ...the sweaty toothed madman...

Todd: The sweaty toothed madman whose stare pounds my brain.

Keating: Yes! Excellent.

Todd: And all the while he's mumbling.

Keating: What's he mumbling?

Todd: Mumbling, "Truth. Truth is like, like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold."

[The class laughs.]

Keating: Forget them. Forget them. Stay with the blanket. Tell me about that blanket.

Todd: "Y-y-y-you push it, stretch it. It'll never be enough. You kick at it, beat it. It'll never cover any of us. From the moment we enter crying to the moment we leave dying, it will just cover your face as you wail and cry and scream."

[The class applauds.]

Keating: [whispering to Todd] Don't you forget this.