MULDER: … I’ve failed.

SCULLY: You don’t believe that, either.

MULDER: Mm.

MULDER: I’ve been chasing after monsters with a butterfly net. You heard the
man — the date’s set. I can’t change that.

SCULLY: You wouldn’t tell me. Not because you were afraid or broken …. but
because you didn’t want to accept defeat.

MULDER: Well, I was afraid of what knowing would do to you.

(MULDER turns to look at SCULLY and confesses one of his greatest fears.)

MULDER: I was afraid that it would crush your spirit.

SCULLY: Why would I accept defeat? Why would I accept it, if you won’t?
Mulder, you say that you’ve failed but you only fail if you give up. And I know
you — you can’t give up. It’s what I saw in you when we first met. It’s what
made me follow you … why I’d do it all over again.