How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Matrix.
Quote #4
SPOON BOY: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.
NEO: What truth.
SPOON BOY: There is no spoon.
NEO: There is no spoon.
SPOON BOY: Then you'll see it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
The spoon boys suggest that reality is completely subjective. If Neo bends then the spoon bends; he is only manipulating himself. In fact, as again the wise spoon lad points out, there is no spoon to manipulate in the first place. The Matrix is simply a series of electrical signals fed into and interpreted by Neo's brain. To change something in the Matrix is merely to change one's own mind. It's so deep we might need to ditch the spoon for a ladle.
Quote #5
NEO: [touching the armchair] This—this isn't real?
MORPHEUS: What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.
Ah, we've reached the crux: one of the big questions of the movie. Morpheus is explaining to Neo that what makes something real is our perception of it. When we're talking about a physical object that our sensory perception can detect and that we can interact with, then the Matrix isn't any less real than the "real" world. Sure, the armchair Neo is touching has no volume or mass in this other world, but in the world of the construct it is clearly made of something and it takes up space. If reality is subjective then what is the difference?