The Crucible - Unresolved Feelings and Rejected Past
Abigail Williams:
I know how you sweated like a stallion whenever I'd come near you. I saw your face when she put me out. You loved me then, and you do now.
John Proctor:
Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time - but I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again. We never touched.
Abigail Williams:
Aye, but we did.
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The Crucible - Land Dispute Among Neighbors
Thomas Putnam:
I warned you once before, Proctor! That's my lumber! You're in my bounds!
John Proctor:
My land's always run up through the forest, and I haven't sold any, Putnam.
Thomas Putnam:
It is clear in my grandfather's will. My land...
Giles Corey:
Your grandfather damn near willed away my north pasture! But he knew I'd break his arm if he tried it. Go on!
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The Crucible - Reciting the Commandments in The Crucible
Rev. John Hale:
Do you know your commandments, Mr. Proctor?
John Proctor:
Aye.
Rev. John Hale:
Would you recite them please?
John Proctor:
The commandments?
Rev. John Hale:
Aye.
John Proctor:
Thou shalt not kill.
Rev. John Hale:
Aye.
John Proctor:
Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods, nor covet thy neighbors wives, thou shalt have no other Gods before me, thou shalt not use the Lord's name in vain, thou shalt keep holy the sabbath day, thou shalt honor thy mother and father, thou shalt not bare to false witness... thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wives.
Rev. John Hale:
You said that one twice, Sir.
John Proctor:
Aye.
Elizabeth:
Adultery, John.
John Proctor:
Aye. You see, Sir, between the two of us, we do know them all.
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The Crucible - Finality in John Proctor's Declaration to Abigail
John Proctor:
We will not meet again, Abigail, in this World or the next.
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The Crucible - Struggle Between Good and Evil Within
John Proctor:
Hell and Heaven grapple on our backs, and all our old pretenses ripped away. God's icy wind will blow.
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The Crucible - Displaying Honor Through Resilience and Strength
John Proctor:
Show honor now, show them a stony heart and sink them with it!
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The Crucible - Proclamation of Divine Abandonment
John Proctor:
I say, I say, God is dead!
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The Crucible - Critique of Elizabeth's Sense of Justice
John Proctor:
Oh, Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer.
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The Crucible - The Struggle for Identity and Integrity
John Proctor:
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them you have hanged! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
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The Last of the Mohicans - The End of a Native Era
Chingachgook:
The frontier moves with the sun and pushes the Red Man of these wilderness forests in front of it until one day there will be nowhere left. Then our race will be no more, or be not us.
Hawkeye:
That is my father's sadness talking.
Chingachgook:
No, it is true. The frontier place is for people like my white son and his woman and their children. And one day there will be no more frontier. And men like you will go too, like the Mohicans. And new people will come, work, struggle. Some will make their life. But once, we were here.
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The Last of the Mohicans - A Call for Peace and Understanding
Hawkeye:
I come to you unarmed and in peace to unstuff your ears, Sachem. Let the children of the dead Colonel Munro go free. Take fire out of the English anger over the murder of their helpless ones. Sachem, the French fathers made peace. Magua broke it. It is false that the French will be friends still to the Huron. Would Magua use the ways of Les Francais and the Yengeese? Would you?
Magua:
Yes.
Hawkeye:
Would the Huron make his Algonquin brothers foolish with brandy and steal his lands to sell them for gold to the white man? Would Huron have greed for more land than a man can use? Would Huron fool Seneca into taking all the furs of all the animals of the forest for beads and strong whiskey? Those are the ways of the Yengeese and the Francais traders and their masters in Europe infected with the sickness of greed. Magua's heart is twisted. He would make himself into what twisted him. I am Nathaniel of the Yengeese. Hawkeye, adopted son of Chingachgook of the Mohican people. Let the children of the dead Munro and the Yengeese officer go free. This belt, which is a record of the days of my father's people, speaks for my truth.
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The Last of the Mohicans - A Difficult Decision Amidst Uncertainty
Cora Munro:
Go ahead.
Maj. Heyward:
What the bloody hell plan is this?
Cora Munro:
I want you to go.
Hawkeye:
If we go, there's a chance there won't be a fight. There's no powder. If we don't go in that, there's no chance. None. Do you understand?
Maj. Heyward:
Coward!
Cora Munro:
You've done everything you can do. Save yourself. If the worst happens, and only one of us survives, something of the other does too.
Hawkeye:
No. You stay alive. If they don't kill you, they'll take you north, up to Huron land. Submit, do you hear? You're strong, you survive. You stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you!
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The Last of the Mohicans - Commitment to a Cause
Cora Munro:
They're going to hang you. Why didn't you leave when you had the chance?
Hawkeye:
Because what I'm interested in is right here.
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The Last of the Mohicans - A Choice Between Duty and Desire
Jack Winthrop:
You're not coming with us?
Hawkeye:
I've got a reason to stay.
Jack Winthrop:
That reason wear a striped skirt and work in the surgery?
Hawkeye:
It does. No offense, but it's a better looking reason than you, Jack Winthrop.
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The Last of the Mohicans - Conflict Over Honor and Responsibility
Colonel Munro:
Montcalm is a soldier and a gentleman, not a butcher.
Hawkeye:
Easy for you to suppose, it's their women and children on the farms, not yours!
Colonel Munro:
You forget yourself, sir.
Jack Winthrop:
We're not forgetting Webb's promise.
Colonel Munro:
British promises are honored. And the militia will not be released, because I need more definite proof than this man's word.
Jack Winthrop:
Nathaniel's word's been good on the frontier a long time before you got here.
Colonel Munro:
This meeting is over, the militia stays.
Jack Winthrop:
Does the rule of English law no longer govern? Has it been replaced by absolutism?
Hawkeye:
If English law cannot be trusted maybe these people would do better making their own peace with the French.
Maj. Heyward:
That is sedition!
Hawkeye:
That is the truth.
Maj. Heyward:
I'll have you beaten from this fort!
Hawkeye:
Someday, I think you and I are going to have a serious disagreement.
Colonel Munro:
Anyone fomenting or advocating the leaving of Fort William Henry will be hung for sedition. Anyone actually CAUGHT leaving will be shot for desertion. Now my decision is final. Get out!
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The Last of the Mohicans - Reflections on Life and Heritage
Hawkeye:
My father's people say that at the birth of the sun and of his brother the moon, their mother died. So the sun gave to the earth her body, from which was to spring all life. And he drew forth from her breast the stars, and the stars he threw into the night sky to remind him of her soul. So there's the Cameron's monument. My folks too, I guess.
Cora Munro:
You are right, Mr. Poe. We do not understand what is happening here. And it's not as I imagined it would be, thinking of it in Boston and in London...
Hawkeye:
Sorry to disappoint you.
Cora Munro:
No, on the contrary. It is more deeply stirring to my blood than any imagining could possibly have been.
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The Last of the Mohicans - The Struggles of Frontier Life
Cora Munro:
Why were those people living in this defenseless place?
Hawkeye:
After seven years indentured service in Virginia, they headed out here cause the frontier's the only land available to poor people. Out here, they're beholden to none. Not living by another's leave.
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The Last of the Mohicans - Navigating Directions Amidst War
Maj. Heyward:
There is a war on. How is it you are heading west?
Hawkeye:
Well, we face to the north and, real subtle-like, turn left.
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The Last of the Mohicans - Patriotism and Loyalty Examined in Dialogue
British Soldier:
You call yourself a patriot, and loyal subject to the Crown?
Hawkeye:
I do not call myself subject to much at all.
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In the Name of the Father - Nostalgia and Memory in Father-Son Bonding
Gerry Conlon:
What I remember most about my childhood is holding your hand. My wee hand in your big hand, and the smell of tobacco. I remember, I could smell the tobacco in the palm of your hand. When I want to feel happy, I try to remember the smell of tobacco.
Giuseppe Conlon:
Oh, my heart.
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In the Name of the Father - Searching for Redemption in Darkness
Gerry Conlon:
Was I always bad, was I?
Giuseppe Conlon:
Not always.
Gerry Conlon:
I don't deserve to spend the rest of my life in here do I?
Giuseppe Conlon: [points to his head]
All they done was block out the light. They can't block out the light in here.
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In the Name of the Father - The Burden of Faith and Responsibility
Gareth Peirce:
It's not the stairs that are killing your father.
Gerry Conlon:
Aye, what is it then?
Gareth Peirce:
It's your lack of faith.
Gerry Conlon:
Lack of faith? Faith in what?
Gareth Peirce:
In yourself.
Gerry Conlon:
No. I have faith in myself. Gerry Conlon. Lifer. 30-year sentence. And I know how to survive it, no problem.
Gareth Peirce:
At what price?
Gerry Conlon:
I'll pay the fuckin price, don't you worry about it.
Gareth Peirce:
The price for what?
Gerry Conlon:
Aye. You're very good at the English, aren't you? You see, I don't understand your language. "Justice." "Mercy." "Clemency." I literally don't understand what those words mean. I'd like to put in an application to get all my teeth extracted. That way I could put my fist in my mouth and never speak another word of fuckin English so long as I live. Do you see what I'm saying... Mrs. Peirce is it?
Gareth Peirce:
Are you trying to impress me?
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In the Name of the Father - Facing Fear and Mortality Together
Giuseppe Conlon:
I'm going to die.
Gerry Conlon:
Don't be saying that.
Giuseppe Conlon:
I'm scared.
Gerry Conlon:
There's no reason to be scared. You have nothing to be scared about.
Giuseppe Conlon:
Don't you be comforting me when I can see the truth staring me in the face. I'm scared I'm gonna die here.
Gerry Conlon:
You're not dying alright?
Giuseppe Conlon:
Can I not say a thing without you contradicting me? I'm scared to leave your mother behind.
Gerry Conlon:
Look, you are not going to die alright? If you do, sure I can look after Ma alright.
Giuseppe Conlon:
You think I'd leave Sara in your care?
Gerry Conlon:
What do you mean?
Giuseppe Conlon:
You haven't the maturity to take care of yourself, let alone your mother.
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In the Name of the Father - Generational Conflict and Miscommunication in Prison
Gerry Conlon:
I'll be older than you when I get out of this place. If I get out. Are you listening to me?
Giuseppe Conlon:
I'm not talking to you.
Gerry Conlon:
Now who's being childish?
Giuseppe Conlon: [about drugs]
I've not heard a sensible word out of you in two weeks. That stuff will kill you.
Gerry Conlon:
Sure I'm dead anyway. Look I'm sorry. I'll not take it again as long as you live. Are you happy now?
Giuseppe Conlon:
No.
Gerry Conlon:
Why not?
Giuseppe Conlon:
I don't want you to take it whether I live or die.
Gerry Conlon:
Oh, give me strength. OK, I'll do nothing to annoy you in your grave. Now are you happy?
Giuseppe Conlon:
Is that a promise?
Gerry Conlon:
Ay, maybe.
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In the Name of the Father - The Importance of Self-Respect
Giuseppe Conlon:
I want you have some respect.
Gerry Conlon:
Respect for who?
Giuseppe Conlon:
For yourself.
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In the Name of the Father - Dreams of Space Amidst Grounded Reality
Gerry Conlon:
When can I go back to Belfast?
Detective:
Next time you'll see Belfast, they'll be flying day trips to the moon.
Gerry Conlon:
I always wanted to be an astronaut.
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In the Name of the Father - Confrontation and Conflicted Emotions
Gerry Conlon:
That was a good day's work, McAndrew. A good day's work.
Joe McAndrew:
Get away from me.
Gerry Conlon:
You're not looking me in the eye when you're speaking to me. You see, I know how to look at people without blinking as well. In all my god-forsaken life I have never known what it was like to want to kill somebody until now. You're a brave man, Joe. A brave man.
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In the Name of the Father - Fight for Justice and Innocence
Gerry Conlon: [outside the courtroom]
I'm an innocent man. I spent 15 years in prison for something I didn't do. I watched my father die in a British prison for something he didn't do. And this government still says he's guilty. I want to tell them that until my father is proved innocent, until all the people involved in this case are proved innocent, until the guilty ones are brought to justice, I will fight on. In the name of my father and of the truth!
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In the Name of the Father - Declaration of Freedom and Independence
Gerry Conlon: [after his case is dismissed, and the guards try to escort him out]
I'm a free man, and I'm going out the front door.
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Lincoln - Assurance of Safety for a Soldier
Abraham Lincoln:
He'll be fine, Molly. City Point's away back from the front lines, and fighting, he'll be an adjutant running messages for General Grant.
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Lincoln - Discussion on Fort Fisher's defenses and challenges
Edwin Stanton:
They cannot possibly maintain under this kind of an assault! Terry's got ten thousand men surrounding the Goddamned fort! Why doesn't he answer my cables?
Gideon Welles:
Fort Fisher is a mountain of a building, Edwin.
Thomas Thompson Eckert:
It's the largest fort they have, sir.
Gideon Welles:
Twenty-two big seacoast guns on each rampart...
Thomas Thompson Eckert:
They've been reinforcing it for the last two years...
Edwin Stanton:
They've taken 17,000 shells since yesterday!
Thomas Thompson Eckert:
They said...
Gideon Welles:
The commander is an old goat.
Edwin Stanton:
I want to hear that Fort Fisher is ours and Wilmington has fallen! Send another damn cable! The problem's their commander, Whiting. He engineered the fortress himself. The damned thing's his child; he'll defend it till his every last man is gone. He is not thinking rationally...
Abraham Lincoln: [the room goes silent]
Come on out, you old rat! That's what...that's what Ethan Allen called out to the commander of Fort Ticonderoga in 1776. Come on out, you old rat! Ah, course there were only forty odd redcoats at Ticonderoga. But...but there is one Ethan Allen story that I'm very partial to...
Edwin Stanton: [Stanton storms out, shouting to himself]
No! No, you're, you're going to tell a story! I don't believe that I can bear to listen to another one of your stories right now! I need the B&O sideyard schedules for Alexandria! I asked for them this morning! I don't care how long it takes!
Abraham Lincoln: [pours himself another cup of coffee; slight laughter; mocking British accent; louder laughter]
It was right after the Revolution, right after peace had been concluded. And Ethan Allen went to London to help our new country conduct its business with the king. The English sneered at how rough we are and rude and simple-minded and on like that, everywhere he went, till one day he was invited to the townhouse of a great English lord. Dinner was served, beverages imbibed, time passed as happens and Mr. Allen found he needed the privy. He was grateful to be directed to this. Relieved, you might say. Mr. Allen discovered on entering the water closet that the only decoration therein was a portrait of George Washington. Ethan Allen done what he came to do and returned to the drawing room. His host and the others were disappointed when he didn't mention Washington's portrait. And finally his lordship couldn't resist and asked Mr. Allen had he noticed it. The picture of Washington. He had. Well what did he think of its placement? Did it seem appropriately located to Mr. Allen? And Mr. Allen said it did. The host was astounded. "Appropriate? George Washington's likeness in a water closet?" "Yes," said Mr. Allen, "where it will do good service. The whole world knows nothing will make an Englishman shit quicker than the sight of George Washington." I love that story.
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Lincoln - Debate on Reconstruction and Equality in Congress
Abraham Lincoln:
Since we have the floor next in the debate, I thought I'd suggest you might... temper your contributions so as not to frighten our conservative friends?
Thaddeus Stevens:
Ashley insists you're ensuring approval by dispensing patronage to otherwise undeserving Democrats.
Abraham Lincoln:
I can't ensure a single damn thing if you scare the whole House with talk of land appropriations and revolutionary tribunals and punitive thisses and that's—
Thaddeus Stevens:
When the war ends, I intend to push for full equality, the Negro vote and much more. Congress shall mandate the seizure of every foot of rebel land and every dollar of their property. We'll use their confiscated wealth to establish hundreds of thousands of free Negro farmers, and at their side soldiers armed to occupy and transform the heritage of traitors. We'll build up a land down there of free men and free women and free children and freedom. The nation needs to know that we have such plans.
Abraham Lincoln:
That's the untempered version of reconstruction. It's not... It's not exactly what I intend, but we shall oppose one another in the course of time. Now we're working together, and I'm asking you—
Thaddeus Stevens:
For patience, I expect.
Abraham Lincoln:
When the people disagree, bringing them together requires going slow till they're ready to make up—
Thaddeus Stevens:
Ah, shit on the people and what they want and what they're ready for! I don't give a goddamn about the people and what they want! This is the face of someone who has fought long and hard for the good of the people without caring much for any of em. And I look a lot worse without the wig. The people elected me! To represent them! To lead them! And I lead! You ought to try it.
Abraham Lincoln:
I admire your zeal, Mr. Stevens, and I have tried to profit from the example of it. But if I'd listened to you, I'd have declared every slave free the minute the first shell struck Fort Sumter; then the border states would've gone over to the Confederacy, the war would've been lost and the Union along with it, and instead of abolishing slavery, as we hope to do in two weeks, we'd be watching helpless as infants as it spread from the American South into South America.
Thaddeus Stevens:
Oh, how you have longed to say that to me. You claim you trust them—but you know what the people are. You know that the inner compass that should direct the soul toward justice has ossified in white men and women, North and South, unto utter uselessness through tolerating the evil of slavery. White people cannot bear the thought of sharing this country's infinite abundance with Negroes.
Abraham Lincoln:
A compass, I learnt when I was surveying, it'll point you True North from where you are standing, but it's got no advice about the swamps and deserts and chasms you'll encounter along the way. If in pursuit of your destination you plunge ahead, heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in a swamp, what's the use of knowing True North?
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Lincoln - Tension Over Peace Negotiations and Political Strategy
William Seward:
Why wasn't I consulted?! I'm Secretary of State! You, you, you informally send a reactionary dotard, to— What will happen, when these peace commissioners arrive?
Abraham Lincoln:
We'll hear em out.
William Seward:
Oh, splendid! And next the Democrats will invite them up to hearings on the Hill, and the newspapers — well, the newspapers — the newspapers will ask why risk enraging the Confederacy over the issue of slavery when they're here to make peace? We'll lose every Democrat we've got, more than likely conservative Republicans will join them, and all our work, all our preparing the ground for the vote, laid waste, naught for naught.
Abraham Lincoln:
The Blairs have promised support for the amendment if we listen to these people—
William Seward:
Oh, the Blairs promise, do they? You think they'll keep their promise once we have heard these delegates and refused them? Which we will have to do, since their proposal most certainly will be predicated on keeping their slaves!
Abraham Lincoln:
What hope for any Democratic votes, William, if word gets out that I've refused a chance to end the war? You think word won't get out? In Washington?
William Seward:
It's either the amendment or this Confederate peace, you cannot have both.
Abraham Lincoln:
If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me...
William Seward:
Oh, disaster. This is a disaster.
Abraham Lincoln:
Time is a great thickener of things, William.
William Seward:
Yes, I suppose it is — Actually, I have no idea what you mean by that.
Abraham Lincoln: [in thick Kentucky accent]
Get me thirteen votes. Them fellers from Richmond ain't here yet.
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Lincoln - Debating the Anti-Slavery Amendment in Congress
Abraham Lincoln:
Well, Mr. Representative Ashley! Tell us the news from the Hill.
James Ashley:
Ah! Well, news...
Abraham Lincoln:
Why for instance is this thus, and what is the reason for this thusness?
William Seward:
James, we want you to bring the anti-slavery amendment to the floor for debate...
James Ashley:
Excuse me? What?
William Seward:
...immediately, and... you are the amendment's manager, are you not?
James Ashley:
I am, of course, but... immediately?
William Seward:
And we're counting on robust radical support, so tell Mr. Stevens we expect him to put his back into it, it's not going to be easy, but we trust...
James Ashley:
It's impossible. No, I am sorry, no, we can't organize anything immediately in the House. I have been canvassing the Democrats since the election, in case any of them softened after they got walloped. But they have stiffened if anything, Mr. Secretary. There aren't nearly enough votes—
Abraham Lincoln:
We're whalers, Mr. Ashley!
James Ashley:
Whalers? As in, uh, whales?
Abraham Lincoln: [slaps Ashley's shoulder]
We've been chasing this whale for a long time. We've finally placed a harpoon in the monster's back. It's in, James, it's in! We finish the deed now, we can't wait! Or with one flop of his tail, he'll smash the boat and send us all to eternity!
William Seward:
On the 31st of this month, of this year, put the amendment up for a vote.
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Lincoln - Official Map and Military Strategy Discussion
Abraham Lincoln:
Thunder forth, God of War.
Edwin Stanton:
We'll commence our assault on Wilmington from the sea... Why is is this burned? Was the boy playing with it?
Abraham Lincoln:
It got took by a breeze several nights back.
Edwin Stanton:
This is an official War Department map!
William Seward:
And the entire cabinet's waiting to hear what it portends.
Gideon Welles:
A bombardment. From the largest fleet the Navy's ever assembled.
Abraham Lincoln:
Old Neptune, shake thy hoary locks.
Gideon Welles:
Fifty-eight ships are underway, of every tonnage and firing range.
Edwin Stanton:
We'll keep up a steady barrage. Our first target is Fort Fisher. It defends Wilmington port.
James Speed:
A steady barrage?
Edwin Stanton:
A hundred shells a minute. Till they surrender.
William Fessenden:
Dear God.
Abraham Lincoln:
Wilmington's their last open seaport. Therefore...
Edwin Stanton:
Wilmington falls, Richmond falls after.
William Seward:
And the war... is done.
John Usher:
Then why, if I may ask are we not concentrating the nation's attention on Wilmington? Why, instead, are we reading in the Herald that the anti-slavery amendment is being precipitated on the House floor for debate—because your eagerness, in what seems an unwarranted intrusion of the Executive into Legislative prerogatives, is compelling it to its... to what's likely to be it's premature demise? You signed the Emancipation Proclamation, you've done all that can be expected—
James Speed:
The Emancipation Proclamation's merely a war measure. After the war the courts will make a meal out of it.
John Usher:
When Edward Bates was Attorney General, he felt confident in it enough to allow you to sign—
James Speed:
Different lawyers, different opinions. It frees slaves as a military exigent, not in any other—
Abraham Lincoln:
I don't recall Bates being any too certain about the legality of my Proclamation, just it wasn't downright criminal. Somewhere's in in between. Back when I rode the legal circuit in Illinois, I defended a woman from Metamora named Melissa Goings, 77 years-old. They said she murdered her husband, he was 83. He was choking her and she grabbed a-hold of a stick of firewood and fractured his skull and he died. In his will he wrote: I suspect she has killed me. If I get over it, I will have revenge. No one was keen to see her convicted, he was that kind of husband. I asked the prosecuting attorney if I might have a short conference with my client. And she and I went into a room in the courthouse, but I alone emerged. The window in the room was found to be wide open. It was believed the old lady may have climbed out of it. I told the bailiff right before. I left her in the room she asked me where she could get a good drink of water, and I told her Tennessee. Mrs. Goings was seen no more in Metamora. Enough justice had been done; they even forgave the bondsman her bail.
John Usher:
I'm afraid I don't see—
Abraham Lincoln:
I decided that the Constitution gives me war powers, but no one knows just exactly what those powers are. Some say they don't exist. I don't know. I decided I needed them to exist to uphold my oath to protect the Constitution, which I decided meant that I could take the rebel's slaves from them as property confiscated in war. That might recommend to suspicion that I agree with the Rebs that their slaves are property in the first place. Of course I don't, never have, I'm glad to see any man free, and if calling a man property, or war contraband, does the trick... Why I caught at the opportunity. Now here's where it gets truly slippery. I use the law allowing for the seizure of property in a war knowing it applies only to the property of governments and citizens of belligerent nations. But the South ain't a nation, that's why I can't negotiate with'em. If in fact the Negroes are property according to law, have I the right to take the rebels property from em, if I insist they're rebels only, and not citizens of a belligerent country? And slipperier still: I maintain it ain't our actual Southern states in rebellion but only the rebels living in those states, the laws of which states remain in force. The laws of which states remain in force. That means, that since it's states laws that determine whether Negroes can be sold as slaves, as property - the Federal government doesn't have a say in that, least not yet then Negroes in those states are slaves, hence property, hence my war powers allow me to confiscate'em as such. So I confiscated em. But if I'm a respecter of states laws, how then can I legally free em with my Proclamation, as I done, unless I'm cancelling states laws? I felt the war demanded it; my oath demanded it; I felt right with myself; and I hoped it was legal to do it, I'm hoping still. Two years ago I proclaimed these people emancipated - "then, hence forward and forever free." But let's say the courts decide I had no authority to do it. They might well decide that. Say there's no amendment abolishing slavery. Say it's after the war, and I can no longer use my war powers to just ignore the courts decisions, like I sometimes felt I had to do. Might those people I freed be ordered back into slavery? That's why I'd like to get the Thirteenth Amendment through the House, and on its way to ratification by the states, wrap the whole slavery thing up, forever and aye. As soon as I'm able. Now. End of this month. And I'd like you to stand behind me. Like my cabinet's most always done. As the preacher once said, I could write shorter sermons but once I start I get too lazy to stop.
John Usher:
It seems to me, sir, you're describing precisely the sort of dictator the Democrats have been howling about.
James Speed:
Dictators aren't susceptible to law.
John Usher:
Neither is he! He just said as much! Ignoring the courts? Twisting meanings? What reins him in from, from...
Abraham Lincoln:
Well, the people do that, I suppose. I signed the Emancipation Proclamation a year and a half before my second election. I felt I was within my power to do it; however I felt that I might be wrong to do it; I knew the people would tell me. I gave em a year and a half to think about it. And they re-elected me. And come February the first, I intend to sign the Thirteenth Amendment.
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Lincoln - Finding Votes for Abolishing Slavery
William Seward:
Even if every Republican in the House votes yes, far from guaranteed, since when has our party unanimously supported anything? But say all our fellow Republicans vote for it, we'd still be twenty votes short.
Abraham Lincoln:
Only twenty? We can find twenty votes.
William Seward:
Twenty House Democrats who will vote to abolish slavery? In my opinion...
Abraham Lincoln:
To which I always listen.
William Seward:
Or pretend to.
Abraham Lincoln:
With all three of my ears.
William Seward:
We'll win the war, sir. It's inevitable, isn't it?
Abraham Lincoln:
Well, it ain't won yet.
William Seward:
You'll begin your second term, with semi-divine stature. Imagine the possibilities peace will bring. Why tarnish your invaluable luster with a battle in the House? It's a rats nest in there. The same gang of talentless hicks and hacks who rejected the amendment ten months ago; we'll lose.
Abraham Lincoln:
I like our chances now.
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Lincoln - Dreams and Despair Amidst War's Toll
Abraham Lincoln: [describing a dream]
It's nighttime. The ship's moved by some terrible power, at a terrific speed. Though it's imperceptible in the darkness, I have an intuition that we're headed towards a shore. No one else seems to be aboard the vessel. I'm very keenly aware of my aloneness. I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams. I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me. I'm used to going a deliberate pace. I should spare you, Molly. I shouldn't tell you my dreams.
Mary Todd Lincoln:
I don't want to be spared if you aren't. And you spare me nothing. Perhaps it's the assault on Wilmington Port. You dream about the ship before a battle, usually.
Abraham Lincoln: [rapping lightly on his forehead]
How's the coconut?
Mary Todd Lincoln:
Beyond description. Almost two years, nothing mends. Another casualty of the war. Who wants to listen to a useless woman grouse about her carriage accident?
Abraham Lincoln:
I do.
Mary Todd Lincoln:
Stuff! You tell me dreams, that's all, I'm your soothsayer, that's all I am anymore, I'm not to be trusted with — Even if it was not a carriage accident, even if it was an attempted assassination.
Abraham Lincoln:
It was most probably an accident—
Mary Todd Lincoln:
It was an assassin. Whose intended target was you.
Abraham Lincoln:
How are the plans coming along for the big shindy?
Mary Todd Lincoln:
I don't want to talk about parties. You don't care about parties.
Abraham Lincoln:
Not much, but they're a necessary hindrance.
Mary Todd Lincoln:
I know... I know what it's about. The ship, it's not Wilmington Port, it's not a military campaign! It's the amendment to abolish slavery! Why else would you force me to invite demented radicals into my home? You're going to try to get the amendment passed in the House of Representatives before the term ends? Before the inauguration?
Abraham Lincoln: [standing]
Don't spend too much money on the flubdubs.
Mary Todd Lincoln: [she turns away, walking to an open window.; Lincoln nods]
No one's loved as much as you, no one's ever been loved so much, by the people. You might do anything now. Don't, don't waste that power on an amendment bill that's sure of defeat. Did you remember Robert's coming home for the reception? I knew you'd forget. That's the ship you're sailing on. The Thirteenth Amendment. You needn't tell me I'm right. I know I am.
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Lincoln - Soldiers Share Their Experiences in War
Pvt. Harold Green:
Some of us was in the 2nd Kansas Colored. We fought the rebs at Jenkins Ferry last April, just after they'd killed every Negro soldier they captured at Poison Springs. So at Jenkins Ferry, we decided weren't taking no reb prisoners. And we didn't leave a one of em alive. The ones of us that didn't die that day, we joined up with the 116th U.S. Colored, sir. From Camp Nelson Kentucky.
Abraham Lincoln:
What's your name, soldier?
Pvt. Harold Green:
Private Harold Green, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark:
I'm Corporal Ira Clark, sir. Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry. We're waiting over there. We're leaving our horses behind, and shipping out with the 24th Infantry for the assault next week on Wilmington.
Abraham Lincoln:
How long have you been a soldier?
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Two year, sir.
Abraham Lincoln:
Second Kansas Colored Infantry, they fought bravely at Jenkins Ferry.
Pvt. Harold Green:
That's right, sir.
Cpl. Ira Clark:
They killed a thousand rebel soldiers, sir. They were very brave. And making three dollars less each month than white soldiers.
Pvt. Harold Green:
Us 2nd Kansas boys, whenever we fight now we-
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Another three dollars subtracted from our pay for our uniforms.
Pvt. Harold Green:
That was true, yessir, but that's changed-
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Equal pay now. Still no commissioned Negro officers.
Abraham Lincoln:
I am aware of it, Corporal Clark.
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Yes, sir, that's good you're aware, sir. It's only that-
Pvt. Harold Green:
You think the Wilmington attack is gonna be-
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Now that white people have accustomed themselves to seeing Negro men with guns, fighting on their behalf, and now that they can tolerate Negro soldiers getting the same pay - in a few years perhaps they can abide the idea of Negro lieutenants and captains. In fifty years, maybe a Negro colonel. In a hundred years...the vote.
Abraham Lincoln: [short pause]
What will you do after the war, Corporal Clark?
Cpl. Ira Clark:
Work, sir. Perhaps you'll hire me.
Abraham Lincoln:
Perhaps I will.
Cpl. Ira Clark:
But you should know, sir, that I get sick at the smell of boot-black, and I cannot cut hair.
Abraham Lincoln:
I've yet to find a man who could cut mine so's it'd make any difference.
Pvt. Harold Green:
You've got springy hair for a white man.
Abraham Lincoln: [chuckling; Green laughs]
I do. My last barber hanged himself. And the one before that. Left me his scissors in his will.
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Lincoln - Hope for Peace and Healing After War
Abraham Lincoln: [last lines, from Second Inaugural speech]
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
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Lincoln - The Solitude of Leadership in Crisis
Abraham Lincoln:
In times like this, I'm best alone.
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Lincoln - The Nature of Our Birth and Times
Abraham Lincoln:
Do you think we choose the times into which we are born? Or do we fit the times we are born into?
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Lincoln - A Call to End Slavery and War
Abraham Lincoln: [pounds his hand on a table as his cabinet squabbles]
I can't listen to this anymore. I can't accomplish a goddamn thing of any human meaning or worth until we cure ourselves of slavery and end this pestilential war, and whether any of you or anyone else knows it, I know I need this! This amendment is that cure! We're stepped out upon the world stage now, now, with the fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment! Now! Now! Now! And you grouse so and heckle and dodge about like pettifogging Tammany Hall hucksters!
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Lincoln - The Foundation of Equality and Justice
Abraham Lincoln: [[Euclid]
]'s first common notion is this: "Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." That's a rule of mathematical reasoning. It's true because it works; has done and will always will do. In his book, Euclid says this is "self-evident." You see, there it is, even in that two-thousand year old book of mechanical law: it is a self-evident truth of things which are equal to the same thing, are equal to each other. We begin with equality. That's the origin, isn't it? That balance—that's fairness, that's justice.
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Lincoln - The Humor of Historical Perspectives
Abraham Lincoln: [[Ethan Allen; [George Washington; mocking British accent]
It was right after the Revolution, right after peace had been concluded. And ] went to London to help our new country conduct its business with the king. The English sneered at how rough we are and rude and simple-minded and on like that, everywhere he went. Til one day he was invited to the townhouse of a great English lord. Dinner was served, beverages imbibed, time passed as happens and Mr. Allen found he needed the privy. He was grateful to be directed thence. Relieved, you might say. Mr. Allen discovered on entering the water closet that the only decoration therein was a portrait of ]. Ethan Allen done what he came to do and returned to the drawing room. His host and the others were disappointed when he didn't mention Washington's portrait. And finally his lordship couldn't resist and asked Mr. Allen had he noticed it - the picture of Washington - he had. Well what did he think of its placement? Did it seem appropriately located to Mr. Allen? And Mr. Allen said it did. The host was astounded. "Appropriate? George Washington's likeness in a water closet?" "Yes," said Mr. Allen, "where it will do good service. The whole world knows nothing will make an Englishman shit quicker than the sight of George Washington." I love that story.
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Lincoln - On the Challenge of Brevity in Speech
Abraham Lincoln: [to Cabinet members]
As the preacher said; "I could write shorter sermons, but once I start I get too lazy to stop.
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Lincoln - A Parable on Prophecy and Silence
Abraham Lincoln:
I heard tell once of a Jeff City lawyer who had a parrot that'd wake him each morning crying out, "Today is the day the world shall end, as scripture has foretold." And one day the lawyer shot him for the sake of peace and quiet, I presume. Thus fulfilling, for the bird at least, his prophecy!
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Lincoln - Duty and Responsibility in Leadership
Abraham Lincoln:
The part assigned to me is to raise the flag, which, if there be no fault in the machinery, I will do, and when up, it'll be for the people to keep it up. That's my speech.
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There Will Be Blood - Conflict Between Brothers and Ambition
Daniel Plainview:
You're not the chosen brother, Eli. Twas Paul who was chosen. See, he found me and told me about your land. You're just a fool!
Eli Sunday:
Why are you talking about Paul? Don't say this to me.
Daniel:
I did what your brother couldn't. I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He's the prophet. He's the smart one. He knew what was there. He found me to take it out of the ground. You know what the funny thing is? Listen, listen, listen! I paid him $10,000 cash in hand, just like that. He has his own company now — prosperous little business — three wells producing $5000 a week. Stop crying, you sniveling ass! Stop your nonsense! You're just the afterbirth, Eli —
Eli:
No...
Daniel:
— that slithered out in your mother's filth. They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantelpiece. Where were you when Paul was suckling at his mother's teat, eh? Where were you? Who was nursing you, poor Eli? One of Bandy's sows? That land has been had. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s gone, had.
Eli:
If you would just —
Daniel:
You lose.
Eli:
— take this lease, Daniel!
Daniel: [yelling; slurping noise]
Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy! Drained dry. I’m so sorry. Here: if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw — There it is. That's a straw, see? Watch it. Now my straw reaches across the room, and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
Eli:
Don't bully me, Daniel!
Daniel: [angrily grabs Eli by his jacket lapels and throws him to the floor; throws bowling balls at Eli]
Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Eli? I am the Third Revelation. I am whom the Lord has chosen.
Eli: [dodging the bowling balls]
Daniel!
Daniel:
Because I'm smarter than you! I'm older!
Eli:
I'm your old friend, Daniel! Help me! Help me, please!
Daniel:
I'm not a false prophet, you sniveling boy! I am the Third Revelation! I am the Third Revelation! I told you I would eat you!
Eli:
We're family!
Daniel:
I told you I would eat you up!
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There Will Be Blood - Business Proposal Between Eli and Daniel
Eli Sunday:
Daniel, I'm asking if you'd like to have business with the Church of the Third Revelation in developing this lease on young Bandy's thousand acre tract. I'm offering you to drill on one of the great undeveloped fields of Little Boston!
Daniel Plainview:
I'd be happy to work with you.
Eli:
You would? Yes, yes, of course. That’s wonderful.
Daniel:
But there is one condition for this work.
Eli:
All right.
Daniel:
I'd like you to tell me that you are a false prophet. I'd like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet, and that God is a superstition.
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There Will Be Blood - Identity and Betrayal in Familial Relationships
Daniel Plainview: [to George; whistles mockingly]
You're not my son. Never have been. You're an... you're an orphan. D'you ever hear that word? Tell em what I said! You operated here today like one. I should have seen this coming. I should have known that under this, all these past years, you've been building your hate for me piece by piece. I don't even know who you are because you have none of me in you. You're someone else's. This anger, your maliciousness, backwards dealings with me. You're an orphan from a basket in the middle of the desert, and I took you for no other reason than I needed a sweet face to buy land. D'you get that? So now you know. Look at me. You're lower than a bastard. You have none of me in you. You're just a bastard from a basket.
H. W.'s Interpreter, George:
I thank God I have none of you in me.
Daniel: [H.W. and George get up and begin to leave the room]
You're not my son. You're just a little piece of competition. Bastard from a basket. Bastard from a basket! You're a bastard from a basket!
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There Will Be Blood - Ambition and Rivalry in Human Nature
Daniel Plainview:
I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.
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There Will Be Blood - The Promises of an Oil Man
Daniel Plainview:
I'm an oil man, ladies and gentlemen. I have numerous concerns spread across this state. I have many wells flowing at many thousand barrels per day. I like to think of myself as an oil man. As an oil man, I hope that you'll forgive just good old-fashioned plain speaking. Now, this work that we do is very much a family enterprise. I work side by side with my wonderful son, H. W.—I think one or two of you might have met him already—and I encourage my men to bring their families as well. Of course, it makes for an ever so much more rewarding life. Family means children, and children means education, so wherever we set up camp, education is a necessity, and we're just so happy to take care of that. We'll have to build a wonderful school in Little Boston. These children are the future that we strive for, and so they should have the very best of things. Now, there's something else, and please don't be insulted if I speak about this: bread. Let's talk about bread. Now to my mind, it's an abomination to consider that any man, woman or child in this magnificent country of ours should have to look upon a loaf of bread as a luxury. We're going to dig water wells here, and water wells means irrigation. Irrigations means cultivation. We're going to raise crops here where before it simply wasn't possible. You're going to have more grain than you know what to do with! Bread'll be coming right out of your ears, ma'am. New roads, agriculture, employment, education: these are just a few of the things that we can offer you, and I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that if we do find oil here—and I think there's a very great chance that we will—this community of yours will not only survive. It will flourish!
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