All the King's Men - The Paradox of Good Emerging from Evil
Jack Burden:
Many times, out of evil comes good.
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All the King's Men - Desperation and Deception in Political Struggle
Jack Burden:
The chips were down and Willie knew it. He was fighting for his life. He roared across the state making speech after speech and all of them adding up to the same thing. It's not me they're after, it's you. Willie hollered FOUL. Willie knew if you hollered long enough, hard enough, and loud enough, people begin to believe you. Just in case they didn't, he organized spontaneous demonstrations....In case anyone hollered back, he organized spontaneous slugging. Willie pulled every trick he ever knew - and added a few more...And always the trail led to one place, to Burden's Landing and the Judge.
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All the King's Men - The Complexity of Political Ambition
Jack Burden:
What if it is his bribe? He swept the old gang out of office. What if they hollered like stuck pigs? He jammed through bill after bill and the people got what they wanted...He started to build the roads, schools, power dams, to change the face of the state from one end to the other. His methods? Politics is a dirty game and he played it rough and dirty. Willie's little black book was a record of sin and corruption. And me, Jack Burden, I kept the book and added up the accounts. Clown, show-off, playboy they yelled at him. Building football stadiums, fiercely proud of his son who played...He said he was building up a private army, but he was building, always building, always playing up to the crowd, letting them trample on tradition. Well, tradition needed trampling on. The crowds loved it, and Willie loved it, and so did I.
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All the King's Men - The Cost of Winning in Politics
Jack Burden:
Willie was right. He'd learned how to win. He spent a lot of money doing it. An awful lot of money. I was beginning to wonder where he got it from. There were rumors throughout the state that Willie was making deals with all kinds of people, strange deals...The second time out, it wasn't a campaign, it was a slaughter. It was Saturday night in a mining town. Yup, Willie came back like he said he would. He came back and he took me with him.
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All the King's Men - Stirring Emotions Over Intellectual Improvement
Jack Burden:
Just tell em you're gonna soak the fat boys and forget the rest of the tax stuff...Willie, make em cry, make em laugh, make em mad, even mad at you. Stir them up and they'll love it and come back for more, but, for heaven's sakes, don't try to improve their minds.
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All the King's Men - A Leader of Unwavering Resolve
Jack Burden: [in his newspaper article]
As I watched him shake his big fist and listened to his words boom out across that field, I had the feeling that here was a man with a will of iron. I had the feeling that Willie Stark would neither be steered away nor scared away from his purpose. I had the feeling that in Willie Stark, Kanoma County had found that rare thing: an honest man with courage.
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Raw Deal - A Conversation on Building Strategies
Fantail: [trying to build a house of cards; the house of cards collapses]
Hey, Grimmy, watch this... I can never get it more than two stories high.
Grimshaw:
Why don't you just build bungalows?
Fantail: [glares at him]
Why don't you just take that hole in your head and close it?
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The Fast and the Furious - Innocence and Survival in Dire Circumstances
Connie Adair:
You can't prove your innocence running away.
Frank Webster:
I can't prove it dead.
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The Fast and the Furious - Body Image and Perceptions in Conversation
Frank Webster:
It's good for your figure.
Connie Adair:
There's nothing wrong with my figure.
Frank Webster:
I noticed.
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Red River - Caution Against a Soft Heart
Cherry Valance: [to Matt]
But your heart's soft. Too soft. It may get you hurt some day.
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Spartacus - A Call to Stand with Roman Pride
Spartacus:
Stand up. On your feet. Stand up, the way a noble Roman should.
Slave: [the slaves laugh]
That's Roman pride for you, Spartacus!
Spartacus:
That's better. What's your name?
Glabrus:
Marcus, Glabrus.
Spartacus:
Glabrus.
Glabrus:
Commander of the Garrison of Rome!
Spartacus:
Commander?
Crixus: [the slaves laugh]
He was commanding it on his belly when we found him, playing dead!
Spartacus:
You disappoint me, Marcus Glabrus, playing dead. You afraid to die? It's easy to die. Haven't you seen enough gladiators in the arena to see how easy it is to die?
Glabrus:
Why...what are you going to do to me?
Spartacus: [turns to the slaves]
I don't know. What should we do with him?
Dionysus: [the slaves laugh]
Let's have a matched pair, him and me!
Glabrus:
I'll not fight like a gladiator!
Spartacus: [showing Glabrus a Roman baton]
You keep staring at this. You recognize this baton?
Glabrus:
Yes.
Spartacus: [holds up the baton; grips and snaps the baton in two]
You should! It was in your tent. The symbol of the Senate! All the power of Rome!
Dionysus:
That's the power of Rome!
Spartacus: [thrusting the broken baton at Glabrus]
Take that back to your senate. Tell them you and that broken stick is all that's left of the garrison of Rome! Tell them we want nothing from Rome, nothing, except our freedom!
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Spartacus - Struggle for Freedom in Ancient Rome
Dionysus: [watching two Roman nobles being forced by a slave on horseback to fight to the death]
Ah-ha ha! Come on, fat boy! Yeah!
Slaves: [as Spartacus enters the arena]
Spartacus! Hey, Spartacus!
Spartacus: [gestures to the slaves on the balcony; the slaves laugh; the slaves start booing]
Noble Romans, fight each other like animals. Your new masters, betting to see who'll die first. Drop your weapons.
Slaves:
No! No! No! No!
Crixus: [jumps down and draws his sword]
I want to see their blood, right here where Draba died! When I fight matched pairs, they fight to the death!
Spartacus: [turns to the nobles; Spartacus turns to the slaves as the nobles scurry out of the arena]
I made myself a promise, Crixus. I swore that if I ever get out of this place, I'd die before I saw two men fight to the death again. Draba made that promise too. He kept it, so will I. Go on. Get up! What are we, Crixus? What are we becoming, Romans? What's happening to us? Have we learned nothing? We hunt wine when we should be looking for bread.
Dionysus:
When you got wine, you don't need bread!
Spartacus:
You can't just be a gang of drunken raiders.
Dionysus:
What else can we be?
Spartacus:
Gladiators, an army of gladiators. There's never been an army like that. One gladiator is worth any two Roman soldiers that ever lived.
Crixus:
We beat the Romans guards here, but a Roman army is different. They fight different than we do, too.
Spartacus:
We can beat anything they send against us if we really want to.
Crixus:
It takes a big army.
Spartacus:
We'll have a big army. Once we're on the march, we'll free every slave in every town and village. Can anybody get a bigger army than that?
Dionysus:
That's right. Once we cross the Alps, we're safe.
Crixus:
Nobody can cross the Alps. Every pass is defended by its own legion.
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